Is a calorie really just a calorie?
AlexsieHolmvig
Posts: 2 Member
Do you find that as long as you stay in your daily calories (no matter what you eat) you still lose? Or do you have to fill your day with fruit, veggies, healthy fats and stay away from sugar to lose? I would like to plan my day in advance and incorporate a sweet during the day to make it more real and livable for me. But I don’t want to sabotage myself either.
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Replies
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A calorie is a unit of energy, that's all. If you eat 1200 calories of pizza and cookies you'll lose the same amount of weight as if you eat 1200 calories of whole foods. However, that's where the distinction ends. 1200 calories of pizza and cookies only would leave you lacking nutrients.
Meet your calorie/macro goals and work that treat in. That's what I've done.9 -
calories for weight loss
macros for health and satiety8 -
calories are a unit of measurement. If you have body composition goals you might consider minding your macros as well.4
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I eat ice cream or chocolate every night, and stayed within my calories. Hasn't slowed me down in the least.7
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Awesome! How much have you lost so far quiksylver296? If you don’t mind me asking!1
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AlexsieHolmvig wrote: »Awesome! How much have you lost so far quiksylver296? If you don’t mind me asking!
About 17 lbs. My body weight goals have changed due to powerlifting. I've been down as much as 30 lbs, but purposefully gained for competitions.3 -
As with others here - I am an advocate of flexible dieting and all things in moderation. I never cut out chocolate, wine or pizza while losing ~35 lbs and have been maintaining that loss for 3+ years now. That doesn’t mean I advocate eating only “junk” foods, but that a diet that provides nutrition, satiety, and enjoyment including fitting in treats in moderation is what I strive for.
I also believe strongly that if a proponent of a certain way of eating says that you must cut out certain foods to be successful, or that you must eat a certain type of food in order to be successful - you should disregard everything they are saying. What’s required to lose weight is a calorie deficit. You can achieve that eating any combination of foods you desire. What’s required for health is much harder to nail down as there are external circumstances and medical conditions that impact overall health but I similarly believe there are numerous healthy diets that can be achieved with different combination of foods/macros.10 -
You won't sabotage yourself in terms of weight loss unless you are going over your calorie intake, regardless of type of food. What you eat can become problematic in terms of nutrition (and a treat each day is not going to undo all the other nutritious foods you eat) and if eating certain foods causes problems for you personally in staying on track. If you can eat a treat and be done, great! If eating the treat is going to kick off a stint of "having just a little bit more" and eating the entire container, or prowling the pantry looking for something else, maybe having a daily treat doesn't work for you. It's all about finding what helps you stay on track.7
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Calories are just a unit for energy, nothing more. However, you can easily eat 1500kcal on crisps and donuts and might feel hungry short time later again. Thus what you eat does play a role. Eat what you like but try to balance it so that you don't go hungry.5
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A calorie is a calorie / unit of energy - true.
But...
What you eat will reflect how you feel, when eating clean I feel much better then flexibility dieting. Fitting in the crap foods just makes me feel like crap... that's me though hate you guys that feel amazing on it - or think you feel amazing if you've never gone super clean for months.
OP I lost 173lbs doing nothing but clean eating and tracking macros, but that's what worked for me - you might be different.21 -
Tedebearduff wrote: »
OP I lost 173lbs doing nothing but clean eating and tracking macros, but that's what worked for me - you might be different.
Sorry, no, you lost 173lbs by eating in a calorie deficit.
Nice job by the way!12 -
I have sweets every day. By that I mean actual sugar, not just fruit. Usually about 150 calories in added sugar. Ohnoes.
I lost 70ish pounds in 2007-08 and another 15 pounds four years ago and I've kept it off.
It's about long-term sustainability for me. I'm not willing to go the rest of my life without sweets, and it's been a bit of a roller coaster learning to manage it - AND I still have that odd day where I eat a pint of Ben & Jerrys, but it's not out of control sugar every single day.7 -
Tedebearduff wrote: »hate you guys that feel amazing on it
well that's quite a statement.4 -
Tedebearduff wrote: »A calorie is a calorie / unit of energy - true.
But...
What you eat will reflect how you feel, when eating clean I feel much better then flexibility dieting. Fitting in the crap foods just makes me feel like crap... that's me though hate you guys that feel amazing on it - or think you feel amazing if you've never gone super clean for months.
OP I lost 173lbs doing nothing but clean eating and tracking macros, but that's what worked for me - you might be different.
Good job on the weight loss. Takes a lot of time and dedication. However, clean eating really doesn't mean anything and I honestly believe that feeling much better than if you would have a single cookie is more in your head than anything.8 -
Why is my pizza slice dirty?
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....and then there are those food items which take more energy to digest then they are worth. Example: take celery sticks, eat a ton and over time you'll starve to death. But how much of that stuff can you eat?16
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Why is my pizza slice dirty?
Did you drop it in a mud puddle?neugebauer52 wrote: »....and then there are those food items which take more energy to digest then they are worth. Example: take celery sticks, eat a ton and over time you'll starve to death. But how much of that stuff can you eat?
Sarcasm?3 -
Science is science. Anecdotal story:
-Lost over 50lbs last year, in about 7 months eating whatever I wanted while still remaining in a deficit (cookies, beer, bacon, pretzels, double cheeseburgers, etc).
-Gained back about 35 of that while eating and drinking whatever I wanted while not tracking. (in about 4 months and clearly not in deficit)
-Lost 15 of the 35 I gained back in about 2 months by eating whatever I want as long as my macros are near my target because I'm choosing to go a different route. (Shaping my body with strength training while losing this time around)
CICO is a real thing. It is the only thing that matters in weight loss. (Long term...in the short term there are any number of things that can make you fluctuate, but it will even out)
How you feel, how much energy you have, how full/empty your belly is, how you carry that weight, and so much more is determined by the type of "calorie" you injest.6 -
I believe in the CICO and that a calorie is just a calorie, I am on my third round of losing 25-30 pounds because I stopped tracking each time.
I am not the healthiest eater by anyone's definition, this time round though I have learned I feel better when I pay attention to how many carbs I have. Days that I have an egg Mcmuffin for breakfast, a burger for lunch and a sandwich for supper (which I can make fit in my calorie goals) I don't feel as good as when I limit the carbs. It sucks because all of my favourite foods are carb heavy!
I don't pay extremely close attention to the macros, but I am mindful of it. So far since I started back up this time in late March I'm down 18 pounds. Way too much more to go!
Good luck to you.
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OP, calories are all the matter for weight loss: Eat fewer calories than you burn, and you'll lose weight.
But most of us want the process to be sustainable, and we want to be healthy and happy besides . . . . demanding so-and-sos that we are.
Food choices matter for satiation and sustainability. If I ate nothing but cake and chips, I'd never feel full, so I'd be likely to keep eating and eating, and exceed my calorie goal. But I don't even want to eat in some silly way like that, and you probably don't either.
Personally, I want to eat mostly nutrient-dense foods within my calorie goal, so that I maintain a healthy weight and a healthy body; and sometimes I want to eat a few not so nutrient-dense foods just for the joy of it. I lost 50+ pounds doing that, and am now in year 3 of maintaining a healthy weight.
So: Reasonable calorie level for weight management + reasonable macro/micro nutrient intake for nutrition + regular enjoyable exercise for basic fitness = best odds of long term health.
This is a fun and instructive thread, over in the debate area, about the primacy of calories for weight loss and flexible (but not zero nutrition) eating:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it
You'll want to look near the end of the very long thread for photos of that OP's current body composition results.Tedebearduff wrote: »A calorie is a calorie / unit of energy - true.
But...
What you eat will reflect how you feel, when eating clean I feel much better then flexibility dieting. Fitting in the crap foods just makes me feel like crap... that's me though hate you guys that feel amazing on it - or think you feel amazing if you've never gone super clean for months.
OP I lost 173lbs doing nothing but clean eating and tracking macros, but that's what worked for me - you might be different.
"Clean" and "crap" are meaningless quasi-religious terms. Why would you assume that people doing flexible eating would be eating "crap" . . . is that what you would want to eat if you were not committed to eating "clean" (whatever the heck you mean by the term, because every user defines it differently).
Nutrition is important. Orthorexia isn't. That's what's worked for me.13 -
I will preface this to say this is just what I've learned from my experiences.
I've lost over 100 lbs twice in my life...... 105 lbs in 2004 and have lost 112 and counting since April 2017.
And yes................ that means I gained all of that first 105 lbs back and more.
I used the CICO method both times with a few major adjustments this second time.
The first time I did it I achieved a calorie deficit most days due to exercise..... I took up running and racked up the miles.... even completed an ultra marathon.
Then I had one knee surgery, then another..... kind of lost myself for a few years and realized you can't out run bad habits.
So, this time around I'm older and wiser.... hopefully..... and acknowledge that what ever I do food wise, it's got to be repeatable for the rest of my life. Logging daily keeps me engaged in the process and accountable. I have certain triggers..... lol they tend to be carbs..... so I limit them when I can, but I haven't completely cut anything out of my diet. It's been more about understanding portions than anything else.
And I've realized I don't have to run marathons although if you do that's awesome, I really miss running!
But I can still get my "exercise" in living my normal life. Especially now that I've lost enough weight to be able to do the things I love again - golfing, kayaking, walking, biking.
You really can have your cake and eat it too........ just be aware you might have to add a lunch time walk or delete the cream from your morning coffee to do it. 5 -
AlexsieHolmvig wrote: »Do you find that as long as you stay in your daily calories (no matter what you eat) you still lose? Or do you have to fill your day with fruit, veggies, healthy fats and stay away from sugar to lose? I would like to plan my day in advance and incorporate a sweet during the day to make it more real and livable for me. But I don’t want to sabotage myself either.
I just wanted to give you a thumbs up for planning your day in advance. Especially in the beginning, I think that kind of planning is a really useful tool for managing your calories and nutrition. Best of luck!
edited to make actual sense.0 -
It’s a yes and no.
A calorie is a calorie in the strictest CICO sense but what those different types of calories can do to hormones, saity, and health really do matter. People here obsess over CICO imo. What many dont understand is that the type of “I” can affect the rate of “O”.
That being said if a sweet a day keeps you sane and able to stay on plan then absolutely do it.8 -
I do no cardio, lift 3 times a week and I am able to fit junk food into my diet and still lose weight. Of course most of my meals are healthy so that I can feel full, the junk food is to keep me sane. Hasn't stopped my body from losing weight. Calories is king.2
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Why is my pizza slice dirty?
Did you drop it? If not, I would take the pizza back wherever you bought it and complain. If you made it yourself ... did you put it on a dirty plate?3 -
spikeraw22 wrote: »It’s a yes and no.
A calorie is a calorie in the strictest CICO sense but what those different types of calories can do to hormones, saity, and health really do matter. People here obsess over CICO imo. What many dont understand is that the type of “I” can affect the rate of “O”.
That being said if a sweet a day keeps you sane and able to stay on plan then absolutely do it.
care to explain - because that makes no scientific sense...a calorie is a unit of energy3 -
spikeraw22 wrote: »It’s a yes and no.
A calorie is a calorie in the strictest CICO sense but what those different types of calories can do to hormones, saity, and health really do matter. People here obsess over CICO imo. What many dont understand is that the type of “I” can affect the rate of “O”.
That being said if a sweet a day keeps you sane and able to stay on plan then absolutely do it.
There are no different types of calories... there are no such things as broccoli calories or pizza calories or meat calories, etc. There are calories in each of those foods, but the calories (not the amount, mind you) are all the same. A calorie is simply the measure of energy that a particular thing provides and has NOTHING to do with the nutrition of the food or satiety or anything else.4 -
spikeraw22 wrote: »It’s a yes and no.
A calorie is a calorie in the strictest CICO sense but what those different types of calories can do to hormones, saity, and health really do matter. People here obsess over CICO imo. What many dont understand is that the type of “I” can affect the rate of “O”.
That being said if a sweet a day keeps you sane and able to stay on plan then absolutely do it.
Of course we understand that the kinds of foods people eat, and that the quality of nutrition overall, not to mention the number of calories we eat, contribute to whether people have enough energy for a busy, productive daily life and solid workouts, vs. drag through their day in fatigue and skip or phone in their workouts. Eating sensibly helps one be active and effective in ways that can materially increase calorie expenditure.
That isn't "types of calories". A mile of riverside footpath is bumpier and twistier than a mile of superhighway, and suitable for distinctly different purposes, but it's a mile in both cases: There aren't "types of miles" or "types of calories" in anything other than completely metonymic terms.4
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