Do you lose more when you eat less processed food?
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From a strictly losing weight standpoint, do you find that you lose more with cleaner foods? I agree with calories in vs calories out for the most point, but I seem to lose a bit more when my calories are made up of lean proteins, fruits, veggies, etc., then when I allow myself to have some processed treats, like fiber one bars. I'm still losing either way, just not as quickly with more processed foods. I wonder if it is my body hanging onto something longer? Anyone had a similar experience?
I find it easier to stick to my calorie goal when I eat less ultraprocessed/hyperpalatable food, that's all. A calorie is a calorie.
The hanging on could be retaining water from greater salt intake.
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LOL, wow, I didn't expect such varied responses.
Yes, my primary question was if I eat 1500 of mostly unprocessed foods (lean proteins, fruit, veggies) compared to 1500 calories of "whatever" foods (keeping in mind that I try to eat really well throughout the day but processed in the terms of maybe an ice cream treat at night or a latte if it fit in my calories) will my loss be the same? As I have noticed I seem to lose continuously when I eat less processed and it slows down when I add in the processed treats. The sodium concept seems valid, particularly since I weight myself daily. I know you are going to have ups and downs and it's best not to weigh yourself daily, but I find it keeps me on track better.
Scientifically, as everyone has pointed out, no, if you eat 1500 calories of "mostly unprocessed foods" vs 1500 cals of "whatever" foods, no, you won't see any impact on weight loss. Further, since you elaborated that even when you add in the "whatever" foods it is a small percentage of your total days calories, I am really not sure how you could be seeing any difference on the scale at all, water retention or otherwise. What you are describing, eating most of your calories from nutrient dense sources with a few treats mixed in here or there is precisely how many people on Team Moderation eat (no matter how many twinkie diet strawmen arguments people want to throw out there). Unless your "treat" is something like a meat lovers pizza or dinner at a mexican restaurant with a lot of chips and salsa, I really can't imagine even having a spike related to water retention.
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WinoGelato wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »The confusion is that OP asked about whether you lose more without processed foods if you keep calories equal. People saying "yes, because I ate less," really should be saying no or simply aren't answering the question.
Right. I feel like the discussion could be translated to this:
OP: Does 2+2 always equal 4? Because I feel like sometimes it doesn't, but I'm not sure.
Commenters: NO! Sometimes 2+3 = 5 and 2+1 = 3!!! See, the math doesn't always work!
I think we could be best friends!! LOL!!0 -
What kind of "treat" is it if it doesn't include Mexican food, chips, and salsa?0
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For myself. After I had a allergic reaction and ended up in the hospital. I really took stock of what I was eating. I am amazed at what boxed foods have in them. When you think about a microwave meal and it is suppose to be healthy,but how can something that is so processed and you have to microwave, be that good for you. In the last 6 weeks we have went from most days microwave meals, to only microwave veggies, and I am trying to let them go as well.0
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sealightdolphin wrote: »For myself. After I had a allergic reaction and ended up in the hospital. I really took stock of what I was eating. I am amazed at what boxed foods have in them. When you think about a microwave meal and it is suppose to be healthy,but how can something that is so processed and you have to microwave, be that good for you. In the last 6 weeks we have went from most days microwave meals, to only microwave veggies, and I am trying to let them go as well.
What in particular were you 'amazed' at?
I mean, absolutely cut stuff out of your diet if you have allergic reactions to it. But assuming one is not allergic, what SPECIFIC reasons can you give why one should cut out a microwave meal here or there.0 -
In my experience the difference is water weight...From a strictly losing weight standpoint, do you find that you lose more with cleaner foods? I agree with calories in vs calories out for the most point, but I seem to lose a bit more when my calories are made up of lean proteins, fruits, veggies, etc., then when I allow myself to have some processed treats, like fiber one bars. I'm still losing either way, just not as quickly with more processed foods. I wonder if it is my body hanging onto something longer? Anyone had a similar experience?
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sealightdolphin wrote: »For myself. After I had a allergic reaction and ended up in the hospital. I really took stock of what I was eating. I am amazed at what boxed foods have in them. When you think about a microwave meal and it is suppose to be healthy,but how can something that is so processed and you have to microwave, be that good for you. In the last 6 weeks we have went from most days microwave meals, to only microwave veggies, and I am trying to let them go as well.
I'm sorry to hear about your allergic reaction and recent hospital stay, but what specific ingredient was it in those microwave meals that caused your reaction? Just assuming that anything that has to be microwaved is bad, seems like a pretty broad brush to paint with... especially since now you're extending that restriction to frozen vegetables, which I'm pretty sure contain nothing other than the vegetable, and the water it is flash frozen in...
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Say's the flamer.Tedebearduff wrote: »From a strictly losing weight standpoint, do you find that you lose more with cleaner foods? I agree with calories in vs calories out for the most point, but I seem to lose a bit more when my calories are made up of lean proteins, fruits, veggies, etc., then when I allow myself to have some processed treats, like fiber one bars. I'm still losing either way, just not as quickly with more processed foods. I wonder if it is my body hanging onto something longer? Anyone had a similar experience?
I always get flamed for this by IIFYM/CICO junkies but here you go.
the reason you feel better or lose more on cleaner foods is because your body has a hormonal response to what you eat. IE your body doesn't deal with MCT oil the same way it does with a transfat, although they both equal 9 calories per gram and you can consume 1 gram and = the same amount of calorie intake, your body is better off with the MCT oils versus transfats.
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Yep. Eating a cheese stick now. Also had some baby carrots. Both are processed- I know carrots don't look like that in nature, and milk doesn't come out as cheese.lemurcat12 wrote: »Again, "processed" does not mean "not nutritious."
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Asher_Ethan wrote: »I gained weight doing the whole 30 where I ate no processed foods for 30 days... And I've lost weight eating pizza, french fries and butter. It doesn't matter
Cooking is processing. Peeling is processing....0 -
Yep. Eating a cheese stick now. Also had some baby carrots. Both are processed- I know carrots don't look like that in nature, and milk doesn't come out as cheese.lemurcat12 wrote: »Again, "processed" does not mean "not nutritious."
Especially not perfectly rectangular shaped cheese wrapped in plastic... but goodness, there must be something wrong with it if it is packaged conveniently...
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LOL, wow, I didn't expect such varied responses.
Yes, my primary question was if I eat 1500 of mostly unprocessed foods (lean proteins, fruit, veggies) compared to 1500 calories of "whatever" foods (keeping in mind that I try to eat really well throughout the day but processed in the terms of maybe an ice cream treat at night or a latte if it fit in my calories) will my loss be the same? As I have noticed I seem to lose continuously when I eat less processed and it slows down when I add in the processed treats. The sodium concept seems valid, particularly since I weight myself daily. I know you are going to have ups and downs and it's best not to weigh yourself daily, but I find it keeps me on track better.
Thanks for clarification.
There's also the possibilities depending on how you measure food. Processed food could have a misleading serving size you're missing or not weighing and relying on - like if you had an ice cream sandwich where the box says 45g but their actual average sandwich in the box you got weighs 52g or a latte that is supposed to be 300g but the person making it actually uses 325g.
Nothing wrong with weighing yourself daily - I find it helps to put you in context to see how easily it can vary. There's a site called trendweight that you can use with daily weight to see the rolling average of weight instead of just today's fluctuation.0 -
sealightdolphin wrote: »In the last 6 weeks we have went from most days microwave meals, to only microwave veggies, and I am trying to let them go as well.
Why? My bag of frozen peas has only peas as the ingredient, same as most of my frozen corn, it's just corn.0 -
All foods go through some sort of processed, unless you chase down your dinner with knife and fork or you eat your veggies/fruits directly from the plant/ground/tree.0
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I just eat it all!
CICO
a balanced diet ( high in carbs btw because of my daily huge bowl of popcorn lol)
and when i want "processed food" junk food or whatever, i eat it ....as long it fits in my daily calorie allowance.
It made my life easy and not over complicated.
And i lost in the last 11 months....
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I think this is an interesting question. Considering I've never seen any scientific study going either way, I'm a little surprised that people are so certain one way or the other given that lack of scientific investigation.
I personally notice a difference -- keeping my cals and macros equal. If there is just a little processed food in my diet, it doesn't seem to make a difference. But if my diet has a lot of highly processed food, I notice a difference in both how I feel and my weight loss results during a cut. I'll cut much faster eating completely or largely clean.
Why there is a difference, I don't fully know for sure, but these would be my two guesses:
(1) the highly processed has a negative impact on the CO part of the CICO equation. So although I'm eating the same amount, my CO has decreased so I unintentionally have a lower CO and deficit, yielding poorer results. Or, the converse, that eliminating or greatly reducing the highly processed foods has a positive impact on the CO part of the equation so I'm unintentionally creating a larger deficit and see greater results. You see this impact with the thermic effect of protein already, so it wouldn't surprise me if you saw some difference with in thermic effect with highly processed foods too (except in the negative direction in this case).
(2) I have a low level autoimmune response to some ingredients in highly processed foods. I know I feel a TON better when I'm eating all/mostly clean. I don't think that's coincidental. But this may also impact my weight loss as inflammation from autoimmune responses can shift such things. I already have an autoimmune thyroid disease and know if I eat certain things, I seem to trigger more of a response, which impacts my thyroid and I get more hypo symptoms (including difficulty with weight management). I don't know if this is due to some hormonal issue with how food is metabolized in my body or just impact the CO part of the equation. I wonder if more people have such things that they just don't realize -- especially those that notice a substantial difference in how they feel when they cut out highly processed foods (or specific highly processed foods like those that contain a lot of gluten).
This is just my experience and I'm sure there are plenty of people who notice absolutely no difference. But I do think it's possible that there are legitimate reasons why SOME people will and do notice such difference.0 -
I have a friend who eats nothing but home made from the garden and even raise their own meat and can everything, they both are obeist, why because they eat to much and don't burn enough calories.0
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WinoGelato wrote: »
Yep. Eating a cheese stick now. Also had some baby carrots. Both are processed- I know carrots don't look like that in nature, and milk doesn't come out as cheese.lemurcat12 wrote: »Again, "processed" does not mean "not nutritious."
Especially not perfectly rectangular shaped cheese wrapped in plastic... but goodness, there must be something wrong with it if it is packaged conveniently...
But it's oh so yummy, and something I don't have to measure when I am packing lunch at 6 am.0
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