3 Facts MyFitnessPal Doesn’t Tell You About Calorie Counting

By Adrian| October 15th, 2023

Universal Principles:

When it comes to losing weight, toning up or gaining muscle, some universal principles are generally accepted – they are:

- If you want to lose weight and tone up, eat in a calorie deficit.

- If you want to build muscle and add some size, eat in a calorie surplus.

- If you’re looking to maintain your weight, eat around your maintenance calories.

How do you achieve the above? You track your calories and make sure you’re eating the correct amount for your

specific goals.

That simple, right?

Not so fast! While the above universal principles do hold true, here are three things you didn’t know about calorie counting that can impact the number of calories you consume on a daily basis.

These little-known facts are not included on the estimated calorie count you see on MyFitnessPal or on the back of packaging yet can have an influence on your overall results and progress.

1). You Burn Calories While Eating Calories

You burn calories while eating calories – this is known as the thermic effect of food!

To put it another way, it takes energy to burn energy!

When you eat food, you burn a significant number of calories from breaking that food down.

Digesting, chewing and swallowing your food along with moving the nutrients to their required places throughout your body all require energy from calories.

However, here’s the interesting part - the type of food you’re eating will determine the number of calories you burn while eating.

What do I mean by this? Protein, carbohydrates and fats are not broken down equally by the body. As you’ll see below, eating more protein rich foods burns more calories while you’re digesting it compared to foods higher in fat.

Let’s get into some specifics:

Protein:

Protein rich foods require the most amount of energy to be digested.

Approximately 20-30% of the total calories in protein goes into digesting it. How crazy is that!

As an example, say you eat 100 calories of protein, your body will require 20 to 30 of those calories to digest and absorb it.

From the 100 calories you consumed, you’re actually only receiving 70 to 80 calories. My mind was blown when I read this!

Carbohydrates:

Approximately 5-10% of the calories in carbohydrates are used in digesting it.

As an example, say you eat 100 calories of carbohydrates, your body will require 5 to 10 of those calories to digest and absorb it meaning you’re receiving about 90-95 of those calories.

Fats:

Just 0-3% of the calories in fats are used in digesting it.

As a final example, say you eat 100 calories of fats, your body will require just 0 to 3 of those calories to digest and absorb it meaning you’re receiving about 97-100 of those calories.

On average, about 10% of your total daily caloric intake is used up in digesting your food!

2). The Type of Food Itself Matters:

Calories in vs Calories out is the basic law of thermodynamics.

But the type or make up of the calories we consume also is important. Some foods are simply more digestible than others.

And this research study really was an eye-opener for me (from Shawn Stevensons Book “Eat Smarter.”)


Person A had a sandwich consisting of “whole foods” while Person B had a sandwich consisting of “processed foods.”

Both sandwiches had the exaxt same amount of calories and the meals were practically the same. However, Person B had a 50% reduction in calorie burning for the remainder of that day compared to Person A.

In other words, eating the heavily processed made a huge difference in the number of calories that were stored or burned that day!

Sometimes the calories from the foods you eat are simply not digested. It’s not only about how much you eat, it’s also about what your body can absorb.

What’s the takeaway? While overall calorie intake matters, the type of foods we eat also matters a lot. The more calories you can get from real foods the better.

3). How the Food is Prepared:

As you already know by now, certain foods are more digestible than others.

Another factor which can impact the number of calories we absorb from our foods is how the food was actually prepared.

 

Cooking food increases the number of calories you actually absorb from food. Whether you bake, boil, steam, grill or even microwave your food, cooking it increases the number of calories that your body actually digests.

This is not a bad thing by any means – it just means that having say raw carrots chopped up vs cooked carrots steamed will impact on the number of calories you actually digest.

The Takeaways:

-Calorie counting is important for weight loss, muscle gain or maintenance but other factors also come into play.

- You burn calories while eating calories.

- Up to 20-30% of the calories you get from protein are used to break it down.

- You will burn more calories throughout the day if you eat more real food instead of processed foods.

- You absorb more calories from cooked vs uncooked food.

- It’s not only about how much you eat, it’s about how much you absorb.

References: Stevenon, S; 2020 – “Eat Smarter – Use the Power of Food to Reboot your Metabolism, Upgrade Your Brain and Transform your Life.”

Free 3-Day Total Body Training Program:

Depending on your goal, I have some free resources which might be of benefit to you.

If you’d like a copy of my free, 3-day Total Body Transformation Program click HERE! (Enjoy the core finisher!).

If you’d like a copy of my Free Living Lean Cookbook to prove to you that it’s possible to eat foods you enjoy and get results, click HERE.

(Try out some EPIC protein pancakes!).

And if you’d like access to my Free 7 Day Fat Loss Accelerator (which has helped some members drop up to 7lbs inside 7 days),
click HERE and it will be sent straight to your email.

I hope these free resources help you!

About Adrian McDonnell & McLifestyle Fitness:

IAdrian McDonnell is a highly specialised Personal Trainer & Online Fitness Coach from outside of Tuam, Co.Galway, Ireland.

Previously a primary school teacher for almost 5 years, Adrian followed his passion and pursued a career in fitness after seeing first hands the results he could achieve with himself.

Although Adrian is a Personal Trainer & now Full-Time Online Transformation Fitness Coach from outside of Tuam, Co.Galway – he not only coaches clients locally, but also nationally and internationally.

Adrian specialises in helping working professionals:


- Be confident in themselves·
- Feel more comfortable in their clothes·
- Look better in the mirror·
- Increase their energy and go for more promotions at work·
- Get fitter, leaner & stronger without following rigid meal plans·
- Go on more dates (this is a common one)·
- And feel proud of themselves for doing something they never thought was possible!

To date he has helped Transform over 500 Clients into fitter, more toned & confident individuals.

Transforming people’s lives through proper fitness, sustainable & enjoyable nutrition practices & mindset mentoring is something Adrian is truly passionate about and this is his mission in life.

Want to find out more? Contact me today & I’ll answer any questions you have.

1:1 Online Coaching Application

If you’d like a coach to help get you out of a routine that isn’t currently working for you and into one that will , then book your
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This is where having the structure and accountability of a coach comes in. I’ll help you get the results you’ve always desired and
make your journey much easier and quicker than doing it on your own.

You’re just one click away of becoming a success story.

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