Quality of food or quantity, which is more important to you?

They are both pretty important to me...they are both pretty important to long term success (one would be hard pressed to do the SAD and maintain a healthy weight without meticulously counting calories forever).

That said, context and dosage are also very important and a lot of newbs completely miss the boat here...a lot of newbs have an all or nothing mentality which isn't going to lead to any kind of long term success either. You see, a doughnut for breakfast and a bowl of ice cream at lunch isn't going to negate all of the other nutrition I've taken in for the day either. A lot of newbs also have a big misconception about what actually constitutes proper nutrition and categorize perfectly healthy foods as "bad" because of the calories or whatever...or something has fat (OMG the debil) and really don't understand that fat is essential to proper nutrition...again, context and dosage.

I've been on this little safari now for almost 2 years and have been maintaining for just over a year. I don't log or count calories...haven't done so for my entire year of maintenance save for a spot check here and there. I've been able to do this because I took the time to learn how to eat during the weight loss process (just one little piece of the entire process towards being a healthier and fitter you).

Counting calories helped me balance out my nutrition and helped me to see the bigger picture...my diet as a whole rather than getting overly wrapped up in the minutia of individual food items. I also weighed pretty much everything...I don't know why you wouldn't...you may be logging 4 oz of chicken breast, but if you haven't cut it in half it's likely you're actually eating 8 oz. What good is it to count calories when you don't actually know how much you're eating...you're just guessing at that point. Again, this was something I used to learn...I don't really use the scale all that much anymore because I've seen what an ounce of almonds looks like a million times over and I know that the average chicken breast for my particular brand is around 8 ounces, etc. I know these things because I took the time as part of the process to learn these things so that I could carry them over into perpetuity without being leashed to MFP or my scale.

You have to understand that this is all a process. Trying to do a complete 180* and change every little thing over night is probably not going to work...it's a series of baby steps. My nutrition now is a far cry different (and better) than it was 2 years ago...but I had to start the process somewhere...and my diary didn't look quite so awesome as it would not when I first started out...but I still lost the weight...I still made myself healthy...I still made myself a fit *kitten* 40 year old.

Process, context, dosage....

I ask because I see in a lot of diaries things like a breakfast of real junk food and at the end of the day the calorie intake is right but the food quality is soooo wrong. Not that I'm judging, to each his own and I've seen some great weight losses with this method.

Do you count every calorie and weigh you food? Do you plan out your meals the day before? I do count my calories but have never weighed my food, can't imagine it. Do you think it's important to do that and if so, why isn't counting calories enough? One thing I do religiously is plan my meals a day ahead. That way I'm not starring in the fridge or cupboard trying to figure out what to eat.

How can you count calories if you don't weigh your food? Are you just guestimating? That can lead to some big problems as cwolfman13 already mentioned.

I make the majority of my food from scratch and try to avoid processed foods. Quality matters A LOT to me. (Like you, I cringe a bit when I look through some people's food diaries.) I want real nutritious food, not some chemical-laden crap made in a factory. I weigh, measure, or count everything I eat. (A few things I eat so frequently that I'm pretty sure I can eyeball them so sometimes I do. But after a few times of eyeballing, I always double check myself with the scale to make sure I haven't strayed too far. Like, I eat cottage cheese almost every morning. 1/2 cup, 113 grams. Checked it this morning - 111 grams.)

I preplan my meals and log my foods several days in advance (sometimes as much as a week). It helps with grocery shopping and meal prep. It's easier to hit all my macros when I figure it in advance. And it definitely keeps me on track so I'm not doing that "standing in front of the fridge, ravenous, randomly stuffing food into my mouth" thing. I do not do well with on-the-spot food decisions.

I count calories. I dont weigh my food because I've had good progress using serving sizes and cups *gasp*, but I wouldnt mind buying a food scale when I have a few extra bucks lying around, its just not a priority for me.

But to me quality is whats most important. I still eat junk food from time to time, but I do my best to eat the best I can from day to day. I also find that the better the QUALITY my food is, the more QUANTITY I can eat, because healthier food tends to be lower calorie.

I spend my sundays making my lunches and breakfast for the week and portioning out my snacks so that I know I'm not over eating and hitting all my macros.

That being said, right now I could not imagine buying a kitchen scale and weighing all of my food. Buttttt... I may have a different answer in a couple months, so I'm keeping an open mind (:

A lot of people do just fine without using a scale...on the other hand, I've seen a lot of people log (I'll use chicken again) 4 oz of chicken and I'll ask them how they knew it was 4 oz of chicken...response is usually, "that's what the package it came in said was a serving". My reply is generally to read closer...it says a serving of chicken breast is 4 oz...but an actual chicken breast is usually much more than that...a 4 oz chicken breast is rather tiny. So I see a lot of people who think it just doesn't work and woe is me, etc when in reality they just have a lot of user error going on.

Some people are better at guestimating than others. One reason I bought my scale was that I felt like I was selling myself short with some things and overeating others...I didn't want to do either. I enjoy food very much and want my fair share and now that I'm more into fitness, proper fuel is vitally important to my performance.

My suspicions were absolutely correct...I was under feeding myself certain things and over feeding myself others. Nuts were a big deal as I eat them frequently...they are very healthy, but very calorie dense as well. I was just scooping out a handful of almonds and logging that as a 1 oz serving and 160 calories...reality was I was closer to about 1.5 ounces and 240 calories. I was really bad with spaghetti pasta as well...measuring out macaroni or whatever with a measuring cup is one thing, but it's pretty difficult to do with spaghetti...I always had a tendency to overestimate 2 oz of dried spaghetti...it always looked so small (because it is).

For things that are of a consistent size and shape, I've found measuring cups to work just fine. I also weighed vegetables in order to make sure I was getting my goal of 12 ounces minimum daily...preferably closer to a pound.

To start, I'd say that counting calories if you don't weigh your food kinda defeats the purpose to me. I know a lot of people lose fine without weighing, but the whole point of counting is to adjust your diet to reach a certain amount of calories, so if your entries are false to begin with, well, I just don't see how it would help... although I guess that most people who don't weigh don't really try and reach their goal anyway and leave themselves a buffer, or don't eat exercise calories back or something.

I count everything personally, at least I know if I'm overeating. I log a day ahead sometimes, then adjust as I go, and dinner is typically calculated depending on how many calories I have left (I almost never eat an exact serving of something).

To answer your title question - for me it's a mix of both. Sometimes I'll blow 200 calories on junk (if it's much more than that, I might tend to go over, I'm more likely to get HUNGRY), but I try to make the most of my calories for most of them. I tend to like bigger meals or snacks overall though.

It's always funny what people include in "junk" food.

IMO, if it comes in a box or a bag or a can it's probably "junk food." That definition is very broad and there are certainly exceptions but basically it works. And, yes, everyone is going to consume some junk food. My concern lies with people who eat ONLY junk food. Their diaries are full of cereals, bars, fruit snacks, frozen meals, pre-made dinners, etc. but very little (or no) meat or dairy or veggies or fruit. That's totally their choice and no business of mine. But I do wonder if they are aware that this is not really the best food they could be eating and I feel a measure of concern for them. As a society, we are dangerously ignorant about nutrition.

I'd say quality, but this is coming from someone who had this for lunch



But normally I would honestly say quality

Omg what kind of cake is that?! That looks phenomenal.

Accuracy of quantity, calories, and nutrients is the most important for reaching weight management and body composition goals.

How you choose to label food is your own preference after that.

Omg what kind of cake is that?! That looks phenomenal.

It's a Reece Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake with a brownie crust...It's amazing and I'm proud to say I made it :happy:

I ask because I see in a lot of diaries things like a breakfast of real junk food and at the end of the day the calorie intake is right but the food quality is soooo wrong. Not that I'm judging, to each his own and I've seen some great weight losses with this method.

Do you count every calorie and weigh you food? Do you plan out your meals the day before? I do count my calories but have never weighed my food, can't imagine it. Do you think it's important to do that and if so, why isn't counting calories enough? One thing I do religiously is plan my meals a day ahead. That way I'm not starring in the fridge or cupboard trying to figure out what to eat.

First, you can't use pejoratives like 'junk' in describing other people's food and then claim to not be judging. Language doesn't work that way.

Secondly, I count every calorie and weigh my food whenever possible (95% of the time). I plan out my meals in that when I go to the grocery, I know what I'm going to be eating for the next week. You can't imagine weighing your food? You should if you want to be as accurate as possible. Isn't calorie counting enough? Yes it is but when you see people saying that they aren't losing weight despite doing everything right, 99% of the time it's because they have either one or both sides of the calories in/ calories out equation wrong. Most times, it's underestimating how many calories they are taking in. People who encounter this problem and are willing to make a tiny lifestyle change, weighing their food, quickly find just how inaccurate eyeballing can be. Also, once you get close to goal weight and you get to the point that your deficit should be rather small, perhaps only 150-250 calories, that amount of accuracy become increasingly important.

Planning ahead is great but even planning ahead doesn't account for the fact that your eyes and their estimates are not as accurate as a digital scale that tells you quantity down to the gram.

Finally, your thread title: I enjoy both quantity and quality but it depends on the food. I like quality in high calorie items like gelato, chocolate, cake, etc. I like quantity in low calorie items like salad. I'll have a huge bowel (knowing I'll suffer consequences later) in order to fill me up if I'm having one of those 'want to eat all the foods despite my lack of calorie allowance' days.

Freudian slip?

I ask because I see in a lot of diaries things like a breakfast of real junk food and at the end of the day the calorie intake is right but the food quality is soooo wrong. Not that I'm judging, to each his own and I've seen some great weight losses with this method.

Do you count every calorie and weigh you food? Do you plan out your meals the day before? I do count my calories but have never weighed my food, can't imagine it. Do you think it's important to do that and if so, why isn't counting calories enough? One thing I do religiously is plan my meals a day ahead. That way I'm not starring in the fridge or cupboard trying to figure out what to eat.

1.) Not judging? 'Cuz it kinda sounds like judging to me. "Real junk," "food quality is soooo wrong," etc.

inorite? OP sure sounds awfully judgy to me too. :huh:

I'd say quality, but this is coming from someone who had this for lunch



But normally I would honestly say quality

This is what I call a QUALITY lunch! Seriously.

I do want to add, weighing your food is SO important. I was struggling to lose weight very slowly (maybe .5lb/wk) and I started weighing and measuring everything again. I broke through my plateau, lost 2 lbs the next week, and now it seems like I am losing steadlly without any problem. And I am eating probably the same amount of "junk," as I am healthy food, yet I feel great and have a TON of energy.

always this battle between good vs bad food. I personally view losing weight as a whole, eating food that provide me with good nutrient with as little calories as possible. I need food to prevent heart disease, prevent osteoporoses and other little nasties that often catched up with you. I would rather avoid them, than dealing with them.

If I have to choose between an apple at 100 calories and a small bag of snack cookies at the same calorie level, I will choose the apple without even thinking about it because of the illness I wish to prevent.

So even if I can lose weight eating all the food I love, it wont fullfill my other needs. Same for exercises I will lose weight without them and yet I still do it every day because the weight loss is easier to achieve and my body looks better.

So to each its own way of eating depending on their goals.

always this battle between good vs bad food. I personally view losing weight as a whole, eating food that provide me with good nutrient with as little calories as possible. I need food to prevent heart disease, prevent osteoporoses and other little nasties that often catched up with you. I would rather avoid them, than dealing with them.

If I have to choose between an apple at 100 calories and a small bag of snack cookies at the same calorie level, I will choose the apple without even thinking about it because of the illness I wish to prevent.

So even if I can lose weight eating all the food I love, it wont fullfill my other needs. Same for exercises I will lose weight without them and yet I still do it every day because the weight loss is easier to achieve and my body looks better.

So to each its own way of eating depending on their goals.

I'll choose the apple too, but if it's a matter of satisfying a craving with 1/2 a cup of ice cream, or a beer in the evening, then I'm satisfying the craving. My diet is mostly lean meats, vegetables, fruit, yogurt, eggs, and egg whites, but I leave room for the extras. What people seem to missing is that is what IIFYM is about. It's not eating junk food 24/7. We mention moderation because it works over the long term and it does result in a lean physique and solid health markers when combined with the right amount of calories and strength training.