Stay within calories

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Shadow1974mfp
Shadow1974mfp Posts: 7 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi I am new to this but am wondering if I stay within my calories dies it matter what I eat. Will I lose weight thanks

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  • nasr25
    nasr25 Posts: 214 Member
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    Doesn’t matter what you eat but with that being said you should aim for healthy foods. Not only will you feel better but also you won’t be hungry if you eat high volum low calorie foods. Eating unhealthy calorie dense foods will make you feel miserable and won’t satisfy your hunger.
  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
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    It doesn't and it does.

    If you eat, for an extreme example, 1200 calories of candy every day for months you will lose weight just the same as if you ate 1200 calories worth of vegetables.

    That said, 1200 calories worth of candy is not filling or good for your digestion or nutrition. You'd get sick and hungry and probably find yourself overeating to compensate pretty quickly.

    That's why the 80/20 split is the usual recommendation: 80% of your diet should be nutritious, whole foods and 20% all the fun, calorie dense but nutritionally lacking stuff.

    I still hardly eat any veggies to be honest but I've lost like 80 lbs.
  • Shadow1974mfp
    Shadow1974mfp Posts: 7 Member
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    Wow well done. No I was just wondering in relation to carbs more than sweet stuff
  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
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    Shadow1974mfp wrote: »
    Wow well done. No I was just wondering in relation to carbs more than sweet stuff

    The same advice still applies.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,641 Member
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    I lost weight fine (at age 59, while hypothyroid) while eating around 150g carbs most days, and have maintained weight fine for 4+ years eating more like 200g+.

    Nutrition is important for health and energy, so it's good to hit your protein and fat minimums, and get adequate varied, colorful veggies and fruits on that account, but it won't directly affect weight loss if you don't, especially in the short term.

    (Long term, poor nutrition could lead to fatigue so inactivity, or unnecessary loss of lean tissue, or poor satiation so make it hard to stick to your calorie goal, or something like that, and affect weight management indirectly. Weight management is about calories. With less activity or less muscle mass, you burn somewhat fewer of them. Obviously, if you can't stick to your calorie goal, you eat more of them. So the effect of nutrition on weight is still about calories, at the root - but indirect.)
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited March 2020
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    Weight loss is all about the calories you eat and the calories you burn. There are things that affect your calorie intake or your activity level. Eating in a way that makes it easier for you to stay within calories will help weight loss. For some people this means less carbs, for others it means more carbs (I currently eat 200-300 grams of carbs to maintain my weight - I'm done losing, but I ate around 150-250 when I was). For some people it means no snacks, for others it means a calculated amount of snacks. Whatever makes staying within calories easier.

    It goes without saying that nutrition is important for health, but since we're talking purely weight loss, like Ann said, poor nutrition could affect the number of calories you burn, which affects weight loss.

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