Calorie question

[EazyE1]

Probably a stupid question but oh well.

Say your BMR is 2000 calories a day.

In your diet for a week you eat nothing healthy. So you have burgers, pizza, cake etc but what you have in the day adds up to 1500 calories.

Then the next week you eat healthy green fruit and veg and lean meat, again every day adds up to 1500 calories worth of good food.

Would you lose more weight from eating the healthy food purely because its healthy, or does it just make you healthier but doesnt increase weight loss?

I ask because they say its what you eat, not how much of it.

Also, could you actually lose weight still if your BMR is 2000 and you eat 2200 calories worth of fruit and veg. Because fruit and veg has hardly any fat in it, so how could you put weight on?

Please reply.

 

[TomO]

[No message]

 

[EazyE1]

So why bother eating boring healthy foods when you can just eat unhealthy stuff then at the end of the day have a couple of multivit's containing all the important vitamins?

 

[Kaitie]

That video is a load of b.s.

You can't eat crappy food and still lose weight. It's the fact that he's telling us to eat 1000 calories a day (which is way to low for the average person) which would enable us to lose weight. Eating crap is going to make you feel like crap.

 

[Steve]

Good questions. An energy deficit is ALWAYS going to lead to tissue loss. That said, sure, you could eat crap and as long as you were burning more energy than you were consuming, you would experience weight loss.

If you are going after FAT LOSS though, a little more due diligence must be taken IMO.

There are certain baselines that I believe are necessary in order for proper body recomposition (lose fat, maintain muscle) to take place. In terms of dietary needs, these things include, but are not limited to, adequate protein consumption and EFA consumption. Beyond these two things, how you make up the remainder of your caloric intake is extremely individual and goal dependent.

To answer your question, I have seen people eat the right things in order to maintain muscle and eat crap on top of that and they have developed great physiques. That said, I also like the saying, crap in, crap out. Eating crap certainly isn't optimal for health, longevity, performance, or whatever else you want to look at.

Weight gain and loss is dictated almost entirely by energy balance. Fruit has energy in it. So, if your maintenance level is 2000 calories, yet you eat 3000 calories of fruit each day, you will gain weight, assuming you are not burning off the surplus through activity.

Take home point. If all you care about is what the number says on the scale, and nothing else including body composition, how you feel, health..... eat whatever the heck you want as long as you maintain an energy deficit.

Do I recommend this? Certainly not.

 

[TomO]

Katie,
I think you missed the point of the video completely. He is NOT telling his viewers to eat crappy food! Just look at the rest of his videos if you don't believe that. Nor is he telling his viewers to eat 1,000 calories a day. The point he is making is simply this: don't believe that it is a TYPE of food that will make you lose weight. What makes you lose weight is a calorie deficit, pure and simple.

In his other videos, he stresses over and over again that you should eat healthy foods. But he doesn't endorse fad diets, which in my mind makes his series worth looking at.

 

[Kaitie]

My concern is 'that' video. Maybe he is a nutrition guru but if all you put up is a link to that video all anyone is going to think is that he's some crazy guy promoting his new 'eat snickers and lose weight' diet scam.

If he really wants people to take him seriously he should be very careful about what he puts out there.

 

[prmuscle]

i went vegan and ate the same amount of calories and got a big boost in my overall plan to lose more weight. tried some herbal diet pills too after, after i made the switch though. You are what you eat!

 

[cmillington]

Also, could you actually lose weight still if your BMR is 2000 and you eat 2200 calories worth of fruit and veg. Because fruit and veg has hardly any fat in it, so how could you put weight on?

Ever met an overweight vegan? They exist, just like any other group, some people are overweight and some are not. Basically, yes, fruit CAN make you gain weight, just like any other food. (You ever looked at the fat content of avocado?) Your body uses the food you eat for immediate sources of fuel, everything else is stored for later use. It doesn't matter if it's Doritos or bananas.

Your original question asked if all 1200-calorie diets are created equally. (Well, you sort of asked that. I'm paraphrasing.) The issue with food is that your body uses the energy in different foods differently and food energy is not created equal. A balanced diet will make you feel healthy and energetic; an unhealthy diet will make you ask someone to pass you the TV remote. Sure, you might lose the weight, but with inadequate muscle tone, you'll be a jiggly healthy weight with many of the same problems you had before you lost the weight. By becoming more active, you'll lose the weight and be healthier in the process.

Besides, if muscle weighs more than fat, not all 5'6" 130lb people are created equal.