Tweet"By now you are probably tired of hearing that a calorie is not just a calorie. I cannot stress this enough."

There is yet ANOTHER factor to consider when estimating caloric intake, and that is the TEF- otherwise known as the thermic effect of food.

When we speak of thermics the first thing is that you need to understand the REAL effect that the food you eat has on energy. It is essential to figuring out how many kcal you need to pack on that lean muscle and not the fat.

TEF, was originally called specific dynamic action- which is the heat, or o2 consumption in your body immediately after a meal, for up to three hours.

Different types of fats, carbs and protein will have either a greater or lesser TEF, basically the harder the nutrient is to digest, the higher the TEF.

TEF that contains low GI carbs, like oatmeal increase thermogenics and the oxidation of the carbs is more efficient, this is why PEOPLE TEND TO LOSE BODY FAT WHILE RESTRICTIN THEIR CARBS TO LOW GI FOODS.

The leaner you are the more kcal you need to sustain body weight and prevent muscle wasting.

Protein is still the best source for increasing TEF. In a 1984 study performed by Jequier, fat was found to have a 2-3 percent TEF, carbs a 6-8 percent TEF while protein elicited a 25 percent increase.

This means if you eat 200g of protein daily its requires approx 200-320kcal just to digest!

At night meals high in protein, low carbs and very low fats will gen higher TEF allowing your body to expend more kcal while at rest, the little fat will delay gastic emtying of the protein thus stretching the TEF out over a longer period of time.

Without these carbs floating around as glucose in you blood, your body switches to triglycerides stored in your fat cells. The protein further increases this caloric demand, while increasing glucagon, which will signal the release of stored fat.

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