Question about the QUALITY (not the QUANTITY) of calories

LiftAllThePizzas

I believe everything I read on any domain name with the word "truth" in it.

paleojoe

I believe everything I read on any domain name with the word "truth" in it.

or "secret" for that matter...

misterwah

I believe a calorie is a calorie as far as weightloss goes, but in terms of wellbeing, energy and body composition, macros is where its at.

Well said.

cathyg321

Do we know each other? :laugh: :laugh:

Excluding the last sentence, this is MY story... how did you know?

When I first lost weight I ate whatever I wanted with in my calorie means and I lost weight. Then I switched to eating more balanced. I felt better overall, I still lost weight, but not fast.

The other thing I learned about myself is if I over exercised (I was training for a marathon) I NEVER lost weight or inches, no matter how many calories I burned or how I ate. Over exercising causes me to have a suppressed immune system making me sick.

erialcelyob

The difference I find is that when I eat clean I feel more spritely, better skin, regular bowels (yep I said that) and on the whole I am just happier and feel stronger

RaineyLaney

My take on this:

Yes, if you only ate either all healthy or all garbage foods, and even if you mix the two catagories up, it still would be 1500 calories and you would probably lose the same weight. (This is with "zero" exercising.

Now if you ate the same as above, but added exercising, I would say the healthy eating would lose more, the mix, would lose the next and garbage, would probably not lose much at all. Why???

Eating healthy gives you the nutrients / vitamins your body needs. Thus making you more energetic, ready to get up out of the chair and move. You want to dance, feel good about yourself etc. Your body would most likely not need as much sleep either.

The mixing both catagories, would make you feel a bit energetic, so you may want to get up off the couch and go for a short walk and maybe a little more, but your energy would not be as strong willed as it would if eating nothing but healthy foods. You probably would sleep a little more than you should too.

Now just eating garbage foods, You probably would not exercise, If forced yourself, you would get depressed, due to no energy and feeling, you just can not do this. You will feel sluggish, depressed because you feel sluggish etc, you would probably convert to eating more garbage foods and either playing computer games and / or watching TV. You also would most likely sleep more.


So yes a calorie is a calorie, but food is not all the same in nutrients / vitamins.

My own experience is, I do much better eating healthy. I have so much energy to burn. I find I want to get up and get moving. If I slack off and start to eat garbage foods, I get that sluggish feeling and find myself talking myself out of doing exercising. As soon as I start to eat lots of veggies and over all healthy. I again have energy to burn and with that energy comes better weight loss.

By eating healthy for me, I "try" to at least eat 3 servings of veggies, 3 servings of fruits (slack here due to being diabetic some days), 1 serving of either bread or cereal, 2 servings of dairy (usually cottage cheese, yogurt, almond milk) and 5 servings of meat (3oz serving meat, cheese (count this as meat) eggs) and 1 fat a day if I desire (mayo, butter, oil etc).

You said you had a hard time with just salad and green beans.. In my book that is just a fad diet, not healthy eating, It is not rounded out like in the food pyramid.

I have an open food diary to all... take a peek to what I call "Healthy eating"

Rocbola

Will a person lose weight at the same rate if you eat 1500 cals of bacon and donuts per day, as if you ate 1500 cals of healthy foods (veggies, lean proteins, grains, whatever you deem to be healthy)?

People always say "calories in, calories out" but I wonder if it is really true. I know everyone has a theory, but does anyone have an actual personal experience where they changed from eating "whatever they wanted" to "eating clean" or "eating healthy," or changed in the reverse direction (possibly when starting to maintain?)

The quality of your diet makes all the difference,and here are the factors as to why that is:
1) Calorie density versus satiety. If you eat foods that give you tons of calories without any fiber or water, you will still be hungry.

2) Efficiency. You body will burn more calories after fruit and vegetable meal, versus a fatty meal.

3) Micro-nutrients. When you are eating fresh fruit and vegetables, you will be getting the micro nutrients that you need. If you are eating crap food, not only are you not getting near as many, but you are also using your nutrient reserves to process the crap food. Having nutrient deficiencies leads to hunger, among other things.

4) Toxicity. Many of the "less than ideal" foods are toxic, or create toxic by-products in the body during digestion.

Anyone who says something to the effect of "eating 100 calories of bacon or bread is the exact same thing as eating 100 calories of cantaloupe of romaine" is seriously deluding themselves.

colortheworld

I eat whatever I want, if it fits in my daily calories. I naturally gravitate towards healthier foods, but that's what I was raised on and I have more energy when I eat veggies as opposed to doughnuts. I also eat more veggies simply because they're lower calorie so I can eat more of them. And personally more food is better. :flowerforyou:

colortheworld

Will a person lose weight at the same rate if you eat 1500 cals of bacon and donuts per day, as if you ate 1500 cals of healthy foods (veggies, lean proteins, grains, whatever you deem to be healthy)?

People always say "calories in, calories out" but I wonder if it is really true. I know everyone has a theory, but does anyone have an actual personal experience where they changed from eating "whatever they wanted" to "eating clean" or "eating healthy," or changed in the reverse direction (possibly when starting to maintain?)

The quality of your diet makes all the difference,and here are the factors as to why that is:
1) Calorie density versus satiety. If you eat foods that give you tons of calories without any fiber or water, you will still be hungry.

2) Efficiency. You body will burn more calories after fruit and vegetable meal, versus a fatty meal.

3) Micro-nutrients. When you are eating fresh fruit and vegetables, you will be getting the micro nutrients that you need. If you are eating crap food, not only are you not getting near as many, but you are also using your nutrient reserves to process the crap food. Having nutrient deficiencies leads to hunger, among other things.

4) Toxicity. Many of the "less than ideal" foods are toxic, or create toxic by-products in the body during digestion.

Anyone who says something to the effect of "eating 100 calories of bacon or bread is the exact same thing as eating 100 calories of cantaloupe of romaine" is seriously deluding themselves.

Also, this.

geebusuk

From various studies I've seen etc, it seems that exercise plays a good role in mitigating diet.

So if you're not particularly fit, don't do much exercise, then yes it is important to not eat too many simple carbs etc.
If you are reasonably fit and do regular exercise, it seems to be less of an issue - presumably your body is already working well.

One problem in the 'health' community/industry is that there's an awful lot of data, but often that data may only relate to fairly narrow selections of people - however a lot take it as gospel for all.

Joanne_Moniz

I believe that excessive sugar and fat are bad for you, however my question isn't about whether certain things are good/bad/stupid/healthy to eat, my question is just on basic biology/physiology etc.

Question: (this is for the sake of argument, and I am not intending to try EITHER extremes of diet)

Will a person lose weight at the same rate if you eat 1500 cals of bacon and donuts per day, as if you ate 1500 cals of healthy foods (veggies, lean proteins, grains, whatever you deem to be healthy)?

People always say "calories in, calories out" but I wonder if it is really true. I know everyone has a theory, but does anyone have an actual personal experience where they changed from eating "whatever they wanted" to "eating clean" or "eating healthy," or changed in the reverse direction (possibly when starting to maintain?)

I know everyone likes to quote "calories in, calories out," but I am interested in personal experience instead of ideas and theories and internet blogs. Anyone with personal experience in changing the QUALITY of their diet, please tell me: when you changed the QUALITY of your diet, in what way did you change your diet, how did it affect your weight loss, if at all?

Just curious to what people's actual experiences have been with this.

Thanks in advance!

Voodoo Lady

Ibleedlipstick

For me, calories in = calories out. I have lost weight eating nothing but healthy food, and I have lost weight by counting calories alone and eating tons of junk food, both with and without exercise. I have found that I am better able to maintain if I don't try to cut out all junk food, because I have a tendency to fall off the "perfect" bandwagon pretty easily.

Joanne_Moniz

It is easy to see who the trolls are. They have thousands of posts. But sometimes they make new identities. The same person has many identities. MFP advises to report these people.

There are many people who believe that it is possible that the food industry places people on these sites... food for thought.

Rocbola

It is easy to see who the trolls are. They have thousands of posts. But sometimes they make new identities. The same person has many identities. MFP advises to report these people.

There are many people who believe that it is possible that the food industry places people on these sites... food for thought.

THIS!!!

mamadon

I eat whatever I want as long as it is in my calorie range. Someone of it is healthy, but I do eat fast food, pre packaged foods and "junk food" almost every day. Like so many others say over and over and over again, calories in- calories out.

jennifer_417

I've lost over 40 lbs eating whatever I wanted: ice cream, bacon, burgers, pizza...all in moderation. Unless you have a health condition, that's all you need for weight loss. Really.

amy1612

It is easy to see who the trolls are. They have thousands of posts. But sometimes they make new identities. The same person has many identities. MFP advises to report these people.

There are many people who believe that it is possible that the food industry places people on these sites... food for thought.

Food for the David Icke school of thought #justsayin

msf74

Will a person lose weight at the same rate if you eat 1500 cals of bacon and donuts per day, as if you ate 1500 cals of healthy foods (veggies, lean proteins, grains, whatever you deem to be healthy)?

Presuming minimum nutritional needs have been met in both diets and lack of medical conditions it will be the same.

In reality though it's just a thought experiment.

neanderthin

It is easy to see who the trolls are. They have thousands of posts. But sometimes they make new identities. The same person has many identities. MFP advises to report these people.

There are many people who believe that it is possible that the food industry places people on these sites... food for thought.

As well, this insidious group of people also use humans in their research, true story.

ElegantSlenderChic

Changing the quality of calories impacts my health and happiness.

Changing the quantity of calories impacts my weight.

Simplicity at its best.