Importance of healthy foods vs. importance of caloric intake

So recently I’ve been trying to lose some of the weight I gained in college (I’d say 20 lbs all told). I was fairly athletic in high school, then got lazy/discovered alcohol/started eating like a college student once I started college.

So for the past 3-4 months I’ve been doing 30 mins of cardio 2x a week, 1/2 hour strength training 3-4x a week. However, I’ve only lost about 6 lbs (although I think I’ve gained muscle, so I’m not sure how much fat I’ve lost). I’ve noticed a difference but I’d like to lose weight at a better rate.

Right now, I eat 1300-1500 cals/day. I’m female, btw, 21, and in addition to the work out regimine I generally walk 20-30 mins a day all over campus. So I think the calorie count is decent. However, about 1/4-1/3 of these cals come from junk food. So if I kept the calorie count constant, but threw out the junk food and replaced it with healthier fare (veggies, whole weat grains, low fat cheese & yogurts, etc), would that make a difference? Or do I need to reduce my caloric intake overall? (which would be tough, btw, I feel hungry a lot now).

Gestalt

The only thing that matters for losing weight is burning more calories than you take in. That is it. If you aren’t losing weight fast enough, you could slowly reduce the calories anymore or (preferably) ramp up on the exercise. Your body will try to adjust its metabolism to stop what it sees as a startling free-fall in weight. Exercise will help get your metabolism back up.

It doesn’t matter for weight loss if you eat 1500 calories or Cheetos or just veggies and whole grain bread. It is the same thing in that regard. However, a well-balanced diet light on junk food is better for you nutrition-wise in the longer term and building a healthy diet will make it easier to keep the weight off in the long-term (which is where most people fail).

But is it healthy to eat less than 1200 cals/day? I’ve heard that that is pretty much starvation.

Also, I could exercise more, but I don’t really have the time. Although, I guess I do need to just bite the bullet and accept either 1) being overweight or 2) Giving up more of my free time to work out

That’s basically all it amounts to. You see to have a healthy perspective on it but a lot of people delude themselves. It basically comes from convincing themselves that they are cutting calories enough and are exercising enough and still not losing weight as though the laws of physics and chemistry somehow singled them out for special treatment. By definition, if you aren’t losing weight, you aren’t doing enough of one of them.

Ramping up exercise is probably healthier and makes you look and feel better even when you aren’t losing that much weight. Once you get used to a new level of exercise, that will become the new norm for you so it won’t be that much change except while you are getting used to it.

The only thing is that “healthy foods” such as vegetables, fruits and low-sugar yogurt are basically low in calories. So, you can eat a lot more of them for the same 1200 calories, which leads to more feelings of fullness, which in turn helps prevent rampant snacking. So, if hungry feelings are driving you to junk food, then, yes, perhaps eating more veggies would help in that regard, since you get more volume per calorie. For instance, a medium carrot has 26 calories. 3 cups of spinach salad has 20 calories, go crazy with a TBSP blue cheese dressing (75 calories), you’re still under 100 calories.

By the way, I am slightly dubious that you are eating 1200 calories “one third in junk food.” A Snickers has like 250 calories, that’s 1/5 right there. Perhaps you are underestimating your true intake – I suggest www.fitday.com combined with measuring your portions for a week to get a true handle on what you’re eating. (I don’t think its necessary to measure for the rest of your life, just in the beginning to get a sense of portions).

It is. What makes you think that 1300 is any better?

Check this article (part 2) out to see what one researcher thinks of the notion that a calorie is a calorie.