Would I still lose weight if my diet consisted of junk food but still under my weekly calorie limit?
nina123genesis
Posts: 6 Member
Just need some sort of reassurance cause I’m kinda freaking out, I do calorie cycling so I eat more on 3 days of the week and the rest I eat less, and it’s been working since January I’ve already lost 20 pounds , but recently I’ve had no control and the whole week consisted of more junk food than healthy food but I’m still under my weekly calories.. . I’ve googled it and most say that I won’t lose weight/fat since it’s junk food … maybe someone here has gone thru this little bump and knows if it will affect my progress in a way 😭
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Replies
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It doesn't really matter what you eat, if you come in under calories you'll still lose. But it's not the most nutritional healthy way to do things.1
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It's calories that directly determine fat gain or loss. Sub-par nutrition can indirectly affect fat loss if it makes a person fatigued (so they move less), or if it spikes appetite so that sticking with calorie goal becomes impossible.
That doesn't make an all junk food way of eating a good idea, though . . . but with a caveat that some people define "junk food" so broadly that unless they're gnawing on a raw brussels sprout with a side of protein powder, they think they're screwing up. A burger has nutrition, y'know?
What matters for nutrition is getting enough macronutrients, fiber, micronutrients, overall, on average, in total. What foods those nutrients come from is less important.1 -
What most people refer to as junk food is not just Twinkies and Hohos. It is cheeseburgers and fries, chicken nuggets and Egg Muffins. Foods often actually more healthy than some of the concoctions you will see here. Within reasonable parameters you can eat anything you want and lose weight based on a calorie deficit. and, stay healthy.4
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A calorie is a uniform measure of energy and nothing else.
Energy cannot be created from nowhere, if you are in an energy deficit, even if it's coming from nutritionally poor food choices, you must make up that shortfall from your body's energy reserves.
No I haven't eaten purely junk food but have done the opposite and rapidly gained weight on just good home cooked food.
"I’ve googled it and most say that I won’t lose weight/fat since it’s junk food" - That's actually a really sad commentary on how widespread ignorance is.
Being slightly more charitable.....
If someone isn't calorie counting (the majority of the population) then the chances of a person with a high proportion of junk food in their diet having a good grasp on their actual energy balance are probably far worse than someone preparing their own food.
Ate a lot of junk food and gained weight is a totally believable tale but the cause isn't the food itself but the amount of food.
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A calorie is a uniform measure of energy and nothing else.
Energy cannot be created from nowhere, if you are in an energy deficit, even if it's coming from nutritionally poor food choices, you must make up that shortfall from your body's energy reserves.
No I haven't eaten purely junk food but have done the opposite and rapidly gained weight on just good home cooked food.
"I’ve googled it and most say that I won’t lose weight/fat since it’s junk food" - That's actually a really sad commentary on how widespread ignorance is.
Being slightly more charitable.....
If someone isn't calorie counting (the majority of the population) then the chances of a person with a high proportion of junk food in their diet having a good grasp on their actual energy balance are probably far worse than someone preparing their own food.
Ate a lot of junk food and gained weight is a totally believable tale but the cause isn't the food itself but the amount of food.
Way too long of a post. The only term you need to use is thermogenesis.0 -
A calorie is a uniform measure of energy and nothing else.
Energy cannot be created from nowhere, if you are in an energy deficit, even if it's coming from nutritionally poor food choices, you must make up that shortfall from your body's energy reserves.
No I haven't eaten purely junk food but have done the opposite and rapidly gained weight on just good home cooked food.
"I’ve googled it and most say that I won’t lose weight/fat since it’s junk food" - That's actually a really sad commentary on how widespread ignorance is.
Being slightly more charitable.....
If someone isn't calorie counting (the majority of the population) then the chances of a person with a high proportion of junk food in their diet having a good grasp on their actual energy balance are probably far worse than someone preparing their own food.
Ate a lot of junk food and gained weight is a totally believable tale but the cause isn't the food itself but the amount of food.
Way too long of a post. The only term you need to use is thermogenesis.
Or you're just too lazy to actually read it.
Thermogenesis doesn't answer the question in general to what the OP was asking. I've known sijomial for a long time on here and he's quite good at giving info.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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A calorie is a uniform measure of energy and nothing else.
Energy cannot be created from nowhere, if you are in an energy deficit, even if it's coming from nutritionally poor food choices, you must make up that shortfall from your body's energy reserves.
No I haven't eaten purely junk food but have done the opposite and rapidly gained weight on just good home cooked food.
"I’ve googled it and most say that I won’t lose weight/fat since it’s junk food" - That's actually a really sad commentary on how widespread ignorance is.
Being slightly more charitable.....
If someone isn't calorie counting (the majority of the population) then the chances of a person with a high proportion of junk food in their diet having a good grasp on their actual energy balance are probably far worse than someone preparing their own food.
Ate a lot of junk food and gained weight is a totally believable tale but the cause isn't the food itself but the amount of food.
Way too long of a post. The only term you need to use is thermogenesis.
Unlike you I was actually trying to help the OP.14 -
Yes you will1
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A calorie is a uniform measure of energy and nothing else.
Energy cannot be created from nowhere, if you are in an energy deficit, even if it's coming from nutritionally poor food choices, you must make up that shortfall from your body's energy reserves.
No I haven't eaten purely junk food but have done the opposite and rapidly gained weight on just good home cooked food.
"I’ve googled it and most say that I won’t lose weight/fat since it’s junk food" - That's actually a really sad commentary on how widespread ignorance is.
Being slightly more charitable.....
If someone isn't calorie counting (the majority of the population) then the chances of a person with a high proportion of junk food in their diet having a good grasp on their actual energy balance are probably far worse than someone preparing their own food.
Ate a lot of junk food and gained weight is a totally believable tale but the cause isn't the food itself but the amount of food.
Way too long of a post. The only term you need to use is thermogenesis.
OP likely has read a lot more words of nonsense in those google searches. A few paragraphs likely isn't going to overburden them. And "thermogenesis" would hardly be a useful response to the OP.5 -
Yes, if you are under the calorie limit you will lose weight, and it sounds like it was unusual for you.
This is a link on the Twinkie diet where a professor ate mostly junk food and lost weight. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html3 -
nina123genesis wrote: »Just need some sort of reassurance cause I’m kinda freaking out, I do calorie cycling so I eat more on 3 days of the week and the rest I eat less, and it’s been working since January I’ve already lost 20 pounds , but recently I’ve had no control and the whole week consisted of more junk food than healthy food but I’m still under my weekly calories.. . I’ve googled it and most say that I won’t lose weight/fat since it’s junk food … maybe someone here has gone thru this little bump and knows if it will affect my progress in a way 😭
Weight management is about energy balance. A calorie is a uniform measure of that energy. If you consume less energy (fewer calories) than your body requires then you will lose fat. Bodyfat is just stored energy. When you don't take in the energy required by your body, that deficiency has to be reconciled...so your body burns onboard energy stores.
As to the bolded, the general population has very little clue as to what their energy needs are, nor do they track anything or really even think about it. "Junk food" tends to be calorie dense and often nutritionally sub-optimal. If someone isn't really paying attention it is very easy consume energy in excess of needs eating a diet that consists of a lot of "junk food". For most people, consuming home cooked, healthier meals and snacks will result in losing weight...thus there is a correlation made between healthier food and better weight management and weight loss, but it really isn't the food itself. Eating more nutritiously and consuming more whole foods, etc very often leads to a calorie deficit whether or not a particular individual is cognizant of that or not.
I knew absolutely zero about calories when I first started losing weight. I lost about 20 Lbs before I even heard of MFP or understood anything about calories whatsoever. At the urging of my Dr. I just started eating a more nutritionally sound diet and exercising regularly. The biggest change for me was my lunch. I always ate out for lunch at either Taco Bell, Blakes Lottaburger, or Popeye's. I went from that to brown bagging my lunch everyday. There wasn't anything magical about just eating a sandwich or having some grilled chicken and vegetables. The "magic" if you will was that my average lunch went from being 1200+ calories everyday to around 500-600 calories. I did not understand that at the time so I made the assumption that Taco Bell is bad and my sandwich was good...but really, all I did was cut my lunch calories in half by making better nutritional choices.4 -
A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. If you are under your calories, you will still be in a deficit/thus still lose weight.
The issue comes here: Say I want to have breakfast and I want it to be ~500 calories. I could have 2 Twinkies. Or I could have a potato/egg scramble with some bacon, some veggies, and some cheese on top. One of those things is definitely going to keep me satiated and fueled better than the other.
So if I choose to eat the 2nd breakfast, then I won't be hungry until it's time for me to eat my next meal. If I eat the Twinkies...I'm probably going to be hungry in like 1-2 hours. So, overall, this is likely to cause someone to eat more (over their maintenance calories) and gain weight. Or at least struggle to stay within their calorie goal.
So, calories are all the same -- but there are more efficient and less efficient ways to manage those calories.4 -
westrich20940 wrote: »A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. If you are under your calories, you will still be in a deficit/thus still lose weight.
The issue comes here: Say I want to have breakfast and I want it to be ~500 calories. I could have 2 Twinkies. Or I could have a potato/egg scramble with some bacon, some veggies, and some cheese on top. One of those things is definitely going to keep me satiated and fueled better than the other.
So if I choose to eat the 2nd breakfast, then I won't be hungry until it's time for me to eat my next meal. If I eat the Twinkies...I'm probably going to be hungry in like 1-2 hours. So, overall, this is likely to cause someone to eat more (over their maintenance calories) and gain weight. Or at least struggle to stay within their calorie goal.
So, calories are all the same -- but there are more efficient and less efficient ways to manage those calories.
4 Twinkies for 520 calories. They're only 130 each.
*ducking*3 -
westrich20940 wrote: »A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. If you are under your calories, you will still be in a deficit/thus still lose weight.
The issue comes here: Say I want to have breakfast and I want it to be ~500 calories. I could have 2 Twinkies. Or I could have a potato/egg scramble with some bacon, some veggies, and some cheese on top. One of those things is definitely going to keep me satiated and fueled better than the other.
So if I choose to eat the 2nd breakfast, then I won't be hungry until it's time for me to eat my next meal. If I eat the Twinkies...I'm probably going to be hungry in like 1-2 hours. So, overall, this is likely to cause someone to eat more (over their maintenance calories) and gain weight. Or at least struggle to stay within their calorie goal.
So, calories are all the same -- but there are more efficient and less efficient ways to manage those calories.
4 Twinkies for 520 calories. They're only 130 each.
*ducking*
I could never stop at 4 of anything like that. Maybe not Twinkies but.......
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westrich20940 wrote: »A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. If you are under your calories, you will still be in a deficit/thus still lose weight.
The issue comes here: Say I want to have breakfast and I want it to be ~500 calories. I could have 2 Twinkies. Or I could have a potato/egg scramble with some bacon, some veggies, and some cheese on top. One of those things is definitely going to keep me satiated and fueled better than the other.
So if I choose to eat the 2nd breakfast, then I won't be hungry until it's time for me to eat my next meal. If I eat the Twinkies...I'm probably going to be hungry in like 1-2 hours. So, overall, this is likely to cause someone to eat more (over their maintenance calories) and gain weight. Or at least struggle to stay within their calorie goal.
So, calories are all the same -- but there are more efficient and less efficient ways to manage those calories.
4 Twinkies for 520 calories. They're only 130 each.
*ducking*
I could never stop at 4 of anything like that. Maybe not Twinkies but.......
I actually don't like Twinkies all that much. The golden cake part gives me low key indigestion.
Little Debbie's Swiss cake rolls tho? I've done a box at a time.
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https://www.foodandwine.com/news/twinkie-preservation-fungus-research
This article from food and wine magazine about a guy who stocked up on Twinkies when Hostess went out of business, mistakenly believing that they would last forever, might cure you of any Twinkie/Hostess cravings. At least for 8 year old twinkies you find in your basement…. Apparently they are only shelf stable for 25-45 days (which is still awfully long for sponge cake!) and these 8 yr old ones had “some sort of organism growing in them.” They were donated to scientists who wanted to investigate the Twinkie myth further, and the scientists used bone marrow biopsy tools to extract the moldy creme specimens from said Twinkies ….
Should I go on?
I think it is hysterical that food and wine published this article … so to relate it back to the OP’s question you can lose or gain weight by eating so called fine or fast food calories just the same. Its all a matter of choice and preference. I choose to find my moldy organisms in a stinky cheese ripened in someone’s basement for 8 years over a twinkie, but I will get just as many or as few calories as you depending on how much or little of each we eat in one sitting. And I make my choice not because the stinky cheese is any less caloric (it is definitely more caloric gram for gram but I will want less of it) but rather because I like the taste better.
There are, however, other health trade offs to think about when choosing between indulgences. Or when deciding what to eat for a normal meal. The reason why people eschew fast foods when “eating healthy” is because they often are fried or contain unhealthy levels of unhealthy fats, may have a lot of sugar, may lack fiber or protein in proportion to other macros, may not make an overall valuable contribution to your needed vitamin and mineral intake for the day and thus risk leaving you nutritionally malnourished even though you are consuming sufficient calories.
ETA: not sure how the stinky cheese and the twinkie stack up against each other on these last points - they each have their negatives, but they can also each be a reasonable indulgence every once in a while if that is what we choose, so I am not going to trouble my little head figuring it out and just have the one I like, and you should do the same.
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You know, it was while using MFP to count calories and lose weight that I first bought a pack of the new Twinkies (you guys are aware that they stopped making them for a while right?)
I have to say that overall they weren't the best investment in late breakfast calories: combining them with a vanilla cone from McD's and an extra large black coffee a few days later was much better 😹🤣😂
In any case... still here! Weight still not back and I would still prefer something better than Twinkies for my calories! Except once or twice in a while! 😉1 -
Next time try them with gorgonzola!0
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To quote @Sinisterbarbie1 :
"There are, however, other health trade offs to think about when choosing between indulgences. Or when deciding what to eat for a normal meal. The reason why people eschew fast foods when “eating healthy” is because they often are fried or contain unhealthy levels of unhealthy fats, may have a lot of sugar, may lack fiber or protein in proportion to other macros, may not make an overall valuable contribution to your needed vitamin and mineral intake for the day and thus risk leaving you nutritionally malnourished even though you are consuming sufficient calories."
This reminded me of the last time I went to any restaurant. It happened to be Ninety-Nines. They have the calorie counts with their meals(I wish every place did
). Anyways, I was amazed when I saw how many calories even a simple burger meal, with fries and a side can contain. More than a whole day+ worth. Plus, the amounts of food served are ridiculous in a lot of places and doggy bagged food rewarmed just doesn't cut it.
TG we can make choices. 0 -
Sure you will lose weight but you will feel/become like garbage in the longer term.0
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In the short term, yes, you can lose weight even eating bad food if you are in a deficit. However, if that were to continue over the long run, you would have a myriad of other health issues. It's a bad idea. If you want to get healthy, make better choices and get healthy. There are no easy roads.0
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