Does Where Your Calories Come From Matter?

davidroth

I used to have a pretty simplistic view of food/exercise. I watched calories, exercised regularly, and when I ate more than I should've, I worked out for a little longer or did something to offset that.

Bill Phillips won't be happy to hear this, but Body For Life did more harm than good for me. Of course, it's not his fault, it's more that I started to view things differently after I read the book. I started to think more about the nutrients/food I was eating and, if I blew it for the day, I would say "Well, I'll start over tomorrow". And then that day would start and I'd say "Well, I don't have time to make any chicken, so I'm going to start next week".

I find myself STILL falling into that trap more than 10 years later. Now instead of BFL, I see more and more stuff about eating organic or raw foods. I think the problem is that I generally agree with the advice, which is why I start to take it up. But I find those diets extremely hard to stick to long term. For example, what I've been eating lately is fruits, veggies, nuts, chicken, egg whites, and the occasional protein shake. The only problem with a diet like this, it gets OLD really fast and I'm afraid there is no way I'll be able to eat like this long term.

So we all know if you take in less calories than you burn, then you'll lose weight. But do you think that it matters a lot what calories you're taking in? I'm not talking about going on a twinkie diet, but instead of drinking a 300 calorie protein shake, do you think it matters if you eat a Lean Cuisine pizza? Or instead of eating almonds/fruit for a snack, what about eating pretzels? This is, of course, assuming that it's pretty similiar carbs/calories.

What do you think? I have about 40 pounds to lose to get down to my college weight, but I don't want to eat the wrong foods, lose the weight, and then look kinda crappy cause I was eating processed foods.

Thoughts?

marji4x

I think you're right and when you make substitutions like that (lean cuisine pizza for a protein shake) it won't make a whole lot of difference. You do need your nutrients but you sound like you are generally being healthy and just don't want to slavishly follow a diet.

Find what works for you, keep generally healthy....it's more important to keep up good habits than wreck yourself trying to be too strict.

Like you said, no twinkie diets, but healthy substitutions, or even somewhat healthy substitutions you can definitely keep to are better than super healthy ones you can't.

isaiahxoxoender

I am curious about that too.

bhb301

Yes it matters, I can tell a difference when I eat more natural foods, less processed.. The more natural the better

shannonshock13

I think that it matters! In the new version of the Eat Clean Diet book, Tosca Reno says that someone who eats clean may lose weight on 2,000 calories a day but gain weight on 1,600 cals of junk. And by junk i think she means a diet consisting of mainly processed foods and little whole foods.

you said "For example, what I've been eating lately is fruits, veggies, nuts, chicken, egg whites, and the occasional protein shake. The only problem with a diet like this, it gets OLD really fast and I'm afraid there is no way I'll be able to eat like this long term."

It sounds like you need a good clean eating cookbook to give you some more options

Shadowcasting

There are a lot of schools-for-thought on this one, so you're likely to get a lot of answers.

I recent read about a researcher who published a manuscript detailing his food/weight-loss experiment on himself. The "Twinkie Diet". He only ate a low number of calories for 10 weeks, but it all came from complete junk (like Twinkies!). He lost 27 pounds, and his 'health' numbers (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.) all improved. The conclusion was that it is the calories that count, not the source of the calories.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

jen1516

Just had to share this article even though I do NOT recommend it. But it was interesting. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html?hpt=T2

jrich1

Just had to share this article even though I do NOT recommend it. But it was interesting. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html?hpt=T2

To lose weight no it doesnt matter

sweetheart03622

Variety is the spice of life. You're right, eating chicken and egg whites is going to get very old. You need to take baby steps. You goal should be to stay within your caloric goals, but enjoy your food. I love every thing that I put in my mouth, and if I don't want something I don't eat it. You need to be creative and seek out other people's advice on good recipes. I made lasagna last week that I ate and still logged a loss the next day. Moderation, portion size, variety... it doesn't matter what you eat. Strive for a balance. Try to limit the simple carbs (ie those twinkies and pretzels), try to limit the bad fats (twinkies lol), and load up on fruits and veggies. Once you've got that, fill in the rest as you see fit (hello... chocolate?!!?)

jen1516

Hahaha Shadow beat me to it. lol

Newfiedan

It absolutely matters where they come from and anyone who says different is in denial or just ignorant. Learning clean eating habits and making good food choices makes a world of difference in how you feel, look, and your energy/metabolic rate. I boil it down to this, you can feed someone big macs all day and they will never be hungry and gain fat like its going out of style, or you can feed someone proper nutrition and they will lose fat like its going out of style. I have personally done the changes needed to get myself on track and its made a world of difference. I have several analogies about the differences between good diet and losing weight but it was not until I combined diet (being the most important side of it) and exercise that I lost weight easily and quickly, not to mention how much better I feel. The biggest change for me was the sodium intake, although I am still higher than what mfp allows I am much lower than I ever was before. I always say when the diet follows the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid) that we get back to our roots stop being so lazy about what we cram into our pie holes and start making the right changes. You do not need to be a diet nazi all the time, but if you are good with it 80% of the time then you can blow out and go nuts on the other 20%. Any good lifestyle change allows wiggle room that you can live with. I am no dietary angel and I managed to drop 27 pounds total so far and I still cheat my butt off every few weeks.

Atlantique

I think it matters a lot!

If you have a fairly significant amount of weight to lose (i.e. your BMI is in the obese range or above) then simply cutting calories while eating whatever you want will get you down by many pounds.

But once you're in the healthy to overweight BMI range, you're going to find it difficult to make progress and SUSTAIN it by eating a lot of junk and processed foods while getting sufficient nutrients.

You sound as though your problem might be boredom, really. Not much variety in the eating plan, so you get bored and feel very deprived and find it hard to stick with the plan. Perhaps going through the recipes section will help you to find new flavor combinations and recipes so that you can have a greater variety of foods and a greater variety of preparation techniques and flavors for your diet staples?

Katbaran

I'm no expert. Had to say that even though I've probably gained and lost the equivalent weight of a family of five in my life time. My thought is that if you eat healthy most of the time you can mix it up a bit with less healthy foods so you don't get bored. A day here and there of less than healthy calories won't sabotage your over all weight loss. If you crave hash browns (like I did today)--have some. Just make it a smallish serving and not a whole, greasy plateful.

I know there are some folks who will say we should eat healthy all the time but I just can't stick with it like that. I have to have something less so once in a while. Hubby and I started out saying we would have a cheat meal once a week. Its been 2 weeks now since we've done that. After a while I think we want those things less but if you can work them into your calories once in a while, why not? Variety is the spice of life!

Shadowcasting

Great minds, right!:happy:

davidroth

Yes it matters, I can tell a difference when I eat more natural foods, less processed.. The more natural the better

I feel like i'm the only person in the world that feels like this, but I don't really feel all that different based on what I eat. A big mac vs. a salad? Yeah, i definitely feel better after the salad. But if I'm eating relatively low-calorie, I don't really feel better if I have a salad with protein vs. White Bread with Turkey.

lealarson

I'm wondering the same thing you are. I really haven't been a "healthy eater" in the past and am trying to change my ways, but I find it hard to eat nothing but health foods. I have an awful sweet tooth and no matter how hard I try, I can't cut out those sweets from my diet. I'm down 9 lbs since I joined this site less than a month ago, but in the last week I haven't lost a single pound. I've been working out and not going over my calorie goal on a daily basis, yet I've stopped losing. I believe this might be because I've felt like I could allow myself a little more junk as long as I'm working harder, but it seems like substituting those celery sticks, carrots and peanut butter with a few Girl Scout cookies is not working in my favor even if I am staying under my calorie goal. I guess next week I'm back on a more strict diet and we shall see what happens when I step on the scale.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

hpsnickers1

Yes it matters. Weight loss is 80% diet. (Yes I read about the "Twinkie Diet" and sure he lost weight and all his numbers dropped because of the weight loss but that kind of diet will hurt you in the long run and the guy even said that and he wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a weight loss diet).

You don't have to completely give up the 'bad' foods. I was gaining weight by living on coffee during the day and munching the rest of the night. I was eating nothing but processed foods, carbs, sugar, etc. I still enjoy ice cream (yes the full real stuff, not the "light" crappy stuff). I still eat pizza and have chocolate chip cookies and that kind of stuff. I still go out and enjoy a good dinner. I just don't do it all the time. I do stay away from white bread (all bread these days), white rice, potato chips.

You want a good combination of real foods. Foods your body knows. (Even butter is better for us than all of those fake butters. Butter has nutrients!!).

jen1516

Great minds, right!:happy:

Well, of course!!! :laugh:

NMandaMarie

{bump} Will read later

bizco

When you are operating at a calorie deficit, it matters even more where the calories are coming from. You need to eat clean, whole, nutritious foods. I agree with the previous poster, you need to buy some cookbooks or use the Recipe forum to get ideas for delicious, healthy meals. There's nothing boring about it, just lack of experimentation.

shannonshock13

Yes it matters, I can tell a difference when I eat more natural foods, less processed.. The more natural the better

I feel like i'm the only person in the world that feels like this, but I don't really feel all that different based on what I eat. A big mac vs. a salad? Yeah, i definitely feel better after the salad. But if I'm eating relatively low-calorie, I don't really feel better if I have a salad with protein vs. White Bread with Turkey.

I don't think you would notice the effects of eating cleanly after 1 or 2 meals. Try it for a few weeks and then go back to the twinkies (if you wanted) and i'm pretty sure you'd notice you felt a lot better eating more whole foods.

Newfiedan

I'm wondering the same thing you are. I really haven't been a "healthy eater" in the past and am trying to change my ways, but I find it hard to eat nothing but health foods. I have an awful sweet tooth and no matter how hard I try, I can't cut out those sweets from my diet. I'm down 9 lbs since I joined this site less than a month ago, but in the last week I haven't lost a single pound. I've been working out and not going over my calorie goal on a daily basis, yet I've stopped losing. I believe this might be because I've felt like I could allow myself a little more junk as long as I'm working harder, but it seems like substituting those celery sticks, carrots and peanut butter with a few Girl Scout cookies is not working in my favor even if I am staying under my calorie goal. I guess next week I'm back on a more strict diet and we shall see what happens when I step on the scale.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

You are not alone, but like I said you do not need to be a perfect dietary angel, yes you do need changes but look at it like this; If you were to start tomorrow clean house and go clean eating you would last maybe a week or 2 before you start sneaking in those bad foods. As a society we are salt/sugar/saturated food addicts. Its the give me what I want now quick fix. We all know its not working for us, but until you get so sick of it yourself and wean yourself off that quick fix drug that you will make that change permanent. Can you cheat while doing this? Sure you can, in fact I encourage you to do so, but limit it to no more than 1 day every 2 weeks.

hpsnickers1

Yes it matters, I can tell a difference when I eat more natural foods, less processed.. The more natural the better

I feel like i'm the only person in the world that feels like this, but I don't really feel all that different based on what I eat. A big mac vs. a salad? Yeah, i definitely feel better after the salad. But if I'm eating relatively low-calorie, I don't really feel better if I have a salad with protein vs. White Bread with Turkey.

It's what is does inside that is different. You are getting the nutrients your body needs to function when you eat a salad. White bread has all the nutrients removed and turkey cold cuts are full of sodium and also processed so the nutrients are removed.

SayRah

When it comes down to it, your body sees calories as calories -- not as 'muffin' or 'hot dog' or 'sushi'. However, choosing more nutrient rich food over food that is just a combination of fat/carbs/sugars is much better for you. You can lose weight on a twinkie diet, if you get your calorie intake/outtake just right, but it won't be as good for you as a diet that is rich in fiber, lean proteins, whole carbs, etc.

But as I have heard, there are no unhealthy foods, just unhealthy diets. Which is why although in the past few weeks I have had blueberry poptarts and hot pockets several times, I have still lost a few pounds. Calories in, calories out....don't eat too much junk food but it's okay to splurge a bit. You won't die from it.

SwissMaedel

I hear it doesn't matter what you eat to lose weight, as long as you eat less calories than you burn.

However, you might not feel as good and your body might not be as healthy, even if you weigh less, if you are only eating processed foods.

I think you should always take a multi-vitamin and eat a good amount of fruits, vegetables, and multi-grains.

Your body still needs minerals and you get these from good whole foods.
Your body also doesn't need a ton of extra fat and toxins which you get from super processed foods - like the kind that can sit in the pantry forever and never go bad. I try not to eat those foods.

I can't afford organic right now...I'd love to, but it's not in my budget. I do notice that organic carrots taste WAY better than non-organic, so occasionally I'll buy those organic, because they are pretty cheap still, and then I'll eat more veggies!

So, I try to keep it simple. I tried having a really strict vegan diet once, but then I found I wasn't eating enough. You have to do what works for you. If that means having the occasional lean cuisine, go for it! Even if it means having ice cream here and there...whatever...I think you should be allowed to eat anything, within moderation.

I will sometimes crave super junky food like really fried chicken. Then I'll get some. Then I'll feel so gross & greasy after eating it, I won't eat it for like 6 months. So it's all good.

shannonshock13

I'm wondering the same thing you are. I really haven't been a "healthy eater" in the past and am trying to change my ways, but I find it hard to eat nothing but health foods. I have an awful sweet tooth and no matter how hard I try, I can't cut out those sweets from my diet. I'm down 9 lbs since I joined this site less than a month ago, but in the last week I haven't lost a single pound. I've been working out and not going over my calorie goal on a daily basis, yet I've stopped losing. I believe this might be because I've felt like I could allow myself a little more junk as long as I'm working harder, but it seems like substituting those celery sticks, carrots and peanut butter with a few Girl Scout cookies is not working in my favor even if I am staying under my calorie goal. I guess next week I'm back on a more strict diet and we shall see what happens when I step on the scale.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

You are not alone, but like I said you do not need to be a perfect dietary angel, yes you do need changes but look at it like this; If you were to start tomorrow clean house and go clean eating you would last maybe a week or 2 before you start sneaking in those bad foods. As a society we are salt/sugar/saturated food addicts. Its the give me what I want now quick fix. We all know its not working for us, but until you get so sick of it yourself and wean yourself off that quick fix drug that you will make that change permanent. Can you cheat while doing this? Sure you can, in fact I encourage you to do so, but limit it to no more than 1 day every 2 weeks.

That's what i'm doing! There's no way i can quit all the "junk" at once cos ill just feel deprived and go and eat a whole pack of oreos at once. So I allow myself 1 or 2 sweet/salty small treats a day and then slowly cut back from there.

But to get back on topic i know its confusing and frustrating for me cos i will look around at food diaries and see wendys and jack in the box and just genuine crap food on there daily and yet they are still losing. So i guess for some people it doesn't matter where the calories come from. But i know for me... it doesn't work that way, i have fast food and i will most def not see a budge in the scale that week.

MinnieInMaine

I do think it matters but if you know yourself well enough to know a restrictive diet isn't going to work for you long term, making small changes are still going to make a difference. Eat as healthy as you possibly can without being deprived and don't beat yourself up about the little things.

Edited to add: Ha! Guess I took to long to respond - ditto to the above!

davidroth

A few things based on the comments above....

1) For those of you saying that my diet seems very boring, you're right! But, I'm kinda picky so I stick with the healthy foods I like. And I know myself well enough to know I'm not going to do much, any cooking most of the time.

2) I see that some people say they feel better when they eat cleaner, but do you see a better result when it comes to your body? For instance, do you feel like you look better despite not having lost any/much weight? Because like I said above, I don't really notice a difference in how I feel if I eat raw/clean foods vs. just low calorie.

Newfiedan

When it comes down to it, your body sees calories as calories -- not as 'muffin' or 'hot dog' or 'sushi'. However, choosing more nutrient rich food over food that is just a combination of fat/carbs/sugars is much better for you. You can lose weight on a twinkie diet, if you get your calorie intake/outtake just right, but it won't be as good for you as a diet that is rich in fiber, lean proteins, whole carbs, etc.

But as I have heard, there are no unhealthy foods, just unhealthy diets. Which is why although in the past few weeks I have had blueberry poptarts and hot pockets several times, I have still lost a few pounds. Calories in, calories out....don't eat too much junk food but it's okay to splurge a bit. You won't die from it.

You can smoke crack and lose weight to, does not mean its healthy for you. But you do get the point that better diet means better results which is what counts.

Newfiedan

But to get back on topic i know its confusing and frustrating for me cos i will look around at food diaries and see wendys and jack in the box and just genuine crap food on there daily and yet they are still losing. So i guess for some people it doesn't matter where the calories come from. But i know for me... it doesn't work that way, i have fast food and i will most def not see a budge in the scale that week.

Everyone can do it different ways, comparing yourself or your diaries does not work, you need to find what works for you. So its no ones place to judge what you put into your body, its up to you to make the right decisions all on your own, feel free to check out mine if you like, I try my best and I have lost 27 pounds in 3 months, but my primary goal is to feed my body right.

Newfiedan

A few things based on the comments above....
1) For those of you saying that my diet seems very boring, you're right! But, I'm kinda picky so I stick with the healthy foods I like. And I know myself well enough to know I'm not going to do much, any cooking most of the time.

2) I see that some people say they feel better when they eat cleaner, but do you see a better result when it comes to your body? For instance, do you feel like you look better despite not having lost any/much weight? Because like I said above, I don't really notice a difference in how I feel if I eat raw/clean foods vs. just low calorie.

1) Good for you, we all need to find what works for us, there is no one solid answer to our goals just the one that works for you.
2) yes I no longer have that dragged out tired look, my family and wife think I am much easier going now and less stressed than before, my hair and fingernails are growing much faster, I have noticed fewer grey hairs around my temples, I rarely lack energy ever these days, my skin has cleared up and very rarely get any pimples.