Does quantity trump quality when it comes to fat loss?

Once common trend I find with many clients while self reporting their diet and nutrition habits is a good amount of people actually eat nutritious, nutrient-dense foods. This is what we tend to call “eating healthy”.

Ironically enough, the same people who I am visually seeing the foods they eat, which is actually really good food, are the same people still looking for fat loss.

Old-school thought was the quality of calories that mattered. You were told “if you eat healthy, you will lose weight”. While “eating healthy” is something everyone should shoot for (whole, single-ingredient, nutrient-dense food), still, the QUANITY is what drives fat loss or fat gain.

I’ll use myself as an example: In college, I cared about 3 things. #1: Working out. #2: My car. #3: Protein powder. I wasn’t living like a lavish king. My pantries weren’t full. I was living off Ramen noodles, McDonalds, pizza from the cafeteria, and protein shakes. Of course I ate better some days but in college, it was cheap and easy. I had no nutritional knowledge except that bodybuilders ate tilapia and eggs and I couldn’t afford that on the regular. Was that the most intelligent thing I could’ve done? No. Did I care then? No. Did I gain weight? No. I actually lost weight.

I wasn’t eating the amazing Hispanic and Italian food my parents made while I lived home. Without me knowing it, I was in a deficit for quite some time.

Did genetics play a role? Perhaps, but while I was lifting and just playing sports, I was active.

You can eat whatever food you like as there really isn’t “good food/bad food”. There’s just the right amount (or wrong amount) of food to support your goals.

Anyone who disagrees with that logic is usually trying to sell you something or is stuck in the old school mentality.