Will eating healthy help me in the long run despite not losing weight?

Relaxingmind

Basically I'm not gaining but not losing either. My intention is to lose. I'm lightly active (10k steps and 5 days of workouts) and consume 1400-1600 calories depending on the day. 90 percent of my diet consists of fruits, veggies, seafood, eggs, quinoa, rice, almond milk, nuts and so on. And I drink 10 glasses of water a day. I can't eat gluten or dairy because of allergies. And I rarely eat dessert because I don't have much of a sweet tooth. I'm not overweight but not slim either. Am 5'5 and around 140. What upsets me the most is my sister (who's the same height and only a couple years younger than me) is 115, slim, less active. She hates fruits, veggies, and meat unless the meat is fried or fast food. She eats ice cream or cookies every night and drinks juice or soda instead of water. And she doesn't track calories either. This doesn't seem right. Aren't the healthy foods supposed to make me slim and healthy, especially with me being active too?

seska422

For weight, it's all about calories.

800 calories of healthy food has 200 more calories than 600 calories of not-quite-so-healthy food and so would contribute more to your daily calorie intake.

This chart has some helpful advice:

TavistockToad

Doesn't matter how 'healthy' you eat, if you're not in a calorie deficit, you won't lose weight.

If you're not losing weight it's because you're eating too much.

Lounmoun

Are you tracking your food? Weighing it all on a digital food scale? If you aren't then do that. You are probably underestimating food intake or overestimating your calorie burns or both and thus maintaining instead of losing.
You are going to lose weight if you have a calorie deficit. For weight loss calories is what matters.
You eat a particular way to meet your body's nutritional needs and to feel satisfied. It is a good idea to eat foods withots lf nutrients. Doesn't cause you to lose weight if you eat more calories.
If your sister weighs less and is maintaining it then she is eating fewer calories even though she is eating less nutritious food and less active.

rybo

Unfortunately that's not how it works. As already stated, eating the foods you are is only going to result in weight loss if you are in a caloric deficit. That said, if you enjoy those foods, by all means keep eating them, just a little less. You will also save your self tons of stress if you don't compare yourself to others.

minime0424

You need to go into your goal settings on MFP and hit maintain weight, then check and see what the calorie sugestion is for maintaining your weight, after that slash 500 to 100 off the calories it says you need to maintain as long as it is not under 1200 per day. You should start losing weight after that!!

minime0424

500-1000 lol

Relaxingmind

seska422 wrote: »

For weight, it's all about calories.

800 calories of healthy food has 200 more calories than 600 calories of not-quite-so-healthy food and so would contribute more to your daily calorie intake.

This chart has some helpful advice:

Why does healthy food have more calories? Explain please

seska422

Relaxingmind wrote: »

seska422 wrote: »

For weight, it's all about calories.

800 calories of healthy food has 200 more calories than 600 calories of not-quite-so-healthy food and so would contribute more to your daily calorie intake.

This chart has some helpful advice:

Why does healthy food have more calories? Explain please

It doesn't. Calories are calories, whether the food is "healthy" or not.

If you eat 800 calories of healthy food and your sister eats 600 calories of not-so-healthy food, you've eaten 200 more calories.

If you eat 350 calories worth of nuts and your sister has a 200 calorie cookie, you've eaten 150 more calories.

Healthy food is good for many reasons. However, it does have calories so it doesn't inherently lead to weight loss.

lemurcat12

Will eating healthy be beneficial to you even if you don't lose? Sure, and I'll note that you are a healthy weight, even if not your ideal. If you were substantially overweight or obese reducing weight would be more of a priority.

You can lose if you want to, though -- just eat less of the overall healthy balanced diet (which I am assuming from your post that you have).

Relaxingmind wrote: »

What upsets me the most is my sister (who's the same height and only a couple years younger than me) is 115, slim, less active. She hates fruits, veggies, and meat unless the meat is fried or fast food. She eats ice cream or cookies every night and drinks juice or soda instead of water. And she doesn't track calories either. This doesn't seem right. Aren't the healthy foods supposed to make me slim and healthy, especially with me being active too?

No, healthy foods (or, more correctly, a healthy diet) doesn't make you slim -- how much you eat does. Many people will find that they just don't eat enough to gain weight so long as they focus on eating mostly nutrient dense foods or an overall healthful diet, but for many of us that's not enough. (Plenty of "healthy foods" also have lots of calories.)

I can maintain weight (at least around BMI 22) easily with such a diet and just being mindful of portions and being active, but I can easily gain weight if I stop being mindful of portions and it takes more work to lose (I'm 5'3 and 125 and would like to be a bit slimmer myself, or at least have lower body fat). It's just life. Focusing on your sister and her diet or things not being fair (nothing is ever "fair", I'm sure there are things about you where she thinks you have an advantage), is really not going to help you reach your goals or serve any positive purpose.

For the record, my sister is same height as me and was effortlessly (or so it seemed, it really wasn't) 110 for most of her life and is 115 now. I've been about 120 at my lowest and struggle with weight much more. Really, I'd still rather be me (because, you know, I am me). As for the diet thing not being fair, I don't see eating healthfully as a trade off, but a joy, and the benefits are much more than weight, but how I feel, overall long term health, so on. Don't think of it as a hardship (or if it seems so, change what you are doing).

VividVegan

You sound like a fine weight for your height. I wouldn't worry about it. If you really want to lose weight while eating healthy though just lower your calories a bit more and/or increase activity.
For the record, my mom used to be in a similar boat. In high school and college she stayed a medium weight despite eating 20x healthier than a majority of the other females who gobbled pizza, mcdonalds, cola as it was called back then, candy bars and fried chicken while having slim figures. She showed me in her old year books and photo albums. Turn the clock to now where a lot of these women are added on her facebook and she has recent photos of. They may still be somewhat slim but look 10-15 years older than their age. While my mom looks 10-15 years younger. Healthy food does your body (and skin) good. Just saying.