If, for example, you maintained weight at 2000 calories and you ate 1500 calories of anything, you would lose weight. It could be 1500 calories of chocolate, cheese and wine. Yes, you would still lose weight because you have a calorie deficit and your body would utilise it's own stores to provide the energy your body needs for it's daily tasks.
Now, if we use 1500 calories of chocolate as our example, you would find that it would equal 1.5 x a 200g bar. That's not a lot of food for such a high calorie return. But yes, you would still lose weight if that's all you ate in a day. The questions we now ask are: Would that keep your energy levels going for a whole day without consuming anything else....not likely. Would it give your body all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals it needs for a healthy lifestyle.....certainly not.
So, which foods should we choose if weight loss is our goal?
Preferably foods which help to keep hunger under control and provide our body with all the nutrients it needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle..........Lower calorie / High nutrient foods. First suggestion with every meal would be to choose a protein source which helps to fill you up and keep hunger under control (preventing over-eating and maintaining portion-control). This can be anything from lean meats, fish, eggs, yoghurt, nuts, lentils, pulses, protein powders etc. Add to that some kind of vegetables, salads and fruits to give your body the nutrients it needs and will also assist with keeping hunger at bay. If you have a larger frame and are very active, you may find you need to increase the portion sizes or add some starchy carbohydrates to get the calories you need (rice, potato, pasta, bread).
So, are there good and bad foods for weight loss...NO, but are there foods which will make things easier on our ability to stay focused and keep hunger at bay....ABSOLUTELY.
Muscle mass decreases if unused - "If you don't use it, you lose it". Muscle mass controls part of our natural metabolism and when you lose muscle, your metabolism drops but how people eat doesn't change. Therefore they change from calorie maintenance to calorie surplus and put on weight as a result. But they blame age for the increased weight, not that they lost muscle because they became less active.
Can it be changed...... DEFINITELY. Increase your daily exercise, especially strength/resistance training.
Keep moving people 💪 💪 💪