Healthy calories VS Unhealthy calories

Hello! I have a question.. I eat a very healthy every day at 1200 calories (mainly cooked chicken, veggies, fruits, yogurt, banana, buckwheat, some nuts, chia... you get the idea). I meet my calorie goal of 1200 everyday. Now today was a little unordinary day and I ate a double cheeseburger, coffee, sushi and an apple - but also consumed no more than 1200 calories.
My question is... does it matter what I eat or is it all good as long as I meet my calorie goal? I would particularly thank for the opinion of those who actually done this themselves while they were losing weight. Thanks!!

Replies

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    When I was losing my 100 lb the first time, I did it by eating all manner of foods. I needed to stay in a calorie deficit, and I did. I considered it important that I get all the protein my life and activity needed. That's the way it works. Weigh it. Log it. Be accurate and honest.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    edited May 2019
    OooohToast wrote: »
    Buff_Man wrote: »
    What the op is talking about is the nutritional value of foods. If you can hit 1200 cals eating fast food you'll still lose weight. But, will you get enough micro and macro nutrients, vitamins, minerals etc to stay healthy? Probably not. Don't forget it's not just about the calories, how much fat, salt , hydrogenated oils are you consuming? These are all harmful in large quantities. You might reach your goal but you'll be constipated, with bad skin and probably irritable from the lack of nutrients.

    Wrong--there's a guy on here with a long thread running that ate fast food as an experiment and he has a fantastic body. He also has blood work done regularly and all is perfect. He was surprised himself.

    I just bumped his thread--"CICO Still skeptical?"

    I appreciate he is healthy off the back off his experiment but am not sure that means the general population would have the same outcome ? If I remember correctly, the guy who did the "100grammes of sugar a day and I lost loads /am healthy" thread did an awful lot of exercise.

    With this in mind, surely we have to place any WOE and their outcomes in the context of overall lifestyle inc age ? I say that as I remember being the right side of 30 and seemingly being able to eat and drink any old tosh whilst feeling and looking great. Things are rather different now.......

    Just to add, I think we all agree conceptually that all calories are equal, but I dont think anyone would recommend a diet of solid sugar. I appreciate the FDA doesnt recommend a sugar limit, but the NHS (UK) does and its 30g of added sugar per day for anyone over 11.

    The general public is not working out as much as he is. :D However, his experiment is interesting because the "eating healthy" movement is very absolute and I thought I'd point out an interesting thread. Do I consider myself to be a person that eats healthily?--oh yes. Do I tell anyone--no.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,494 Member
    Remoth wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Buff_Man wrote: »
    What the op is talking about is the nutritional value of foods. If you can hit 1200 cals eating fast food you'll still lose weight. But, will you get enough micro and macro nutrients, vitamins, minerals etc to stay healthy? Probably not. Don't forget it's not just about the calories, how much fat, salt , hydrogenated oils are you consuming? These are all harmful in large quantities. You might reach your goal but you'll be constipated, with bad skin and probably irritable from the lack of nutrients.

    Wrong--there's a guy on here with a long thread running that ate fast food as an experiment and he has a fantastic body. He also has blood work done regularly and all is perfect. He was surprised himself.

    I just bumped his thread--"CICO Still skeptical?"

    I've looked at that thread. Assuming it's all true he's like the 90 year old that has smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day for 70 years and is still healthy.

    May be out there but not the normal case.

    So what makes you think that? What part of fast food makes it so you cannot incorporate it into a healthy part of your diet? If you made sure it did not go over your calorie limit, and as long as you got all the nutrients you needed, there is no harm to it.

    Have you looked at the thread referenced? Guy shows lots of high calorie foods, many not real nutritionally dense. Small print is he burns 5-6000 calories a day. Not very realistic for most.

    Now he may eat non-fast food items most of the time, but his writing indicates otherwise.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Burger kings cheeseburgers range from 900-1150 calories. McDs double quarter pounder with cheese is 700. So on a 1200 calorie plan, that doesn’t leave you much room for other food during your day. On 1200 you really shouldn’t be banking calories because you still need minimal nutrition and energy on a daily basis. So unless you’re willing to go over or have lots of exercise burn, you’re in a hard place.
  • brittanystebbins95
    brittanystebbins95 Posts: 567 Member
    Technically you can eat whatever you want within your deficit and you WILL lose weight. Even if you consumed 1200 calories of just Twinkies.
    That being said, you will be EXTREMELY malnourished. Its probably fine to do that every now and then to keep yourself sane if thats what you need, but long term its going to mess up your body.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,494 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Buff_Man wrote: »
    What the op is talking about is the nutritional value of foods. If you can hit 1200 cals eating fast food you'll still lose weight. But, will you get enough micro and macro nutrients, vitamins, minerals etc to stay healthy? Probably not. Don't forget it's not just about the calories, how much fat, salt , hydrogenated oils are you consuming? These are all harmful in large quantities. You might reach your goal but you'll be constipated, with bad skin and probably irritable from the lack of nutrients.

    Wrong--there's a guy on here with a long thread running that ate fast food as an experiment and he has a fantastic body. He also has blood work done regularly and all is perfect. He was surprised himself.

    I just bumped his thread--"CICO Still skeptical?"

    I've looked at that thread. Assuming it's all true he's like the 90 year old that has smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day for 70 years and is still healthy.

    May be out there but not the normal case.

    I'm not comfortable with the comparison between eating foods that aren't traditionally considered "healthy" and cigarettes. Cigarettes are a class 1 carcinogen with a host of known side-effects backed by causative studies. Unless you're comparing cigarettes and a diet of bacon every day, I don't see the correlation between the two. Are you really suggesting that a diet like the OP here describes is going to lead to their early death?

    Not at all, I was referring to a discussion that was mentioned in another thread.

    From what the OP said, her diet sounds okay. Sorry any confusion.