Fact or myth: lose weight by consuming less calories than you burn?

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Chibinesekwe
Chibinesekwe Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Example: Could I lose weight by eating only Girl Scout cookies as long as I stay under my calorie limit for the day? (Not going to try it, but curious if this theory is fact or myth).
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  • judefit18
    judefit18 Posts: 38 Member
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    CICO; calories in, calories out. Yes, theoretically you could eat a deficit in any food including GS cookies (I'd do thin mints myself), but you'd probably up your blood sugar and go into some sort of organ failure or such. :-)
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    Chibinesekwe wrote: »
    Example: Could I lose weight by eating only Girl Scout cookies as long as I stay under my calorie Maintenance limit for the day? (Not going to try it, but curious if this theory is fact or myth).

    FIFY.

    You want to eat at your calorie limit MFP gives you plus exercise if you exercise. You want eat under your maintenance calories.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Chibinesekwe wrote: »
    Example: Could I lose weight by eating only Girl Scout cookies as long as I stay under my calorie limit for the day? (Not going to try it, but curious if this theory is fact or myth).

    It would work, but it wouldn't be healthy and you would feel like crap (be hungry and lacking essential nutrients).


    That said you want to eat the calorie goal MFP gave you. Your MFP goal is the calories you need to eat to lose weight without exercise. If you exercise, you eat some of those calories plus the original goal MFP gave you.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,392 MFP Moderator
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    Chibinesekwe wrote: »
    Example: Could I lose weight by eating only Girl Scout cookies as long as I stay under my calorie limit for the day? (Not going to try it, but curious if this theory is fact or myth).

    Yes but you would become nutritionally defcient.
  • tirowow12385
    tirowow12385 Posts: 698 Member
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    Chibinesekwe wrote: »
    Example: Could I lose weight by eating only Girl Scout cookies as long as I stay under my calorie limit for the day? (Not going to try it, but curious if this theory is fact or myth).

    I've tested it and yes, I've lost weight eating nothing but cookies. I developed night blindness after a while due to nutrient deficiency but my eyesight is perfect after I stopped lol.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,885 Member
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    Chibinesekwe wrote: »
    Example: Could I lose weight by eating only Girl Scout cookies as long as I stay under my calorie limit for the day? (Not going to try it, but curious if this theory is fact or myth).

    True! :)

    You probably wouldn't feel very well and your energy level might be all over the place ... but yep, if you eat fewer calories than you burn, whatever those calories are, you will lose weight.

    In a way this is freeing! It means you can have a girl scout cookie or two. :)

    But in order to feel good while remaining under your calories, it can help to have a diet with some variety and especially including foods that have a decent "staying power" (foods that leave you feeling full for a decent amount of time).
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    Yes, weight loss is governed strictly by energy balance so a calorie deficit will always result in lost weight regardless of what your diet consists of.
    Granted, such an approach would be reckless and nutritionally deficient but you would still lose weight. Healthy eating/good nutrition is independent of eating for weight loss. They can be achieved simultaneously (by eating at a calorie deficit while consuming a nutrient dense diet) but one neither depends on nor causes the other.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    It just goes to show that how flawed is obsession with weight loss...at any cost. Indeed so many health markers improve when people lose weight. I am eternally grateful for the restoration of my mobility.

    But then, after achieving a healthy weight, don’t we all also want a healthy body? That means a varied colourful diet and lots of movement.

    Of course weight loss is achieved by eating fewer calories than we burn. Total fact. Can be achieved on a Subway, Twinkie, Oreo, Cabbage, Banana, Raw, Potato, Paleo, Keto, or sensible diet.
  • tirowow12385
    tirowow12385 Posts: 698 Member
    edited February 2018
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    If you eat a cookie that was enriched and fortified with vitamins, the way cereal is, I reckon you'd be fine.

    After eating cookies constantly, I slowly got tired of it the way one does if they eat the same food over and over everyday like chicken for example.
    I started to crave savory meals over sweetd. I found that really mind boggling, all my life I've always crave sweets after eating regular food and here I was wanting nothing to do with sweets but craving some veggies like we all crave chocolate. I figured that was my body telling me I'm lacking certain vitamins which begs the question, just why does the body tell you to eat that piece of chocolate? Probably because you're lacking in Magnesium mineral.
  • BitofaState
    BitofaState Posts: 75 Member
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    If you don't lose weight when consuming more calories than you burn you've just managed to suspend the first law of thermodynamics.

    Well done, you've now invented a perpetual motion machine and solved the world's energy needs forever.
  • dinadyna21
    dinadyna21 Posts: 403 Member
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    bendyourkneekatie wrote: »
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    Total myth. You need to consume as many calories as you can to lose weight. Totally makes sense too.

    This is true, but be careful where those calories come from. The must be whole foods, organic, and unprocessed. The moment you touch a grain of refined sugar or, god forbid, a grain of grain of any kind, you will pile on the kilos and unkickstart your metabolism. (Though this can be quickly counteracted with a thorough detox with apple cider coconut grapefruit quinoa enemas).

    You had me at enemas. :D
  • h1udd
    h1udd Posts: 623 Member
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    It would be great if it was a myth though .... you could solve world hunger just by giving a single girl scout cookie to every homless, starving, wore torn refugee ..... and they would lose weight and starve .... just a single cookie
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    edited February 2018
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    bendyourkneekatie wrote: »
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    Total myth. You need to consume as many calories as you can to lose weight. Totally makes sense too.

    This is true, but be careful where those calories come from. The must be whole foods, organic, and unprocessed. The moment you touch a grain of refined sugar or, god forbid, a grain of grain of any kind, you will pile on the kilos and unkickstart your metabolism. (Though this can be quickly counteracted with a thorough detox with apple cider coconut grapefruit quinoa enemas).

    I am intrigued by your statements and will gladly give you my money. Please, tell me more. :wink:

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