Losing weight

Castled

Now I'm aware that eating one specific food will lead to a lack of vital vitamins and minerals, however that is not my issue here.  If I was to eat only noodles or rice,  perhaps even pot noodles or similar, would I lose weight?  I am quite active  

p00hsticks

As with any foodstuff, it's going to depend on how much of it you eat.
If you consume less calories than you expend, you'll lose weight,  consume more and you'll gain. 

Pot noodles apparently have 411 calories or around 20% of an average adults recommended calory consumption  
Pot Noodle Chicken & Mushroom 90g | Sainsbury's (sainsburys.co.uk)  

Emmia

I think it fundamentally depends on the amount of anything that you eat - are you eating 1 pot noodle a day, or 20?

If you eat 1 - then you'll lose weight (you'd be starving yourself though, which has other implications)

If you eat 20, that would be 8,000 - 9,000 calories, and you'd gain weight, however active you are.

*there's lots of evidence that calories are not the only aspect of food you need to consider, there's also how available those calories are to your body, and what (chemically) your body sees the food as... which I personally think is one of the problems of artificial sweeteners, which the human body is not evolved to "understand".

MattMattMattUK

Castled said:

Now I'm aware that eating one specific food will lead to a lack of vital vitamins and minerals, however that is not my issue here.  If I was to eat only noodles or rice,  perhaps even pot noodles or similar, would I lose weight?  I am quite active  

In theory yes, you would, if you were in calorie deficit, however it depends what weight you want to lose. If you are only eating carbs and you lose weight you will burn a lot of muscle and not much fat, you need to have protein and fats in your diet whilst trying to lose weight. 

jlfrs01

You mention you're "quite active" Castled - what do you mean by that, are you exercising, doing any sport, etc? If so, you will need to think about what to fuel yourself with because a carb-rich diet can cause complications. I saw the Olympic Rower Sir Steve Redgrave speak at a function a few years back, he said a lot of athletes of his generation were now Diabetic due to the nutrionists' recommended diets which were carb rich and mainly based around white rice and pasta. Of course, they were shovelling bucket-loads down themselves but if you are doing a lot of cardio then it would be wise to eat accordingly.

Castled

jlfrs01 said:

You mention you're "quite active" Castled - what do you mean by that, are you exercising, doing any sport, etc? If so, you will need to think about what to fuel yourself with because a carb-rich diet can cause complications. I saw the Olympic Rower Sir Steve Redgrave speak at a function a few years back, he said a lot of athletes of his generation were now Diabetic due to the nutrionists' recommended diets which were carb rich and mainly based around white rice and pasta. Of course, they were shovelling bucket-loads down themselves but if you are doing a lot of cardio then it would be wise to eat accordingly.

4/5 miles walk through woodland daily

Emmia

Castled said:

jlfrs01 said:

You mention you're "quite active" Castled - what do you mean by that, are you exercising, doing any sport, etc? If so, you will need to think about what to fuel yourself with because a carb-rich diet can cause complications. I saw the Olympic Rower Sir Steve Redgrave speak at a function a few years back, he said a lot of athletes of his generation were now Diabetic due to the nutrionists' recommended diets which were carb rich and mainly based around white rice and pasta. Of course, they were shovelling bucket-loads down themselves but if you are doing a lot of cardio then it would be wise to eat accordingly.

4/5 miles walk through woodland daily

That's more than many people, but I don't think that's especially active (sorry). I personally do that daily as part of getting to/from work (and a similar distance at the weekend) plus 3 - 4 spin classes and a pilates class each week. (I'd describe myself as moderately active)

Do you do anything else?

bluelad1927

Emmia said:

Castled said:

jlfrs01 said:

You mention you're "quite active" Castled - what do you mean by that, are you exercising, doing any sport, etc? If so, you will need to think about what to fuel yourself with because a carb-rich diet can cause complications. I saw the Olympic Rower Sir Steve Redgrave speak at a function a few years back, he said a lot of athletes of his generation were now Diabetic due to the nutrionists' recommended diets which were carb rich and mainly based around white rice and pasta. Of course, they were shovelling bucket-loads down themselves but if you are doing a lot of cardio then it would be wise to eat accordingly.

4/5 miles walk through woodland daily

That's more than many people, but I don't think that's especially active (sorry). I personally do that daily as part of getting to/from work (and a similar distance at the weekend) plus 3 - 4 spin classes and a pilates class each week. (I'd describe myself as moderately active)

Do you do anything else?

4-5 miles a day walking is fairly active regardless of how you choose to describe yourself. 

Consistency is generally the key as with anything in life and a well balanced diet with that level of exercise is likely to result in weight loss

MattMattMattUK

bluelad1927 said:

Emmia said:

Castled said:

jlfrs01 said:

You mention you're "quite active" Castled - what do you mean by that, are you exercising, doing any sport, etc? If so, you will need to think about what to fuel yourself with because a carb-rich diet can cause complications. I saw the Olympic Rower Sir Steve Redgrave speak at a function a few years back, he said a lot of athletes of his generation were now Diabetic due to the nutrionists' recommended diets which were carb rich and mainly based around white rice and pasta. Of course, they were shovelling bucket-loads down themselves but if you are doing a lot of cardio then it would be wise to eat accordingly.

4/5 miles walk through woodland daily

That's more than many people, but I don't think that's especially active (sorry). I personally do that daily as part of getting to/from work (and a similar distance at the weekend) plus 3 - 4 spin classes and a pilates class each week. (I'd describe myself as moderately active)

Do you do anything else?

4-5 miles a day walking is fairly active regardless of how you choose to describe yourself. 

Consistency is generally the key as with anything in life and a well balanced diet with that level of exercise is likely to result in weight loss

I think it depends on the people you know. I do a minimum 10km a day unless the weather is horrific, cycle 50-100km a week, but do not see myself as particularly active, especially compared to some others I know. I think the big issue with measuring it is that half the population are pretty much sedentary and another 25% are still well below healthy levels of activity. 

MrsStepford

Lifestyle changes such as ditching processed food and doing some exercise, will work over time. Crash diets or becoming a gym bunny for a month, won't.

Longwalker

bluelad1927 said:

Emmia said:

Castled said:

jlfrs01 said:

You mention you're "quite active" Castled - what do you mean by that, are you exercising, doing any sport, etc? If so, you will need to think about what to fuel yourself with because a carb-rich diet can cause complications. I saw the Olympic Rower Sir Steve Redgrave speak at a function a few years back, he said a lot of athletes of his generation were now Diabetic due to the nutrionists' recommended diets which were carb rich and mainly based around white rice and pasta. Of course, they were shovelling bucket-loads down themselves but if you are doing a lot of cardio then it would be wise to eat accordingly.

4/5 miles walk through woodland daily

That's more than many people, but I don't think that's especially active (sorry). I personally do that daily as part of getting to/from work (and a similar distance at the weekend) plus 3 - 4 spin classes and a pilates class each week. (I'd describe myself as moderately active)

Do you do anything else?

4-5 miles a day walking is fairly active regardless of how you choose to describe yourself. 

Consistency is generally the key as with anything in life and a well balanced diet with that level of exercise is likely to result in weight loss

I wouldn't say that was active either, thats normal

I have a resting need of 1400 calories -ie I will burn them just by breathing. So as a woman, if I were sedentary - ie no sort of exercise at all, Id soon be getting fat if I took the 2000 cals recommended on food packets

I walk on average 8miles a day - at least 3 of them classed as vigorous exercise - Ie Im motoring it, breathing heavy, heart rate up. I also do cardio 3 times a week and I burn on average an active 800 calories a day so a total of 2200 calories a day on average 

Walking is fine, but dont be fooled into thinking taking the dog for a walk is going to be burning any extra calories. You need to walk at a pace where you are breathing hard - around 15 mins a mile - 4 mile an hour 

To burn off 1lb of fat you need a deficit of 3500 calories

One pot noodle per day, yep, you will lose weight but your body would starve causing damage to every part of your body 

Eating a balanced diet, as active as I am, Im losing at a steady 1 to 2lb a week which is sustainable. Im not missing out, Im not starving myself, I go out and have fun but I also go and work it off