Good calories vs bad calories
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zoebrookslloyd
Posts: 4 Member
Hi. Can you lose weight by eating more calories but eating the right foods. I.e. could I lose more weight by eating 1400 calories of fruit and veg versus 1200 calories of fried food.
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Replies
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I'll be happy to tell you: There are no bad calories!!!
You only need to eat your daily calorie allotment's worth of calories and you'll lose weight, no matter what food you eat, "good" or "bad".
For nutrition's sake, you may want to look into healthier options, but that's all. 0 -
You would likely lose weight with either those diets because 1400 is going to be a deficit for most people. Calories consumed will all be used or stored, regardless of their source. You will likely get more volume of food per calories consumed with a diet high in fruit and veg, especially if you include lots of lower sugar fruit and non-starchy vegetables.
But it still all comes down to calories.0 -
No.
As far as weight loss goes, a calorie is a calorie.
For nutrition, health, and satiety (feeling full), the make up of the calories you eat matters. But in terms of pure weight loss, it doesn't.0 -
"Calorie" is just another way of referring to the energy in food. When it comes to losing weight, it's the energy in food that counts. We need the vitamins that are in fruits and vegetables, but the calories in fruits and vegetables are the same in as the calories in fried foods. They just may have different macro- and micronutrients.
So if you want to lose weight, use this website (or another one) to determine how many calories you need and focus on that. You will also want, for health, to focus on macronutrients (like protein and fat) and vitamins.0 -
No, there are no magic combinations of foods that would allow you to lose more weight than others. From a strictly weight-loss perspective, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.0
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Calories aren't good or bad, they're neutral. If you ate 1400 calories of healthy foods and 1400 calories of 'junk' food (defined for this example as high/calorie, low-nutrient), it's still 1400 calories and if that's below your maintenance calories, you'll lose weight.
Now, choosing 'junk' food to fill your calories means you'll be eating less overall, which can make you feel hungry a lot of the time, and your body won't be getting the nutrition it needs to function properly. So adding in healthier options that are low in calories but high in nutrients is a good idea. But if you're craving wings and go out to get some, that's fine. Try and plan your day/evening to account for those calories, and if you happen to go over because it was an unplanned meal, like a celebration, log it and move on. One day over isn't the end of the world.0 -
I agree with al of the above!0
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zoebrookslloyd wrote: »Hi. Can you lose weight by eating more calories but eating the right foods. I.e. could I lose more weight by eating 1400 calories of fruit and veg versus 1200 calories of fried food.
No (you'd lose weight on both, but NOT more weight with more calories just because "good foods"). However, you are probably more likely to underestimate the calories from certain high cal foods or to be so unsatisfied (because of low fiber and low food volume) that you end up overeating.
On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Better to understand nutrition and eat a mix of foods and a balanced diet if you want to be healthy. No reason that can't include some lower nutrient/higher cal but really delicious foods you love as well as a lot of other (also tasty) nutrient dense foods like fruits and veg and legumes and lean meats and healthy fats.
For weight loss, calories are what matter, but for most people it's easier to stick consistently to an appropriate calorie level if you aren't hungry and feel good and energetic, and eating a more nutritious diet can help with that.0 -
What the others have said.
The only thing I'd add is some people find certain combination of food more filling than others. So while the overall total weight loss wouldn't vary, you may find a 1400 calorie diet consisting of relatively high protein more satiating (and thus presumably easier to maintain) than a 1400 calorie diet of relatively high carbs. Each person tends to be different, though - there's not a 'one size fits all' magical combination.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »zoebrookslloyd wrote: »Hi. Can you lose weight by eating more calories but eating the right foods. I.e. could I lose more weight by eating 1400 calories of fruit and veg versus 1200 calories of fried food.
No, although you are probably more likely to underestimate the calories from certain high cal foods or to be so unsatisfied (because of low fiber and low food volume) that you end up overeating.
On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Better to understand nutrition and eat a mix of foods and a balanced diet if you want to be healthy. No reason that can't include some lower nutrient/higher cal but really delicious foods you love as well as a lot of other (also tasty) nutrient dense foods like fruits and veg and legumes and lean meats and healthy fats.
For weight loss, calories are what matter, but for most people it's easier to stick consistently to an appropriate calorie level if you aren't hungry and feel good and energetic, and eating a more nutritious diet can help with that.
This.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Hmm. Not sure this statement would always be true.0 -
no.
a calorie is calorie is calorie.
they may have different nutritional content and values, but in terms of weight loss, it does not matter.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Hmm. Not sure this statement would always be true.
We've discussed this before. My belief is that normally when people say "just fruit and veg" they don't mean "eating a balanced vegan diet that includes legumes and other sources of protein and are careful to get good sources of fat like avocado and nuts and seeds." They mean "I will eat only fruit and non-starchy vegetables." They have a mistaken belief that those are the healthiest foods and that just eating them is therefore the healthiest thing to do. I've seen it over and over again on MFP. When people mean vegan or plant-based, they say vegan or plant-based.0 -
1400 calories is 1400 calories. However, for me "bad calories" are calories that don't fill me up (don't provide satiety) so I still feel hungry and crappy and want to eat more. That's why I set my calories and my macros (protein/fat/carbs) at levels where I feel satiated or full, with reduced food cravings. That way I stick to my calorie goal. By the way -- 1400 would not be enough cals for me. I would rather eat more calories and lose weight slower, but feel less hungry (and also taking into account the intense exercise I do).0
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Hmm. Not sure this statement would always be true.
We've discussed this before. My belief is that normally when people say "just fruit and veg" they don't mean "eating a balanced vegan diet that includes legumes and other sources of protein and are careful to get good sources of fat like avocado and nuts and seeds." They mean "I will eat only fruit and non-starchy vegetables." They have a mistaken belief that those are the healthiest foods and that just eating them is therefore the healthiest thing to do. I've seen it over and over again on MFP. When people mean vegan or plant-based, they say vegan or plant-based.
That's quite a generalization. I'm not sure most people would get all that from simply saying eating only fruit and veg isn't healthy.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Hmm. Not sure this statement would always be true.
We've discussed this before. My belief is that normally when people say "just fruit and veg" they don't mean "eating a balanced vegan diet that includes legumes and other sources of protein and are careful to get good sources of fat like avocado and nuts and seeds." They mean "I will eat only fruit and non-starchy vegetables." They have a mistaken belief that those are the healthiest foods and that just eating them is therefore the healthiest thing to do. I've seen it over and over again on MFP. When people mean vegan or plant-based, they say vegan or plant-based.
That was exactly the assumption that I'd taken from that statement as well. I was about to suggest keeping proteins and fat in balance as well.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Hmm. Not sure this statement would always be true.
We've discussed this before. My belief is that normally when people say "just fruit and veg" they don't mean "eating a balanced vegan diet that includes legumes and other sources of protein and are careful to get good sources of fat like avocado and nuts and seeds." They mean "I will eat only fruit and non-starchy vegetables." They have a mistaken belief that those are the healthiest foods and that just eating them is therefore the healthiest thing to do. I've seen it over and over again on MFP. When people mean vegan or plant-based, they say vegan or plant-based.
That's quite a generalization. I'm not sure most people would get all that from simply saying eating only fruit and veg isn't healthy.
I don't know what "most people" would get, but I'll say that even in the vegan community "fruits and vegetables" is often interpreted as "fruit and non-starchy vegetables." If someone is eating legumes and grains and nuts and seeds, this will usually be specified, as people often don't include these under the umbrella of "vegetables."
I guess we can discuss whether this is technically correct or not, but I think what most people -- including those on plant-based diets -- mean by "fruits and vegetables" is fairly limited. I know that legumes and grains are vegetables, but if someone told me that they only ate fruits and vegetables, my first assumption would be that they were on a very limited and strict diet that didn't include legumes and grains. And I probably would caution them that this isn't going to be great for their health, that they need more protein and fat.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Hmm. Not sure this statement would always be true.
We've discussed this before. My belief is that normally when people say "just fruit and veg" they don't mean "eating a balanced vegan diet that includes legumes and other sources of protein and are careful to get good sources of fat like avocado and nuts and seeds." They mean "I will eat only fruit and non-starchy vegetables." They have a mistaken belief that those are the healthiest foods and that just eating them is therefore the healthiest thing to do. I've seen it over and over again on MFP. When people mean vegan or plant-based, they say vegan or plant-based.
Agreed.
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zoebrookslloyd wrote: »Hi. Can you lose weight by eating more calories but eating the right foods. I.e. could I lose more weight by eating 1400 calories of fruit and veg versus 1200 calories of fried food.
For some people it appears to be true that the type of food (calorie) will affect their weight. Protein takes more energy to use than carbs, some foods create a greater thermogenic effect than others, some people appear more likely to store certain macros as fat and lose eating a majority of other macros, and some foods affect health and hormones which increase or decreases daily caloric requirements.
I don't think it is a huge difference but I would guess the foods you choose could make the differenceof up to a couple of hundred calories per day being stored or burned.
I certainly find it slightly easier to lose weight eating foods that I consider to be healthy. Some foods seem to "stick" to me easier than others.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »On the other hand, just fruit and veg isn't healthy either.
Hmm. Not sure this statement would always be true.
We've discussed this before. My belief is that normally when people say "just fruit and veg" they don't mean "eating a balanced vegan diet that includes legumes and other sources of protein and are careful to get good sources of fat like avocado and nuts and seeds." They mean "I will eat only fruit and non-starchy vegetables." They have a mistaken belief that those are the healthiest foods and that just eating them is therefore the healthiest thing to do. I've seen it over and over again on MFP. When people mean vegan or plant-based, they say vegan or plant-based.
That's quite a generalization. I'm not sure most people would get all that from simply saying eating only fruit and veg isn't healthy.
I don't know what "most people" would get, but I'll say that even in the vegan community "fruits and vegetables" is often interpreted as "fruit and non-starchy vegetables." If someone is eating legumes and grains and nuts and seeds, this will usually be specified, as people often don't include these under the umbrella of "vegetables."
I guess we can discuss whether this is technically correct or not, but I think what most people -- including those on plant-based diets -- mean by "fruits and vegetables" is fairly limited. I know that legumes and grains are vegetables, but if someone told me that they only ate fruits and vegetables, my first assumption would be that they were on a very limited and strict diet that didn't include legumes and grains. And I probably would caution them that this isn't going to be great for their health, that they need more protein and fat.
This very well may be regional. IDK anyone that doesn't include things like carrots, potatoes, squash and beans as vegetables.
Edit: removed question to avoid starting a 'clean eating' type definition debate. Vegetable is in the dictionary, after all.
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