Is it all about calories?

I mean does the amount of fat matter, say a food is high in fat/sugars but fits in with your goals, does it matter or is it all about calories? Sorry if this is a stupid question, i think it is all about cal but im unsure hence me asking.

Say something has 8g carbs, but 7.6g are sugars is this bad or what? Or good pre/post wo?

Regarding fats, saturates are bad and mono unsaturates are good, what about polyunsaturated, good too?

Im abit confused and prob making this more difficult than it should be as you can see lol

Muscle Finesse Board Representative

Well it is about calories, as your body will need a certain amount to put on weight, to loose weight or to sustain.
 
But I don't eat junk when bulking, maybe the odd thing every now and then, but I certainly wouldn't encorperate junk food into my diet as I try to get all my calories from good food sources.

Yeah i get you mate, i dont plan on incorparating junk into my diet alot either just wondering, is it all about cal as long as your getting in your proteins, carbs, fats?

Muscle Finesse Board Representative

Where calories are coming from can make a difference, yes. Eating an 3000kcal diet made up of 70% sugar, 20% protein, and 10% fat will have very different results to one with 30% complex carbs, 35% protein, and 35% fat. (even within that there are a thousand different diets that would give the same figures, but different results)

Within the fat intake higher sat and omega 6 when taken with refined carbs will have more of an insulin effect than other fats/not having with refined carbs.

There are also the metabolic effects of protein and certain fats to consider.

Cals in vs cals out is too simple IMO.

Savant | Udos Choice | 2010 Shape up

No it is not cals in VS cals out.

As above that is far too simplistic. For example re: high protein diets read THIS which I did the other day which seeks to give reasons why protein may be important for reasons other than just muscle. That is just one example of why a calorie isn't 'a calorie'

As above it's about choices, as I see it the overall hierarchy is as follows:

CALORIES first: energy intake, and then,
SOURCES: you got them from (proportions and sources of macronutrients: food choices), and then
TIMING: when you consumed what you consumed (nutrient timing)

Just before anyone says I am making it too compliacated, on the flip side you can keep it simple using the above. As I have done here:

http://www.muscletalk.c...eginners-first-stop.aspx

Registered Nutritionist
NSCA Strength & Conditioning Coach

Drew - you beat me to the punch

and there have been a few studies where calories only were cut from peoples diets - and the net result was no loss - I think one was cutting 250 a day - and nothing happened as a result.

But of course without the deficit nowt is going to happen - so maybe at the end of the day it is all about deficit :)

Les Willis
Nutrition Consultant
Healthy Action

I used to think I knew what busy was - now I am too busy to think about it!

Sorry I should have put it like this:

First: CALORIES first: energy intake, and then,
Second: SOURCES: you got them from (proportions and sources of macronutrients: food choices), and then
Third: TIMING: when you consumed what you consumed (nutrient timing)

Actually you can loose weight without a technical deficit but, well, it's not very healthy.

Registered Nutritionist
NSCA Strength & Conditioning Coach

Ok that makes things abit more clear, thanks. Can someone answer my above questions in my first post?

Right an example here, im bulking so over maintenance cal, say i was eating lots protein, carbs and getting in my healthy fats, say i had a sandwich and peparami (pork stick) for lunch, the peparmi has like 6g protein but like 4.5g fat saturated i think, should avoid this? I eat it to boost protein abit.

Muscle Finesse Board Representative

Its protein, eat it. It will all have fat in it. Your whey scoup probably has about 3g fat in it. You need to try and mix up the protein sources, leaner is better, but I doubt the fat your on about will do you harm.

Alot of carb will make you fat too, if eaten in the wrong amounts and at the wrong times.

Weight: 174 lbs
Height: 6 Ft
Body Fat: Estimate between 11.7-15.7 % (Online tests) 
Journal

It's one meal so no difference. If you eat bad choices every day then you will start to notice a difference however if it is just a peperami every day then you shouldn't really notice anything.

You would still be a sicko for eating a pepperami though.

Registered Nutritionist
NSCA Strength & Conditioning Coach

....just to add.

We're a bit different that the average person but if you think about it if we were to get the amount of cals we need wrong and overeat by the same amount of kcals as a handful sized bag of nuts over the whole week then after 2 and a bit months we might have gained as much as a lb of fat.

The body copes with fluctuations. It;s also another nail in the cofin of 'it's all about calories'.

Registered Nutritionist
NSCA Strength & Conditioning Coach

As far as weight is concerned, it's all about calories (in vs out). See Is a Calorie a Calorie? and The Energy Balance Equation.

As far as anything else (body composition, health, wellbeing etc) is concerned, it's all about macro, micro & anutrients.