Calories / Carbohydrates

[Pressure]

I've recently gotten a job at a local ice cream/frozen yogurt/wrap/salad/sandwhich place and i live in a pretty wealthy place in New York. The people are very snotty that live here, obviously thats just a stereotype but a lot of the poeple that come in are like weight lifters, body builders, old obnoxious women, and teenage girls. It's meant to be a healthy kind of place, and everything is like low fat or fat free or low in calories and carbs. A scenario i have a lot of the time goes something like this with a customer:

Me: Can i help you?
Lady (40's): yeah let me try the milky way
Me: sure (gives her it)
Lady: let me try the Reeses Peanut Butter
Me: (gives it to her)
Lady: ok, so the Milky Way has 9 calories and the Reeses has 11.5 calories?
Me: yeah it says it on the sign?
Lady: oh god thats a lot, i'll have the Milky Way.

it goes like that alot, and i'm just wondering: what the hell are Calories? Why do peope count them? I actually went in today just for a bite to eat(the foods pretty good actually) and i asked some random customers and my co-workers "what's a calorie" and people who i've seen in there ahundred times deciding their choice over the amount of carbs and calories were like "i actually have no idea, but i know a whole lot is bad for you."

Is it worth it to count calories? What are they? What do they do?

[geekbot]

A calorie is energy. The more you eat the fatter you get.

In other news, what the heck kind of name for a restaurant is ToGos?

[Displaced]

if you dont know what calories or carbohydrates are..

go back to school you retard.

[Zeebu]

a calorie is how to measure energy... i think its the amount it takes to raise i mL of water by 1 degree C. in food, the unit is a kilocalorie or Calorie which is 1000 calories because a calorie is not much at all.... what to take away form this story. tell them that it actually has 9000 calories and 11500 calories right after they eat it and see what happens

[Ewan]

Yea I was gonna say, show them the nutritional values on the back, it will probably say "kcal". Tell them this actually means 1000 calories (Explain the whole kilo prefix to them if you must) and watch them weep.


Anyway, more seriously, Zeebu got the definition right. In food terms, it just measures how much energy is stored in the food. Energy that is not burned off is generally stored as fat. Calories can come in different forms. Carbohydrates can either be sugars, which are relatively easy to burn, (i.e the energy release is very soon after eating) or starch carbohydrates (Think bread, potatoes, pasta) which are slightly harder, you'll probably have to work a little harder as these have to be broken down in to sugars to get the energy, this means the energy release is slower, and they tend to be more likely to get stored as fat. I think calories can also be as fat from the start, which is obviously the hardest to break down (There are different types of fats, some worse than others but I am not going to go in to this).

A typical man should be consuming about 2500 calories per day, and a woman 2000 (It may be 3000 and 2500 I can't quite remember). Obviously this number decreases if you are trying to lose weight, or increases if you're particularly active, an athlete perhaps. Also the number does vary from person to person anyway as everyone's metabolism (The speed and effectiveness you break food down) differs. Also, as note, if you're dieting by calorie counting, you can't "save up" calories. For example, say your target is 1800 a day. You can't have 1300 on day 1, 1100 on day 2 and then have 3000 on day 3 and think it'll all be fine.

[Zeebu]

a rule of thumb

proteins - 4 Calories/gram
carbs - 4 Calories/gram
fats - 9 Calories/gram

more useless knowledge

i have finally been able to get my daily caloric intake down

when i swam, i ate like a swimmer (5 to 6 thousand Calories per day)

now im probably around 2200 to 2500... cept those nights i go out and drink like 3000 Cals worth of alcohol.... oh well

[Mr. Peanuts]

I know that a single bacardi and diet coke are 50 calories each..

But then you have to demean yourself by asking for a bacardi and diet coke.

[Stylez]

One thing to keep in mind here, carb free burgers are stupid...

But seriously, there are good and bad carbs... Good carbs give you the energy you need to keep you going through the day and help build up your metabolism... And on the other end, there are the bad carbs, which just give you a fat arse...

[Melon]

I know that a single bacardi and diet coke are 50 calories each..

But then you have to demean yourself by asking for a bacardi and diet coke.

I thought diet coke has 0 calories?

[Zeebu]

but rum has calories

not really good carbs/bad carbs.... more like simple/complex... some are just easier to break down

the no carb diet thing is all about caloric intake... just like any other diet

[Stylez]

Ah yes, those were the words I was trying to remember... But yes, you are correct...

[Pandagirl!]

I thought diet coke has 0 calories?

Diet Coke is calorie free.

But yea, I guess the question has pretty much been answered already. I was curious and added up how many calories I have in a typical day. Then I realized that's why I don't gain any weight :P

[project dragon]

Just eat.

[Pressure]

I'm going into work with a smile on today so i can make old people feel like shit that they're eating thousands of calories a day =] Thanks

Do any of you count your calories? does it actually like help you?

[Riesen]

Diet Coke is calorie free.

I thought it had 1 calorie. So that would mean the Bacardi has 49 calories. Neat.

Weight-loss is simple, burn off more calories (good and bad) than you take in. I take in about 3000 a day on average.

Cutting out carbs is a terrible, stupid idea. So don't do it.