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I have always thought the entire idea of a calorie as a way to measure food consumption and control weight is one of the more crazy ideas to have been thought up. To begin with understand how they measure a calorie in food.
It is measured in two ones. Originally they took a food stuffed it in a sealed container surrounded by water. The food was COMPLETELY burned and the resulting temp increase of the water was measured to extrapolate the energy released.
Since the 90's or so with changes in packing and labeling laws and regulations a somewhat different method is used(Atwater system). Now they break down what Macro nutrients are in the food (fats, carbs, protein, alcohol) in grams
They take these readings in grams and apply the standard 4 cal/g for carbs & protein, 9 cal/g for fat and 7 for alcohol. then they simply add it all up to get a final figure.
There are so many assumptions in both methods that it makes using a calorie method to control weight an educated guess at best. Just to detail ONE MAJOR issue is that the body doesn't handle food that way.
The body doesn't take food and burn it into ash. It digests food. It takes energy to digest food and some foods take more energy to digest. It also doesn't use all the food and it doesn't even use the same food in the same way each time.
Digestion depends on so many things. How long its chewed, the nervous state of the body when consumed, The amount of water, micronutrients, & time available for digestion. Activity of the body during digestion. The amount of fiber in the food. Medicines consumed with the food.
All of these and more impact how much of the food eaten is digested. The amount of food digested will than determine how much of the energy in than food is converted. And on and on. If you really start thinking about it the entire concept of a calorie is a calorie is absurd.
