Need a debate to be settled about calories in calories out.
Person A eating 2,000 calories of healthy foods vs Person A eating 2,000 calories of let’s say McDonald’s
While being moderately active and moderately going to the gym (nothing high intensity). Will Person A LOOK the same physically on both diets after about year? (Not accounting for how they feel, their energy, longevity of life, or any internal factors)
Poor diet can lead to hormonal imbalances over time. Eating a diet that has a high glycemic impact will start affecting insulin sensitivity eventually. Low insulin sensitivity/insulin resistance can cause weight gain. You may also notice skin issues like pimples, dry skin or eczema, even hair loss. Possibly also a bloated belly from lack of fiber in their diet causing constipation.
ETA not to mention that the hormones being out of whack will make it nearly impossible for the unhealthy eater to stick to a 2000 calorie diet.
Keep in mind that 2000 calories of McDonald’s could be one meal, and not a particularly large one.
Being VERY simplistic, with a 2000 calorie spread of healthy food you’re much more likely to successfully manage your macronutrient intake, which will lead to better lean body mass and tone) and the vitamins and compounds in the healthier food will also likely be more beneficial to your skin/hair/etc.
You’ll want to study dietary effects on body composition for that. As far as I’m aware, the main factor there will be protein.
Other differences may stem from deficiency or insufficiency of certain nutrients. Say there’s next to no iodine in McDonald’s food.. you may develop a thyroid issue eventually and affect your metabolism.
This article by Stephen Guyenet is the best resource on CICO that I know of.
Generally speaking, I don’t think they’ll look the same. Person A will likely be thinner (burning calories at the gym), and the higher protein and moderate strength training will improve their body composition over the person eating McD’s. I don’t know if the change would be substantial, but I think you’d notice a difference.
Person A will have better performance if working out and energy wise throughout the day. Also, the balanced diet will allow to not have cravings and be satisfied as opposed to person B if they just consumed foods not satisfying your entire macronutrients.
McDonalds tends to be really high fat, so your fat intake will be higher and so will carbs. Protein intake might just be from the meat of the burger (which is all processed meat) and hence it’s not health wise.
As far as body shapes, calories in, calories out, doesn’t matter if your goal is to reduce body fat. But that’s unsustainable bc your body needs all macronutrients in order to satisfy appetite which I think is the biggest factor besides health wise which is obvious.
No, they will not look the same. They might lose the same amount of weight at least in the first few months. But diet + exercise tells the body what kind of weight to lose. So someone eating crap will likely burn lean mass (muscle) while holding on to body fat while someone focused more on a healthy diet with good protein and healthy fats and carbs will tell their body to burn body fat and hold on to lean muscle mass. ANd like you said… they will definitely not feel the same.
There’s a ton of studies done on this. The important question is how does calorie restriction increase longevity.
Sorry to dodge, but your question has been beaten to death since the earliest days of the internet and nutritional science. There are literally thousands of studies on the topic.
The person eating healthier may also have a kind of “glow” believe it or not, and basically look healthier in their skin tone. There was a study done by the University of St. Andrews in Scotland which showed that increasing one’s vegetable and fruit consumption caused an increase in their skin’s yellowness and redness. This increase in yellowness and redness has been proved in another study as more attractive and healthy looking to the general population
It depends. If true he only eats McDonalds look at Chad Johnson. Follows mostly a McDonalds diet and is shredded. I personally think Chad is a freak of nature. Lol. So I don’t believe the average human would look the same vs say a person that eats a balanced diet high in protein to preserve and build lean body mass. CICO is science from a weight loss or gain perspective, but a 700 calories from Krispy Kreme and 700 calories from a steak are drastically difference in performance and feeling calories.
Hi! I actually posed a similar question today, not having seen your post.
When I looked it up I found this diet doctor article that I found interesting.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/what-happens-if-you-eat-5800-calories-daily-on-an-lchf-diet
If it’s everyday for a year, there probably will be some negative effects and you might not look how you imagined.
However, I go to the gym & eat fast food a couple times a week, and I’m still building muscle. As long as you’re not going off your plan, you should be good.
I don’t know about a year of strictly eating McDonald’s though