Do the type of calories matter?

i eat whatever i want, as long as it is within my calorie goal! flaming hot cheetos, candy bars, skittles, donuts, burgers, fries, pizza... i lost almost 100 in 11 months, so i dont think it hindered me...

The ones you eat...sorry had to with the title of the thread.

Seriously, on here most of my FL that have been successful and maintained, eating anything they want. They just learned portion control and moderation.

The best advice is to eat whatever you plan on eating forever. If low carb works for you and you think you can eat that way forever, then by all means, do it.

I love ice cream and pizza (along with my veggies and fruits) and plan on eating those forever, so I eat those on my weight loss path.

ETA: QuietBloom is right. A person can lose weight eating anything while in deficit, but meeting macros will ensure fat loss instead of fat and muscle loss.

The best advice is to eat whatever you plan on eating forever. If low carb works for you and you think you can eat that way forever, then by all means, do it.

I love ice cream and pizza (along with my veggies and fruits) and plan on eating those forever, so I eat those on my weight loss path.

This!^

Maintaining a weight loss is going to be about lifestyle change.

I eat more fiber than I used to.....but I can do that forever. Keeping an eye on getting enough protein....I can do that too. Adding healthy fats daily (before all my "diets" were low fat) ....I'm working on this.

I want to eat healthy forever, but I know that I will always crave chocolate & pizza. So I work those into healthy macros.

I find that when I start eating sweet things, my sensation of hunger throughout the day is greater. Calorie for calorie, I end up eating much more for satiety.

In theory, no, they don't matter for purposes of weight loss (without regard to what kind of weight is being lost).

In reality, it does matter, both in terms of weight loss itself, and in terms of sticking with the diet.

For example, some people do well with staying within calories on a higher carb diet, but others don't and may fare better with higher fat and lower carbs.

Similarly, if you have some kind of issue that elevates your insulin levels then you may have more success with a low carb, high fat diet than with a higher carb diet, because of the effects insulin has on weight loss and retention (and the fact that carbs and, to a lesser extent, protein, trigger an insulin response).

And, in everyone that wants to minimize muscle loss (and help ensure that most weight loss is fat, and not lean body mass), then you need to make sure you get enough protein.

For me personally, yes. My system holds on to carbs like a drowining person. Plus, some of the carb foods are triggers for me so they start the snowball rolling for me.

Nope.

If you have netflix, rent "Fat Head" a documentary where a guy loses weight despite the fact that he's eating nothing but garbage.

I just find that "cheat meals" or "cheat days" are like a gateway drug to giving in for good (for me anyway) which is why I choose to eat clean every day 90% of the time. I do find, however, that I seem to have better results if I 1) don't drink alcohol on lifting days 2) watch the sodium or drink a CRAP LOAD of water if it gets out of hand 3) drink protein shakes nearly everyday 4) no carbs at dinner

That's just what works for me... to each his/her own though Good luck!

Yes and No!

Basically, calories in, calories out. Eat more cals than you need, the body finds a way to store the excess. Eat less cals than you need, the body finds a way to use it's reserves to make up the difference. This is the most general and most simple philosophy to live by for weight loss.

HOWEVER! With that said, your body is a complex machine, and different macros and micros that you eat are used by the body differently. How you eat will have an effect on your weight loss and weight gain. Also, what you eat will matter when you place extra strain on your body such as cardio and resistance training.

If you exercise, your body will need more protein in order to recover from the strains you placed on your muscle tissues. Your body will need calcium if you do a lot of running which puts a strain on your bones and tendons. Eating fatty acids aids in the transport and administrative functions of your body.

Carbs you eat break down into simple sugars so your body has energy. But so does the fat stores already in your body that you are actually trying to loose during weight loss. But you need to eat certain amounts of carbs to replace the glycogen reserves that you loose during exercise. But you can train your body to rely more on burning excess fat in your stores than the carbs you eat (by calorie deficit and watching carb intake and timing carb intake with exercise).

It's all about getting to know how your body works and how food and exercise applies to your body functions.

A couple of years ago a nutrition professor from Kansas State lost 27 pounds by eating only Twinkies and a couple other foods that most people would not deem ideal or even moderately healthy. He did it to prove that as long as you stay within your macros, the quality of the calories doesn't matter.

If you ate like this for the rest of your life you would have problems. But as he only did this for 2 months, I'd say he probably didn't do any irreversible harm to his vitamin stores or saturated fat intake.

So yes and no. No in the short-term, yes in the long-term.

Correct. Your body is very resilent and can be creative in meeting deficits of certain nutrients. Your body is a complex machine. However, like with any state of the art piece of machinery, proper maintnenance will cause long term damage. So you can buy a brand new Mercedez, and as long as you continue to fuel it up, it will continue to drive. But if you don't change the oil, EVENTUALLY you will cause engine damage. Some goes towards your body. You can loose weight by not eating vegatables in your life. But by the time you are 40 or 50, how's your body gonna like that?

The best advice is to eat whatever you plan on eating forever. If low carb works for you and you think you can eat that way forever, then by all means, do it.

I love ice cream and pizza (along with my veggies and fruits) and plan on eating those forever, so I eat those on my weight loss path.

ETA: QuietBloom is right. A person can lose weight eating anything while in deficit, but meeting macros will ensure fat loss instead of fat and muscle loss.

This. I am allowing myself "bad" food here and there: Nachos, ice cream, fried foods, etc..... but I am being more mindful (thanks to tracking) of the calories I'm taking in. We learned at my YMCA diabetes avoidance class that fat calories require more effort to expunge so I do try and make sure I hit at or under my fat goal most days but if I have one day that I go over I don't panic. I've been losing a slow steady 1-2 pounds a week and expect this week to hit our weight loss goal for the class..-7% of our weight. (my own personal goal is much larger..I'm shooting to get down to my high school weight)

i eat whatever i want, as long as it is within my calorie goal! flaming hot cheetos, candy bars, skittles, donuts, burgers, fries, pizza... i lost almost 100 in 11 months, so i dont think it hindered me...

Ummm,,, you're my hero! lol.. just seen your pics and finally I'm a believer! lol

This post right here I think has answered a lot of questions for me.

I can eat stuff like that and still get toned and not have cellulite, etc.

I just always thought eating like that would make my body look squishy and not alleviate cellulite.

You have opened my eyes to loosen up a bit.

Thank you girl for this!

I can confirm where you get your calories from DO NOT MATTER whatsoever. If you want to lose weight off eating Mcdonalds then you can do it.

Example.

A Hamburger from Mcdonalds is 250 calories.
3 Large Eggs and a rice cake is also 250 calories.

Eating either will be the same. DOES NOT MATTER.

This. I am allowing myself "bad" food here and there: Nachos, ice cream, fried foods, etc..... but I am being more mindful (thanks to tracking) of the calories I'm taking in. We learned at my YMCA diabetes avoidance class that fat calories require more effort to expunge so I do try and make sure I hit at or under my fat goal most days but if I have one day that I go over I don't panic. I've been losing a slow steady 1-2 pounds a week and expect this week to hit our weight loss goal for the class..-7% of our weight. (my own personal goal is much larger..I'm shooting to get down to my high school weight)

In because I'm truly curious- Really? Fat calories require more effort to expunge? Wouldn't that negate the whole calories in and out thing?

Fat gets expunged? Well, yeah, it is metabolized if that is what she is meaning. I am seriously concerned about the level of nutritional knowledge at the YMCA now. :ohwell: