This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Egis Racinskas, Fat Loss & Food Freedom Coach at Absscience.com Because you’re confusing calories (determines body composition) with nutrients (determines body function): You see, when it comes to fat loss, the term “healthy” is one of the most meaningless concepts you can think of. Energy balance and being in a calorie deficit is the only nutritional strand which directly affects fat loss. It’s not how nutritious any given food is (it’s important though for satiety, hunger, and macronutrient intake). Eating healthy foods doesn’t guarantee fat loss because some of those healthy foods tend to be calorie-dense stuff: I’m not saying you should stuff yourself to the gills with junk food if it has fewer calories than healthy stuff. What I’m saying is that some of your favorites, seemingly “healthy” foods can be the culprit of your weight loss struggles: The information that you need to arm yourself with to lose fat lies on the nutrition label, not the marketing on the front of the box. So start being aware of the caloric content of ALL foods rather than falling for “healthy thus should be great for fat loss” claim. Source
