Will I gain fat if I'm in a caloric deficit but I'm eating junk and fatty foods?

wally2wiki

Not to sound obvious,but it's hard to believe that I can lose fat, and not muscle by just decreasing calories and eating twix, pop tarts and m&ms.

I eat six meals a day . My main meals breakfast,lunch and dinner are healthy and contain pasta,eggs, protein and vegetables.

But I normally eat junk food snacks in between as listed above.

I strength train 3x per week and I will add cardio.

I just lost all my water weight also, so now the real test is on.

What do you all think?

malibu927

If you're in a calorie deficit it's impossible to gain fat. It doesn't matter what foods you eat.

cwolfman13

A calorie is a unit of energy...when you consume a balance of energy, you maintain...when you consume more energy than you expend, that surplus energy is stored as body fat...it's like your backup generator. When you consume less energy than you expend, your backup generator kicks on and you burn body fat to make up for the deficiency of energy.

It has nothing to do with a particular food or "junk" food snack or whatever...weight management is about energy.

You can't get fat in a deficit...that would be equivalent to creating something from nothing.

NorthCascades

No you'll lose fat. Like the man who ate nothing but McDonald's for 6 months and lost 50+ pounds.

cerise_noir

wally2wiki wrote: »

Not to sound obvious,but it's hard to believe that I can lose fat, and not muscle by just decreasing calories and eating twix, pop tarts and m&ms.

I have....why is it unbelievable? Calories are king for weight loss after all.


One will still lose a little muscle in a deficit no matter what.

trigden1991

You will lose muscle if you're in a calorie deficit but what you eat won't affect this much.

butterfli7o

The answer to your original question is no.

AnvilHead

Ask this guy: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

Or right here on MFP, read this thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it/p1

peaceout_aly

You'll still lose. Calorie deficit is scientifically proven to make you lose weight. You might not feel great....but you'll still lose lbs.

VeryKatie

You won't gain fat. But you might lose muscle making it LOOK like you gained fat.
It's really hard (maybe impossible) to gain muscle on a deficit. If you're not doing the right kind of strength training, you can still lose muscle.

lemurcat12

trigden1991 wrote: »

You will lose muscle if you're in a calorie deficit but what you eat won't affect this much.

Except that having adequate protein with the exercise that is described will protect against muscle loss. You will still lose some, but can minimize it.

OP, eating junk food won't keep you from losing fat, but if your overall diet is such that protein is low you could lose more than necessary.

crzycatlady1

AnvilHead wrote: »

Ask this guy: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

Or right here on MFP, read this thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it/p1

Ha you beat me to it-love the Twinkie dude

CFPeterson

And since junk food tends to be high in calories you won't be eating much at all and likely be famished constantly.

cerise_noir

CFPeterson wrote: »

And since junk food tends to be high in calories you won't be eating much at all and likely be famished constantly.

No one is actually saying eat junk and only junk.

Moderation works well.

cityruss

No.

crzycatlady1

CFPeterson wrote: »

And since junk food tends to be high in calories you won't be eating much at all and likely be famished constantly.

From OP- I eat six meals a day . My main meals breakfast,lunch and dinner are healthy and contain pasta,eggs, protein and vegetables. But I normally eat junk food snacks in between

Don't really see how eating a candy bar or a Pop Tart as a snack is going to leave her feeling famished? I ate a serving of chocolate chip cookies this afternoon as a snack and I'm not gnawing on my desk right now or anything

AnvilHead

CFPeterson wrote: »

And since junk food tends to be high in calories you won't be eating much at all and likely be famished constantly.

All except for the part where OP said:

I eat six meals a day . My main meals breakfast,lunch and dinner are healthy and contain pasta,eggs, protein and vegetables.

Nobody is advocating eating nothing but junk food all day every day. Although one would still lose weight doing so.

mikebaker8488

No

everher

crzycatlady1 wrote: »

Don't really see how eating a candy bar or a Pop Tart as a snack is going to leave her feeling famished? I ate a serving of chocolate chip cookies this afternoon as a snack and I'm not gnawing on my desk right now or anything

Mmmm Pop Tart. I just finished off a serving of cookies myself.

OP, I think it's so hard to believe that you can lose weight eating whatever you want because there's so much misinformation out there.

But yes, I've been eating cookies, chocolate, ice cream, etc. the entire time and still am losing weight.

Jruzer

AnvilHead wrote: »

CFPeterson wrote: »

Nobody is advocating eating nothing but junk food all day every day.

That poor straw man sure gets slain frequently around here. He's like Freddy Kruger or Jason.

NorthCascades

AnvilHead wrote: »

Nobody is advocating eating nothing but junk food all day every day. Although one would still lose weight doing so.

This. There's a world of difference between "this is how things work" and "you should do bad things."

trigden1991

lemurcat12 wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

You will lose muscle if you're in a calorie deficit but what you eat won't affect this much.

Except that having adequate protein with the exercise that is described will protect against muscle loss. You will still lose some, but can minimize it.

OP, eating junk food won't keep you from losing fat, but if your overall diet is such that protein is low you could lose more than necessary.

I agree hence why I said "won't affect this much". Muscle loss for overweight and obese people is not as common or easy as people seem to believe. It really only comes in to play when you are lean or very active.

rileysowner

wally2wiki wrote: »

Not to sound obvious,but it's hard to believe that I can lose fat, and not muscle by just decreasing calories and eating twix, pop tarts and m&ms.

I eat six meals a day . My main meals breakfast,lunch and dinner are healthy and contain pasta,eggs, protein and vegetables.

But I normally eat junk food snacks in between as listed above.

I strength train 3x per week and I will add cardio.

I just lost all my water weight also, so now the real test is on.

What do you all think?

If you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. Strength training will spare muscle mass, as will getting sufficient protein. As for eating junk food, while it doesn't generally hold one's hunger down long term, if you are in a calorie deficit you will lose.

Why are you eating 6 meals a day? Does that work to keep you satisfied, or would 3 larger meals of the more nutrition food work as well?