Fitness Debunked: Calories In Vs Calories Out

I know what you are thinking. “Oh my god, not another fitness blog that tells me to eat less, workout more and shows me pretty little Instagram photos with captions like killin it at 6 AM #bigfitnessboxgymgoeshere”. You see I’m a bit of a fitness physic and as such I already knew what you were thinking. I can assure you this won’t be that kind of post.

Advanced warning, I’m a former professional athlete and certified CSCS so some of my post in the future may be a little technical and nerdy. If you are unfamiliar with any of the terminology or want me to expand further on certain concepts please leave a comment below and I’ll address them in future post.

As opposed to starting the fitness section of our blog with a bunch of workouts and routines that may or may not be reilvant to your fitness levels or goals, I want to start this blog debunking and decoding some popular fitness trends and myths out there that some of you may be following and which may be hindering you in your quest to achieve your health and fitness goals.

Myth #1: Losing weight simply comes down to calories in vs calories out:

Undoubtedly you’ve all run across this concept. When I was training athletes for a living I had a phrase that I would always go over with my staff and athletes and it was “Application over theory” What does that mean? It means that when it comes to actual training, the place where the rubber hits the road and the plates hit the floor, what works in theory never replaces what’s actually applicable in practice.

In theory, yes weight loss comes down to how many calories you’ve consumed vs how many calories you’ve burned. the problem with this is that it only works in a vacuum for people who’s bodies a functioning at a textbook level. No variables. In reality not every calorie is the same calorie for every person because not every macro is going to be partitioned the same way for every person.

If you are Lactose intolerant and I’m not is Lactose just lactose for both of us? Obviously the answer is no. My body is going to deal with lactose in a completely different way then your body.

For myself my body completely burns through sugar and carbs without a hitch and utilizes every single one of them to seemingly push my intramuscular glycogen stores to a seemingly unlimited threshold. I could eat a 3000 calories a day in carbs and my body would not store a single extra ounce as fat nor would it wreck my insulin response. My body is also type 2 dominate in terms of muscle fiber makeup which means my body is going to store burn through more glycogen then the average person.

Conversely my fiance deals with carbs in a more normal way. She can have carbs but too many of them and her body reacts normally and will store some as fat or bloat. As a result we limit carbs to two meals a day on days where shes doing a HIIT or strength training workout and one time a day during cardio of off days.

Obviously in this situation a calorie in for her and a calorie in for me, for this particular macro is not the same. Even though calories in vs calories out is an incomplete concept it can still be a very useful starting point for people in the beginning of their fitness journey it gives you a tangible goal, structure and to get in a groove of holding yourself accountable.

As mentioned above, calories in vs calories out can be useful but to shrink weight loss or hypertrophy down to calories in vs calories out you first have to know when a calorie is not a calories for your unique body.

Obviously if you have a health condition like diabetes or high blood pressure this makes understanding how you body reacts to certain macros even more important and something you and your healthcare provider should be monitoring constantly to find the best treatment and maintenance options to help you achieve your health, fitness and nutritional goals.