Does it matter what you eat?

Excess calories are what causes weight gain, etc...not any particular food.

Never mind I misread the OP. Carry on.

AnvilHead wrote: »

mph323 wrote: »

graemeward84 wrote: »

Does it really matter what's you eat when trying to lose weight as long as you eat less than you burn?

For example I'm 6ft5, 283lbs and male, I eat roughly 2700 calls a day but burn off anywhere between 3600-4000 depending on what I do that day. As long as I eat near enough what MFP tells me to eat, does it matter if I eat a bit of chocolate, drink beer etc as well as eating healthy as long as I stay within my 1000cals less for the day and under my sugar / fats etc??

First of all, as a 6'5" male, are you really only eating 1000 calories a day while burning up to 4000? If I have that right - how fast are you losing weight? 1-2 lbs/week? More than that? If you're losing faster than 2 lbs a week, I don't think it's appropriate to give nutrition advice because at that point you are SEVERELY underfeeding and that most definitely needs to be addressed first.

If you're losing 2 lbs or less a week you're eating more than 1000 calories a day.

If you are losing appropriately, as long as you're hitting your macros and getting in your micronutrients, it's fine to use whatever calories you have left for anything you want.

I think you missed something in the second sentence:

For example I'm 6ft5, 283lbs and male, I eat roughly 2700 calls a day but burn off anywhere between 3600-4000 depending on what I do that day.

Yeah, not enough coffee - I deleted my post. Thanks

Calories are king for weight-loss. Macros and micros come into play for health, satiety, etc. As in, use your full calories on ONLY pastry (or only skinless chicken breast, for that matter), and you're setting yourself up for malnutrition and bunch of other problems. But you will lose weight and health markers will improve.

That being said? If you're meeting nutritional requirements, there is nothing magical about chocolate chip cookies (I lie. There's some sorcery involved, or they wouldn't taste so darn good), where eating 150 calories worth will magically 'find' all the weight you lost and glue it back to your hips.

graemeward84 wrote: »

Thanks guys for the replies, my second question is, the macros....., I go slightly over on protein some days but am generally slightly under on carbs / sugar / fat / sodium etc....is this fine? I'm probably over thinking it to be honest reading your replies aren't i? Lol cheers guys

That's probably fine. Just don't go too low on fats, so that you run into issues (you need a certain amount of dietary fat to keep your body running properly). If you're slightly under, as you said, I'm sure you're fine. And I wouldn't worry too much - barring a medical reason to do so - about sugar or sodium.