When it comes to losing weight, does it matter what you eat if you're within your calorie goal
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newstart1988
Posts: 154 Member
I know that eating junk food isn't healthy in the long run and I'm trying to eat mainly healthy foods but I was just wondering if you could still lose weight like 100 pounds eating junk food as long as it's within your calories?
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Replies
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For losing weight, no.
Food choices are for meeting your nutritional needs and energy and, for many people, they also impact how full they feel when they're in a deficit. But you'll lose weight eating anything if you're in a deficit.
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newstart1988 wrote: »I know that eating junk food isn't healthy in the long run and I'm trying to eat mainly healthy foods but I was just wondering if you could still lose weight like 100 pounds eating junk food as long as it's within your calories?
Yes, you could3 -
Short-term, absolutely. Someone just posted about doing just that for a month: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10571895/the-junk-food-diet-seriously#latest. Also, try Googling 'Twinkie diet'. Long term, it's likely to lead to nutritional deficiencies, and probably other issues. But for weight-loss, all you need is a deficit. For health, energy, and satiety? That's where the healthy eating comes in.9
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This is an interesting question. I find Junk food is very small quantity for the calories. So if you eat very little food you can but why would you want to? If I eat healthy food I get alot more food. I feel full and satisfied and I'm also healthier so it's a win, win. If you eat nothing but junk you are gonna feel hungry all the time. I have a treat every now and again, not saying I never eat junk but really logically you need something that you can do for the rest of your life. In addition to that I'm one of those people who can't just eat a little bit of something. I have to feel full or I just keep eating..........4
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newstart1988 wrote: »I know that eating junk food isn't healthy in the long run and I'm trying to eat mainly healthy foods but I was just wondering if you could still lose weight like 100 pounds eating junk food as long as it's within your calories?
Yes you could.......... but I'd bet $$$ to donuts you would not be able to keep it off if that was the diet you stuck to.
Personally I don't think many people who have issues with food could eat only junk food yet keep in a calorie deficit long enough to lose 100 lbs
Not saying it hasn't or couldn't happen but.....
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You got fat because you ate too many calories (calorie surplus) - not because you ate junk food.
So you could simply eat less to put yourself into calorie deficit and reverse the process.
Short term simply losing the excess weight will markedly improve your health markers.
But for long term health and adherence to a certain calorie allowance then yes, what you eat matters.
There's a middle ground between all junk food and no junk food of course. Maybe a 80% / 20% split might work for you? Or 90/10....
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It's also about modifying behavior and food choices so that you never end up in *that* place again. For example - both my "diet" calories are the same as my maintenance and my macros are "goals" not set in stone. I do try to stay within my calories. But, part of this is trying to find a lasting balance.1
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I eat whatever I want, but I've found that certain foods fill me up better than others, and some just make me want to eat more. It is hard to eat just 5 Ritz crackers or 5 potato chips. I can't eat just one slice of pizza. A glass of wine usually leads to a second glass of wine. So I eat all the above, but not often.4
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You would mainly lose muscle if you weren't resistance training and eating enough protein to maintain / build. So technically yes. However, your hunger levels would rise too since you wouldn't be feeding your body adequate nutrients making it harder to maintain the deficit. In the long term you would crumble and begin eating more and more because your body would be looking for the missing macros / micros it needs.2
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It depends on how your body reacts to it. I had fast food the other week and because of the high levels of salt and fat my body held onto it and I gained over 4lbs, just from one meal.
I think if you're looking for real change in your life, you can't do it part way, you have to commit to it!
Good luck!3 -
As others have said. Yes you will lose weight as long as you are in a calorie deficit but I bet you want to lose fat not muscle right? In order to not lose muscle you need to be eating about 0.8 -1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, that's hard to do on a junk food diet.0
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No it does not. I got fat by "clean eating" without counting calories, because I was in surplus. I lost all the excess weight (50 pounds plus more) by counting calories while eating whatever I want. My fasting blood sugar was also prediabetic when I was overweight while "clean eating". It's now lowered dramatically and under control after weight loss, despite my daily desserts and "junk foods." Think of calories as an allowance.2
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I'd like to say yes but considering how junk food is extremely high in calorie... I'd say it would be really hard, if not impossible.
For example: I went to Chick-fil-a for my cheat meal and Just 1 meal was 1,117 calories and my daily intake is set to 1200. I'd be pretty hungry all day if I only was permitted to eat once1 -
DeviousKitty wrote: »I'd like to say yes but considering how junk food is extremely high in calorie... I'd say it would be really hard, if not impossible.
For example: I went to Chick-fil-a for my cheat meal and Just 1 meal was 1,117 calories and my daily intake is set to 1200. I'd be pretty hungry all day if I only was permitted to eat once
It's not hard. Definitely not impossible. Just saying. Maybe try IF?0 -
Yes you will lose weight if you eat junk food as long as you're in a calorie deficit, how will you feel though?? like death. Youll pretty much feel like your on a roller coaster ride. And Im not a doctor but eating high sugar and processed foods can eventually lead to serious health issues.3
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I watched an interesting documentary called "The Sugar Film", he challenges the idea that calories are calories and surmises that calories from sugar work differently in the body... it's an interesting theory and one that I think is far from being proven, but it ... makes some sense to me.10
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I watched an interesting documentary called "The Sugar Film", he challenges the idea that calories are calories and surmises that calories from sugar work differently in the body... it's an interesting theory and one that I think is far from being proven, but it ... makes some sense to me.
That film is the worst "science experiment" of all time. He ate like *kitten*, let's be honest, and also has no idea how many calories he consumed before, during or after.10 -
All calories are not the same. Sugar and refined grains and processed foods are toxic for your body and make you store fat. Some people flip their lids when I say that, but it Is true. All calories are not dealt with equally by our bodies.26
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newstart1988 wrote: »1)I know that eating junk food isn't healthy in the long run and I'm trying to eat mainly healthy foods 2)but I was just wondering if you could still lose weight like 100 pounds eating junk food as long as it's within your calories?
1) eating "junk" food can be perfectly fine for you in the long run. A diet is unhealthy when it lacks the proper nutrients (macronutrients and micronutrients), not when it contains foods labeled as "junk" due to their lack thereof.
2) You can indeed. You body stores/burns fat based strictly on calorie balance. The nutritional profile of the foods from which those calories are derived is important for health but is completely independent and unrelated to weight loss/gain.8 -
@newstart1988 What is junk?
What is junk food?
I've been eating every day and losing weight and nothing has been off limits to me. I'm down 104 lb and I just want to know "What is junk food". My diary is open and I invite you to tell me what junk I've been eating and how it's prevented me losing 104 lb.2
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