All about calories
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Chic_geek31
Posts: 34 Member
Is that all that matters in weight loss? Does it matter if I’m eating mostly carbs? So, if I decide to spend my 1200 calories on two slices of pizza today and a burger and fries tomorrow I’ll still lose weight?
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Replies
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Yup. Only calories matter. For overall health and satiety, balance is important but weight loss is pretty simple.17
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You are correct. There are of course issues with satiety and balancing macros in a way that helps you stay within your calorie goal, not to mention health benefits of a more varied diet. But calories are the determining factor for weight loss.12
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Yes... with a few "buts". Do you think you can regularly only eat 1200 calories of pizza and burger and fries? To me that's not very much to eat in a day and I would be hungry the rest of the day. Also while not integral to weight loss, there is some importance to macros, particularly protein. You want to make sure that you have at least a moderate amount of protein to protect your muscle mass during weight loss. If you do not eat any protein, your body may burn more muscle during weight loss.
However both pizza and burger and fries do have a decent amount of protein in them. They are not "mostly carbs." MFP's default macro is 50% carbs, which is about what pizza is. Burger and Fries is lower. So these are not horrible choices by any means.
The last part of the equation is nutrition. While pizza and burgers do have certain nutritious elements to them, they alone do not have complete nutrition, so if they were all you ate, you would be missing out on several important elements of nutrition. That wouldn't affect your weight loss, but it would affect over all healthy.
So to answer your question, calories is all that matters is a largely true statement, but you may struggle if you take it to extremes. You can certainly have pizza and burgers as part of a weight loss diet (I do!), but you would probably struggle with successfully staying within your goals if they were ALL you had.22 -
No one can promise that you will lose weight in one day. The math of it all is that if you maintain a calorie deficit for several weeks you will eventually observe a decline in your weight. How you get there is all about your choices.5
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Some mentioned this on a similar thread several weeks ago, so forgive me as I cannot take claim for this thought. But here goes.
Your burgers and fries work for energy needs, yes, but nutrition and satiety... No. Will you lose weight, yes. Is it giving your body the best nutition... No. Will you be hungry after the meal wears off. Yes.11 -
Chic_geek31 wrote: »Is that all that matters in weight loss? Does it matter if I’m eating mostly carbs? So, if I decide to spend my 1200 calories on two slices of pizza today and a burger and fries tomorrow I’ll still lose weight?
Weight loss is about calories, so sure!
Now if you were to eat that every day, you wouldn't have a good balanced nutritious diet, which is important for good health. And whether or not that will keep you full is a personal issue (others seem to be implying it wouldn't, but 1200 cals split between two meals, one of pizza and one a burger and fries would for sure fill me up!)
And even for health purposes, what counts is what you do most of the time. If you generally eat a balanced diet and every once and awhile have a pizza and burger day, I doubt it would even affect you negatively health wise
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At a first approximation, sure, it covers enough of it.
If you do some rather odd things, like you'll eventually lose whatever one life weighs eating only white sugar with no other nutrients.
To a certain extent the macros matter to composition, and since muscle and other lean tissue usually stores less calories than adipose, you might lose a fraction more or less with certain macros. You'll still definitely lose weight with low enough calories.2 -
Yes, it's all CICO. However, for someone like me, macros matter. For instance, if I eat too much fat I get acid reflux. Also, not eating a balanced diet means you might not get all the nutrients your body needs.4
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Chic_geek31 wrote: »Is that all that matters in weight loss? Does it matter if I’m eating mostly carbs? So, if I decide to spend my 1200 calories on two slices of pizza today and a burger and fries tomorrow I’ll still lose weight?
Yes, if they really are only 1200 cal (two slices of pizza would normally be way less, depending on the pizza, the burger and fries could be more, depending on the burger and fries).
Yesterday I was traveling and had a day almost like that (except I have well over 1200 cals, since I'm at maintenance) -- morning protein bar after going to the airport at 5 am, lunch at a place with only burgers and other fried options (had fried shrimp and fries), and then since lunch had been late and heavy I was going to buy some plain vegetables in the airport on the way home during a layover but couldn't find what I wanted and had to rush to catch my flight so, eh, no dinner. Although I was satisfied yesterday, normally I could not eat like that and not be hungry, and I'd feel terrible without more vegetables and other more nutrient dense foods in my diet.
But calories are calories so for weight loss it wouldn't matter if you really could stick with it (although I wouldn't advise as a regular thing). The one thing I'd warn you about is high salt so you could get a water weight gain in the short term. Also, if you were going it regularly I'd log to see protein, as both meals would be high fat (potentially more fat than carbs) and high carbs, so could end up low on protein (especially if it were your only meal).4 -
Yep just don't confuse weight loss and health. You can eat the right amount of calories, in turn lose weight and yet still be in terrible health because all you ate was junk. If weight loss is your only worry, then yes just count calories, if you want to be healthy, there is a lot more to it.2
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TravisJHunt wrote: »Yep just don't confuse weight loss and health. You can eat the right amount of calories, in turn lose weight and yet still be in terrible health because all you ate was junk. If weight loss is your only worry, then yes just count calories, if you want to be healthy, there is a lot more to it.
That is even debatable. For the most part, weight loss alone will improve metabolic health. But overall, I would definitely agree that consuming a diet high in nutrient dense foods, especially unsaturated fats, adequate proteins, omega 3s and fibrous foods. Limiting sat fats and added sugar is also a great way to allow for more nutrient dense foods.7 -
Taking nothing else into consideration, yes, CICO is the determining factor in weight management.3
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I have no scientific justification for this, but I suspect that persistently very poor nutrition, at reduced calories, would eventually have a negative effect on health and energy level (in addition to body composition), so be counterproductive for weight management in the long run. Poor nutrition leading to poor energy leading to being less active and resting more because of fatigue . . . reduces TDEE.
The foods you named wouldn't strike me as an example of very poor nutrition, but (if that was all that a person was eating) could be somewhat less than ideal in ways others have mentioned. Would that come home to roost? If it did, how long would it take? Dunno.
But for the short run, for sure, calories are the only thing that really matters for weight management (except for how food choices affect satiety and compliance). In the long run, most of us want to be healthy, not just thin, so reasonable overall nutrition does matter.2 -
My favourite saying is that the best "diet" is the one you can stick to and turn into a way of life, so yes...you may hypothetically lose weight that way but it would be near impossible to stick to for any length of time, so...
I learned quickly that if I wanted to lose any weight I needed to find low calorie foods that I enjoy to fill myself and not feel deprived and hungry that leave enough room for the odd indulgence that is part of life.2 -
I see a dietitian who says to have a meal like that once a week. So, that's what I do. And I lose.3
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TravisJHunt wrote: »Yep just don't confuse weight loss and health. You can eat the right amount of calories, in turn lose weight and yet still be in terrible health because all you ate was junk. If weight loss is your only worry, then yes just count calories, if you want to be healthy, there is a lot more to it.
That is even debatable. For the most part, weight loss alone will improve metabolic health. But overall, I would definitely agree that consuming a diet high in nutrient dense foods, especially unsaturated fats, adequate proteins, omega 3s and fibrous foods. Limiting sat fats and added sugar is also a great way to allow for more nutrient dense foods.
Not really. Try eating nothing but donuts but stay under your calories and see how your body reacts. Health should never be solely confused with weight. Another easy example is people who avoid iron rich foods will often become iron deficient and in turn begin to feel horrible all the time.19 -
Others have covered that calories are the driver for weight loss and the importance of good nutrition and satiety as well.
I’m curious OP why you consider pizza plus a burger and fries to be “mostly carbs”. Depending on what you put on both the pizza and the burger - you’d likely have carbs, fat, protein. You could add veggies to either one of those items as well. I never understand why these types of foods are so demonized, or equated as “carbs” .13 -
TravisJHunt wrote: »TravisJHunt wrote: »Yep just don't confuse weight loss and health. You can eat the right amount of calories, in turn lose weight and yet still be in terrible health because all you ate was junk. If weight loss is your only worry, then yes just count calories, if you want to be healthy, there is a lot more to it.
That is even debatable. For the most part, weight loss alone will improve metabolic health. But overall, I would definitely agree that consuming a diet high in nutrient dense foods, especially unsaturated fats, adequate proteins, omega 3s and fibrous foods. Limiting sat fats and added sugar is also a great way to allow for more nutrient dense foods.
Not really. Try eating nothing but donuts but stay under your calories and see how your body reacts. Health should never be solely confused with weight. Another easy example is people who avoid iron rich foods will often become iron deficient and in turn begin to feel horrible all the time.
People always say that “try eating (insert straw man mono diet here) “ and then suggest that there is some widely known, proven conclusion that will result. Has there been a study where a person ate only donuts? There was the Twinkie diet, and guess what, his markers did improve just as @psuLemon suggested.
First of all the only person talking about mono extreme diets is you. OP asked about pizza and a burger, neither of which is devoid of nutrition (nor are donuts for that matter) . Everyone told her that nutrition and satiety are important too. But you claimed if you eat this eat you’d be in “terrible health”. How are you defining terrible health? Like Lemon said, regardless of dietary context - simply losing weight especially if a person has a significant amount to lose, results in marked health improvements.
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WinoGelato wrote: »TravisJHunt wrote: »TravisJHunt wrote: »Yep just don't confuse weight loss and health. You can eat the right amount of calories, in turn lose weight and yet still be in terrible health because all you ate was junk. If weight loss is your only worry, then yes just count calories, if you want to be healthy, there is a lot more to it.
That is even debatable. For the most part, weight loss alone will improve metabolic health. But overall, I would definitely agree that consuming a diet high in nutrient dense foods, especially unsaturated fats, adequate proteins, omega 3s and fibrous foods. Limiting sat fats and added sugar is also a great way to allow for more nutrient dense foods.
Not really. Try eating nothing but donuts but stay under your calories and see how your body reacts. Health should never be solely confused with weight. Another easy example is people who avoid iron rich foods will often become iron deficient and in turn begin to feel horrible all the time.
People always say that “try eating (insert straw man mono diet here) “ and then suggest that there is some widely known, proven conclusion that will result. Has there been a study where a person ate only donuts? There was the Twinkie diet, and guess what, his markers did improve just as @psuLemon suggested.
First of all the only person talking about mono extreme diets is you. OP asked about pizza and a burger, neither of which is devoid of nutrition (nor are donuts for that matter) . Everyone told her that nutrition and satiety are important too. But you claimed if you eat this eat you’d be in “terrible health”. How are you defining terrible health? Like Lemon said, regardless of dietary context - simply losing weight especially if a person has a significant amount to lose, results in marked health improvements.
I'd like to see said study. I've seen first hand what fad diets or poor nutrition can do. For example, the one I gave about eating a diet deficient in iron actually resulted in this woman's body no longer processing iron correctly and she now will live with a lifelong issue of having to have iron supplementation because of the poor diet choices. This isn't a study or some internet read, this is an actual life example. There are proven scientific conclusions that can be reached about eating any fad diet. For example eating purely vegetables results in the need to make sure you get certain supplementation or ensure that you are eating very specific vegetables or you'll become sick. So its not as simple as CICO for health, yes for weight loss it is, but health incorporates all areas of our bodies. These aren't me just suggesting things, these are scientific facts. This can be seen that even with the fact that MFP tracks Macros and suggests limits on levels of different categories of nutrition.
Oh and for the Iron thing, here's a link.
https://www.medicinenet.com/iron_and_iron_deficiency/article.htm#what_causes_iron_deficiency
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TravisJHunt wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »TravisJHunt wrote: »TravisJHunt wrote: »Yep just don't confuse weight loss and health. You can eat the right amount of calories, in turn lose weight and yet still be in terrible health because all you ate was junk. If weight loss is your only worry, then yes just count calories, if you want to be healthy, there is a lot more to it.
That is even debatable. For the most part, weight loss alone will improve metabolic health. But overall, I would definitely agree that consuming a diet high in nutrient dense foods, especially unsaturated fats, adequate proteins, omega 3s and fibrous foods. Limiting sat fats and added sugar is also a great way to allow for more nutrient dense foods.
Not really. Try eating nothing but donuts but stay under your calories and see how your body reacts. Health should never be solely confused with weight. Another easy example is people who avoid iron rich foods will often become iron deficient and in turn begin to feel horrible all the time.
People always say that “try eating (insert straw man mono diet here) “ and then suggest that there is some widely known, proven conclusion that will result. Has there been a study where a person ate only donuts? There was the Twinkie diet, and guess what, his markers did improve just as @psuLemon suggested.
First of all the only person talking about mono extreme diets is you. OP asked about pizza and a burger, neither of which is devoid of nutrition (nor are donuts for that matter) . Everyone told her that nutrition and satiety are important too. But you claimed if you eat this eat you’d be in “terrible health”. How are you defining terrible health? Like Lemon said, regardless of dietary context - simply losing weight especially if a person has a significant amount to lose, results in marked health improvements.
I'd like to see said study. I've seen first hand what fad diets or poor nutrition can do. For example, the one I gave about eating a diet deficient in iron actually resulted in this woman's body no longer processing iron correctly and she now will live with a lifelong issue of having to have iron supplementation because of the poor diet choices. This isn't a study or some internet read, this is an actual life example. There are proven scientific conclusions that can be reached about eating any fad diet. For example eating purely vegetables results in the need to make sure you get certain supplementation or ensure that you are eating very specific vegetables or you'll become sick. So its not as simple as CICO for health, yes for weight loss it is, but health incorporates all areas of our bodies. These aren't me just suggesting things, these are scientific facts. This can be seen that even with the fact that MFP tracks Macros and suggests limits on levels of different categories of nutrition.
Oh and for the Iron thing, here's a link.
https://www.medicinenet.com/iron_and_iron_deficiency/article.htm#what_causes_iron_deficiency
I think the point is that better to be a healthy weight, eating "junk food" and take a dietary supplement than to be obese, eating nutrient a dense diet and die of any of the many many health problems that result from it.
Of course, in a perfect world it is better to have a healthy diet and get all their nutrients from food (I happen to believe that our diet is the best medicine we can use)...but it isn't a perfect world and it isn't the only thing (or even the most important thing.7
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