The Zen of Calories
Part Two: Calories In — Calories Out
A Simple Truth
Pay close attention to the next sentence for it contains the entire subject of weight loss success. Burn more calories than you consume.
End of class.
Really.
All far-reaching truths are basically simple, and the truth of losing weight is no exception. It rests squarely on the First Law of Thermodynamics, which we’ll now and then lovingly refer to as 1LTD — and which, believe me, is your friend. This Law, unless you’re from some neighboring universe with a different set of physical fundamentals, has proven to hold very true indeed. Here it is (in geek-tongue):
The increase in the internal energy of a system is equal to the amount of energy added by heating the system, minus the amount lost as a result of the work done by the system on its surroundings.
Here it is in plain-tongue: You provide heat (calories) to your system (body) through food — you lose energy (calories) by work done.
If you add more heat to the system than you lose as a result of work, you increase the internal “energy” which the body now stores for future use, usually as fat. The technical term for this is “gaining weight.”
The Body
In essence, the human body is a carbon-oxygen engine that with an operating temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit runs on low combustion fuels, mainly derived from other life forms (plant and animal).
As early as 1640 René Descartes viewed the body as a machine, and he speculated that it was the heat of the heart that caused the thing to move. Being a brilliant man, he was not so far off.
For if we take a wholly unromantic view of the human body, we see that it is nothing more than a machine composed of a very large number of cells (running into the trillions), aggregated to form a cohesive, and cooperating whole.
Basal Metabolism
This machine needs a certain amount of fuel (food, calories) to simply turn over (at rest). We call this the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
Technically, BMR is the amount of energy the body expends while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment — in the post-absorptive state (during which the digestive tract is empty and what energy the body needs comes from breaking down reserves, meaning, of course, that the digestive system is inactive; and don’t forget that digestion in and of itself is work, and does require a fair amount of energy), which, in us humans, requires about twelve hours of fasting.
In other words, the BMR determines how many calories you burn doing absolutely nothing in an environment that is not too hot (necessitating sweating and such to cool the body down — which is work) nor too cold (calling for additional calories in an attempt to stay warm — also work).
Once you have established your BMR, all that you have to do to maintain your weight (at rest) is to feed this machine precisely as many calories as it needs just to turn over.
The moment you move about, however (such as picking up a remote, or running a marathon), you are performing work, which according to the First Law of Thermodynamics (our friend 1LTD) requires energy. This energy, if not consumed as food, has to come from somewhere else, and this somewhere else is the body’s “internal” food stores, such as fat — or if no fat about, muscle.
Weight Loss
Those of us who need to lose weight usually carry these internal food stores around in the form of fat — which, so the body thinks, is energy stored for a rainy day.
Fortunately, if we expend more calories through work than we consume in food, the body’s metabolism assumes it’s raining now, and turns to these stores for the necessary energy, with the net result that you will lose weight.
You will lose weight.
And again, you will lose weight.
There simply is no way around it, not in this universe — and according to its laws — anyway.
The long and the very short of it: to lose weight you simply have to burn more calories than you consume.
Complexities
On paper, this is a very simple proposition. Off-paper, as experienced by every person who has tried to shed the extra pound or two, it gets a little more complex. This, however — no matter how many complexities you pile on top of it — does not negate, or invalidate the basic principle:
To lose weight you simply have to burn more calories than you consume.
End of class.
Really.
© Wolfstuff