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If I eat 1700 calories of any food, I will lose weight?

For example, if I eat 1300 calories of the healthy food, then decide I want to eat a cake which is 400 calories, and I do this everyday, would this lead to weight loss

By the way, im only asking because on my cheat days, if I do this, would it technically still lead to weight loss?

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If you use more than 1700 calories a day then yes.
Reply 2
It depends on how many calories you expend in your daily routine. If you are consuming 1700 calories but are only expending 1500, you will gain weight. If you are consuming 1700 but are expending 1900, you will lose weight. The actual food substance itself doesn't matter in terms of weight loss.
Reply 3
Apparently, Im using 2700 calories :O
Sooo my next question is, is 1700 calories a healthy target to keep for 2 months or is it a bit strict, should I do 2000?
But I honestly can say I calorie count everyyy thing i eat, it's like impossible to get to 2000! Having said this I dont think im losing weight
Reply 4
Original post by pheekum
Apparently, Im using 2700 calories :O
Sooo my next question is, is 1700 calories a healthy target to keep for 2 months or is it a bit strict, should I do 2000?
But I honestly can say I calorie count everyyy thing i eat, it's like impossible to get to 2000! Having said this I dont think im losing weight



2000 would be healthy. However, as you lose weight that maintenance calorie intake of 2700 will go down. So you will have to lower your intake as well, if you wish to keep up the weight loss.
Reply 5
There are several factors to consider here:

- You do likely burn over 1700 kcal/day so if your total intake is less than your usage you will lose weight regardless
- You must consider the thermic effect of food, however; eating protein-rich food uses a large number of food to break them down and convert them to usable energy, whereas fats use very little energy to process and store
- You should remember that fats have pretty much double the calories as proteins and carbs weight-for-weight, so the amount of food you can consume on a 1700 kcal/day diet will vary dramatically - see this
Reply 6
Original post by pheekum
For example, if I eat 1300 calories of the healthy food, then decide I want to eat a cake which is 400 calories, and I do this everyday, would this lead to weight loss


If you are burning more than 1700 calories a day (which is highly likely) then yes. Your body doesn't really care what you deem 'healthy' and 'unhealthy'. I mean cake is generally eggs, flour, milk, butter. All perfectly reasonable foodstuffs easily worked into a healthy diet.

The last two words are key - there are very few truly unhealthy foods; it is all about a healthy diet i.e. one that provides all the energy and nutrients you need and no more.

Original post by Gwindor
The daily amount of calories a fully grown male burns per day is around 1700.


Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The average fully grown male in a coma burns around 1700 calories.

For example, I am a mostly sedentary small male (5'7" 147lbs) and I burn about 2400 calories a day. This is actually a fairly accurate measure since I weighed myself daily and tracked macronutrients pretty exactly for several weeks.

Original post by Gwindor

I would suggest that you drink green tea (or any other tea, preferably without milk or sugar) as it greatly boosts metabolism.


Total BS. Drinking green tea has a nearly unmeasurably small effect on net metabolism.

Original post by pheekum
Apparently, Im using 2700 calories :O
Sooo my next question is, is 1700 calories a healthy target to keep for 2 months or is it a bit strict, should I do 2000?
But I honestly can say I calorie count everyyy thing i eat, it's like impossible to get to 2000! Having said this I dont think im losing weight


This paragraph is inherently self contradictory: If you are using 2700 calories a day then you would most definitely lose weight eating 1700 calories, you would lose about 2lbs a week. For those a couple of stone overweight, this would be a reasonable rate of weightloss. Once you get down to a stone or less overweight, .5-1.5lbs a week would be more preferable.

When you say apparently, do you mean you looked up some formula online? If so, you should realise that those figures are just a guide. The only reliable way to determine how many calories your body uses per day is to weigh yourself everyday until you sustain your bodyweight for a couple of weeks. At the same time, accurately measure the amount of calories you intake each day. If you are maintaining your weight, you are burning pretty much exactly the amount of calories you consumed during that period - end of story.

If you struggle to eat 2000 calories, I am going to be assuming that your calorie counting is way off. Are you weighing things or judging by eye?
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by pheekum
Apparently, Im using 2700 calories :O
Sooo my next question is, is 1700 calories a healthy target to keep for 2 months or is it a bit strict, should I do 2000?
But I honestly can say I calorie count everyyy thing i eat, it's like impossible to get to 2000! Having said this I dont think im losing weight


Realistic provided your a fairly tall, heavy or active male.

Personally i think that 1700 is a little on the low side for a male and would probably be going for the 2000-2500 range with exercise but it should be sustainable enough.

Unless your skipping meals it's fairly easy to get to 2000 calories. Myself or example i get (rounding up) 400 for cereal and Milk, 500 for a lunch sandwich, anywhere in the 500-1000 range for dinner and then about 500 for various snacks. That's a little high because I've rounded up but most people i think have too many snacks or too big dinners.

Original post by Gwindor
The daily amount of calories a fully grown male burns per day is around 2000. This amount can be increased by exercise, raising metabolism and thus speeding up the use of calories. If you consume around 1300 calories and remain inactive, you will not gain weight and in fact lose 700 calories per day. Even with the addition of cake, you will not be gaining weight. However if you instead consumed dietary requirement (2000) and eat cake, you would be gaining 400 calories everyday. Thus you should exercise to expand your daily calorie burning to 2400 to cover the cake. However having a cake every so often while remaining inactive is fine, as you would on average burn those 400 calories doing something else (i.e. PE classes, cycling to school etc).

I would suggest that you drink green tea (or any other tea, preferably without milk or sugar) as it greatly boosts metabolism. Remember that the key to losing weight is keeping ones metabolism high. One loses weight throughout the whole day, not just when they exercise, it simply depends on how high ones metabolism is.


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2000 is for a woman (rounded from 1800 i believe), 2500 is the RDA for a man (rounded from 2300). I'd go for 1800-2300 as a man and 1500-1800 for a woman in order to avoid burning muscle rather than fat.

The green tea is i believe a rumor, I've not seen evidence?
Reply 8
You can work out your RDA online easily, that's what I did. I'm 5"8 & 146 pounds and my RDA is like 1800.
Original post by pheekum
For example, if I eat 1300 calories of the healthy food, then decide I want to eat a cake which is 400 calories, and I do this everyday, would this lead to weight loss

By the way, im only asking because on my cheat days, if I do this, would it technically still lead to weight loss?


Here's my two cents, and my experience comes from losing 11 kilos so far on my weight loss journey:

Counting calories is not really the way to go. It's a good, nice mathematical tool, but people are abusing the system; thinking as long as they eat 900 calories a day, they don't have to exorcise, or thinking as long as they exorcise they can eat 3000 calories of candy and other crap.

The key is this: eat good stuff. Give this weight loss thing 100 %, and use up your calories in things that give you nutrition. And then when you feel like some cake, eat that cake. A piece of cake once in a while won't mess your weight loss up, but you can't eat it every day and expect to lose a lot of weight.

If you want to indulge everyday, choose "healthy" options: dark chocolate, peanut butter, nuts, fruit, dried fruits, smoothies, frozen fruit bars, yoghurt, etc. Save your cake for special occasions.

And check out Fitblr, if you haven't already. It's a lovely community of people who are trying to get healthy together:

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/fitblr
Original post by Garthfunkel
thinking as long as they eat 900 calories a day, they don't have to exorcise, or thinking as long as they exorcise they can eat 3000 calories of candy and other crap.

A piece of cake once in a while won't mess your weight loss up, but you can't eat it every day and expect to lose a lot of weight.


You can eat cake everyday and lose weight. It is unhealthy, but possible. Calories are calories;the calories inside McDonalds are no different then those in fruit/vegetables.
The 1 and only rule in losing weight is: As long as you expend more then you consume you'll lose weight no matter what you eat.
Original post by goldenfish
You can eat cake everyday and lose weight. It is unhealthy, but possible. Calories are calories;the calories inside McDonalds are no different then those in fruit/vegetables.
The 1 and only rule in losing weight is: As long as you expend more then you consume you'll lose weight no matter what you eat.


Your body won't let you lose weight if you eat poorly, it will be very, very slow at best, but most importantly, it won't be healthy. If you wanna lose weight in the long run, and not just lose it to have it find you again, you need to eat healthily and stick to it.

Also, your body takes care of different kinds of food differently. It will store excess fat after a certain level, it will also burn more calories processing protein, and it will turn carbs into fat if eaten in excess. Therefor, in the weight loss process, it does matter what kinds of food you eat. There's not 1 golden rule for weight loss. There is however, like Captain Barbossa said, a set of guidelines.
If you sit on a sofa doing nothing all day you will not lose weight, however little you eat
Reply 13
Original post by hexagon999
If you sit on a sofa doing nothing all day you will not lose weight, however little you eat


Not true. I know a woman confined to a wheelchair who lost some weight by restricting her intake. This woman didn't really get about much either. She certainly isn't unique either.

Another category of people who lose weight sitting on their arses are heavily obese people on supervised diets leading to surgery - they often are not in a position where exercise or even a lot of gentle physical activity is appropriate.

It is all about energy balance.
Reply 14
Original post by goldenfish
You can eat cake everyday and lose weight. It is unhealthy, but possible.


Why is cake always touted as an unhealthy food?

It used to be a staple food. You can make them yourself at home without putting any ****ty hydrogenated fats and such like in them.

I mean, eggs, flour, milk and sugar. Nothing too innocuous.

You could eat cake everyday, lose weight and stay healthy IMO.
I think the issue to do with cake is that most people buy them from shops. That normally means that the cake will contain a lot more saturated/hydrogenated fats and sugar than you probably want to consume on a regular basis.
Reply 16
Original post by The Blind Monk
I think the issue to do with cake is that most people buy them from shops. That normally means that the cake will contain a lot more saturated/hydrogenated fats and sugar than you probably want to consume on a regular basis.


It is more than that though. I think it is a cultural thing that anything associated with joy is a bad food.

I mean, if you buy a chicken sandwich or even a dressed salad from shops they will probably contain trans fats in the mayo/dressing. People don't say that chicken sandwiches or salads are 'unhealthy' foods though. They just accept that it is a food that can be made out of good or ****ty ingredients like most things.
Original post by Mark85
Why is cake always touted as an unhealthy food?

It used to be a staple food. You can make them yourself at home without putting any ****ty hydrogenated fats and such like in them.

I mean, eggs, flour, milk and sugar. Nothing too innocuous.

You could eat cake everyday, lose weight and stay healthy IMO.


Because cake alone doesn't have all the nutrients/vitamins your body needs, therefore it is unhealthy.
And even if it's made at home, it still has a large amount of calories for a relatively small portion no?
Original post by Garthfunkel
Your body won't let you lose weight if you eat poorly, it will be very, very slow at best, but most importantly, it won't be healthy. If you wanna lose weight in the long run, and not just lose it to have it find you again, you need to eat healthily and stick to it.


For arguments sake lets assume someone eats nothing but McDonalds everyday. This person eats the exact amount everyday.
He eats a total of 3000 calories daily, His metabolism allows him to burn 2000 calories whilst doing nothing.
He then does enough exercise to burn another 1500 calories, thus putting his total caloric intake at -500 for the day, everyday. This means he will consistently lose 500 calories daily and a around 1lbs per week. As even if some fat from the McDonalds is stored, the exercise will burn it off.
Like you said however it will be very unhealthy.
Reply 19
Original post by goldenfish
Because cake alone doesn't have all the nutrients/vitamins your body needs, therefore it is unhealthy.


By the same logic, pretty much every foodstuff is unhealthy. That is why it is best to focus on balanced diets instead of individual food stuffs. You need a multitude of nutrients and you generally get these from a variety of different foods. Simplez.

Original post by goldenfish

And even if it's made at home, it still has a large amount of calories for a relatively small portion no?


Not at all. I mean, http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255538238 is an example of a fairly standard cake and here is a picture where you can see the actual size of it:

tesco-raspberry-sponge-cake--large-msg-1108554675-2.jpg

If you split that between four people, you get a generous portion and it is only about 200 calories. That is an insignificant amount of anyone's diet.

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