I'm a bit confused when it comes to calories and the zone diet.

According to the calculator, I need 14 blocks per day.

14 blocks of protein = 392 calories (14 blocks x 7 grams x 4 cals)
14 blocks of carbs = 504 calories (14 blocks x 9 grams x 4 cals)
14 blocks of fat = 189 calories (14 blocks x 1.5 grams x 9 cals)
Plus he assumes 1.5g of fat in each protein block = 189 calories

So...
504 calories carbs (~40%) +
392 calories protein (~30%) +
378 calories fat (~30%) =
-----
1274 calories

According to calorie intake calculators based off of BMR and activity level, I should be eating between 2000 and 2500 calories a day to maintain my weight. (I'm not overweight, but I'd like to reduce my body fat percentage and put on a bit of muscle (probably gaining 5-10 lbs in the process) - I lift weights 3x week and do cardio 2x per week.)

Am I missing something here? Does not counting fiber (which I don't think the zone diet does) make up the difference? Are my calculations off? What's going on?

Greg

Greg,

You are right on your calculations, and you can assume that some of the calories are not accounted for in the fiber. You can also assume that not every food is created equally, and that there will be smaller amounts of other nutrients in foods, that we are not counting--such as a gram or 2 of some additional protein in our oats, a few grams of extra carb in our cottage cheese, and so on (you get the picture). Still, these small differences will not bring the caloric level up to where you are expecting.

The reason is because the Zone is about getting all the nutrients that your body needs. If you are able to get what you need while taking in less calories, that is good! Plus, the focus is not really on calorie intake. It is on insulin control. 2 people dieting and taking in the same number of calories can have totally different results because one may control insulin levels better than another.

Hope this helps!

Hi Greg,

The BMR caloric recommendations you posted most likely apply to a person who’s burning glucose to produce ATP. In the Zone you are burning fat to produce ATP, which allows you to produce more energy from less calories as compared to a person burning glucose. This passage from pg. 104, The Anti-Inflammation Zone” may help you to understand better:

“One of the more difficult concepts to get across to athletes, coaches, dieticians, and physicians is the differences between burning calories and producing ATP from calories. ATP is the chemical that is required not only for muscle contraction, but also for virtually all of our metabolism. ATP is made on an as-needed basis from either glucose of fat. Your production of ATP is far greater from a calorie of fat than from a calorie of glucose. In the Anti-Inflammation Zone you are primarily burning fat for ATP production as opposed to glucose. This means you are also making all the ATP you need, even though fewer calories are being expended. This is why diabetics, world-class athletes, or just plain normal people require fat fewer calories on the Zone Diet than calculated from the usual metabolic equations. It is because they are producing more ATP from less calories.”

Ah... thanks Sue. That would explain it. Do you know if more details about that process (of converting fat to energy vs. glucose) are available online? Or what book would have more details?

Someone else had mentioned that you actually get quite a few extra calories from the "hidden" things such as when you eat something that has 2 or all 3 macro-nutrients but you only count 1 because the others are too small to be worth counting.

Greg

You're welcome Greg. All I know on the topic is that which I've read in Zone books. The original Zone book "The Zone" contains a chapter on Barry's work with elite athletes while he was developig the Zone diet, and "The Anti-Aging Zone" discusses ATP and exercise. But I don't know if either book contains more details of the actual conversion process (I don't think so).

Those additiona calories you mentioned from minor amounts of P, C and F that might be disregarded for ease of constructing a Zone meal, would not significantly raise the total calories you're eating.