Calories in vs calories out. I'm confused!

[TioKilo]

Ok, Ive been using my FitBit Blaze for a while now. My question here is that, how does the Calorie in vs Calorie out work exactley? I do know how deficits work!

BUT, what i'm trying to get across is that If I eat food that has lots of suger and fat, however i'm still able to fit the calories into my budget. Will the suger and fat mess up my Body Fat Percentage (a.k.a. Body Shape)?

I want to get a more feminine shape, so I thought of doing cardio. I do at least 30 min of biking on the week days right after school and at least 1 hour of biking on the weekends. I do biking only because I prefer to run on a track or tredmill. I'm on a 2lb loss per week plan, and have lost quite a bit of weight. I used to weigh 163lbs, now I weigh 156lbs. I don't know my Body Fat Percentage cause I don't know how to measure it, unless if I buy the FitBit Aria. I have started eating a lot of healthy food. The only things I eat that aren't healthy in my day to day life, is the small amount of butter on my English Muffin I have every morning and maybe 1-2 unhealthy snacks later.

One last question: Does the Calories in vs Calories out help me lose Body Fat?

Anyways, Thanks for reading!

[AmayaG]

well yes and no. (helpful start I know lol)

recent studies all tend to agree that a calorie is not a calorie. Meaning if you eat 1400 calories of green veg and good protien and fats it will react differently on your body than 1440 calories of donuts.

yes your imput that day will be the same from a caloric perspective but at the nutritional content is not.  The way to lose body fat is to eat clean and move more. Nourish your body with the right foods and ditch the processed.  You can actually eat more calories this way btw.

I hear that you want to have a womanly shape.  You will have this regardless of the exercise you chose. So run/cycle/swim/take up a gym class... but... Dont neglect weight bearing excersie (this can be push ups / squats / sit ups.. you not need to add dumbells if you dont want). the muscle will actually help to raise your metabolism and thus burn more fuel (and fat)
Unless you go full beast mode you will not get a more manly figure. so dont worry about this element.

Body fat percentage is a usefull tool IF measured properly. you dont want just a % figure as it doesnt tell you what you need to know. That is, where you are carrying the fat. 
I recommend a dexa scan. This will show the distribution accross your body and what is in tha danger zones.  In addition you will know what a realistic weight for you is given the mass of your lean muscle and bones. (for example.. I am HEAVY as a human. anything under 100kg / 200lb is correct for my muscle mass to be at a healthy body fat percentage). this will give you a realistic goal and something measurable. you can re-mesure every 3-4 months for an accurate picture of what your body is doing.

I hope that helps

[Dominique]

We’d first have to agree on what constitutes a "feminine shape". For instance, if you ask me, I would say women who compete in bikini fitness don’t have a particularly feminine body.

Regarding body fat: you need to be in a deficit to lose fat, and if you are in a surplus, you will gain fat. There’s no way around it. How much fat you lose in a deficit and how much you gain in a surplus depends on other factors like the extent of the deficit/surplus, what you eat, the exercise you do (or do not do) etc.

In a deficit, you will lose fat, but also some lean tissue (e.g. muscle). You obviously want to maximize fat loss and minimize loss of lean tissue, so as not to end up "skinny fat". For that, you would want to do resistance training (lifting some heavy things, whether it’s weights, your own body, using machines etc.). This will help you become more "toned" and have more "definition", which is what women usually want to achieve.

100% clean eating is not required for fat loss. If you eat 80-90% of minimally processed ("clean") food, 10-20% of the foods you love (even if they are not "clean" or "healthy") and manage to be in deficit, you will lose fat. In fact, the "bad" foods you are making space for in your diet may be what will help you stick to your diet and prevent binging. Doing only cardio, or lifting pink dumbbells Tracy Anderson style won’t cut it.

[AdiposeOpposed]

If you pick up the book called Strong is the New Beautiiful by Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, it addresses this very question in some detail and will answer all your questions.

[SunsetRunner]

Filling up on natural foods is the best way. Trying to honor the body to, if feeling starting needing to force feed yourself, wait until your body asks for more nourishment (being hungry, having appetite, getting a sudden desire to eat)..

Nearly impossible to over eat on natural foods even if eating until nearly stuffed.. these also leave the body satisfied for longer than preprocessed foods (higher in calories, having added sugars, making wanting to eat more from just cause it tastes so good while possible not being hungry anymore)..

Depending on the foods eaten, the body requires more or less energy for digesting the certain food, it can need to use extra calories more for digesting that steak with eggs,.. and less energy for digesting a orange juice (from a bottle) (it's easier for digesting, requiring less energy).. natural foods in a way add this extra benefit, as eating natural foods overall (or all the time), over time all the extra calories required for digesting the food can count up to, helping that little extra to reach your body composition goal.

No need to give up favourite foods, having everything with care.

If not feeling hungry, be aware about, take a smaller portion instead. Possible eating more when hungry again.

Calories count, the nutritients matter to.