Is it about more than just calories?

losing1tdb

I've been tracking on and off for a while. More on than off lately due to work with a nutritionist. One thing that I'm sort of noticing is that my weight loss seems to be better when the quality of my calories is better.

AKA - say I have 1600 Kcal but it's with food that's processed, fatty, high sugar, or something that's not good for me. I met my calorie goal, but my weight stays flat or goes up.

On the flip side, if those 1600 Kcal are from natural, whole, raw, healthy foods, I'm much more likely to have a weight loss.

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this or has any insights.

diannethegeek

A lot of things affect scale weight that aren't necessarily affecting your fat loss. For instance, when you eat more sodium your body retains more water, which increases your scale weight and masks the fat loss that's happening. Likewise hormones, stress, exercise, etc. can all cause us to weigh more without actually impacting whether or not you're burning fat.

jwdieter

Absolutely about more than just calories. You're in the "Food and Nutrition" forum.

If you like something, you require multiple citations and still won't believe anything negative about it.
If you don't like something, you require no studies and believe everything negative about it.

So you have to ask yourself, "do you like your food?"

If yes, you believe you're right, so good job.

whierd

Losing weight is indeed about calories, regardless of their source. That can be taken a step further, however, by looking at your macronutrient goals. While you can lose weight simply by only paying attention to calories, you will be losing muscle mass as well as fat mass, which you generally do not want. So you need to eat an adequate amount of protein and fats to promote muscle repair and healthy organ and cellular function.

While losing fat mass is the most important goal for an obese person due to it being a major risk factor, you also need to keep in mind that there are other health considerations when choosing the foods you want to eat. So what I recommend is moderation. Feel free to enjoy burgers, pizza, chips, soda, etc, but do not neglect your fruit and veggie intake either.

Alluminati

I've been tracking on and off for a while. More on than off lately due to work with a nutritionist. One thing that I'm sort of noticing is that my weight loss seems to be better when the quality of my calories is better.

You don't track consistently so you're not even sure. I track consistently and I don't notice a difference in the scale, but I do notice I get hungry and will want to wipe out my daily deficit if I ate something calorie dense but not as filling.

Showcase_Brodown

Is "it" about more than just calories?

Health, nutrition, and fitness is definitely about more than just calories.

If we are only talking about weight (in the context of energy balance, disregarding water, etc) then yes, it's just about calories.