Does quality of food matter if you remain within calories?

0nesecret

Well, today there was a social outing kind of thing and I unfortunately ate cookies, sweetened cinnamon bread, few chips, and a big bite of chocolate bundt cake. I also had a lot of (whole grain) ricecakes and some peanut butter today. Hate to say it but that is probably 700+ calories (a cookie is a killer in itself!)

However, I find that if I monitor well today, I can probably be within calorie limits.

Will eating "junk food" hinder my progress as long as I don't overeat my calories?

stanleypoobrick

Weight loss is, at a general rule, calories in - calories out = end result. So as long as you have a calorie deficit you're going to lose weight. However, junk food is energy dense so there's a lot of calories in a small amount, meaning you're less likely to feel full and probably going to eat more. I mean, 5 cups of generic frozen broccoli comes to 120 calories compared to 1 cookie from my job; which are you more likely to want to snack after? haha ^.^

So as long as you're eating less than your BMR, you'll continue to lose weight; but if you're eating junk food you may feel more lethargic and much hungrier than if you were full up with calorie sparse foods. I hope that makes sense?

jazzii98

Junk food is bad because it doesn't have many of the micronutrients you need (vitamins, minerals etc). As long as you're at a reasonable amount with /all/ your macros, you should be fine.

Still1Workoutatatime

yup

Ian_Stuart

It won't stop your weight loss if you are under your maintenance calories and one bad day doesn't derail your whole effort, but as a general rule you should try to eat as cleanly as possible because your cholesterol, insulin, triglycerides, etc... are all shown to be better on "clean" food.

The study below tested the paleo diet, which is about the "cleanest" diet in terms of adherence to purity rules (If the cavemen didn't have it, you can't eat it) The results are pretty remarkable, but you could likely get most of the results just from shopping around the edges of the grocery store and not going into the aisles of heavily processed food stuff.

http://www.yaboga.com/paleo-metabolic.pdf

Actual science. I'm not sure what that site is, but you can also get the article from the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition if you want to pay $30. http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v63/n8/full/ejcn20094a.html

Results: Compared with the baseline (usual) diet, we observed (a)significant reductionsin BP associated with improved arterial
distensibility (!3.1±2.9, P¼0.01 and þ0.19±0.23, P¼0.05);(b) significant reduction in plasma insulin vs time AUC, during
the OGTT (P¼0.006); and (c) large significant reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglycerides
(!0.8±0.6 (P¼0.007), !0.7±0.5 (P¼0.003) and !0.3±0.3 (P¼0.01) mmol/l respectively). In all these measured variables,
either eight or all nine participants had identical directional responses when switched to paleolithic type diet, that is, near
consistently improved status of circulatory, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism/physiology.
Conclusions: Even short-term consumption of a paleolithic type diet improves BP and glucose tolerance, decreases insulin
secretion, increases insulin sensitivity and improves lipid profiles without weight loss in healthy sedentary humans.
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 11 February 2009; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2009.4

Rocbola

Of course it matters. Many people include the "junk food" in their diet and are healthy, but most healthy people don't make that food a large portion of their calories. Include fruits and vegetables every day in your diet to make sure you are getting vitamins, minerals, phyto-chemicals, anti-oxidants, etc.

RawCarrots

No, it won't hinder your progress as long as you stay within calorie limits (my ticker is a proof )

However, too much junk food will most likely leave you feeling sluggish and tired, and therefore it will be harder to exercise and not overeat. It also has too many calories packed in tiny amounts of food so you will probably be hungry (and again at risk on binging on anything that comes your way)
I love my treats too much but through trial and error have found that I can only handle one treat a day, and one unhealthy meal a week without feeling blah.

GiveMeCoffee

You will be fine! I eat cookies or ice cream or some other type of treat daily. It hasn't hindered my weight loss and my health is improving daily. Allowing for treats in your diet help to sustain this lifestyle, if I didn't I would have quit long ago. Don't worry about it, the big question was did you enjoy them

gigglesinthesun

Well, today there was a social outing kind of thing and I unfortunately ate cookies, sweetened cinnamon bread, few chips, and a big bite of chocolate bundt cake. I also had a lot of (whole grain) ricecakes and some peanut butter today. Hate to say it but that is probably 700+ calories (a cookie is a killer in itself!)

However, I find that if I monitor well today, I can probably be within calorie limits.

Will eating "junk food" hinder my progress as long as I don't overeat my calories?

I'd be surprised if it was only 700+ calories. As for your 'progress' that depends on what you are trying to achieve, but either way one day isn't going to damage anything. Good luck :-)

Cindyinpg

You will be fine! I eat cookies or ice cream or some other type of treat daily. It hasn't hindered my weight loss and my health is improving daily. Allowing for treats in your diet help to sustain this lifestyle, if I didn't I would have quit long ago. Don't worry about it, the big question was did you enjoy them

This! I've lost 125lbs in 16 months and I have ice cream almost everyday, and sometimes Poptarts, chips, cake, cookies, hamburgers etc. It's kept me sane and on track. There are no bad foods, some are just less nutrient dense than others and all can be incorporated into a healthy diet.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://impruvism.com/flexible-dieting-basics/

hanbanx25

Good post. I know a lot of people will be wondering the same thing! I usually have a "clean" eating day if I've indulged in too much junk food the day before. It seems to get all the impurities out of your body

sdreed25

It won't stop your weight loss if you are under your maintenance calories and one bad day doesn't derail your whole effort, but as a general rule you should try to eat as cleanly as possible because your cholesterol, insulin, tr iglycerides, etc... are all shown to be better on "clean" food.

The study below tested the paleo diet, which is about the "cleanest" diet in terms of adherence to purity rules (If the cavemen didn't have it, you can't eat it) The results are pretty remarkable, but you could likely get most of the results just from shopping around the edges of the grocery store and not going into the aisles of heavily processed food stuff.

http://www.yaboga.com/paleo-metabolic.pdf

Actual science. I'm not sure what that site is, but you can also get the article from the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition if you want to pay $30. http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v63/n8/full/ejcn20094a.html

Everyone is talking sense here in that it won't hinder you progress and you will lose weight with junk food but as this ^ guy states it's easier with cleaner food but maybe not if you can't live without a little junk as you'll quite. Bottom line is if you scale is moving in the right direction….. who cares!

This is another interesting article worth reading that I found of value;

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/digesting-whole-vs-processed-foods

neandermagnon

for general health - yes

for weight loss - no, although if you're under on protein, you have a greater risk of losing lean mass rather than fat.


my advice:

- give your body all the nutrients it needs
- stay within your calories
- eat what you like so long as you're doing the above... if you're generally well nourished then a bit of so-called "junk food" isn't going to do you any harm, and if you're within your calories, you will lose weight (but like I said you need enough protein + exercise to minimise loss of lean body mass. you want to be losing fat and nothing but fat)

ehsan517

it is all calories in vs out...but generally(for me personally) the more whole foods I eat the better i feel(not look)...meaning I have more energy..i experience less lethargy...my hair and skin feel great...cause i`ve been on that junk food calorie counting diet and well, i didnt get fat...and i was still ripped..but at times i`d feel like i have no energy or would feel s***....so thats my 2 cents on it. I usually allocate 20% of calories to these "unclean"(cause thats what they are called apparently) foods.

nikkisa10

It depends....you can lose weight eating junk food BUT you won't necessarily be healthy. There are plenty of skinny people with diabetes, heart disease, etc. In order to be healthy, quality of food matters

stanleypoobrick

Another thing is that cutting out all snacks is a bad idea if you're used to eating them anyway, because then you're more likely to see it as a "diet" and go off the rails because your cravings are out of control. If you want to eat something sweet then do so! A strong attitude towards food is the most important thing, even if it means the scale moves a bit slower, because a healthy mind is just as key as a healthy body. It's all about making healthy, sustainable changes to your current diet, which includes the odd calorie-laden snack if that's what makes you happy. As long as the majority of your food intake is clean and you stay within your calorie limits, it won't affect your progress.

doctorandrew

Just make sure you have the variety of food that will give you your micronutrients needs and fiber.

nicholasawestendorf

sorry to pop your "Calorie bubble" but FAT LOSS (not weight loss) and body COMPOSITION is NOT based on Calories in-calories out. this is a FLAWED system and has NEVER been truly proven in the medical literature, however, they HAVE done studies that show the exact OPPOSITE is true, out of 67,000 + people, split into 5 groups based on their daily calorie intake has shown that the MORE calories they ate, the LESS body fat they carried, and the LESS calories they ate, the MORE body fat they carried. this was done at Harvard BTW. also a recent finding even out on the news, over weight middle school children were shown to eat LESS food than their leaner counterparts. when I was in the Army, we all ate in the dining facility three meals a day, crap food pyramid food, men consumed roughly 4,000 cal/day and women about 3,000 if not more, yet EVERYONE got leaner, except a couple people who tried to "diet" by restricting carbs and calories etc, they kept most of their fat and never performed well like the rest of us. as Long as this Calorie MYTH is perpetuated by so-called "Fitness gurus", who have no actual knowledge of human biology or "negative feedback loops" and how they work in the body, then we will NEVER see an end to Obesity. sure, you can lose weight with calorie reduction, it "Works" short term at best however, 95% of you who "diet" this way, will hit a wall, then fall off this "Diet", and will gain ALL the fat lost plus about an extra 5 pounds of fat more than they started with per "diet cycle". you can ignore my words and what i have given you this day….or you can try something new….EAT LIKE AN ATHLETE TO LOOK LIKE ONE. Not ONE pro athlete or Olympic athlete eats a clean "Diet", they drink Monsters and red bulls and eat cereal and milk and eat like 8000 calories per day, yet they stay LEAN and MUSCULAR like an NFL wide receiver (have you ever seen how they eat?) think about it. there are little to no CrossFit Athletes that "Count Calories" (a practice in futility that is about 25% off anyway on all food labels), they eat maybe 70/30 "Clean" healthy Paleo type foods and some junk food. yet most have 6 packs. hmmmm. why is it that only those looking for fat loss "Diet" and Count Calories and Athletes who look for Performance Eat whatever they want yet get the results that the "fat loss Dieters" seek ? the body is WAY more complicated than "Calories in - Calories Out", sorry, its not something that you can "outsmart" or "fight" or "Force" to do what you want. you must know how the body responds to input so you can work WITH biology not against it.

aedreana

If you can tally the calories within a reasonable estimate so that you can be confident you didn't go over your calorie limit, it won't make the slightest difference that your calories came from junk food!

Sarauk2sf

sorry to pop your "Calorie bubble" but FAT LOSS (not weight loss) and body COMPOSITION is NOT based on Calories in-calories out. this is a FLAWED system and has NEVER been truly proven in the medical literature, however, they HAVE done studies that show the exact OPPOSITE is true, out of 67,000 + people, split into 5 groups based on their daily calorie intake has shown that the MORE calories they ate, the LESS body fat they carried, and the LESS calories they ate, the MORE body fat they carried. this was done at Harvard BTW. also a recent finding even out on the news, over weight middle school children were shown to eat LESS food than their leaner counterparts. when I was in the Army, we all ate in the dining facility three meals a day, crap food pyramid food, men consumed roughly 4,000 cal/day and women about 3,000 if not more, yet EVERYONE got leaner, except a couple people who tried to "diet" by restricting carbs and calories etc, they kept most of their fat and never performed well like the rest of us. as Long as this Calorie MYTH is perpetuated by so-called "Fitness gurus", who have no actual knowledge of human biology or "negative feedback loops" and how they work in the body, then we will NEVER see an end to Obesity. sure, you can lose weight with calorie reduction, it "Works" short term at best however, 95% of you who "diet" this way, will hit a wall, then fall off this "Diet", and will gain ALL the fat lost plus about an extra 5 pounds of fat more than they started with per "diet cycle". you can ignore my words and what i have given you this day….or you can try something new….EAT LIKE AN ATHLETE TO LOOK LIKE ONE. Not ONE pro athlete or Olympic athlete eats a clean "Diet", they drink Monsters and red bulls and eat cereal and milk and eat like 8000 calories per day, yet they stay LEAN and MUSCULAR like an NFL wide receiver (have you ever seen how they eat?) think about it. there are little to no CrossFit Athletes that "Count Calories" (a practice in futility that is about 25% off anyway on all food labels), they eat maybe 70/30 "Clean" healthy Paleo type foods and some junk food. yet most have 6 packs. hmmmm. why is it that only those looking for fat loss "Diet" and Count Calories and Athletes who look for Performance Eat whatever they want yet get the results that the "fat loss Dieters" seek ? the body is WAY more complicated than "Calories in - Calories Out", sorry, its not something that you can "outsmart" or "fight" or "Force" to do what you want. you must know how the body responds to input so you can work WITH biology not against it.

Strong first post and a necromancer one at that!.