I am cutting down my calories at the moment to lose a bit of weight. I had an apple last night for a snack and when I tracked it on my calorie tracker app I realised it was pretty much the same amount of calories as a small chocolate bar. Does this mean that if I’m trying to lose weight I might as well be having the chocolate bar instead?
Obviously there is more fat in a chocolate bar but when I Googled it it said you should focus on calories more than fat
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Let’s say you have some gunpowder and some coal. Both burn, both have energy. But the gunpowder burns really quickly where the coal burns a lot slower and will keep your fire burning better.
It’s the same for food. Sugary food will go straight through your digestive system where longer chain carbohydrates like brown rice or in this case an apple, will be much more filling for longer. You need to match this with your exertion. So sugar before a game is fine but would be useless to try run a marathon from 20 chocolate bars
Well yes and no. Its a matter of happiness and preference. You’re likely to enjoy chocolate more than an apple. But an apple has more fiber, is better for your blood sugar, and will keep you feeling full for longer. If your goal is weight loss volume eating is important to keep you full and prevent snacking. But it won’t hurt to have a chocolate either.
Yes. Because vitamins and minerals matter and the macro breakdown of your calories matter as well.
Now if you have issues gaining weight and are looking to gain weight, that’s when you can stop worrying about what you’re eating so much (just don’t go overboard with sugar or anything) and just eat.
But yea definitely start learning what benefits eating certain foods have. There’s a book called superfoods I believe which while not being the gospel, will help you with creating a diet for yourself.
If literally your only goal is to lose weight and nothing else, then no it doesn’t matter (assuming you can mentally control your caloric intake despite feeling hungrier from consuming too much sugar).
But if your goal is to look and feel better, and be more capable of activities requiring physical effort then it very much matters what you eat.
Put another way, if two identical twins consumed the same amount of calories, but one was eating a lot of candy and the other wasn’t; The twin who didn’t eat the candy would look better than the twin who did.
They’re not the same due to glycemic index.
Its how fast after eating something sweet foes it get absorbed and how much insulin is produced.
Chocolates have a very high GI meaning that they will be absorbed really fast and will spike insulin.
Meanwhile apples have much lower GI due to fibers and dont spike insulin.
Why is this important ? Even though both have same amount of calories, the way they will be distributed is gonna be different. High GI food is gonna be stores as fat as insulin increases fat deposits and decreases lypolisis.
So the same amount of calories doesn’t mean that theyre same calories.
A lot of others have commented on the weight loss aspect, I’ll just make a quick mention on the psychological aspect.
I find it much harder to lose weight by eating a lesser amount of unhealthy food. Unhealthy food is generally more calorically dense, as you mentioned an apple is the same as a “small” candy bar. A regular snickers is like 210 calories.
Add onto that the sugar cravings you get and I find it so much tougher to continue with a diet when I’m eating unhealthy vs just eating healthy for a few days, losing that sugar craving, and then crushing the rest of the diet cus I’m not constantly craving calorically dense foods
Protein takes more energy to convert into usable energy than a carbohydrate, so no a calorie is not a calorie. It can be useful as a general rule of thumb for weight loss but don’t use it as an exact metric
>Does this mean that if I’m trying to lose weight I might as well be having the chocolate bar instead?
It doesn’t mean you *might as well* have the chocolate bar, but it does mean that you *could*. The issue here becomes about nutrition and satiation. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional chocolate bar, but fats are calorically dense but without the volume and you’re much more likely to feel hungry sooner after eating just the chocolate bar vs. something with a lot more substance to it for the same amount of calories.
The best thing to do is have a little of the less healthy stuff you want (rather than a lot) and then a good amount of the stuff that’s packed with nutrition and is more filling with less calories.
Two things on focus – lower calorie foods and feeling full.
The hardest part about dieting is the hunger.
Take 10-20 mins per meal, 20-30 chews per bite and make sure you variety of tastes & textures in your food.
Use protein because it’s filling & muscle sparing meaning you’ll prioritise fat loss when in a negative calorie balance.
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