Does it matter what your calories are?

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  • amberlynnsinspired
    amberlynnsinspired Posts: 438 Member
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    If your limit was 1200 calories a day and you ate 1200 calories worth of chips, twinkies, and snickers, you would still lose weight. It is all about lowering your calorie intake.
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
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    If you dont get enough nutrition, you will get hungry because you still need some nutrients.

    I guess?
  • honda
    honda Posts: 5 Member
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    Everything in Moderation is the mantra I live by. He also needs to think of his insides, that junk food he is eating is doing nothing but raising his cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides, which all add up to having a stroke or heart attack. What's the point if you can't walk, talk or have damaged heart muscle?!
    Good luck! I am right there with you, chocolate calls my name everyday!! LOL
  • alwaysthefatguy
    alwaysthefatguy Posts: 14 Member
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    Yes, but it's sad that all one would care about is weight loss when there are so many other health benefits to be gained by properly fueling your body.

    This is a total aside, an totally anecdotal, but for me, when I was eating completely clean, I lost 35 pounds in under four months and never counted a calorie. Since then, for the last 4 months, I've been eating over BMR but under TDEE and have only lost 10 pounds and one size. So while that's counter-intuitive, tracking, exercising, and doing the MFP has been far LESS successful for me than just eating totally clean with no tracking. I don't know why this happened, and it doesn't make sense. No, I am not gaining muscle and losing body fat, as I have been taking measurements.

    You were creating a larger energy deficit in the former scenario.

    you havent given any details age, height, weight etc so yes you lost 35lbs eating clean and not counting calories. But did you stop and put on weight before joining MFP? with the not gaining muscle you may be aroung ideal weight which would mean to build muscle you need to be in a surplus calories which you state you are not so why would you build muscle.
  • jrmartinezb
    jrmartinezb Posts: 147 Member
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    I dare anyone to eat nothing but 1500 McDonalds calories and see if you can still lose weight. Sure, you'll lose some weight at the beginning but it won't be fat you're losing.

    The blatant moving of goalposts aside, what part of a McD's diet would cause muscle atrophy?
  • jdavis36
    jdavis36 Posts: 25 Member
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    Yes, he is correct, he will still lose even though it's crappy food and no nutrition. Where he misses the boat is that he is going to eat WWWAYYYY less food over all per day because of the high cal choices. He will also not lose as much since he is not supporting his body functions and kicking in his metabolism, he's slowing it with high sugar choices actually. I'm doing the same in my house, my whole family is on...BUT we have a major wager ($1k) each...so we are all very serious about proper nutrition and fat burning. Our measurements are based on body fat percentage, so that type of diet plan wouldn't work...put up a wager with hubby...see if his habits change!!!
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    Yes and no. You can lose eating garbage. But you can lose and feel better and be healthier eating good healthful foods. Up to you...but I am choosing healthy over garbage.
  • alwaysthefatguy
    alwaysthefatguy Posts: 14 Member
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    It is most definitely not as simple as calories in/calories out.

    I dare anyone to eat nothing but 1500 McDonalds calories and see if you can still lose weight. Sure, you'll lose some weight at the beginning but it won't be fat you're losing. It'll be muscle mass. Eventually, you won't be able to operate very well with those crap calories as you'll start seeing yourself get fatter.

    eh are you clueless? as long as you are eating at a deficit you will lose weight, you will only start taking muscle as energy after about 48hrs of starvation so if you have 1500 calories from mcdonalds it could be from fish or chicken which all provide protein so will feed muscles as all protien contains amino acids which are the building blocks of muscle so the diet will not be effective for muscle building yes but wont be using muscle as energy instead of fat/carbs
  • moonsforeyes
    moonsforeyes Posts: 228
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    There's a big camp of people that subscribe to the "if it fits your macros" mentality.

    For me, I couldn't go from eating junk all day to eating perfectly "clean" all day in one go. Plus the standard of what is "good" and "healthy" can vary a bit person to person.

    Do I eat fast food, candy, junk sometiems? Yes. Because that's what's realistic for me. Am I still losing weight? Hell yes.

    this! put simply, do what works for you! I eat more healthy food than "junk." My version of junk though isn't fast food or chips. It's like crackers.. haha. I try to really get as much nutrition as possible from my foods and I really love fruits and nuts, so those take up a lot of my allotted calories. Experiment a bit!
  • CovaJoser
    CovaJoser Posts: 18
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    1500 calories of McDonald's food would consist of two large Big Mac meals. Anyone here seriously think you can retain muscle mass off of two Big Mac meals a day for an extended period of time? Your body will starve off a diet like that and eventually push itself into starvation mode and take in any food and store it as fat.

    There are some healthy choices you could have instead, but that's not what we're talking about here.

    You could also try burning it off, but again, do you really think your body will have enough energy after a few months of this lifestyle to burn any more than a few hundred calories?

    It'll only work for short periods of time. It is not a sustainable lifestyle.

    To the guy who said you ate nothing but ice cream, eggs and whey protein. Are you seriously comparing that to McDonald's? Where on the McDonald's menu can you get the same amount of nutrients as your whey protein with the same amount of calories? Same goes for the eggs. The closest thing McDonald's has to healthy food is the mcmuffins and hardly. They slather those with butter and top them off with cheese.
  • trojanbb
    trojanbb Posts: 1,297 Member
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    1500 calories of McDonald's food would consist of two large Big Mac meals. Anyone here seriously think you can retain muscle mass off of two Big Mac meals a day for an extended period of time? Your body will starve off a diet like that and eventually push itself into starvation mode and take in any food and store it as fat.

    There are some healthy choices you could have instead, but that's not what we're talking about here.

    You could also try burning it off, but again, do you really think your body will have enough energy after a few months of this lifestyle to burn any more than a few hundred calories?

    It'll only work for short periods of time. It is not a sustainable lifestyle.

    To the guy who said you ate nothing but ice cream, eggs and whey protein. Are you seriously comparing that to McDonald's? Where on the McDonald's menu can you get the same amount of nutrients as your whey protein with the same amount of calories? Same goes for the eggs. The closest thing McDonald's has to healthy food is the mcmuffins and hardly. They slather those with butter and top them off with cheese.


    There is 90g protein in 1500 cals of Mcdonalds (2 double 1/4 pounders). That is more protein than most women here get from what I've seen.

    and obviously I got more protein in my ice cream and whey diet. I also was dieting on 3000 Calories. That would have been 180g of protein if I just did Mcondalds. Almost 1g per lb lean bodymass for me. I could easily diet on that with very good results.

    and your body will not starve off of 1500 cals of mcdonalds! what kind rubbish is that?! Energy is energy. You will likely be malnourished and lacking in some nutrients. That has nothing to with starvation and weight loss though.

    There is tons of research on this. None of it agrees with you.
  • NikoM5
    NikoM5 Posts: 488 Member
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    The answer is... "sort of". Yes calories are the most important factor in losing weight, however if your husband is fairly overweight there's a good chance he has increased insulin resistance, (you can get checked easily). This means (in very simplified terms) that carbs are way more detrimental to his weight loss goals than they are to a healthy person without this condition.
  • alexbusnello
    alexbusnello Posts: 1,010 Member
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    Moderation
  • barrattandrew
    barrattandrew Posts: 148
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    I actually put that to the test last week! I ate my calorie goal but ate fast food for every dinner. I did not lose like I did when I ate healthy. Not even close! So yes, it matters

    I am also convinced that the nutritional info posted for many fast food items are lower than the food you actually get.
    Me too - I'm convinced it doesn't add in the calories from the ketchups and other stuff they put on. Plus a lot of them such as the burger places, give you the kcals for the burger, and the kcals for the fries separately
  • lovemitch125
    lovemitch125 Posts: 257 Member
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    I just want you to know. You don't have to stay under 1200 calories. As long as you are between 1200 and 1700 a day, you are still in a weight loss range, but you will lose much slower at 1700 a day than 1200 a day. But do not be under 1200. Your body cant run on that little bit of calories. The days I would go over 1200 are the ones where a lot of my calories are coming from whole eggs or olive oil. These are good calories and although they are high in calories does not mean they are bad for you, they are actually VERY healthy for you. Also, all natural peanut butter. I LOVE it and it gives me a lot of protein for the day. I only have a serving with some veggies or on a wheat bread peanut butter and banana sandwich but one serving is almost 200 calories! Do not let that bring you down. It's good food for you.

    Now, to answer your question, yes he will lose weight, but if he wants to eat chocolate and such, I would also be working out 30 minutes twice a week atleast. The purpose to lose weight is also to feel good. He won't feel as full with chocolate at higher calories and eating less of it, then he will eating real foods. But, it is also his choice and you will probably feel happier and better. When I crave chocolate I usually have a skinny cow ice cream sandwich are amazingly delicious and only 150 calories or special K brownie bites (100 calories). They are great to kill your cravings :)
  • BabyNurseJen
    BabyNurseJen Posts: 64 Member
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    I actually put that to the test last week! I ate my calorie goal but ate fast food for every dinner. I did not lose like I did when I ate healthy. Not even close! So yes, it matters

    You probably lost fat like normal, but you're retaining water from all the sodium.
  • ChristinaR720
    ChristinaR720 Posts: 1,186
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    Honestly, I think having a balance of healthy foods and "real life" foods (meaning, things that you love and can't bring yourself to give up) is helpful in order to make your weight loss more sustainable. I always try to fit fruits and vegetables into my day, but I'll eat things that I love, too (peanut butter, ice cream, bacon, pizza, etc.). If I want something, I eat it in moderation and I do what is needed to make it fit my macros for the day (exercise more, eat lighter meals, etc.).

    It's important to make a lifestyle change to become healthy and lose weight, but you needn't--and you shouldn't--make yourself miserable while doing so.
  • Yani51
    Yani51 Posts: 48 Member
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    "So, can you eat rubbish and loose weight as long as you dont go over daily calories?" ... YES. Logically, If his TDEE is 1800 calories and he is eating 1500 calories, he should lose weight. BUT, nutrition benefits aside as you asked, getting your calories from crap just makes it harder to stick to the diet.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    1500 calories of McDonald's food would consist of two large Big Mac meals. Anyone here seriously think you can retain muscle mass off of two Big Mac meals a day for an extended period of time? Your body will starve off a diet like that and eventually push itself into starvation mode and take in any food and store it as fat.

    There are some healthy choices you could have instead, but that's not what we're talking about here.

    You could also try burning it off, but again, do you really think your body will have enough energy after a few months of this lifestyle to burn any more than a few hundred calories?

    It'll only work for short periods of time. It is not a sustainable lifestyle.

    To the guy who said you ate nothing but ice cream, eggs and whey protein. Are you seriously comparing that to McDonald's? Where on the McDonald's menu can you get the same amount of nutrients as your whey protein with the same amount of calories? Same goes for the eggs. The closest thing McDonald's has to healthy food is the mcmuffins and hardly. They slather those with butter and top them off with cheese.

    Where are you getting this theory from? Did you just make it up on the spot? I have to assume so, because no science or research backs what you say. Try to find research that indicates that you will not lose weight while eating junk food in a caloric deficit. In fact, a study has been posted three times in this very thread that showed that eating junk food in a deficit resulted in weight loss and improved health markers. Where is your research to refute that? Furthermore, your statement about going into starvation mode while eating 1500 calories worth of mcdonalds is laughable at best. At this point I have to assume you're trolling or being willfully ignorant. I hope it's the former.

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