Is It More Important To Eat Enough Calories Or Get Enough Nutrients?

[TeaRex14]

retain fat in a caloric deficit?

Yeah, when you drop too low your BMR will decrease and your body will preferentially burn muscle instead of fat. If the goal is to burn bodyfat then a slight caloric deficit, about 300-400 calories, plus adequate protein is needed. Ideally this would mean cutting a little off dietary fat and dietary carbohydrate, while keeping protein the same.

 

[AnonE]

Indeed, when you don't eat enough for a long enough period of time, your BMR drops so that you are no longer in a caloric deficit, because even if calories in are, say, 1400cal/day, your body can adapt to burn even less than that.

However the body has to burn something, so if you're completely fasting... well, nobody keeps all their fat on a famine

 

[TeaRex14]

Indeed, when you don't eat enough for a long enough period of time, your BMR drops so that you are no longer in a caloric deficit, because even if calories in are, say, 1400cal/day, your body can adapt to burn even less than that.

However the body has to burn something, so if you're completely fasting... well, nobody keeps all their fat on a famine

Oh yeah, you'll just inevitably lose a lot of your muscle mass in the process. When you think about malnutrition, and the pictures of people who are starved, they all are typically skinny fat. None of them are shredded, so your body will burn it's muscle before it will burn it's fat. And for good reason of course, your body is only concerned about survival.

 

[Kelj]

title

The one ensures the other. Eat enough calories and the nutrients follow. WITH one proviso: as Ray says, the body has several mechanisms for getting what it needs- start with cravings. Listen to your body about what, when and how much. Don't judge your body's desire for food. I got 100% well while eating a lot of "shelf stable" food. Let's think about what some of those things are, that the human race has been healthily propagating on for millenia-processed foods like: cheese, yogurt, kefir, Sour cream to preserve milk.....salami. prosciutto, bacon, jerky, ham to preserve meat...... wine, jam, jelly, raisins, etc. to preserve fruit.....beer, crackers to preserve grain. A great myth is that when people grew, raised, and gathered their own food, they didn't have an abundance of food. They did, too, have an abundance of calories. The people Weston Price saw in good health, living in their traditional food ways were well-nourished people. The people he saw with bad teeth and tuberculosis were health compromised by moving away from their traditional ways, living near trading posts, exchanging money for food which led to comparative poverty and calorie restriction. The mania for scrawniness and calorie fear has only made the situation worse now, while calories are abundant for most people. We are creating our own food poverty, making it a societal sickness.

 

[Cirion]

I am thinking carbohydrates matter more than anything else now. With sufficient carb intake, protein is rarely a concern (since protein needs are usually over-stated plus carbs spare muscle). And if you're overweight with weight to lose I now think the answer is lower fats and actually increase carbs.

Time will tell how it works out for me, but for the first time in 6 months my weight seems to be slowly shifting downward *finally* even though I still eat ample calories and carbs (sometimes as much as 1,000 gram a day).

Eating high carb but low-ish every thing else gives you the best of all worlds for weight loss at least (Maybe not ideal for maintaining weight). High carb = keeps metabolism running, low fat (I eat <10 gram a day) = puts you in a fat deficit to lose weight.

I have at least 50 lb of pure fat to lose, which is like 150,000-200,000 calories worth of fat, so I don't need to eat dietary fat. I think dietary fat is like eating estrogen, no matter where it comes from, since by definition fat is aromatizing. Estrogen also promotes further fat gain. So now that I know this, I have absolutely no desire to eat dietary fat again for a while. "Fat makes you fat" is a tired cliché, but in my situation, it proved to be true.

Basically, I now promote the "opposite" of ketosis at least for weight loss. "Carbosis" if you will =p

 

[Kelj]

I am thinking carbohydrates matter more than anything else now. With sufficient carb intake, protein is rarely a concern (since protein needs are usually over-stated plus carbs spare muscle). And if you're overweight with weight to lose I now think the answer is lower fats and actually increase carbs.

Time will tell how it works out for me, but for the first time in 6 months my weight seems to be slowly shifting downward *finally* even though I still eat ample calories and carbs (sometimes as much as 1,000 gram a day).

Eating high carb but low-ish every thing else gives you the best of all worlds for weight loss at least (Maybe not ideal for maintaining weight). High carb = keeps metabolism running, low fat (I eat <10 gram a day) = puts you in a fat deficit to lose weight.

I have at least 50 lb of pure fat to lose, which is like 150,000-200,000 calories worth of fat, so I don't need to eat dietary fat. I think dietary fat is like eating estrogen, no matter where it comes from, since by definition fat is aromatizing. Estrogen also promotes further fat gain. So now that I know this, I have absolutely no desire to eat dietary fat again for a while. "Fat makes you fat" is a tired cliché, but in my situation, it proved to be true.

Basically, I now promote the "opposite" of ketosis at least for weight loss. "Carbosis" if you will =p

Great coinage! Carbosis! It's what the body loves!

 

[RWilly]

So here's another question. Is it best to eat a bunch of nutrients all in a big meal, that would all get digested together, or to nibble throughout the day?

 

[somuch4food]

So here's another question. Is it best to eat a bunch of nutrients all in a big meal, that would all get digested together, or to nibble throughout the day?

You have to avoid bloating/feeling bad after eating. If your digestion can stomach a lot of food in one sitting and satiation lasts, then feel free to have big meals less frequently.

When you feel hungry, just eat. You can try different combination to find what satiates you for longer.

Don't let your head dictate when your body needs food. The body is the master, your brain is the one overthinking everything.

 

[Kelj]

So here's another question. Is it best to eat a bunch of nutrients all in a big meal, that would all get digested together, or to nibble throughout the day?

You should eat as much as your body wants in any one meal and as many meals as your body wants you to eat. The thought of food is the hunger signal. Shakiness and growling stomach is going to long without eating.