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Does calories in vs calories out really matter?

bercyn1291
bercyn1291 Posts: 18 Member
edited November 13 in Debate Club
It is agreed upon that quality of the food matters in faster weight loss but ideally calories out-calories in should determine how much weight you lose. Please share your experience.
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Replies

  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,331 Member
    bercyn1291 wrote: »
    It is agreed upon that quality of the food matters in faster weight loss but ideally calories out-calories in should determine how much weight you lose. Please share your experience.

    I don't think it is "agreed upon" that quality of food matters in faster weight loss. It doesn't. All it has to do with is nutrition and compliance. That is, their are more nutrients in veggies, as well as they are lower calorie density so they provide more bulk allowing for many people to feel more satisfied with their meal because it is bigger so they stick with the calorie goal.

    Weight loss is down to calories in versus calories out. There are confounding factors that either make the calories in difficult to calculate completely accurately, and which affect the calories out end due to things that may make a person's metabolism vary significantly from the average. Having said that, the vast majority of people fall within the normal range for calories burned, and the calories in part can be brought to a significantly close approximation through careful measurement of portions consumed.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    stevencloser wrote: »
    Gallowmere1984 wrote: »
    TeaBea wrote: »
    bercyn1291 wrote: »
    It is agreed upon that quality of the food matters in faster weight loss but ideally calories out-calories in should determine how much weight you lose. Please share your experience.

    Calories in vs. calories out are ALL that matters for weight loss.

    Quality of food matters for health.

    Faster weight loss is usually unhealthy weight loss. Obese people can lose quickly, but the rest of us risk lean muscle mass. When our bodies don't have fuel.....they will catobolize existing lean muscle. High quality food does not make us immune.

    Not immune, but you can eat in ways in crash diets that severely limit LBM loss. I think a lot of the "zomg I lost muscle" stuff comes from people thinking that they are less fat than they actually are. I have yet to see before and after DEXAs of anyone who went on a short term crash, that suffered from notable catabolism in the process. Sure, if they drag it out over months, things can get pretty bad.

    There is a proposed maximum rate of fat loss per day based on amount of fat there is on a body as the fat cells can apparently only release their content so fast, so going above and beyond that for your rate of loss would necessarily involve muscle.

    While this is true, it ignores that fact that fat isn't just fat. There's water, connective tissue, capillaries, etc. involved in the storage. While yes, technically those are not fat, they go out the door along with it. There will always be some loss that's "not fat" if only for that reason alone. There are a lot of things that the body stores and uses other than fat an muscle. Unfortunately, we seem to have this weird "all LBM is either muscle, bone, or organs" thing going on around here.
  • Hamsibian
    Hamsibian Posts: 1,388 Member
    In my experience, I have health issues to the point CICO alone doesn't work with weight gain. In fact, I am underweight. I only started gaining weight when I had to get rid of all packaged processed foods plus certain whole foods that cause my symptoms to worsen. I still work with CICO with mostly meat, seafood, low carb veggies and fruits.

    That's just my experience. CICO matters if your only goal is weight loss/gain. Eating a variety of quality food is for your overall health, but you can still enjoy what you like if it doesn't create any issues.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Is this going to be one of those threads where an OP drops a provocative and inaccurate statement like "everyone agrees quality of food determines how fast you lose weight" and then the rest of post comments which largely agree with each other but disagree with the OP, but we never hear from OP again to clarify where the inaccurate information came from or if she meant something different?

    I'm betting yes. Hope not.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    seska422 wrote: »
    bercyn1291 wrote: »
    It is agreed upon that quality of the food matters in faster weight loss but ideally calories out-calories in should determine how much weight you lose. Please share your experience.

    Citation needed.

    The extent of the calorie deficit is what matters for weight loss.

    I've lost about 110 pounds and I certainly don't eat "clean".

    Yep, my experience as well. I've lost around 50lbs and I don't eat clean or any special way-I just eat the foods I like, but in smaller calorie amounts.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    bercyn1291 wrote: »
    It is agreed upon that quality of the food matters in faster weight loss

    Whoever agrees about this is wrong. You should stop listening to them.

    Man loses 56 pounds after eating only McDonald's for six months
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    In to hear more about that crazy expensive steak.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    bercyn1291 wrote: »
    It is agreed upon that quality of the food matters in faster weight loss but ideally calories out-calories in should determine how much weight you lose. Please share your experience.

    Disagree about quality of food having anything to do with weight loss. All weight loss is about calories. Speed of weight loss is about the size of your calorie deficit.
    I have been succesful losing weight with just watching my calorie intake.

  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    In to hear more about that crazy expensive steak.

    Sorry, I was joking, didn't really try it. I wish I could afford it. I was drooling just reading about it.
  • DisruptedMatrix
    DisruptedMatrix Posts: 130 Member
    I try to eat things like eggs and baked potatos with margarine and cheddar cheese and chicken Caesar salad (actually, that is what i eat every day right now) because 1. they have less calories than things considered junk food so I can eat more 2. they make me feel fuller than that 450 calorie mcdonalds quarter pounder. When I buy a 450 quarter pounder or a 500 calorie personal pan pizza, I inevitably end up being hungry again an hour later. This can lead to me falling off the wagon.
  • DisruptedMatrix
    DisruptedMatrix Posts: 130 Member
    Look up "calorie density" if you are looking for foods that give you a bang for your caloric buck.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    bercyn1291 wrote: »
    It is agreed upon that quality of the food matters in faster weight loss but ideally calories out-calories in should determine how much weight you lose. Please share your experience.

    "Agreed upon" by who? Because as you can see, most here don't agree with that at all. Cite your sources for this "agreement".
  • FSLSBSmfp
    FSLSBSmfp Posts: 38 Member
    CICO is what counts for weight loss. But if you want to feel good, perform better, and have an easier time dieting, then a whole foods diet is the way to go. No sources here, only personal experience B)
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