Let’s get this party, err… science started! This experiment will try to tackle a very important hypothesis and its result will serve as the baseline for all coming experiments. In fact, it will tackle the very fundamental assumption that many nutritionists and doctors make when recommending a healthy lifestyle to their clients. Namely, it’s the theory that states “every calorie consumed must be either expended or gained as extra weight”, also known as “calories in = calories out” law.

Unfortunately, there is just too much room for interpretation when the law is stated in such terms. For example, what do they mean by “expended” – is it through effortful muscle contractions or is it through any of the other metabolic/heat/waste pathways that the body can use to spend calories? Or what about the very simple notion of a “calorie” – is a chicken breast calorie the same as a Coca-Cola calorie? Finally, does gaining fat weight mean the same thing as gaining lean muscle mass weight?

Most people who do not have a solid understanding of basic nutrition principles end up memorizing the law as “If I eat the calories in this food [X], I better go run them off in a few hours otherwise they will get stored as fat”. And then they go ahead and replace [X] with Coca-Cola, banana, chicken soup, cottage cheese and everything else they eat throughout the day.

In my opinion, such a simplistic model for the law is just that, too simplistic. In addition to the “how many calories” dimension that people have no trouble memorizing about the law, there are also the “what kind of calories” and “when consumed” dimensions. The “calories in = calories out” law can only be correctly interpreted when all 3 dimensions of nutrition are given consideration at the same time.

Now to put my money where my mouth is, here is the hypothesis and experiment design.

Eating more calories than I expend every day will not result in body fat gain.

I will attack this hypothesis from all 3 dimensions of nutrition.

  • Dimension 1 (“How Much”) – an excess of 200 – 400 calories above combined Basal Metabolic Rate and any performed exercise daily.
  • Dimension 2 (“What Type”) – 20% fats, 40% carbs, 40% protein daily.
  • Dimension 3 (“When”) – eat sugars/simple carbs only in 1 hour window following a workout, other times no sugars/simple carbs.

Every day I will log every single calorie I consume and expend in an excellent free iPhone app Lose It!. I will adjust my caloric intake to exceed the currently logged BMR + exercise calories burned that day by around 200 – 400 calories. Foods will be selected such that their caloric value can be determined with good accuracy and reproducibility. Restaurant foods will be taken home and individual ingredients will be weighed using a kitchen scale, calories tallied up and saved as a new recipe in Lose It!. The whole experiment will last 5 days, from Monday to Friday.