Can you eat whatever you want

cajenns

and still lose weight as long as it's within your target calories each day? Cheesecake and all? Does fat content matter if you are still below target calories (for weightloss anyway, I know it's not good healthwise.)

Alatariel75

If you stay below your calories, you will lose weight regardless of what you eat.

OneHundredToLose

You absolutely can. Calories are calories, regardless of source. I have lost 6lbs in the last 3 weeks eating hot pockets for lunch almost every day.

47Jacqueline

Yes. The best way to lose weight an d then keep it off is not to deny yourself foods you enjoy.

zoeysasha37

For , from a weight loss perspective yes you can eat whatever you want as long as your within your calories. ( use food scale and be as accurate as possible)

vicky1947mfp

Yes. I do eat whatever I like and want within my calorie allowance.

That said, I do try to eat a balanced diet with protein, veggies and healthy carbs. With small occasional treats.

I am on maintenance now and can have a few more cals per day which is both easier and harder in some ways.

Ninkyou

Short answer, yes. In regards to weight loss only, all you need is to maintain a calorie deficit. How that's achieved is up to you. That being said, nutritional content is important too. There's nothing wrong with cheesecake or pizza, or what have you. Fit them into your calorie goal, practice moderation and enjoy yourself. Losing weight isn't supposed to feel like torture (unless you're into that kind of thing...).

IMO, fat is not bad for you. You need fat (fat isn't actually what makes you fat, it's excess calories that does that).

OsricTheKnight

Yes, you can absolutely eat whatever you want and still lose weight. That's what I do and what I think is easiest.

However, you can't eat whatever you want and control the weight you lose so it's all fat. And it's better to lose fat than muscle. I really liked this visualization:



Osric

PinkPixiexox

Absolutely

Frequently_Fabulous

No, because "all calories are not the same".
The best example of this is an experiment where they gave one group of people 100 calorie Apple as a snack and another group 100 calories of cookies as a snack and monitored their weight. Since the calories are the same, they should gain weight equally, right? Instead they found the cookie group gained more weight than the apple group, even when ingesting the same calories.

earlnabby

down_w_the_man wrote: »

No, because "all calories are not the same".
The best example of this is an experiment where they gave one group of people 100 calorie Apple as a snack and another group 100 calories of cookies as a snack and monitored their weight. Since the calories are the same, they should gain weight equally, right? Instead they found the cookie group gained more weight than the apple group, even when ingesting the same calories.

Citation needed

msf74

down_w_the_man wrote: »

Instead they found the cookie group gained more weight than the apple group, even when ingesting the same calories.

Have you got a link to that study so I can have a look at it please?

The obvious answer is that they were not actually eating the same amount due to the problems associated with the Atwater system of calculating calorie content - so even though an apple is listed as 100 calories and a cookie at 100 calories this may not necessarily be the actual amount of bio-available calories delivered to the body when eating but rather the maximum possible amount.

Sabine_Stroehm

Assuming no medical conditions, to make the number on the scale go down you probably can eat whatever you want.

Sabine_Stroehm

down_w_the_man wrote: »

No, because "all calories are not the same".
The best example of this is an experiment where they gave one group of people 100 calorie Apple as a snack and another group 100 calories of cookies as a snack and monitored their weight. Since the calories are the same, they should gain weight equally, right? Instead they found the cookie group gained more weight than the apple group, even when ingesting the same calories.

so...fiber?

Frequently_Fabulous

I think I read about it in "The End of Overeating". Too lazy to find it, lol. I'm not trying to claim it as an excellent example of scholarly research to back up my claim- obviously I don't remember sample sizes or p values or any of that important stuff. But it's general food for thought.

It is my opinion and personal experience that You simply won't get the same results eating 2000 calories of cheesecake vs a 2000 calorie "clean" diet of unprocessed, healthy foods, which was OPs original question.

On the other hand, if your calorie in/calorie burned ratio does come out in a deficit, you can lose weight eating nothing but cheesecake. I mean, the McDonalds CEO was recently in the news for losing 30 lbs or something eating nothing but McDonalds. But there is a limit to how long this works before your body adapts. Mr. CEO went from a morbidly obese man to an obese man. That is great, but I have serious doubts he would ever be able to achieve a normal BMI, much less a "fit" athletic look (which is most people's weight loss goal) eating Only junk food.

So I guess, "it depends" is the real answer, lol. If you stay in a calorie deficit eating nothing but cheesecake, you will lose weight. Until you don't. At which point, swap the cheesecake for an apple.

GaleHawkins

I can eat anything I want but my 'wants' are no longer are foods containing sugars and or grains.

At my age I did not know it was possible that my love of carbs could be sent packing.

tennisdude2004

GaleHawkins wrote: »

I can eat anything I want but my 'wants' are no longer are foods containing sugars and or grains.

At my age I did not know it was possible that my love of carbs could be sent packing.

What your tastes have changed and you no longer 'have to have' sweet carbs - impossible

GaleHawkins

tennisdude2004 wrote: »

GaleHawkins wrote: »

I can eat anything I want but my 'wants' are no longer are foods containing sugars and or grains.

At my age I did not know it was possible that my love of carbs could be sent packing.

What your tastes have changed and you no longer 'have to have' sweet carbs - impossible

@tennisdude2004 last year at age 63 I would have said "impossible" like you but now a year later after the fact I know it was possible in my case.

It was a hellish first two weeks of Oct 2014 but facing cancer and other health risks that can come from taking Enbrel injections for pain management was enough to make is old fat man change his wants. When my subjective pain levels dropped from 7-8 levels to 2-3 levels on a 1-10 scale in just 30 days my "wants" became my "wishes".

Now I am eating a lot of food that I am excited to eat and so is my body by the way my health is recovering.

shadow2soul

cajenns wrote: »

and still lose weight as long as it's within your target calories each day? Cheesecake and all? Does fat content matter if you are still below target calories (for weightloss anyway, I know it's not good healthwise.)

It wouldn't be healthy, but yes as long as you continued to make adjustments to your calorie goal every 10 lbs lost or so to prevent stalling out. It would probably also leave you hungry, because that's not a lot of food for the calorie content (providing you only eat your goal in cheesecake or some other high calorie food).

Fat doesn't need to be avoided. Dietary Fat =/= Body Fat. Over-consumption = Body Fat

Now if you eat a relatively balanced diet, then a slice of cheesecake won't do any harm. This is honestly something I need to work on, because my diet is still not very balanced. However, I've lost 100 lbs and I'm currently in the middle of a healthy BMI even though my diet isn't perfect. I just make sure to stay within my calories (with the exception of the past few weeks, which just make me shudder) and I'm still in the learning phases of balancing my macro's.

OsricTheKnight

down_w_the_man wrote: »

I think I read about it in "The End of Overeating". Too lazy to find it, lol. I'm not trying to claim it as an excellent example of scholarly research to back up my claim- obviously I don't remember sample sizes or p values or any of that important stuff. But it's general food for thought.

It's wrong, that's why everyone wants the citation. 100 kcals is 100 kcals, getting it from an apple or from a cookie is not going to make a difference.

Of course every apple and every cookie are exactly the same size, everyone in the study was exactly the same, everyone had the same activity levels, body fat percentage, and bone structure, and you've magically discovered a way to make the same amount of energy do different things that's previously undiscovered, but it's too much trouble to point us at the amazing study.

Osric

inked_illini26

I think my biggest issue with eating "whatever I want" is how I feel eating one food versus another (say cheesecake vs chicken and rice)...although I LOVE cheesecake, it doesn't make me feel good if I have it often. Eating more fruits, veggies, and lean proteins just makes me feel better, with maybe a piece of cheesecake every now and then (I love the low carb cheesecake they have at the cheesecake factory!)

Plus I have trigger foods...foods that make me want to eat more or too much of something...carbs are definitely one, and sweets.

Lleldiranne

down_w_the_man wrote: »

I think I read about it in "The End of Overeating". Too lazy to find it, lol. I'm not trying to claim it as an excellent example of scholarly research to back up my claim- obviously I don't remember sample sizes or p values or any of that important stuff. But it's general food for thought.

It is my opinion and personal experience that You simply won't get the same results eating 2000 calories of cheesecake vs a 2000 calorie "clean" diet of unprocessed, healthy foods, which was OPs original question.

On the other hand, if your calorie in/calorie burned ratio does come out in a deficit, you can lose weight eating nothing but cheesecake. I mean, the McDonalds CEO was recently in the news for losing 30 lbs or something eating nothing but McDonalds. But there is a limit to how long this works before your body adapts. Mr. CEO went from a morbidly obese man to an obese man. That is great, but I have serious doubts he would ever be able to achieve a normal BMI, much less a "fit" athletic look (which is most people's weight loss goal) eating Only junk food.

So I guess, "it depends" is the real answer, lol. If you stay in a calorie deficit eating nothing but cheesecake, you will lose weight. Until you don't. At which point, swap the cheesecake for an apple.

This always comes up with these questions. No one (not even the OP's original question) has suggested eating nothing but cheesecake. Most people will advocate eating a well-balanced diet of mostly nutrient-dense food but say it's okay to have some treats, like cheesecake, if they fit into your calorie allowance. There are literally dozens of people here who have successfully lost significant amounts of weight this way.

OP, besides what I said above, remember that fat is not necessarily bad for your health. You need a certain amount of fat for organ function, hormone balance, etc. I wouldn't suggest cheesecake on a day when you've had a lot of other high-fat foods (except maybe a special occasion like a birthday or holiday), but if you can make it fit when you want it, there's nothing wrong with it. And it won't significantly slow your weight loss.

Unknown

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mcclelland0484

You can typically have larger servings of healthier food and that makes it easier.

pili90

A cheesecake once in a while will not harm the process, but eating it everyday would get a bit boring.... But yes, for losing weight you only need less calories, but why stop at losing weight, why not also being healthy?

However keep in mind that if you have any other medical condition, maybe the usual equation won't be as simple as less calories equals weight loss. You may need to change certain things. I, for example, have a bunch of hormonal issues, including insulin resistance, and it does have an impact the kind of calories, not just the number. Still, from time to time, I may have some cheesecake, or the likes, within my calorie limit.. but on everyday basis I do need to keep an eye out for the kinds...

Lynzdee18

Not me. But I'm okay with that.

Isabelle_1929

Sure. Although you will be judged big time by the "clean eating /wholesome foods" ayatollahs. Wait for it.

Lizzy622

I had ice cream this weekend. Of course you can eat whatever you want but you also need to watch the portion. I can have the ice cream or the cheese cake but only a small piece. It is all about potion control.

ninerbuff

OsricTheKnight wrote: »

Yes, you can absolutely eat whatever you want and still lose weight. That's what I do and what I think is easiest.

However, you can't eat whatever you want and control the weight you lose so it's all fat. And it's better to lose fat than muscle. I really liked this visualization:



Osric

Untrue. Lots of lean people eat pizza, burgers, ice cream on "cuts" and lose fat just fine. They also reach their protein goals and do enough resistance training to maintain lean muscle.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

dubird

Yes and no. Yes, you can eat whatever you want if it fits into your daily calories. Yes, that means if you can fit twinkies and coke into your calories, you could. That doesn't mean you SHOULD, however. You'll discover you can eat a lot more in terms of bulk if you add healthier options into what you eat, but that doesn't mean you have to cut out your favorite foods because they have little to no nutritional value. Just have to eat less of them. I still have 'junk' food, sometimes daily. My normal lunch at work is a salad and breadsticks because *kitten* carbs, buttery garlicly breadsticks are the BOMB. I tend to eat a better dinners when my husband and I cook together because he's got a more limited diet than I do. But we still can go eat out, and sometimes that means wings and cheese fries. I've just learned to eat less overall. That's the only thing you need for weight loss: consuming more calories than you burn. Some people do it by taking in less calories, some by burning a lot more, some with a combination of the two. However you do it is up to you.