Should you count calories on keto?

In general, diets to lose weight are based on two premises: eat less and move more. Thus, we find ourselves in a spiral where we spend our time counting calories eaten and calories burned to always be in a caloric deficit and – in theory – lose weight.

What is a calorie?

A calorie is a measure of energy : it is the amount of heat energy required to raise one gram of water from 14.5 to 15.5 degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure. One thousand calories equals 1 kilocalorie.

How is it calculated?

Originally, the caloric content of a food was measured in a calorimeter. A known quantity of food, from which the water content had been evaporated, was placed in a container surrounded by a known quantity of water. The container was sealed, oxygen was injected, and the food was ignited. From the rise in temperature of the water, the caloric content of the food was calculated.

However, foods may contain components such as fiber, which burn in a calorimeter but are not absorbed into the bloodstream and do not provide calories. Today, the "Indirect Atwater System" is used to calculate calories. Because carbohydrates contain fiber that is not digested and used by the body, the fiber component is usually subtracted from the carbohydrate total before calculating calories.

How many calories per macronutrient?

Different macronutrients provide different numbers of calories. 1 gram of carbohydrates and 1 gram of protein have 4 kilocalories each. Fat has 9. Alcohol, which is not a macronutrient but is important to consider if you're doing the math, provides 7 kilocalories per gram.

Should we count our calories?

Are calories important or not? Yes. However, their importance has nothing to do with the idea we have of why they are important in the context of a diet (whether they make us fat or thin), but how do the calories we consume impact the body's ability to store or burn fat.

The first law of thermodynamics

The theory of “eat less, move more” is based on the first law of thermodynamics.

This establishes an equation according to which:

(1) Change in body mass = (2) energy consumed – (3) energy expended.

The problem

In this sense, "eat less, move more" is therefore a formula that ensures weight loss . However, this equation starts from the basis that variables (2), energy consumed and (3), energy expended are independent variables.

 Independent variables: Those that can change without affecting the other variable. For example: the color of my skin and the color of my eyes. One cannot alter the other. If I get a tan and my skin turns a darker color, this will have no impact on the color of my eyes.

 Dependent variables: They cannot change without altering the other. For example, if I miss an important work appointment, it will have an impact on my state of mind.

The problem then with "eat less, move more" is that it treats variables (2) and (3) as independent, while they are dependent. Why? Because variable (3), the calories we expend, are not only determined by exercise , but also by digestion , resting metabolic rate , physical activity , temperature thermoregulation , and thermogenesis induced by each type of nutrient.

Thermogenesis factors

Diet-induced thermogenesis is the energy that we use to assimilate the various macronutrients we consume (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids). This effect generally begins one hour after ingestion , reaches a maximum three hours later, and continues at this level for several hours. In quantitative terms, diet-induced thermogenesis represents approximately 10% of total energy expenditure.

Protein has the highest thermogenesis factor, about 30%, so not all the calories that come in are assimilated. That is to say, what we eat has an impact on our energy expenditure, and this expenditure also has an impact on what we eat: foods that satiate us more, such as proteins and lipids, will make us eat less and be satiated for longer.

The result

So, if we calculate that to have a 20% caloric deficit we must consume 1500 calories and we consider this hypothesis, a significant percentage of these calories could come from sweets, industrial products, for example, provided that we move enough to burn this 20%.

Now, we know that the quality and type of food consumed have a significant impact not only on satiety, but also on insulin and glucose curves, which are fundamental for sustainable weight loss. The energy content of food (calories) is important, but it is less important than the metabolic effect of food on our body.

To summarize, the great myth of "eating less and moving more" is therefore based on erroneous axioms; for the same number of calories, different impacts on our hormones, on the body's homeostasis, on the effects of thermogenesis and on our appetite depending on the type of macronutrient consumed.

Counting in ketogenic diet?

As previously stated, counting calories is not useful if you do not consume nutritionally dense foods and focus only on the number of calories in each food. The ketogenic diet plays a key role in permanent weight loss, without harming your health: you consume nutritionally rich foods, you limit carbohydrates and you eat less without effort, you have a correct blood sugar level that does not rise constantly and you need more (or less) to snack. A ketogenic diet also causes an increase in glucagon levels, promoting gluconeogenesis (creation of carbohydrates from proteins), which expends more energy (ATP) than the synthesis of carbohydrates.

Counting your macros

Although in a ketogenic diet we should not count calories, given everything that has been said previously, we can count our macros , at least at the beginning, to have an idea of ​​our lipid and protein needs (because we already know that we are going to limit carbohydrates to a certain number, often 20 grams per day).

To calculate macros, there are different applications or web pages that can give an idea of ​​what we should consume during a day according to our energy needs. Once we have obtained our macros according to our age, weight, ideal weight, physical activity and sex, we can therefore apply a deficit on lipids (in general, 10% to 20% so as not to starve or be deficient). Thus, we will be on the path to sustainable and healthy weight loss. When we apply this deficit, the caloric deficit is immediate, except that in this formula we are applying it in a reasoned and healthy way, not by considering calories simply as a number, but foods as a set of nutrients.

Conclusion

Not all calories are created equal. The same number of calories produces different results in our body depending on the type of macronutrient consumed. “Eat less and move more” is thus a motto destined for failure . It is better to “eat better” (without neglecting the effect of physical activity on the body) and “eat consciously” . Thus, counting calories is not useful. What brings results is learning what our macros are, respecting them and eating nutritionally rich foods.