Can I eat whatever I want and lose weight?

ElJefeChief

[deleted]

ElJefeChief

[deleted]

ElJefeChief

You can eat whatever you want and lose weight, provided you're in a caloric deficit.

However, like others said, it's easier to maintain a caloric deficit when you're getting lots of fruits and veggies (fibrous foods).

If you exclusively eat junk (e.g., completely avoiding fruits and veggies, and eating just high-carb, high-fat, processed foods), you might eventually get malnutrition, although that's probably unlikely.

What I tend to do is make room for plenty of fruits, veggies, and proteinaceous foods, and strategically eat so that I have a good bunch of calories left to "spend" at the end of any given day on cookies, magnum bars, chocolate, doritos, etc.

mjglantz

In theory yes but in reality no. I found that it was easier to lose and maintain when I was eating real foods and LOTS of plants.

sijomial

myfitnesspale3 wrote: »

nope. All calories and foods are not the same.

example, eat 8oz of high-salt pumpkin seeds and retain 4-5 pounds of water for a day or two.

Wrong!
All calories are exactly the same. They are a unit of measurement.

Correct.
All foods are not the same, no-one says they are.
Variations in water weight are entirely normal.

Expatmommy79

nxd10 wrote: »

ndj1979 wrote: »

nxd10 wrote: »

Essentially. But I'm going to qualify that. If over half my calories come from carbs I don't lose no matter what my calories. And if it's much more than that I can ever gain despite a deficit.

So some candy and treats - sure, I have ice cream and chocolate almost every day. But that's not where most of my calories come from.

so you are saying if you get 50% of your calories from carbs you do not lose weight even if you are in calorie deficit?

Yes. I plateaued when I was on a deficit if my carbs were too high. Even if I was in a quite deep deficit - 700 calories/day for example. But if I was under 50% of my calories from carbs - especially under 40% - the weight would fall off at the same calorie level.

That's not low carb at all. It's just higher protein and fat. I think (for me) it has to do with insulin spikes. If my carbs get too high it is indicative that I'm eating too many easily digested carbs - pasta, potatoes, etc. All good food, but not something I want to be getting most of my calories from.

True for me too... Low Gi carbs are ok but too many high GI carbs stall me.

ndj1979

mjglantz wrote: »

In theory yes but in reality no. I found that it was easier to lose and maintain when I was eating real foods and LOTS of plants.

so you can eat food in a calorie deficit and gain weight????

what are fake foods?

ndj1979

Expatmommy79 wrote: »

nxd10 wrote: »

ndj1979 wrote: »

nxd10 wrote: »

Essentially. But I'm going to qualify that. If over half my calories come from carbs I don't lose no matter what my calories. And if it's much more than that I can ever gain despite a deficit.

So some candy and treats - sure, I have ice cream and chocolate almost every day. But that's not where most of my calories come from.

so you are saying if you get 50% of your calories from carbs you do not lose weight even if you are in calorie deficit?

Yes. I plateaued when I was on a deficit if my carbs were too high. Even if I was in a quite deep deficit - 700 calories/day for example. But if I was under 50% of my calories from carbs - especially under 40% - the weight would fall off at the same calorie level.

That's not low carb at all. It's just higher protein and fat. I think (for me) it has to do with insulin spikes. If my carbs get too high it is indicative that I'm eating too many easily digested carbs - pasta, potatoes, etc. All good food, but not something I want to be getting most of my calories from.

True for me too... Low Gi carbs are ok but too many high GI carbs calories stall me.

fixed it for oyu.

if you are not losing weight then you are not in a calorie deficit. Carbs have nothing to do with it, unless you have medical condition or food allergy ….

mburgess458

I'd say "yes and no" is the correct answer. Yes, if you eat the right number of calories made up of any foods you'll reach the weight you want. But no, it won't necessarily be as easy. There have been numerous studies showing that eating fast food screws up the flora in your intestines...other studies that show that flora is responsible for feeling full.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/junk-food-kills-helpful-gut-bacteria-study-finds/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151124143330.htm
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gut-bacteria-help-make-us-fat-and-thin/

So eating crap will likely make it harder to eat the correct amount. Not to mention that eating crap will negatively impact your health in other ways.

(And yes it's better to be slim and have a bad diet than to be fat and have a bad diet, but obviously the best option is slim with a good diet.)

LivingtheLeanDream

There's a lot on this thread about excess carbs, and whilst it's true that a gain shows after a day of excess carbs it's not real gain but water weight. I experience this every weekend when I hit the chippy/Chinese takeaway ), always goes in 3 days.... the only way to have real gain is to eat above maintenance...
Weight loss is all about cals in/out, no matter what those cals are made of.
I prefer not to feel hungry so eat lots of protein/fats/fibre.

Ps who knew there was such a word as proteineaceous! You learn something new every day lol

loserzack

I have found that whenever i go back to "whatever" I want is not a good idea. It increases my cravings and i just start spiraling down...