As long as I stay under my calorie intake...

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lmd_1979
lmd_1979 Posts: 130
in Health and Weight Loss
Does it matter what food I really eat? For example if i was just to have fast food for a week breakfast eg: Mcdonalds Sausage and egg wrap is 305 cal, PG Tips Tea with Milk is 10 cal, Lunch: McDonalds Crispy Chicken Salad is 325 cal Small Fries is 230 cal, Tea is 10 cal, Dinner: McChicken sandwich(My favourite) 385 cal, Tea, 10 cal small fries 230 cal.

All these foods add up to 1505 cal without snacks which may be surprising to some. I'm not advocating that myself or anyone else should do this but does it say matter at home if you had processed food for dinner daily, and all other meals were healthier?

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  • lilboo86
    lilboo86 Posts: 2
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    your post reminds me of an article I read about a guy that lost 37lbs in 3 months eating nothing but McDonalds, he said that he done this experiment to prove it's our choices that make us fat, not McDonalds, so theoretically, yes, you can lose weight eating nothing but McDonalds, however, you have to consider more that calorie content, long term you should look at salt, sugar, protein etc.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    I eat pretty much nothing but microwave meals and other preprocessed food and seem to be losing weight just fine.

    One day I plan to get healthier. One day...
  • lmd_1979
    lmd_1979 Posts: 130
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    So it doesn't really matter if for one meal daily you have processed, pre-packaged or microwaveble food? or even a takeaway as long as you know the portion size and calories?
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    So it doesn't really matter if for one meal daily you have processed, pre-packaged or microwaveble food? or even a takeaway as long as you know the portion size and calories?

    Of course. Doesn't matter if you have that for every meal of the day, as far as weight loss goes.
  • kerryforward
    kerryforward Posts: 64 Member
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    Weight loss is simple math, calories in vs. calories out. If you burn more than you consume (or eat less than your body will burn on its own), you will lose weight. I would imagine that eating fresh, unprocessed food would make you FEEL better than eating all processed foods. Plus the sodium intake would be so high with all processed. But you will still lose weight if you eat fewer calories than you burn.
  • lisabinco
    lisabinco Posts: 1,016 Member
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    If your goal is solely to lose weight by restricting calories, I would think this would work just as well (or better) as deciding to lose weight snorting cocaine or eating nothing but MacDonalds food. That's the mantra from the IIFYM followers.
  • Fatbuster205
    Fatbuster205 Posts: 333 Member
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    Common sense suggests that good proper unprocessed food is always the best. Occasional processed meals are OK but generally anything with more than 5 ingredients tends to include a lot of E numbers. And the point of this is surely to begin to eat more healthily?
  • lsorci919
    lsorci919 Posts: 772 Member
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    calories in vs. calories out. losing weight is as simple as that.
  • SrJoben
    SrJoben Posts: 484 Member
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    Does it matter what food I really eat? For example if i was just to have fast food for a week breakfast eg: Mcdonalds Sausage and egg wrap is 305 cal, PG Tips Tea with Milk is 10 cal, Lunch: McDonalds Crispy Chicken Salad is 325 cal Small Fries is 230 cal, Tea is 10 cal, Dinner: McChicken sandwich(My favourite) 385 cal, Tea, 10 cal small fries 230 cal.

    All these foods add up to 1505 cal without snacks which may be surprising to some. I'm not advocating that myself or anyone else should do this but does it say matter at home if you had processed food for dinner daily, and all other meals were healthier?

    You nailed it. What kind of food you eat matters for many reasons. But the main factor for weight loss or gain is total calories.

    A meal a day at McDonalds or wherever isn't going to hurt your weight loss if you stay within your intake goal.

    edit: (And 'proccessed' isn't a very useful label. No one can even agree on what it means. It's probably better to look at the food and decide it if has any specific ingredients or methods used that concern you.)
  • lmd_1979
    lmd_1979 Posts: 130
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    Ok thanks, I have and want to eat healthier foods but sometimes for dinner I just want to have something quick but as long as I log the food and stay under my calorie intake I should be ok.
  • jv0898
    jv0898 Posts: 20 Member
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    how does one figure out the calories your body needs? I want to ensure I'm eating less then that.
  • drenergy
    drenergy Posts: 112 Member
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    All of that stuff is high in sodium and fat, but I think you'd just hold water and still be able to lose weight because of the math of your calorie intake vs. burn. I don't know why anyone would want to because the volume you get to eat is so much lower than what you could be eating, which has always been a reason I like eating lower calorie foods (I feel so full!). Once and a while is fine I'm sure, but I'd feel like garbage if I ate that stuff. Even the microwave meals most of the time are so unfulfilling. Additionally, you can get a decent amount of calories and still be malnourished if you're eating food with such low nutrient values.

    But realistically, if it works for you, especially when you're getting started, to eat the kind of foods you're used to but stay within your macros and lower portion sizes, it's worth a shot.
  • littlenature
    littlenature Posts: 46
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    Yeah, you know the score, as long as you're eating less than you need, you'll lose weight. Fast food won't magically stop you from losing weight- fast food is just food.

    But man, I feel sick and thirsty just reading that day you described! So much grease and salt!! I understand that was just an example though, and obv, to each their own! Good luck to you.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    how does one figure out the calories your body needs? I want to ensure I'm eating less then that.

    You can either go with the recommendation MFP gave you when you signed up, or you can search Google for a TDEE calculator. Try a few different ones and take an average - they can give different values. Remember if you go with MFP's recommendation you need to eat back your exercise calories, if you go for the TDEE method, you don't eat them back (unless you put your activity level at sedentary).
    I don't know why anyone would want to because the volume you get to eat is so much lower than what you could be eating.

    Part of the reason I eat microwave meals so much is because the ones I eat are really low in calories. The one I eat most often is 325 calories, and it's a full plate of food that keeps me filled up for ages. I would really struggle to cook a full meal for 325 calories.

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