Does it matter what you eat as long as you are under your ca

Coyla

It mostly has to do with with calories in/calories out.

However, eating all your calories in junk can be dangerous. Dieting often leads to nutrient loss, while exercising can lead to a drop in electrolytes. If the food you're eating doesn't replace those nutrients and electrolytes (potassium is a biggie), it can cause problems, some severe enough to require hospitalization.

From what I've seen, you're doing fine, however. Having chocolate now and then is okay. In fact, it's great! Keep it up!

Aerodynamicism

Depends on what your goal is. I've lost a significant amount of weight without making any changes to what I eat. I'm a junk food addict, so my method for losing weight used to be to just eat less junk. It isn't by any means healthy though, and it won't lead to successful weight loss in the long term, at least not for me. In my experience, the only way to lose weight and keep it off is by making a lifestyle change.

jennywren1971

I think in the long run it is very important. For me it's not just about weight loss but about getting healthier. I try to eat a balanced diet that includes the following:
2 -3 serves of fruit - I try to pick at mostly low gi ones because they stave off those afternoon munches,
5 serves of veges - i try to eat a lot of low gi vegetables.
I am currently challenging myself to eat at least ten different sortsf fruit and vege a day
2 serves of dairy - I choose low fat varietys - skim milk and low fat yogurts, custard.
Low gi carbs with my breakfast and lunch meals. I often skip complex carbs at my night meal but if I do have them I will limit the amount and try to make them low gi.
3 serves of protein a day. I have protein with my three main meals always. I eat fish, chicken, beef, lamb, pork but I also have things like baked beans, chick peas etc.
I have low fat cheese and cottage cheese a few times a week. I am a cheese fan so if I do have full fat cheeses I have to be really careful not to eat too much.
Healthy fats - I have at least one serve of healthy fats per day - avocado, nuts etc and try to stay away from the not so good ones.
I have the occasional alcoholic drink - maybe once a week.
I limit my drinking of diet soft drinks because I was a diet coke addict and know that I could easily go back there.
I drink at least 2 liters of water a day as this is my persoanl goal. I never used to drink much at all.

So I want to not only lose weight but I want to make sure my hair, skin, nails, teeth, heart, liver, blood and other organs have what they need to function effectively. Ther is no point being thin if I am sick or look like crap.

kacarter1017

A well balanced diet will afford the safest weight loss and the longer lasting weight loss. I also found as I got closer to goal that I had to be more careful about refined sugar and sodium. If either of those got too high, it didn't matter what my caloric intake was, I stalled. That isn't true of everyone, but for some it is.

There is no food I "can't" eat. I try to plan the less healthy options into my meal plan, but if I can't, I eat a small portion if I want it at all. And those less healthy options are treats, not usually even weekly.