Calorie counting question..

[purplerain37]

If you ate whatever you wanted, but stayed within your calorie limit, would you still lose weight?

For example, today I had 1,300 calories but within that I had some French fries (crisps), rice, chicken and veg for lunch and then fish cakes, veg and oven-chips for dinner.

I feel like I've had a lot of carbs today but still within my calorie limit. Would I still lose weight with this diet or is it better to lower carbs too?

Lower carbs tends to work partly because fat and protein are more filling so they help you more easily eat less calories.

That is assuming you are not trying to get into ketosis, which you clearly aren’t. If you got into ketosis then you would lose weight much faster, but that would require almost zero carbs - when starting even milk in your coffee might be a problem as it contains sugar.

I would suspect 1300 calories is too many to lose weight decently though.

Most calculators over-estimate what people can in reality eat as maintenance - as we are not robots, different people have different metabolic rates, and the same person has different metabolic rates at different times . i.e. our bodies can down-regulate certain body processes thereby reducing our metabolic rate. This is why people plateau.

I’ve known a 6 foot 12stone man not lose weight when eating less than 1300 calories for weeks and weeks. Some really big body-builders cut their calories down to around 800 calories a day (eating nothing but beef or chicken) when they are on a cut to get their beach body.

The easiest way to lose weight is like it or not, keto plus exercise.

I don't know what PP is talking about but most of it is rubbish

Essentially yes, a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit. You will lose weight. Carbs hold more water than protein though so may show a slower loss.

If you like bigger portions/like to eat often, low calorie foods like veg/salad/fish will serve you well, and obviously just generally better for health. If you're happy to eat less but more "comfort food" then as long as you stay in a [500] calorie deficit, you will lose weight.

Having said that 1300 is low but depends on height and weight. Most people will lose weight on that amount. James Smith has a good macro calculator.

Nobody ever stayed fat by starving. This notion of "your body holds on to fat if you don't eat enough" is a load of codswallop.

yeah I have never been in ketosis and still lost weight 🤔

yes you can lose weight as you in a deficit but I find that I am more bloated if I eat like this too often and I hold onto the water, so loss is slower. I don’t eat no carbs so I might have rice OR potatoes a day but some days I might have both or I might have brown bread. I just make sure they are one of the smallest portions of food on my plate and the veg/protein are bigger. So a whole big chicken breast (or 2) with maybe 5 sweet potato wedges or 3 tablespoons of rice and the rest veggies. I do this as I find I am fuller for longer on this combination of food

rice and chicken is my go to meal, or sushi

I follow a few body builders on social media and they seem to live off chicken and rice too. they only don’t eat carbs when cutting before a competition to dehydrate themselves to get their veins and muscles to show more defined

To have both fries AND oven chips within 1300 calories, did you have 5 pieces of those then?... Yes you would lose weight by maintaining energy deficit, but only if calories are counted correctly. 25gr (recommended portion size) or 90 calories of crisps is not "a handful", it is quite literally 8 pieces (depending on the brand, but you get the tune).

Your body burns the readily available carbs for energy first, and when they run out that's when it moves to burning fat. That's a key reason why low carb works - most people kind of want their body to use stored fat for energy rather than the carbs they've just eaten!

A bag of French fries crisps are under 100 calories, not a great choice but not blowing the calorie budget is it

I genuinely don't know how you got all that in to 1300 calories.

I track everything v. strictly and aim for 1000-1200 calories a day. I won't lose weight on any more. Personally I find weight loss a lot faster (and easier) when I eat very low carb.

I definitely did fit all that in 1300 calories. Not huge portions! (100g of naked oven chips).

And yes I meant walkers French fries crisps, sorry! (79 calories)

Thanks for the advice :) I'll cut down on the carbs a little 😩

Yes I’ve always lost weight regardless of whether it’s been low carb etc. I just focus on calories. I guess everyone is different but I always lose eating what I like within those calories

Yes, you can eat whatever you feel like within the calorie budget.
However, with so much beige food the portions will be tiny and you will definitely not meet your micronutrient needs, your food diary has folate deficiency written all over it.

I don’t eat big portions, but if I had so little food to stay under 1300 I would be hungry and miserable.
An easy way to eat better is to try to have 5 or more colours on your plate.