Do I have to eat healthy all the time to lose weight?
Replies
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padawan2302 wrote: »Technically you are all correct - you lose weight by having a calorific deficit. But to encourage people to continue eating unhealthily is denying the obvious health benefits from eating more of a healthy diet. The benefits for your heart, liver, blood pressure, diabetese etc, etc. from cutting out less healthy food are there for all to see. It's somewhat dangerous to encourage someone to eat what they want as long as its in the right amount. That's like saying if I ate nothing but cheese burgers for a year i'd be ok as long as I was lighter. Probably have serious heart disease, good chance of a stroke or liver failure as well, but what the hey, I've lost some weight.
The number one diet related driver of all these things you mentioned is weight, not specifically what you are eating. Being overweight/obese increases your risk for all of them. So losing weight, even on a "cheeseburger" diet, would probably improve overall health markers. But again, none of us are encouraging that. We all understand that the individual is probably eating a varied diet, and wanted to make sure they could still eat something they enjoyed on the diet. The answer is absolutely. They can still be healthy and have treats that they enjoy. That doesn't mean that diet strictly of chocolate and pixie sticks in the best thing for them, but nobody is saying that is what they should do.
As mentioned by @amusedmonkey, when people are trying to control calories, they usually naturally improve their nutritional intake. I wouldn't say that I make a particular effort to have great nutrition. However if I want to hit my calorie goals, I'm not gonna be able to do it strictly downing fast food, pizza, and cheesecake. So I eat a combo balance of foods. That means I am eating a lot more lean meats, beans, and fruits and veggies, than I was before. So my nutrition is undoubtedly better. But I also eat fast food and treats and such on occasion and within my calorie goals. You can still have good nutrition and enjoyment of food. We weren't meant to do either extreme: eating strictly for nutrition or eating strictly for pleasure. There can be a good balance of the two that is healthy mentally and physically.
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There is actually a more complex answer to your question. If you want to lose MOSTLY FAT, you need to strength train (which in a deficit is less than fun), eat in a caloric deficit, and consume an adequate amount of protein/fats.
Regular Strength training tells your body "we need these muscles, don't burn them for energy"
Eating in a deficit is what is required to lose weight. Basic laws of energy here. But if you aren't strength training, some of what is lost will be muscle (actually you still will lose muscle on a cut but less so with moderately heavy lifting)
Eating in a deficit is not enough. You could have a deficit diet of nothing but donuts and still lose weight, but you'll also lose muscle mass and end up a smaller version of you at roughly the same or even worse body composition.
You need adequate protein, personally I go for 1g/lb of LBM. Fats are responsible for hormone production and having less than 20% of your cals come from fats is a bad thing, more is ok if you so choose. Carbs can make up the rest.1 -
Hi, you say you want to have a treat every day. I gather that a treat for you is junky kind of sweet food. You mention sweet food and I dont think you mean sweetcorn, sweetpotato etc. :-) I treated myself to a super juicy Mango the other day. Im currently treating myself to a soy latte barley drink which I find so soothing and its sweet because the light soy milk is sweetened. So we can treat ourselves to sweet foods without them being junky is what Im getting at. You can have a snickers or whatever as long as its within your calories for the day and still stay in deficit is the answer you are looking for I think.
I don't understand why adding sugar to one plant's reproductive unit (cacao bean) is junk, while adding sugar to the expressed liquids of another plant's reproductive unit (soy beans) is not.
Can you clarify the logic here?17 -
i lost 130 pounds and eat the same foods i always have. difference now, i work out and count calories and the majority of days eat within my calorie goals. i have ice cream or chocolate in some form nearly every day.3
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Actually, muscle loss, as in actual protein structures, on a deficit while resistance training that maintains intensity and with adequate protein, is not likely to happen. Glycogen stores will diminish but that will return the instant one goes back to maintenance. Even on ridiculously harsh deficits like Lyle's RFL.youcantflexcardio wrote: »There is actually a more complex answer to your question. If you want to lose MOSTLY FAT, you need to strength train (which in a deficit is less than fun), eat in a caloric deficit, and consume an adequate amount of protein/fats.
Regular Strength training tells your body "we need these muscles, don't burn them for energy"
Eating in a deficit is what is required to lose weight. Basic laws of energy here. But if you aren't strength training, some of what is lost will be muscle (actually you still will lose muscle on a cut but less so with moderately heavy lifting)
Eating in a deficit is not enough. You could have a deficit diet of nothing but donuts and still lose weight, but you'll also lose muscle mass and end up a smaller version of you at roughly the same or even worse body composition.
You need adequate protein, personally I go for 1g/lb of LBM. Fats are responsible for hormone production and having less than 20% of your cals come from fats is a bad thing, more is ok if you so choose. Carbs can make up the rest.4 -
No. You can make room in your calories for unhealthy food. It is up to you how you want to do it. If you’re trying to lose, just make sure you log everything.
Some people have a treat daily, some weekly, etc.0 -
You can have treats everyday, and if it'll help you stay on your diet, you should have them.
Seems to me there are two forces pulling in opposite directions on a diet: the need to eat at a calorie deficit over a possibly long period of time to lose the weight, and staying in compliance /not quitting due to feelings of deprivation. This is the basic conflict in the diet narrative. They key is to find a balance wherein you are "happy enough" with what you are eating that you will stick with the diet while still being at a calorie deficit. For many, that means including treat foods. If that's what it takes for you to be happy enough to stay on your diet, then that's what it takes.
I have 80 - 150 calories worth of pure treat/junk food everyday. It's done wonders for my diet compliance and I don't think I could do without it. Initially my plan was to start with it and then wean myself once I got used to "real" dieting, but eventually I figured out that having treats everyday was "real dieting".
Treats must be logged, though, and must fit into the caloric day. Once you start eating sweet treats and not recording them, your diet is over, unofficially and then soon enough, officially.6 -
You have to be in an energy deficit to lose weight. You have to eat a healthy diet to be healthy. A healthy diet does not need to be health foods all the time and can certainly contain a treat every day.4
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padawan2302 wrote: »That's like saying if I ate nothing but cheese burgers for a year i'd be ok as long as I was lighter. Probably have serious heart disease, good chance of a stroke or liver failure as well, but what the hey, I've lost some weight.
you would be just about as healthy as you would be if you ate nothing but kale for a year. For that matter if you ate nothing but bananas you'd be just about as healthy too. Remember. NOTHING BUT!11 -
You know what helps me, so it might help you? I think of my getting-healthier life in terms of weeks, not days. So, once a week or so, I really go "off the rails." I'm not going to stop going out with girlfriends or to social events, and while there, I just have fun -- and for me, part of that is wine/cocktails, and allllll the food. But that is just one (usually) weekend night a week.
The other six days I do my best to stay under the mfp calorie daily limit. Because I'm only 5'3", it's only 1350 calories a day, which isn't a lot for someone who loves cheese and nuts and processed meat! But that once a week allowance lets me still live my life. And it might slow down my getting-healthier process, but it's still happening, and I'm not only miserably looking at my friends chomping on their onion rings or whatever. Don't miss out on life.
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padawan2302 wrote: »Technically you are all correct - you lose weight by having a calorific deficit. But to encourage people to continue eating unhealthily is denying the obvious health benefits from eating more of a healthy diet. The benefits for your heart, liver, blood pressure, diabetese etc, etc. from cutting out less healthy food are there for all to see. It's somewhat dangerous to encourage someone to eat what they want as long as its in the right amount. That's like saying if I ate nothing but cheese burgers for a year i'd be ok as long as I was lighter. Probably have serious heart disease, good chance of a stroke or liver failure as well, but what the hey, I've lost some weight.
Saying you don't have to eat ONLY healthy food to lose (or to have a healthy diet, even) is not telling people to continue eating unhealthfully. That's a really odd takeaway on your part.
No one is suggesting eating nothing but cheeseburgers in a year (who would even want to do that?), so that's a total, and bizarre, strawman, but in fact although NOT recommended or a good diet, eating only cheeseburgers for just one year while also losing is very unlikely to lead to "serious heart disease, stroke, or liver failure." I wouldn't do it, and if someone did I hope they'd take a multivitamin, but you grossly exaggerate the likely effect.9 -
Nm0
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i think we are having cheeseburgers tonight for dinner.
with potato chips.
and i will have ice cream after that.
life is good. enjoy it.15 -
No, you only need to have a calorie deficit as others have pointed out. You could eat KFC or chocolate only in your diet as long as you ate within your calorie deficit and you would lose.
But of course you want your body to be working great in 10, 20, 40 years from now and the adult part of your life to extend as long as possible before you become frail and elderly. The better the choices you make the more likely you will have less problems down the line. Everyone's body fails eventually but you can be your best healthiest you if you make good food choices and do some exercise.
I find the macro and nutrition graphs really helpful when filling out my diary and reviewing my day. There is room for improvement like my calcium intake and it has helped me get my sugars down to the right level. I wish it was even more extensive actually because I find it interesting.0 -
padawan2302 wrote: »Technically you are all correct - you lose weight by having a calorific deficit. But to encourage people to continue eating unhealthily is denying the obvious health benefits from eating more of a healthy diet. The benefits for your heart, liver, blood pressure, diabetese etc, etc. from cutting out less healthy food are there for all to see. It's somewhat dangerous to encourage someone to eat what they want as long as its in the right amount. That's like saying if I ate nothing but cheese burgers for a year i'd be ok as long as I was lighter. Probably have serious heart disease, good chance of a stroke or liver failure as well, but what the hey, I've lost some weight.
We aren't technically correct. We are literally correct. You can lose weight eating any food you want. "Losing weight" and "optimal health" are different goals, although they often go hand in hand.
Nobody encouraged anybody to eat an unhealthy diet. Just confirmed that you can lose weight eating any food. We're all adults here, I'm not going to assume that because OP wants to eat a treat every day that means they don't understand the difference between "lose weight" and "be healthy".
I'll add that if you are an obese person eating nothing but cheeseburgers, and you eat less cheeseburgers to lose weight until you are at a healthy weight, but still eat nothing but cheeseburgers, you will still be healthier than you were. Not as healthy as you could be, but still an improvement. And some people have to get to that point before taking the next step to change their diet.
Obviously, OP is already aware of the correlation between diet and health since they are concerned that eating a treat every day might be a problem. Is there some reason you assume OP wants to eat an entirely unhealthy diet?
I don't assume OP wants to eat an unhealthy diet. If you all read it properly, it wasn't referring to OP at all, but to a lot of peoples advice about "eating what you want, as long as you are in a calorie deficit". I would even suggest that eating a healthy diet and being slightly overweight has better health benefits than eating crap and being underweight. I was only pointing out that it's dangerous to suggest to someone to literally eat what they want to lose weight. If you read the initial replies they all suggest this. Apologies for sounding blunt or pedantic.0 -
padawan2302 wrote: »padawan2302 wrote: »Technically you are all correct - you lose weight by having a calorific deficit. But to encourage people to continue eating unhealthily is denying the obvious health benefits from eating more of a healthy diet. The benefits for your heart, liver, blood pressure, diabetese etc, etc. from cutting out less healthy food are there for all to see. It's somewhat dangerous to encourage someone to eat what they want as long as its in the right amount. That's like saying if I ate nothing but cheese burgers for a year i'd be ok as long as I was lighter. Probably have serious heart disease, good chance of a stroke or liver failure as well, but what the hey, I've lost some weight.
We aren't technically correct. We are literally correct. You can lose weight eating any food you want. "Losing weight" and "optimal health" are different goals, although they often go hand in hand.
Nobody encouraged anybody to eat an unhealthy diet. Just confirmed that you can lose weight eating any food. We're all adults here, I'm not going to assume that because OP wants to eat a treat every day that means they don't understand the difference between "lose weight" and "be healthy".
I'll add that if you are an obese person eating nothing but cheeseburgers, and you eat less cheeseburgers to lose weight until you are at a healthy weight, but still eat nothing but cheeseburgers, you will still be healthier than you were. Not as healthy as you could be, but still an improvement. And some people have to get to that point before taking the next step to change their diet.
Obviously, OP is already aware of the correlation between diet and health since they are concerned that eating a treat every day might be a problem. Is there some reason you assume OP wants to eat an entirely unhealthy diet?
I don't assume OP wants to eat an unhealthy diet. If you all read it properly, it wasn't referring to OP at all, but to a lot of peoples advice about "eating what you want, as long as you are in a calorie deficit". I would even suggest that eating a healthy diet and being slightly overweight has better health benefits than eating crap and being underweight. I was only pointing out that it's dangerous to suggest to someone to literally eat what they want to lose weight. If you read the initial replies they all suggest this. Apologies for sounding blunt or pedantic.
This assumes you have to do one or the other. I'd argue that a "healthy" diet can include some stereotypically "unhealthy" foods. And I don't think I've ever met an adult who didn't realize that in order to achieve good health, you can't eat nothing but junk food.
OP didn't ask for a lecture on how to be healthy, just asked if he could eat a daily treat and still lose weight. I think if you read the forums here more extensively, you'll see we often help people figure out how to eat healthily while still enjoying their diet. But no, we don't read the "healthy diet" lecture into every single thread regardless of the question asked.9 -
padawan2302 wrote: »padawan2302 wrote: »Technically you are all correct - you lose weight by having a calorific deficit. But to encourage people to continue eating unhealthily is denying the obvious health benefits from eating more of a healthy diet. The benefits for your heart, liver, blood pressure, diabetese etc, etc. from cutting out less healthy food are there for all to see. It's somewhat dangerous to encourage someone to eat what they want as long as its in the right amount. That's like saying if I ate nothing but cheese burgers for a year i'd be ok as long as I was lighter. Probably have serious heart disease, good chance of a stroke or liver failure as well, but what the hey, I've lost some weight.
We aren't technically correct. We are literally correct. You can lose weight eating any food you want. "Losing weight" and "optimal health" are different goals, although they often go hand in hand.
Nobody encouraged anybody to eat an unhealthy diet. Just confirmed that you can lose weight eating any food. We're all adults here, I'm not going to assume that because OP wants to eat a treat every day that means they don't understand the difference between "lose weight" and "be healthy".
I'll add that if you are an obese person eating nothing but cheeseburgers, and you eat less cheeseburgers to lose weight until you are at a healthy weight, but still eat nothing but cheeseburgers, you will still be healthier than you were. Not as healthy as you could be, but still an improvement. And some people have to get to that point before taking the next step to change their diet.
Obviously, OP is already aware of the correlation between diet and health since they are concerned that eating a treat every day might be a problem. Is there some reason you assume OP wants to eat an entirely unhealthy diet?
I don't assume OP wants to eat an unhealthy diet. If you all read it properly, it wasn't referring to OP at all, but to a lot of peoples advice about "eating what you want, as long as you are in a calorie deficit". I would even suggest that eating a healthy diet and being slightly overweight has better health benefits than eating crap and being underweight. I was only pointing out that it's dangerous to suggest to someone to literally eat what they want to lose weight. If you read the initial replies they all suggest this. Apologies for sounding blunt or pedantic.
To add to Kimny's PP:
I'd also observe that all the way back on page 1 of the thread, there were people referencing good nutrition as a desirable part of the picture (I was one).
Not one person has advocated "eating crap and being underweight".
It's not necessary for everyone on a thread to say "yes but nutrition", as long as some people have said it, when the OP's question is literally "Now I just want to eat the same amount of macros everyday. . . . I want to have a treat everyday. Can I have one as long as this fits in my macros for the day?"
That's the question people were answering.
OP wants to meet her nutrional goals, but also have a treat. That's it.12 -
padawan2302 wrote: »padawan2302 wrote: »Technically you are all correct - you lose weight by having a calorific deficit. But to encourage people to continue eating unhealthily is denying the obvious health benefits from eating more of a healthy diet. The benefits for your heart, liver, blood pressure, diabetese etc, etc. from cutting out less healthy food are there for all to see. It's somewhat dangerous to encourage someone to eat what they want as long as its in the right amount. That's like saying if I ate nothing but cheese burgers for a year i'd be ok as long as I was lighter. Probably have serious heart disease, good chance of a stroke or liver failure as well, but what the hey, I've lost some weight.
We aren't technically correct. We are literally correct. You can lose weight eating any food you want. "Losing weight" and "optimal health" are different goals, although they often go hand in hand.
Nobody encouraged anybody to eat an unhealthy diet. Just confirmed that you can lose weight eating any food. We're all adults here, I'm not going to assume that because OP wants to eat a treat every day that means they don't understand the difference between "lose weight" and "be healthy".
I'll add that if you are an obese person eating nothing but cheeseburgers, and you eat less cheeseburgers to lose weight until you are at a healthy weight, but still eat nothing but cheeseburgers, you will still be healthier than you were. Not as healthy as you could be, but still an improvement. And some people have to get to that point before taking the next step to change their diet.
Obviously, OP is already aware of the correlation between diet and health since they are concerned that eating a treat every day might be a problem. Is there some reason you assume OP wants to eat an entirely unhealthy diet?
I don't assume OP wants to eat an unhealthy diet. If you all read it properly, it wasn't referring to OP at all, but to a lot of peoples advice about "eating what you want, as long as you are in a calorie deficit". I would even suggest that eating a healthy diet and being slightly overweight has better health benefits than eating crap and being underweight. I was only pointing out that it's dangerous to suggest to someone to literally eat what they want to lose weight. If you read the initial replies they all suggest this. Apologies for sounding blunt or pedantic.
Why does it always have to be an "either or"...?10 -
padawan2302 wrote: »padawan2302 wrote: »Technically you are all correct - you lose weight by having a calorific deficit. But to encourage people to continue eating unhealthily is denying the obvious health benefits from eating more of a healthy diet. The benefits for your heart, liver, blood pressure, diabetese etc, etc. from cutting out less healthy food are there for all to see. It's somewhat dangerous to encourage someone to eat what they want as long as its in the right amount. That's like saying if I ate nothing but cheese burgers for a year i'd be ok as long as I was lighter. Probably have serious heart disease, good chance of a stroke or liver failure as well, but what the hey, I've lost some weight.
We aren't technically correct. We are literally correct. You can lose weight eating any food you want. "Losing weight" and "optimal health" are different goals, although they often go hand in hand.
Nobody encouraged anybody to eat an unhealthy diet. Just confirmed that you can lose weight eating any food. We're all adults here, I'm not going to assume that because OP wants to eat a treat every day that means they don't understand the difference between "lose weight" and "be healthy".
I'll add that if you are an obese person eating nothing but cheeseburgers, and you eat less cheeseburgers to lose weight until you are at a healthy weight, but still eat nothing but cheeseburgers, you will still be healthier than you were. Not as healthy as you could be, but still an improvement. And some people have to get to that point before taking the next step to change their diet.
Obviously, OP is already aware of the correlation between diet and health since they are concerned that eating a treat every day might be a problem. Is there some reason you assume OP wants to eat an entirely unhealthy diet?
I don't assume OP wants to eat an unhealthy diet. If you all read it properly, it wasn't referring to OP at all, but to a lot of peoples advice about "eating what you want, as long as you are in a calorie deficit". I would even suggest that eating a healthy diet and being slightly overweight has better health benefits than eating crap and being underweight. I was only pointing out that it's dangerous to suggest to someone to literally eat what they want to lose weight. If you read the initial replies they all suggest this. Apologies for sounding blunt or pedantic.
Given that being slightly overweight has better health outcomes than being underweight (especially for the elderly), all things being equal, this isn't much of a claim.8 -
I will add that I think it is a total waste of time to eat 100 percent nutrient dense foods. I believe all you are doing is making more nutrient rich urine. I subscribe to an 80/20 mindset and I would imagine that even it probably results in fortified urine.7
This discussion has been closed.
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