[sk0g]

What a lame strawman.

First off, that's not even food that would be digestible by a human. Secondly, reasonable people don't say all calories are equal, but that estimating TDEE + calories eaten is the best calculation to make for many people, in terms of accuracy vs effort required.

[chrisseaton]

> that's not even food that would be digestible by a human

Well that's the point.

Obviously not all calories are equal. Nobody ever meant that literally. There are calories in diamonds, but you aren't likely to be able to digest them are you?

[watwut]

There are no calories in diamonds and I dont understand why you assume there are some.

The old method of calorie counting involved burning food and measuring temperature. You wont burn diamonds by same methods they used.

The one one involves counting carbs, protein and what not inside and then adding assumed calories from that. Again, diamonds return 0.

[chrisseaton]

> There are no calories in diamonds

I'm afraid you're mistaken!

> I dont understand why you assume there are some

That's fine I'll explain for you. What happens when you burn a diamond? It releases energy exothermically. We can measure that energy in joules, or equivalently in calories, but it means exactly the same thing.

Diamonds contain calories.

[watwut]

That would be old way of determining calories which is not used anymore. Also, the method of burning food in that specific test wont burn diamonds.

[chrisseaton]

That doesn't mean they aren't in there, just that you don't get them out using your experiment.

Which... is the whole point. Not all calories are equally accessible to digestion. That's the point in the first place. Of course a calorie is not just a calorie for the purposes of digestion. We know that, because we can't digest, for example, diamonds.

[watwut]

So, how do you address the other calorie counting method, the one that is actually used?

[ceejayoz]

> There are calories in diamonds

Not in this context. A nutrition label for a 50 pound diamond would indicate zero calories.

[chrisseaton]

But again... that's the point. Everyone already knew 'a calorie is a calorie' was not literally true - for example diamonds which you agree about.

[ceejayoz]

People who say “a calorie is a calorie” clearly mean “calories from fats, carbs, and protein are interchangeable”, not “you can survive on a diet of diamonds”.