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It happens because we act like calories are calories when it's clearly not true.

Calorie counts in nutrition data are generated by something like burning the food in a bomb calorimeter. Which is most definitely not what our bodies do. We have all kinds of different biochemical ways of metabolizing different types of foods.

So someone eating 1000 calories of day could be eating very healthy or they could be ingesting a whole bunch of garbage full of sweeteners. It doesn't seem like anyone really understands how it works but all those sweeteners are more likely to make you gain weight.






Why is it that people claim the laws of thermodynamics do not apply to humans?

Obviously the laws of thermodynamics apply, but the most naive application of the laws of thermodynamics doesn't.

A human body isn't a bomb calorimeter and it doesn't perfectly combust everything you eat.


Because our metabolisation mechanisms are extremely complex and many things, like genetics, decide how we metabolise food; we are not petrol engines.

No one is claiming that the laws of thermodynamics do not apply to humans.



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