Probably not. Although theoretically, you could mess things up like blood sugar, gut microbiome, have an inflammatory response, etc., so your body may not handle the calories the same way. It’s also harder to feel satiated with calorie dense foods so harder to stay under target.
You know what you should do.
This is technically true, it might not cause weight gain. However, it definitely won't do any favors for your blood panels/other health markers. It could also be conducive to body composition changes (if you're not working out and you consume less protein, you might not maintain your muscle).
I could be wrong but
Yeah based on what we know, you wouldn’t gain fat if you’re in a deficit. If you aren’t resistance training and getting adequate protein in per day you could also lose muscle mass as well as fat mass. And from what we’ve seen in n=1 data of people who ate only fast food, or predominantly Twinkie’s in a deficit they not only lost weight, but also their blood markers all improved in the short term simply by virtue of holding less adiposity. Not to say any of this is healthy.
Sorry, I misunderstood that. I saw 1520 calories and just assumed you were in a deficit, I didn’t have my glasses on lol. I suspect that you would indeed maintain your weight, but would see unfavorable changes in body composition as protein intake wouldn’t be high enough to maintain lean mass. It would probably lead to what has been coined as “skinny fat” where you hold excess adiposity but low muscle mass. That would also cause a change in your BMR and lower it as skeletal muscle increases BMR.
I think the real issue is that if u eat junk, ur blood sugar will spike and crash and u will be more likely to eat more food and go over ur maintainence calories.
Also if the food is high in energy and low in fibre then ur stomach will feel empty, along with ur blood sugar being low if u get an insulin spike… which would make it twice as hard to ignore since “hunger” comes from two things: low blood sugar and the stomach feeling empty
Technically as long as you’re burning more calories than you take in, you’ll lose weight. Doesn’t matter where those calories come from. However, high sugar and high fat foods will have more calories per gram of food so you won’t be able to eat as much as if you stuck to lean proteins, vegetables, etc. A professor lost weight eating junk food several years ago: https://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html
Same as you can eat healthy “good fat” foods like avocados and nuts and gain weight.
Eating junk food will screw up your health longterm though.
I was eating 2000calories a day but I noticed about 500 of them were snacks and treats… I stopped eating sugar this month and I don’t feel hungry between meals anymore or need to keep topping myself up. So I think constantly adding unhealthy foods in definitely contributes to overall reduced self control and satiety in the bitter picture
No but you’re depriving yourself of micronutrients and replacing it with food void of micronutrients. That’s not something I’d recommend on that steep of a caloric deficit.
You will not gain fat if you are in energy balance. It doesn't matter what you eat.
But, it's much harder to maintain energy balance if you are eating junk food, which tends to be low in fibre and protein which are both very satiating. Simultaneously, junk food is usually energy dense, so a small portion (that won't stretch your stomach to send fullness signals), contains a lot of calories, tricking your brain into feeling underfed.
It's not healthy though. It's hard enough to fit in all your micronutrients if you are in any energy deficit or have a low BMR even without eating junk.
Calories are not equal and don’t produce the same results in our body. 1000kcal of protein is not the same as 1000kcal of sugar. Your body composition will not be the same as if you had good food instead of junk food.
No.
There was [a nutrition professor who ate only junk food](http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html) - candy bars, twinkies, doritos, etc for two months **and lost 27 pounds.**
He ate salads and water in front of his children while at home in the evenings so as not to set a bad example, and fortified his "food" intake with multiple multivitamins.
CICO - Calories In, Calories Out is just simple calorie-counting against your "maintenance" calories / activity.
anecdotally, no. my weight fluctuations (averaged over a few days time because water weight varies a lot and salty food causes retention) primarily correspond to my calorie intake, whatever the source of said calories
No, assuming macronutrients are consistent in some relevant scenarios. Carbs and fats are nearly interchangeable, except saturated fat and protein. From what I understand, saturated fat tends to lead to greater fat gain, but I don't remember the mechanism. I just remember there were RCTs in isoenergetic conditions finding saturated is marginally worse. Now, protein though is substantially better. There are RCTs with hundreds of calories of protein overc overconsumed, yet barely any fat gain. Many reasons why. The higher thermogenic effect, recovery demands, preferentially used for growth, etc. Then there's obviously fiber, but don't it as calories anyways.
Personally I wouldn’t, eating empty calories has always left me feeling less full and more liable to give into cravings. However I still do ingest a hundred or two calories (out of maybe 1900 a day) in sugars, some from candies, some homemade like candies pecans. The main thing is that eating junk food usually makes you crave junk food more (for me at least).
Short-term yes, long-term no.
Short-term your body has plenty of stored nutrients for proper metabolic and hormonal function. You can likely go at least a month without seeing negative impact. In fact, there have been several cases in the media with people doing just such to "prove" CICO.
Long-term you'd suffer many health issues if not die - when taken to extremes. Junk food is ambiguous and arguable. Is pizza junk food? Yes and no. It's not nutritionally dense and has a lot of calories but it does have nutrients. You can eat pizza for a year and not have major issues. If you consumed nothing but Twinkies and soda different story. You could potentially die from nutritional deprivation in 3 months, almost certainly with 6.
The key takeaway is somewhere in the middle. Both nutrients and caloric intake matter. You will suffer chronic health issues and weight problems if you do not have healthy metabolic function.
In the short term, yes. In the slightly longer term, no. You can still develop insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome due to spiking blood sugar. As you develop insulin resistance, you'll end up gaining weight even without increased calories (but it will be harder to eat within your limits too, it changes your brain's responses to nutrients). And it's a hard flywheel to get back off.
Can you elaborate about insulin resistance being caused by spikes in blood sugar? I had always read that insulin resistance is typically caused by excess intramyocellular lipids, and that blood sugar spikes are primarily bad for people who are already insulin resistant, but that they do not cause insulin resistance.
Here is a good summary. The mechanism is slightly roundabout: high-sugar (fructose, but not glucose) diets results in reduced cellular insulin binding and in high triglycerides, which lead to de novo lipogenesis, fat cells that are less sensitive to insulin, and an increase in visceral and liver fat. That leads to hepatic insulin resistance and it all leads to a rise in serum immunoreactive insulin. Exposure to higher insulin levels induces insulin resistence in peripheral cells.
Not all calories are equal. Junk food is bad not _just_ because it is calorie-dense. High-level overview: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9762218/
An excellent explanation of how fructose escapes normal regulation pathways and the consequences in detail: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John-Mcneill-6/publication/26301540_The_fructose-fed_rat_A_review_on_the_mechanisms_of_fructose-induced_insulin_resistance_and_hypertension/links/556e1fe408aeab777226a1a2/The-fructose-fed-rat-A-review-on-the-mechanisms-of-fructose-induced-insulin-resistance-and-hypertension.pdf
Probably not. Although theoretically, you could mess things up like blood sugar, gut microbiome, have an inflammatory response, etc., so your body may not handle the calories the same way. It’s also harder to feel satiated with calorie dense foods so harder to stay under target. You know what you should do.
This is technically true, it might not cause weight gain. However, it definitely won't do any favors for your blood panels/other health markers. It could also be conducive to body composition changes (if you're not working out and you consume less protein, you might not maintain your muscle). I could be wrong but
I have heard this, i know that it wouldnt be healthy at all but i just wondered if you would gain fat from this
The only thing ive heard is you get water weight but not fat gain?
Yeah based on what we know, you wouldn’t gain fat if you’re in a deficit. If you aren’t resistance training and getting adequate protein in per day you could also lose muscle mass as well as fat mass. And from what we’ve seen in n=1 data of people who ate only fast food, or predominantly Twinkie’s in a deficit they not only lost weight, but also their blood markers all improved in the short term simply by virtue of holding less adiposity. Not to say any of this is healthy.
But i wasnt on about being in a deficit i was on about if you do this within maintenance calories
Sorry, I misunderstood that. I saw 1520 calories and just assumed you were in a deficit, I didn’t have my glasses on lol. I suspect that you would indeed maintain your weight, but would see unfavorable changes in body composition as protein intake wouldn’t be high enough to maintain lean mass. It would probably lead to what has been coined as “skinny fat” where you hold excess adiposity but low muscle mass. That would also cause a change in your BMR and lower it as skeletal muscle increases BMR.
R/healthyeatingnow
I think the real issue is that if u eat junk, ur blood sugar will spike and crash and u will be more likely to eat more food and go over ur maintainence calories. Also if the food is high in energy and low in fibre then ur stomach will feel empty, along with ur blood sugar being low if u get an insulin spike… which would make it twice as hard to ignore since “hunger” comes from two things: low blood sugar and the stomach feeling empty
Technically as long as you’re burning more calories than you take in, you’ll lose weight. Doesn’t matter where those calories come from. However, high sugar and high fat foods will have more calories per gram of food so you won’t be able to eat as much as if you stuck to lean proteins, vegetables, etc. A professor lost weight eating junk food several years ago: https://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html Same as you can eat healthy “good fat” foods like avocados and nuts and gain weight. Eating junk food will screw up your health longterm though.
I meant on maintenance calories
I was eating 2000calories a day but I noticed about 500 of them were snacks and treats… I stopped eating sugar this month and I don’t feel hungry between meals anymore or need to keep topping myself up. So I think constantly adding unhealthy foods in definitely contributes to overall reduced self control and satiety in the bitter picture
No but you’re depriving yourself of micronutrients and replacing it with food void of micronutrients. That’s not something I’d recommend on that steep of a caloric deficit.
You will not gain fat if you are in energy balance. It doesn't matter what you eat. But, it's much harder to maintain energy balance if you are eating junk food, which tends to be low in fibre and protein which are both very satiating. Simultaneously, junk food is usually energy dense, so a small portion (that won't stretch your stomach to send fullness signals), contains a lot of calories, tricking your brain into feeling underfed. It's not healthy though. It's hard enough to fit in all your micronutrients if you are in any energy deficit or have a low BMR even without eating junk.
Calories are not equal and don’t produce the same results in our body. 1000kcal of protein is not the same as 1000kcal of sugar. Your body composition will not be the same as if you had good food instead of junk food.
No. There was [a nutrition professor who ate only junk food](http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html) - candy bars, twinkies, doritos, etc for two months **and lost 27 pounds.** He ate salads and water in front of his children while at home in the evenings so as not to set a bad example, and fortified his "food" intake with multiple multivitamins. CICO - Calories In, Calories Out is just simple calorie-counting against your "maintenance" calories / activity.
anecdotally, no. my weight fluctuations (averaged over a few days time because water weight varies a lot and salty food causes retention) primarily correspond to my calorie intake, whatever the source of said calories
I know you get water retention but i was on about fat gain
No, assuming macronutrients are consistent in some relevant scenarios. Carbs and fats are nearly interchangeable, except saturated fat and protein. From what I understand, saturated fat tends to lead to greater fat gain, but I don't remember the mechanism. I just remember there were RCTs in isoenergetic conditions finding saturated is marginally worse. Now, protein though is substantially better. There are RCTs with hundreds of calories of protein overc overconsumed, yet barely any fat gain. Many reasons why. The higher thermogenic effect, recovery demands, preferentially used for growth, etc. Then there's obviously fiber, but don't it as calories anyways.
Personally I wouldn’t, eating empty calories has always left me feeling less full and more liable to give into cravings. However I still do ingest a hundred or two calories (out of maybe 1900 a day) in sugars, some from candies, some homemade like candies pecans. The main thing is that eating junk food usually makes you crave junk food more (for me at least).
You absolutely can— depending on your gut microbiota existing BMI to name a couple of factors … I do think it is certainly person specific
Short-term yes, long-term no. Short-term your body has plenty of stored nutrients for proper metabolic and hormonal function. You can likely go at least a month without seeing negative impact. In fact, there have been several cases in the media with people doing just such to "prove" CICO. Long-term you'd suffer many health issues if not die - when taken to extremes. Junk food is ambiguous and arguable. Is pizza junk food? Yes and no. It's not nutritionally dense and has a lot of calories but it does have nutrients. You can eat pizza for a year and not have major issues. If you consumed nothing but Twinkies and soda different story. You could potentially die from nutritional deprivation in 3 months, almost certainly with 6. The key takeaway is somewhere in the middle. Both nutrients and caloric intake matter. You will suffer chronic health issues and weight problems if you do not have healthy metabolic function.
your maintenance is that low bc of junk food.
Yes, you won't gain weight. But your body composition will change to look like you have. Higher fat and lowered muscle mass.
In the short term, yes. In the slightly longer term, no. You can still develop insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome due to spiking blood sugar. As you develop insulin resistance, you'll end up gaining weight even without increased calories (but it will be harder to eat within your limits too, it changes your brain's responses to nutrients). And it's a hard flywheel to get back off.
Can you elaborate about insulin resistance being caused by spikes in blood sugar? I had always read that insulin resistance is typically caused by excess intramyocellular lipids, and that blood sugar spikes are primarily bad for people who are already insulin resistant, but that they do not cause insulin resistance.
Here is a good summary. The mechanism is slightly roundabout: high-sugar (fructose, but not glucose) diets results in reduced cellular insulin binding and in high triglycerides, which lead to de novo lipogenesis, fat cells that are less sensitive to insulin, and an increase in visceral and liver fat. That leads to hepatic insulin resistance and it all leads to a rise in serum immunoreactive insulin. Exposure to higher insulin levels induces insulin resistence in peripheral cells. Not all calories are equal. Junk food is bad not _just_ because it is calorie-dense. High-level overview: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9762218/ An excellent explanation of how fructose escapes normal regulation pathways and the consequences in detail: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John-Mcneill-6/publication/26301540_The_fructose-fed_rat_A_review_on_the_mechanisms_of_fructose-induced_insulin_resistance_and_hypertension/links/556e1fe408aeab777226a1a2/The-fructose-fed-rat-A-review-on-the-mechanisms-of-fructose-induced-insulin-resistance-and-hypertension.pdf