Would it make a difference?

laurielie
laurielie Posts: 133 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Would it make a difference what I eat so long as I stay with in my 1200 calories? Would I still loose weight? Most of the time I make good food choices, but with the holiday temptations, that might be hard.

Replies

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    It's all about calories.


    Of course, for optimal health, eat your veggies and have a varied diet.


    But for weight loss? No, it doesn't matter. Calories are calories.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    For weight loss, no. For health and nutrition, yes.
  • dhimaan
    dhimaan Posts: 774 Member
    For strictly weight loss it's calories in vs calories out. You can eat anything as long as it fits within 1200 calories.
  • wonko221
    wonko221 Posts: 292 Member
    Someone recently tested this, and found that if you ate nothing but twinkies, powdered donuts, oreos, and similar junk foor and kept within a caloric goal, you could lose weight. (story here)

    You run the risk of malnutrition and consequential issues if you sustain a bad diet, but unless you're dealing with health issues already, you're unlikely to go from generally healthy to unhealthy by indulging in a few snacks and rich foods within your calorie budget during a holiday season.
  • nikkylyn
    nikkylyn Posts: 325 Member
    It is all about calories. But I notice if I eat like crap thats exactly what I feel like. Yea I could eat 2000 calories worth of candy and maintain but I would feel like I got hit by a truck. Thats not saying you can't indulge a little bit. Maybe set a limit like one dessert on thanksgiving/christmas/etc. Or limit it to a certain calorie amount. Dont go overboard. If your already eating healthy a big change and eating a bunch of sugar will make you feel sick. It does for me anyways.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    What they all said.

    The other thing I'd bring up that I haven't seen mentioned yet is remember that in addition to providing different nutrients, different foods help satiate us differently. You may find you have room for a treat, but if it's not going to fill you up and you end up ravenously hungry at the end of the day, it may be counterproductive. This may prove to be very important with such a low calorie budget.
  • BWFit16
    BWFit16 Posts: 22 Member
    I think rather than just going off of calories you might find Macro counting more beneficial. This counting is a little more in depth than just calories, taking into consideration your protein, carb, fat intake. If your goal is 1200 calories, you figure out what you want for your p/c/f split to be based on your goals and daily needs. For example, if your split is 40% proteins, 40% carbs, 20% fats, this equates to 120g of protein/Carbs( 4 calories/g) and 26g of fat(9 caolories/g). Like I said before, those splits are all examples and vary person to person based on goals, activity level, BMR, etc.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    It's really hard to squeeze in high-calorie foods when you only have 1200 calories to work with. Eat something high-cal and you end up hungry later. If you eat junk food, it also leaves you with less calories to squeeze in all your nutrients.

    But you could lose weight if you ate nothing but table sugar. The weight is more about calories than the type of food you eat.
  • laurielie
    laurielie Posts: 133 Member
    Thank you all for the good tips! I will think twice before I go off the wagon. I just hate to "find" these 14lbs back on me again. But like I said..........there's lots of tempting going on this time of the year. I'd have to swap my dinner for one lil treat.
    Not sure if it's worth it:(
  • blkandwhite77
    blkandwhite77 Posts: 281 Member
    I know on thanksgiving I'm going to only focus on maintenance and weight loss for the day. I'm not w huge fan of turkey dinner and the fixings but I am a fan of the deserts after so I'm going to enjoy some of them guilt free. Maybe just worry about maintenance calories instead on "holiday" meals. :)

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