There is a heated debate in the fitness community about the true value of a calorie.

Specifically, the debate is over whether a calorie is just a calorie…is losing weight really just a matter of consuming fewer calories than you burn? Or will you see better results by eating healthier?

In other words… can you get ripped while eating Twinkies?

If you view weight loss as a simple math equation…then yes, you could actually lose weight while eating Twinkies.

This is what I mean:

Let’s say your body requires 2,000 calories a day to maintain your current body weight.

A Twinkie is 150 calories (I’m a bit surprised by that myself. I assumed the calorie content was much higher).

If you eat 10 Twinkies a day, that’s 1,500 calories, which ultimately creates a 500-calorie deficit. By creating this daily caloric deficit… you will lose weight. It’s simple math.

But there is always a but)

However, will you lose muscle or lose fat?

You see, I’ve found that by keeping your protein levels up and adding healthy fats to your diet, you can actually build small amounts of new muscle while losing body fat.

How does the Twinkie diet compare?

Well, each Twinkie contains only 1 gram of protein, so you’ll only get 10 grams of protein per day.

The Twinkie is also devoid of healthy fats. Each Twinkie contains 27 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates (sugars), but the sugars do not prevent muscle loss.

So while you could hypothetically lose weight by eating Twinkies, a large percentage of your weight loss could be attributed to loss of muscle mass.

What would you rather eat?

The idea of ​​eating Twinkies while losing weight is initially appealing, but I guess after three days of Twinkies you’d be dying for a change. So let’s compare the Twinkie diet plan to an eating plan to build muscle and burn fat:

You could eat 12 Twinkies which would equal 1800 calories. Or you could eat what I ate yesterday:

An apple for an early morning snack.

A large glass of grape juice, a 20oz protein shake followed by a bowl of oatmeal.

A great chicken salad for lunch.

Another great protein shake for a mid-afternoon snack, along with a handful of almonds.

For dinner: Chipotle tilapia (fish) with asparagus, gorgonzola cheese crumble and chopped walnuts.

And a burger with A-1 sauce around 10pm.

Total calories: 1800.

As you can see, even though the “Twinkie Diet” and the second meal plan had the same total number of calories, the Muscle Building Eating Plan is based on healthier foods and provides more protein and healthy fats.

The Muscle Building/Fat Burning Meal Plan allows you to build small amounts of lean muscle and dramatically increase strength while shedding excess fat.

So is a calorie just a calorie?

Can you lose weight eating Twinkies? Technically yes, on paper that theory works. But in the real world, a healthy eating plan that consists of lean protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates will do a better job of shedding fat.

And by adding a few simple tweaks to your muscle-building/fat-burning eating plan, you can gain strength while burning body fat.