If I eat an ice-cream everyday, but stay under the calorie limit, will it still work?

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  • duddysdad
    duddysdad Posts: 403 Member
    I eat dessert every night. Ice cream, cookies, candy bar, whatever. It's my reward for staying within my calories. I'm on a 190 day streak and in 6 months I have lost around 130 pounds. I do focus on protein, but if I want something, I'm having it as long as I can fit it in my deficit. It hasn't hurt me so far!
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    LdyJedi wrote: »
    You may lose weight, but you will most likely not have a healthy body otherwise. While a caloric deficit will help you shed pounds, you also need to maintain a healthy balance of nutrients to keep your heart and other muscles functioning properly.

    If you are eating a PROPER serving of ice cream, it is entirely possible to also consume a healthy balance of nutrients.



  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    Kayra42 wrote: »
    Sure, you will lose weight but end up with malnutrition and avitaminosis
    LdyJedi wrote: »
    You may lose weight, but you will most likely not have a healthy body otherwise. While a caloric deficit will help you shed pounds, you also need to maintain a healthy balance of nutrients to keep your heart and other muscles functioning properly.

    Ice cream and cake (and steak and chicken and vegetable soup and bread and pasta and pizza and lots of rice and some time in the gym) worked (and continue to work) for me.

    ETA: And my serum cholesterol levels continue to drop each yearly test for 3 years in a row. They are now well below my physician's own readings (and he is half my age).

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  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I eat ice cream every night. I also lift weights and try to get a good balance of nutrients.

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    @MamaBirdBoss the body shaming isn't necessary. You can debunk the idea that a person has to eat "clean" without putting down someone else's body.
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  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    edited July 2015
    Yes, It will work. But you won't end up with a "toned" body.

    depends. is the OP going to be resistance training?
  • Strawili
    Strawili Posts: 48 Member
    Yes, It will work. But you won't end up with a "toned" body.

    One of the most unattractive bodies I've ever seen belonged to a "pure food" vegan. When he took of his shirt, I wanted to throw up. College student. Thin. SO GROTESQUELY SKINNY-FAT. He managed to be sooooo thin you could see his ribs across the room, and yet he had folds of pudgy skin, like six in a row, down his belly. With clothes on, you could tell his was pasty and unhealthily thin from a distance, but you couldn't see the weird fat (and still have never seen anything like it in my life). The entire team whispered about that for a good month.

    But, you know, he ate "clean." So he must have really be toned.

    Maybe that pudge was actually excess skin from him already losing a lot of weight? Maybe he had a medical condition that made him look that way? Whatever the cause, I think it's pretty cruel to say the sight of his body made you want to throw up, no one deserves that.
    Facts are facts, aren't they? It's not a question of "deserving."


    Whispering and snickering about someone behind their back because of their body type, and going onto MFP to brag about how repulsive someones body is not very polite. I have 150 lbs to lose, am I going to have saggy skin and a self-conscious issue with it? Hell yeah. Do I need people to tell me how disgusting I might look? Hell no.

    Facts may be facts, but they can still be uncalled for.
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    ataysrht wrote: »
    The title is just a tiny example. The question I am trying to ask is; if I eat an unhealty food or something which has lots of calories (such as an ice cream, chocolate, pizza etc.) but still stay under the calorie limit, will this diet/lifestyle still work? I am confused because of all these blog posts and videos saying "Why calorie counting does not work" all over the internet.

    Thanks, everyone, for helping this newbie. Have a nice day, ladies and gentlemen.

    I can have reasonable portions of any treats I like as part of all the things I eat, including meats, vegetables, fruits, etc.

    It comes down to choices. If I have pizza for lunch (which I plan to do today, because reasons), I will probably not have room within my calorie target to allow for ice cream. I can choose to exercise and earn more calories to make room for ice cream, I can choose to eat the ice cream anyway and accept a smaller deficit today, or I can choose to not have the ice cream today.

    It is also up to me to be sure to meet my other nutritional needs: ice cream while cold, creamy, sweet, and delicious, will certainly not meet all of those needs in the proportions I require.

    My goal is weight loss: maintaining calories in a deficit over time achieves that.
    My goal is being healthy with an appropriate body composition when I reach my goal weight: insuring I get enough protein, fat, micronutrients, and exercise consistently achieves that.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    ataysrht wrote: »
    The title is just a tiny example. The question I am trying to ask is; if I eat an unhealty food or something which has lots of calories (such as an ice cream, chocolate, pizza etc.) but still stay under the calorie limit, will this diet/lifestyle still work? I am confused because of all these blog posts and videos saying "Why calorie counting does not work" all over the internet.

    Thanks, everyone, for helping this newbie. Have a nice day, ladies and gentlemen.

    I couldn't eat ice cream every day, but I am more sensitive to sugar than other people here. Try eating it and not eating it and see if there is a difference in how you feel - your energy level, etc.

  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    ataysrht wrote: »
    The title is just a tiny example. The question I am trying to ask is; if I eat an unhealty food or something which has lots of calories (such as an ice cream, chocolate, pizza etc.) but still stay under the calorie limit, will this diet/lifestyle still work? I am confused because of all these blog posts and videos saying "Why calorie counting does not work" all over the internet.

    Thanks, everyone, for helping this newbie. Have a nice day, ladies and gentlemen.

    I couldn't eat ice cream every day, but I am more sensitive to sugar than other people here. Try eating it and not eating it and see if there is a difference in how you feel - your energy level, etc.

    But will she still lose weight if she stays under her calories, since she reads articles that calorie counting doesn't work?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Yes, of course. I lost 95 lbs eating ice cream or some kind of extra (something sweet or some cheese after dinner or something) just about every day. If you think about it, why would that prevent you from losing within your calories or mean that you wouldn't get toned (which of course has to do with body fat and exercise/weights, as others have said)?

    Same question to those who jumped in to make those claims.

    Eating healthy really doesn't have to be all or nothing, and it's not at all hard to get in adequate micronutrients and protein and still fit in some ice cream or chocolate. And if you exercise (as I think anyone who can should), you will have more calories to work with, also.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    yes, I eat ice cream every day and maintain about 13-15% body fat...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    ataysrht wrote: »
    The title is just a tiny example. The question I am trying to ask is; if I eat an unhealty food or something which has lots of calories (such as an ice cream, chocolate, pizza etc.) but still stay under the calorie limit, will this diet/lifestyle still work? I am confused because of all these blog posts and videos saying "Why calorie counting does not work" all over the internet.

    Thanks, everyone, for helping this newbie. Have a nice day, ladies and gentlemen.

    I couldn't eat ice cream every day, but I am more sensitive to sugar than other people here. Try eating it and not eating it and see if there is a difference in how you feel - your energy level, etc.

    i don't think that was the question …

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    oh and eating ice cream and calorie counting have nothing to do with one another...
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    Yes, It will work. But you won't end up with a "toned" body.

    One of the most unattractive bodies I've ever seen belonged to a "pure food" vegan. When he took of his shirt, I wanted to throw up. College student. Thin. SO GROTESQUELY SKINNY-FAT. He managed to be sooooo thin you could see his ribs across the room, and yet he had folds of pudgy skin, like six in a row, down his belly. With clothes on, you could tell his was pasty and unhealthily thin from a distance, but you couldn't see the weird fat (and still have never seen anything like it in my life). The entire team whispered about that for a good month.

    But, you know, he ate "clean." So he must have really be toned.

    Maybe that pudge was actually excess skin from him already losing a lot of weight? Maybe he had a medical condition that made him look that way? Whatever the cause, I think it's pretty cruel to say the sight of his body made you want to throw up, no one deserves that.
    Facts are facts, aren't they? It's not a question of "deserving."


    Whispering and snickering about someone behind their back because of their body type, and going onto MFP to brag about how repulsive someones body is not very polite. I have 150 lbs to lose, am I going to have saggy skin and a self-conscious issue with it? Hell yeah. Do I need people to tell me how disgusting I might look? Hell no.

    Facts may be facts, but they can still be uncalled for.
    You're talking about something completely different.

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    LdyJedi wrote: »
    You may lose weight, but you will most likely not have a healthy body otherwise. While a caloric deficit will help you shed pounds, you also need to maintain a healthy balance of nutrients to keep your heart and other muscles functioning properly.
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    From being this close || to high blood pressure medication to 113/63. From 335 to 222.6. From sketchy blood work to awesome blood work.

    All while eating ice cream, and Snickers, and Oreos, and Tex-Mex, and cake, and pizza, and Dr Pepper, and so on. I submit that you may be quite mistaken in your beliefs.


  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    ataysrht wrote: »
    The title is just a tiny example. The question I am trying to ask is; if I eat an unhealty food or something which has lots of calories (such as an ice cream, chocolate, pizza etc.) but still stay under the calorie limit, will this diet/lifestyle still work? I am confused because of all these blog posts and videos saying "Why calorie counting does not work" all over the internet.

    Thanks, everyone, for helping this newbie. Have a nice day, ladies and gentlemen.

    Welcome. :)

    First of all, I encourage you to get rid of this notion of healthy and unhealthy foods, because that's another way of demonizing food.

    Second of all, ignore the blogs that say calorie counting does not work because they are bunk. If you want to know how much you are really eating, you need to count calories. The bottom line is to lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn. How you get there is up to you, but the less calories than you burn is mandatory.

    You can eat anything you want and stay within your calorie goals and lose weight, including that pizza and ice cream.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    edited July 2015
    Kayra42 wrote: »
    Sure, you will lose weight but end up with malnutrition and avitaminosis
    LdyJedi wrote: »
    You may lose weight, but you will most likely not have a healthy body otherwise. While a caloric deficit will help you shed pounds, you also need to maintain a healthy balance of nutrients to keep your heart and other muscles functioning properly.

    These are scare tactics. While I agree in meeting nutritional needs by eating a well balanced diet, there are a lot of people who eat processed and fast food who are in great health.

    However, if either of you believe I am wrong, and I could very well be, please post your peer reviewed studies to back up your claims. ;)
  • myfelinepal
    myfelinepal Posts: 13,000 Member
    I eat ice cream every night. I also lift weights and try to get a good balance of nutrients.

    ffb03541-9018-4433-bc6a-8220c643c446_zps72yeqre1.jpg

    @MamaBirdBoss the body shaming isn't necessary. You can debunk the idea that a person has to eat "clean" without putting down someone else's body.

    *wolfwhistle*
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I eat ice cream every night. I also lift weights and try to get a good balance of nutrients.

    ffb03541-9018-4433-bc6a-8220c643c446_zps72yeqre1.jpg

    @MamaBirdBoss the body shaming isn't necessary. You can debunk the idea that a person has to eat "clean" without putting down someone else's body.

    *wolfwhistle*

    :wink:
  • EzRemake
    EzRemake Posts: 128 Member
    Science has proven that ice cream not only helps you lose weight, but helps you get 10-pack abs. They proved it - with science.

    Don't ask me for my sources.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
    edited July 2015
    -160, over 1/2 of my current body weight. I did it eating at a calorie deficit, pretty much anything I wanted to eat, but (and this is key) staying at, or slightly under calorie budget. I have been maintaining (give or take 5 pounds) for 20 months, monitoring my weight closely, but not logging food as strictly as I did while losing.

    If you long honestly, everything you eat and drink, stay with your calorie allotment, and move more,(any exercise is truly beneficial, but you can lose without exercise. I lost the first 90 pounds just by diet alone) you will have success.

    It is pretty basic, eat less calories than you are burning, and you will lose weight, for most people with no health issues.

  • ophiure
    ophiure Posts: 18 Member
    Yes, you can still lose weight eating ice cream every day AND you can have a toned body. I have the beginnings of a six-pack and do this. My treats (cookies, cake, OR ice cream) range from 100-400 calories. (I don't usually eat all three in a day, lol.) The rest of the day is adjusted to fit. If I don't eat enough after I've finished dinner (i.e., I'm somehow still below 1200 calories because something in my day got messed up), I make sure to drink some milk and eat something else (protein bar, nuts, etc.) to get to that, though I usually eat 1500-1600 calories per day and have no problems attaining that. I also often eat burgers. You can have your cake and eat it too :)
  • Laura732
    Laura732 Posts: 244 Member
    And if you got far enough to read my post, bet you're still confused right? ;) Here's what I learned along my journey:

    1) Everything in moderation. Try to keep everything balanced. By this I mean, try to incorporate a variety of healthy foods into your meals along the way. You can still have moderate amounts of the things you enjoy. Heck, I've lost 40 lbs. and never gave up Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

    2) You chose MFP to log your foods and lose weight. Stick to it! If you honestly write everything down, you'll see what does and doesn't work for you. On those weeks where the scale doesn't do what you want it to, go back and review what's you logged. Chances are at some point a pattern will emerge, once you see what that is, try to correct that pattern and see what happens. Change takes about 2-3 weeks to show up in journals and on the scale so...

    3) It ain't gonna happen quickly! Be as consistent as you can, for as long as you can with diet and exercise. Especially with exercise, start slow (e.g walking) and work your way up.

    4) Life happens. Don't waste your time agonizing over one too many slices of pizza or one too many beers. We've all done it. Quit kicking yourself and get right back on track as soon as you can.
  • FoxyLifter
    FoxyLifter Posts: 965 Member
    ~For weight loss: calories in < calories out.
    ~For body composition: get enough protein and do some sort of progresive resistance training
    ~For overall health: get enough fat, micronutrients, water, sleep, rest/recovery, maybe some cardio.
    ~For your sanity: don't eliminate a whole group of foods for no medical reason or foods you can enjoy in moderation.

    Moderation, variation, and no unnecessary elimination! :smile:
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    FoxyLifter wrote: »
    ~For weight loss: calories in < calories out.
    ~For body composition: get enough protein and do some sort of progresive resistance training
    ~For overall health: get enough fat, micronutrients, water, sleep, rest/recovery, maybe some cardio.
    ~For your sanity: don't eliminate a whole group of foods for no medical reason or foods you can enjoy in moderation.

    Moderation, variation, and no unnecessary elimination! :smile:

    This!
    /thread
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Yes
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    FoxyLifter wrote: »
    ~For weight loss: calories in < calories out.
    ~For body composition: get enough protein and do some sort of progresive resistance training
    ~For overall health: get enough fat, micronutrients, water, sleep, rest/recovery, maybe some cardio.
    ~For your sanity: don't eliminate a whole group of foods for no medical reason or foods you can enjoy in moderation.

    Moderation, variation, and no unnecessary elimination! :smile:

    This is excellent advice.
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