does quality of food make a difference to weight loss?

i like to keep it real, i eat foods that i wont to eat just in moderation, in a way of tricking my body not letting it know that im restricting my calorie intake a day, by doing this your more likely to succeed in keeping the weight off, and maintain a healthy lifestyle, when the weight is off you dont want to feel "frightened" in going out and having a takeaway just like "normal" people do. Just eat less calories the next day or the day better.

i used to think "calorie in, calorie out"... but i've come to realize that the healthier choices i make in what i eat, the most satisfied i am during the day (not hungry, etc) and the better I can keep to my weight loss goals. I also noticed a lot of difference when I increased my protein by quite a bit. I don't eat red meat and rarely eat other meats so my protein levels were lowwww. then I started reaching out for other protein options and wow, i could just tell a difference in the way i felt - which equals better weight loss - plus i started getting leaner with better foods.

healthier choices = avoiding the "skinny fat" syndrome and lets not forget the nutritional value of healthy foods and blah blah blah LOL.

although, i need to be reading my own notes because i have not been eating healthy these past three days ! and i can definitely tell a difference in how i feel less motivated for weight loss and stuff since i feel tired and hungry because of bad food choices.

hope this helps, sorry so long!

yes it makes a difference, I ahve a co worker who is on teh "atkins diet" so we ahd lunch, I had a salad and some grilled chicken. He had 20 Buffalo wings....he wonders why he is not losing weight.

Uh, did we have lunch together the other day? LOL.

I used to do the 20 buffalo wing Atkins thing ... since changed my eating habits for the better and discovered that buffalo wings basically have 100 Cal. per wing!!! Not to mention the fat! Jeez. Yeah, no wonder I got to my heaviest ever.

Look at it this way: Go buy a nice, high end car. Then, ask yourself - are you going to cruise around town looking for the cheapest @$$ gas you can find - some no name, watered down, 60 octane gas - yeah the car will still go, but for how long? And what are you doing to the engine that you're going to have to fix soon?

Or ... are you going to stop at a reputable gas station (one of the big oil co's) and spend a few more pennies for some mid to high grade gas? Your car will run better, cleaner, longer.

They both move the car. My body is a lot more important to me than my car. It may break down, but at least I tried to do what's best for it.

I know a calorie is a calorie but just wondering if anyone has noticed a difference when they use their calories in the most healthy way (fruit, veg etc) rather than just using them however they like?

In the contents of energy... yes a calorie is a calorie. In biochemistry, protein and carbs have a totally different response on body fat. Stay away from "man made foods" carbohydrates either get stored in the muscle for energy, or as fat. Protein is the building blocks of the body, and it also helps release fat.

Well... a calorie is a calorie, but I find myself snacking more if I eat high sugar foods, especially cereal at breakfast.

But you can lose weight eating unhealthy foods if you're calorie intake is lower than you need.

Someone did it before on the twinkie diet

For straight-up weight loss, no, quality of cals doesn't matter. But if you choose junky food over quality food, you won't be healthy, and eventually it could cause issues with your weight loss because your body isn't getting the nutrients it needs to function properly. It may be harder to resist cravings and keep from overeating, because your body will be pushing you to get nutritious food.

I try to strike a balance. I don't cut things out of my diet, but I make sure that my macronutrients are in a good range. I make sure I'm getting enough protein and fat, and not too many carbs, because that's when I feel the best. So if I want a slice of cake, I have one, but I don't do that every day, and I try to make sure I'm eating healthy foods the rest of the day. I plan my meals ahead of time, and if I slip up and have a can of pop or something that wasn't planned for, I don't remove a healthy food to compensate for the calories, ever. I'd rather be over on cals and eat healthy foods than have low calories full of junk.

I've also started trying to understand food better - hence this website - and understand nutrition and the "macronutrients" - fat, protein, carbs, etc.

But also there's "micronutrients" that aren't added to processed food that you can ONLY get by eating natural food - fruit, meat, vegetables, nuts, grains - usually they're called "phytonutrients" From THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE of all things :laugh: , wikipedia,

The term is generally used to refer to those chemicals that may affect health, but are not established as essential nutrients.[1] While there is abundant scientific and government support for recommending diets rich in nutrients from fruits and vegetables,[2] there is only limited evidence that physiological effects result from any specific phytochemicals.[1]

There's some other nutrient word I can't think of ... dang it.

But also, they're full of natural fiber, which is also good - where as processed food has less.

For more nutrition information, I really recommend Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book, "Eat to Live":

http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Live-Revolutionary-Formula-Sustained/dp/0316735507/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1307013773&sr=1-1

It's different for everybody. That's what it's going to ultimately come down to, finding what works best for you.

For me, I only paid attention to calories and rarely even looked at my macros. Ate Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice for lunch everyday and cereal or fiber bars for breakfast every single day. I'd eat packaged 100 cal snacks during the day, along with fruits and some veggies. Sometimes I'd make dinner. Often I'd get grilled KFC, Subway or low calorie packaged dinners from the supermarket that I could easily make for the hubby and I. I lost 36 pounds.

I found this forum. Read all the info on eating cleaner and cutting out processed foods. So I worked hard at that. Make my own meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner almost everyday, getting rid of the packaged snacks, starting eating stuff like almonds and edamame and the vile Greek yogurt for snacks. Watching my macro ratios and sodium levels every day. Still weighing everything to the gram on my scale and watching calories and excercise calories (and eating them back based on HRM info). I've gained 9lbs.

So everyone's experience is going to be different.