does it matter what I eat?
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Seems to be everyone agreeing. I have always wondered this too. I think you just feel better/clearer/more healthy eating real food, as opposed to processed rubbish like Maccas/KFC etc etc. I would much rather a nice healthy Subway... unless I have had a few drinks, then its dirty junk food time!
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I have a calorie deficit of 1500 per day. I never go over and usually have 100-200 left over. I heard that it doesn't matter what you eat, as long as you don't go go over your daily calories you will still lose weight. Am I hurting my progress by eating junk food even though i stay under my calorie goal?
What you eat does not matter as to weight loss, but it does for nutrition.
How much you eat does matter as to weight loss, but It does not when it comes to nutriton.
You are not hurting your weight loss as all as long as you are sure you're staying within your weight loss calorie goals and the scale and/or how your clothes fit confirms this.
Oh brother....that's what I meant in the first place.2 -
I will reiterate its not what you eat but how much. As long as you follow the CICO rule you will do just fine. However things may change, this happened to me before (10 years ago) and now on my new journey. As I have progressed and lost weight I have looked into my macros and what I am eating. If however you are just starting out I would say focus on CICO first
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Is your deficit 1500, or is that your intake? Anyway, losing and maintaining weight is all about CICO. However, what you eat will - to a varying degree, this is individual - determine how you feel: satiety, energy, mood. If you feel fine, it will be easier to stick to your allotted calories, than if you feel miserable. You can push through, but it will be hard, and you're most likely doomed to fail. So indirectly, diet is important for weight management. But only indirectly. In theory, you can eat nothing but donuts and lose weight. In reality, a diet like that would make you hungry, ill and lethargic. A diet consisting only of grilled chicken breast and broccoli will make you feel miserable as well. So it's important that your diet (=what you eat) is portion controlled, and nutritious, and tasty.0
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Mavrick_RN wrote: »Only if your calorie goal is under your calorie requirement. If you only need 1200 calories a day and you're eating 1300 to 1500 then you will GAIN weight even if it's all "healthy" foods.
Depends what you mean by "need 1200 cals a day". If you mean a TDEE of 1200 (which is highly unlikely to be that low) then yes, eating above your TDEE (whatever it actually is) would likely result in weight gain over time no matter what foods you are eating. However if 1200 is the calorie goal provided by MFP, then it likely has a deficit built in based on the rate of loss selected originally. If a person selects to lose 1 lb/week or even 2 lb/week, they would have a 500 or 1000 cal deficit built into that number, so exceeding by a couple hundred cals would still be a deficit.
I'm not sure I understood if you were just using a hypothetical 1200 cals but given that is so often the deficit goal provided by MFP I wanted to clarify.0 -
1500 is a pretty big deficit unless someone is 100+ lbs overweight. Did your doctor give you this deficit? Or did you decide on your own 3 lbs/week sounded good?
MFP does not typically give a higher deficit to anyone than 1000, so I'm just curious where you got this number.0 -
1500 is a pretty big deficit unless someone is 100+ lbs overweight. Did your doctor give you this deficit? Or did you decide on your own 3 lbs/week sounded good?
MFP does not typically give a higher deficit to anyone than 1000, so I'm just curious where you got this number.
I think OP meant their calorie goal at deficit was 1500, but she hasn't confirmed that.2 -
assuming you mean you can eat 1500 and you have a couple hundred left over after all meals are eaten...
for weight loss no it doesn't matter what you eat.
I typically have a treat every night.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Mavrick_RN wrote: »Only if your calorie goal is under your calorie requirement. If you only need 1200 calories a day and you're eating 1300 to 1500 then you will GAIN weight even if it's all "healthy" foods.
Depends what you mean by "need 1200 cals a day". If you mean a TDEE of 1200 (which is highly unlikely to be that low) then yes, eating above your TDEE (whatever it actually is) would likely result in weight gain over time no matter what foods you are eating. However if 1200 is the calorie goal provided by MFP, then it likely has a deficit built in based on the rate of loss selected originally. If a person selects to lose 1 lb/week or even 2 lb/week, they would have a 500 or 1000 cal deficit built into that number, so exceeding by a couple hundred cals would still be a deficit.
I'm not sure I understood if you were just using a hypothetical 1200 cals but given that is so often the deficit goal provided by MFP I wanted to clarify.
Yes, 1200 was just an example of what a person needs to function on a daily basis (TDEE). Maybe a better example would be, if it takes 1200 calories to maintain your current weight then consistently eating 1300-1500 calories will cause you to slowly gain weight. I was trying to pick a number where 1300 -1500 (the number of calories the OP is eating) would actually be too much.
Better said by another, "It's not what you eat it's how much"
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Mavrick_RN wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »Mavrick_RN wrote: »Only if your calorie goal is under your calorie requirement. If you only need 1200 calories a day and you're eating 1300 to 1500 then you will GAIN weight even if it's all "healthy" foods.
Depends what you mean by "need 1200 cals a day". If you mean a TDEE of 1200 (which is highly unlikely to be that low) then yes, eating above your TDEE (whatever it actually is) would likely result in weight gain over time no matter what foods you are eating. However if 1200 is the calorie goal provided by MFP, then it likely has a deficit built in based on the rate of loss selected originally. If a person selects to lose 1 lb/week or even 2 lb/week, they would have a 500 or 1000 cal deficit built into that number, so exceeding by a couple hundred cals would still be a deficit.
I'm not sure I understood if you were just using a hypothetical 1200 cals but given that is so often the deficit goal provided by MFP I wanted to clarify.
Yes, 1200 was just an example of what a person needs to function on a daily basis (TDEE). Maybe a better example would be, if it takes 1200 calories to maintain your current weight then consistently eating 1300-1500 calories will cause you to slowly gain weight. I was trying to pick a number where 1300 -1500 (the number of calories the OP is eating) would actually be too much.
Better said by another, "It's not what you eat it's how much"
Right but since no one's TDEE is likely that low, it would probably be a better example to use 1800 as the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight, with eating 2000 cals of healthy food to demonstrate how you would still gain.
I was just concerned that people would fixate on the 1200 cal level since that is so often the default recommendation from MFP based on the goal rate of loss selected and think that you meant eating above your goal would cause you to gain weight.0 -
In the long run, quality will matter. Your body was not designed to optimally function on junk food.0
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My before (skinny-fat) and after (lean) pics state otherwise. CICO = ideal for weight loss. Nutrition = ideal for body composition.0 -
Nope. Junk food is in the micro and macro nutrients. If more than 50% of your calories are in fat or sugar, you might want to make another choice. If the amount of sodium is more than 40% of your daily allowance per serving, you might want to reconsider. Garbage in, garbage out. If your objective is to lose weight, eat whatever you want. If your objective is to lose weight, keep it off, and be healthy all at the same time, it most definitely matters what you eat.
If you eat cheese all afternoon without having some fruit with it, you are probably guaranteed to have constipation. Some choices have definite consequences.
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FeedMeFish wrote: »
My before (skinny-fat) and after (lean) pics state otherwise. CICO = ideal for weight loss. Nutrition = ideal for body composition.
Junk food is the perception.
I did a test and hit my macros using just McDonalds food...lots consider that junk but if I can get my macros in chances are my micros are covered as well and that is a good thing.
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Nope. Junk food is in the micro and macro nutrients. If more than 50% of your calories are in fat or sugar, you might want to make another choice. If the amount of sodium is more than 40% of your daily allowance per serving, you might want to reconsider. Garbage in, garbage out. If your objective is to lose weight, eat whatever you want. If your objective is to lose weight, keep it off, and be healthy all at the same time, it most definitely matters what you eat.
If you eat cheese all afternoon without having some fruit with it, you are probably guaranteed to have constipation. Some choices have definite consequences.
Tell that to the LCHF people...lots eat tonnes of fat and lose weight and feel great and work out hard...0
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