Weight loss and food choices
Yes! You absolutely can eat your cake and still lose weight. Truth be told you can eat anything and lose weight. So long as you stick to the golden rule… Which is - being in a CALORIE DEFICIT.
There are some serious trade offs to consider though. Let me run you through some basics first though.
Energy balance
All the food and drink we consume contains energy or kilojoules/calories. This energy is used by the body for a variety of processes - from moving around, breathing, fidgeting, exercising, thinking and healing just to name a few - this is our energy output. When we take in more energy than our body needs to maintain its current weight, this results in a calorie surplus, which over time can lead to weight gain. If you wish to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit, which means the number of calories you consume in a day is less than the amount of calories you burn.
The same amount of ENERGY IN (calories consumed) and ENERGY OUT (calories burned) over time = weight maintenance
More IN than OUT over time = weight gain (calorie surplus)
More OUT than IN over time = weight loss (calorie deficit)
That all sounds simple enough but there are a LOT of variables that can influence this simple looking equation. Your age, current weight, body composition, energy availability, fidgeting, daily steps, sleep, hydration (and many other things!). Despite this though, the basic equation is what matters most and we have total control of what we chose to eat and not eat.
I always advocate for a nutritious diet that is composed of lots of plant foods first; with the right amount of lean protein and fats to support a clients goals. Getting plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins means that you can eat a large volume of food containing lots of micronutrients for fewer calories than eating a highly processed meal which is very calorie dense and low in micronutrients.
This is an example I posted a while back about volume eating for a snack to give you an idea of how the principle works. 45g of food on the left has 210 calories whereas 387g of food on the right contains 213 calories.
So back to the main question … can you eat whatever you want and still lose weight?
If you are trying to maintain your weight or in a fat loss phase and want to eat something calorie dense (like some cake or a take away meal) I think you have a few options.
1/ Eat the food and be happy and accept it as a once off (if it is a once off). One hot day doesn’t make a summer, and one piece of cake in an otherwise healthy energy balanced diet won’t matter much.
2/ Eat the food and be mindful of what you are eating for the rest of the day so as not to let it open the flood gate to a mass eating binge.
3/ Eat the food and make it fit within your day - similar to point 2. If you are tracking your calories this is easily achievable and a way that you can learn about how to balance your intake to keep you reaching your goals without crazy restriction.
4/ Eat the food and realise that this may slow your progress down a little. If you want to go for a degustation dinner with friends that includes 9 courses it is likely that this will be in excess of your daily energy intake. So accept that this week you might not see a big change on the scales or other measures of progress and that’s perfectly okay! Sometimes we have to let our hair down a little and just go with the flow. If you don’t have a specific weight to make at a particular time then maybe accept that a weeks delay in progress isn’t the end of the world.
5/ Skip the food and have something else… This is just a choice you will need to make. If you feel serious FOMO and then end up bingeing on some healthier alternative then this probably isn’t the best idea. I see this happen (for example) when someone will not eat an ice cream for dessert but then have a huge serving of yoghurt and fruit which in terms of energy balance may be on par or if not more than just having had the ice cream in the first place and then they still feel unsatisfied. On the other hand if you don’t feel like having what’s on offer and prefer to have something else, then by all means go for it.
Take home point - there isn’t necessarily a RIGHT or WRONG decision when it comes to food choices. I believe it comes down to different outcomes. If you continually select highly processed, high calorie foods (which results in a calorie surplus) then you will likely gain weight - this isn’t necessarily wrong but just the outcome of your choices. If you are making lots of ‘healthier’ choices and eating the right amount to maintain your weight then your outcome will be reflected your choices.
