Does the balance of carbs, fat, and proteins matter for weight loss?

lepeep717

I've had great success with calorie counting for weight loss. I was just curious, is a calorie a calorie not matter where it comes from? For instance, if I eat 1600 calories daily where those calories yield 80 grams of fat, is it exactly the same as 1600 calories with 80 grams of carbohydrate or protein?

melonaulait

You could eat your calorie allowance's worth of McDonald's food every day and still lose weight, yeah.

rankinsect

Minimally. You really want to at least meet your body's minimal protein needs, since protein is needed for things besides energy - your body uses the amino acids in proteins to live. If you don't get enough in your diet, it has to scavenge from your muscles, because it can't synthesize new amino acids without a source of nitrogen, which neither fat nor carbohydrate provides. The amino acids in proteins are basically your body's only source of nitrogen, which is needed in a variety of biological molecules, so adequate protein is very important for health.

You need at least a token amount of fat in your diet, too, since your body uses that for other things as well like making hormones, etc.

But while there are ratios that would be very unhealthy, there's a wide, wide range of acceptable ratios of macronutrients, it's not something you need to carefully manage.

adriennemarieb

You'll lose weight based on cutting calories alone, but paying attention to your macronutrients is important, too, for a well-balanced diet and healthy body. Your body needs all three for different processes.

jim180155

You spend more energy digesting and converting protein and carbohydrates, but for the most part, a calorie is a calorie. If your only goal is to lose weight, watch your calories and don't worry about the rest. If you're less tunnel visioned and want to be healthier and fitter as well as a bit smaller, watch your macros and get a good balance of protein, carbs and fats, as well as your micronutrients.

The simplest approach, IMO, is to start with calories. Get those under control. Then start monitoring and adjusting macros. Then look at exactly what you're eating, making sure you're getting all the nutrients you should be. Although you could start from the other end and work back up, or from the middle and work out toward the other two.

Getting it all under control and properly balanced takes time, effort, and some diligence. It doesn't matter where you start, any point will do. From there it's just a matter of baby steps.

nutmegoreo

For weight loss, it doesn't really matter. You may find that certain ratios help you feel full longer. You may also find that having enough protein along with strength training helps reduce the amount of muscle lost during the weight loss process. As said, you could eat all McDonalds (I'm thinking burgers here) and lose weight, but you may feel very hungry throughout much of the day. You need to find what works for you and your lifestyle.

Personally, I think of my protein and fat as minimums, and enjoy some small treat regularly (usually ice cream) while consuming a fair amount of a variety of veg and some fruits for fibre and micronutrients, and to give me the full feeling.

BuddhaB0y

I used to believe that a calorie is a calorie until recently. If you check around online there are some new well respected medical studies that are showing that in fact a calorie is NOT a calorie.

From a physics perspective, yes a calorie is a calorie, however they have found that in the human body, we process different types of calories differently. Basically what they found is.... If you were trying to lose weight, If you ate all your calories in carrots, you would lose more weight and be healthier than if you ate the exact same amount of calories in fat.

I don't have the inclination to locate and post links for the studies, but they are out there if you wish to look for it.

rankinsect

BuddhaB0y wrote: »

I used to believe that a calorie is a calorie until recently. If you check around online there are some new well respected medical studies that are showing that in fact a calorie is NOT a calorie.

From a physics perspective, yes a calorie is a calorie, however they have found that in the human body, we process different types of calories differently. Basically what they found is.... If you were trying to lose weight, If you ate all your calories in carrots, you would lose more weight and be healthier than if you ate the exact same amount of calories in fat.

I don't have the inclination to locate and post links for the studies, but they are out there if you wish to look for it.

Biology does complicate things, but not by much - "a calorie is a calorie" isn't precisely true - particularly for fiber which is only partially digested - but it's close enough to true to be useful. Some of the things people usually call out, though - like the thermic effect of food - are more complex than they portray, because of homeostatic feedback loops. If you eat a lot of protein, yes, a significant portion of the calories in the protein are "lost" as heat rather than forming ATP for your cells to use. However, because that extra heat is produced, your body produces less heat by other mechanisms like brown fat thermogenesis, so while you gained fewer calories from the protein, you burned fewer calories in your resting metabolism and balanced it out.

Neither the all-carrot diet nor the all-fat diet sound particularly healthy, by the way - you'd probably end up with kwashiorkor (dietary protein deficiency) on either of those diets which would eventually cause organ failure and death by starvation, even if you had enough total calories.

cwolfman13

a balanced diet is important where general nutrition is concerned...there's more to being healthy and whatnot than just losing weight...

nutmegoreo

BuddhaB0y wrote: »

I used to believe that a calorie is a calorie until recently. If you check around online there are some new well respected medical studies that are showing that in fact a calorie is NOT a calorie.

From a physics perspective, yes a calorie is a calorie, however they have found that in the human body, we process different types of calories differently. Basically what they found is.... If you were trying to lose weight, If you ate all your calories in carrots, you would lose more weight and be healthier than if you ate the exact same amount of calories in fat.

I don't have the inclination to locate and post links for the studies, but they are out there if you wish to look for it.

But who is going to eat all carrots? And what about protein and fats, both are needed in a healthy balanced diet. BALANCE for macronutrients and micronutrients is important. You are talking about weight loss in a bubble without considering other factors such as lifestyle, taste preferences, and honestly I can't see how eating nothing but carrots would be remotely healthy in the long run.

Sued0nim

BuddhaB0y wrote: »

I used to believe that a calorie is a calorie until recently. If you check around online there are some new well respected medical studies that are showing that in fact a calorie is NOT a calorie.

From a physics perspective, yes a calorie is a calorie, however they have found that in the human body, we process different types of calories differently. Basically what they found is.... If you were trying to lose weight, If you ate all your calories in carrots, you would lose more weight and be healthier than if you ate the exact same amount of calories in fat.

I don't have the inclination to locate and post links for the studies, but they are out there if you wish to look for it.

It's good enough

It balances out

Majoring in the minors does not help one conquer ones own issues of eating far too much and moving fat too little

kimny72

OP, no - macros do not DIRECTLY affect weight loss.

But different macro ratios CAN affect satiety, making it easier to stick to your calorie goal. Many people find if they are too low in protein or fat, increasing those macros can help them feel fuller.

And if you want to maintain lean muscle mass as you lose weight, it is important to get enough protein.

Macros come into play more when you apply them to health and fitness goals. Calories for weight loss/gain, macros for health/fitness.

BuddhaB0y

I didn't mean to say that it was a big impact or that one should eat all carrots.

Sorry maybe I was being too literal in my answer, I hate when others do that too. I just had this same conversation with some friends a few weeks ago and they schooled me on my "calorie is a calorie" beliefs.

Technically there is a tiny difference, but not enough to worry about. Like everyone else says, nutritional balance and daily calorie deficit seems to be the key for healthy weight loss.

Yi5hedr3

Totally different effects on your body. Yes, it matters. You can lose weight eating candy bars and drinking cokes on a deficit, but it will be all muscle.