Do empty calories make you lose weight?

Author: Johnathan Crooks DVM  |  Last update: Monday, November 3, 2025

Weight gain. Empty-calorie foods are high in added sugars and unhealthy fats. These calorie sources may provide energy, but they won't make you feel full or satisfied after eating them, which leads to overconsumption. If you consistently eat in a calorie surplus without physical activity, you will start gaining weight.

Can I lose weight with empty calories?

Quit these foods to lose weight

Empty calories can provide immediate energy, but cannot be used to build muscle, supply vitamins or promote a sense of fullness. Empty calories not used for energy will be stored in your body as fat. Here are foods you should avoid as they can be a disaster for your waistline.

What would happen if you only ate empty calories?

By solely consuming empty-calorie foods, your body will lack the essential nutrients it needs to function optimally. Nutrient deficiencies can lead to serious health issues.

Do empty calories still make you gain weight?

Since empty calories really only have sugar and fat, consuming them can lead to weight gain as well as chronic diseases. The body starts storing this fat if our physical activity doesn't exceed our empty calorie intake.

Do unused calories turn into fat?

What happens when we take in more energy-providing nutrients than we need? In other words, what happens to those excess calories when we over-eat? As we know from personal experience, the excess is stored as body fat.

Mayo Clinic Minute: Does your diet contain empty calories?

Why am I still fat after cutting calories?

Muscle helps keep up the rate at which you burn calories (metabolism). So as you lose weight, your metabolism declines, causing you to burn fewer calories than you did at your heavier weight. Your slower metabolism will slow your weight loss, even if you eat the same number of calories that helped you lose weight.

What are pointless calories?

As a rule of thumb, if a food does not contain nutrients or if the calories from sugar and fats outweigh the nutrients found in the food, it's considered to be a source of empty calories. The foods and drinks that contain primarily empty calories are: Soft drinks, sports drinks, sweet tea, lemonade and energy drinks.

What are the cons of empty calories?

Empty calories can damage your body. Foods high in saturated fat and sugar are linked to many chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Some of this is because they cause weight gain. But even if you don't gain weight, these foods cause problems like inflammation and insulin resistance.

Can 0 calories make you gain weight?

Consumption of zero-calorie drinks tends to have effects on the rest of our diet as well. This raises a possible scenario where drinking zero-calorie beverages could actually indirectly lead to weight gain.

Can empty stomach cause weight gain?

It's true that one should have low quantity of food at night, but completely skipping the meal is not ideal. It will only lead to weight gain. "The body enters a mode where you start accumulating fat.

Do empty calories fill you up?

Fried foods, chips and candy may temporarily fill you up but just an hour or two later you will be hungry again because they offer little protein, fiber and nutrients that the human body needs. It is a vicious cycle that leads to excess daily calories.

Will I lose weight if I don't eat a lot of calories?

If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories through physical activity, you lose weight. In the past, research found about 3,500 calories of energy equaled about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat.

Can you lose weight without watching calories?

In a 2018 JAMA study, researchers found that when people ate less highly processed foods, they lost more weight than their peers who counted calories. The people who lost more weight opted to fill up on more vegetables and whole foods without ever watching how many calories they took in.

What has healthy fat?

Foods that contain healthy polyunsaturated fats (omega-3 and omega-6) include:
  • Fish.
  • Tahini (sesame seed spread)
  • Linseed (flaxseed) and chia seeds.
  • Soybean, sunflower, safflower, canola oil and margarine spreads made from these oils.
  • Pine nuts, walnuts and brazil nuts.

Will I lose belly fat if I stop drinking diet soda?

Most people start drinking diet soda to help lose weight. But you might lose more weight giving it up. A recent study found that older adults who drank diet soda continued to pack on belly fat. Research also found that each daily diet soda increases your chance of becoming obese in the next decade by 65%.

What happens if you barely eat any calories?

When you don't eat enough, your body goes into survival mode and starts breaking down muscle to release the glucose stored inside, which can be used for energy. Because you're not taking in enough calories, your body slows down your metabolism in an effort to conserve energy.

What food has no calories?

Foods with almost Zero Calories
  • Cucumber. Cucumbers are another amazing zero-calorie food. ...
  • Grapefruit. Grapefruit is another food that also falls among the category of foods with almost zero calories. ...
  • Cabbage. Cabbage is a common vegetable present in almost every salad dish. ...
  • Spinach. ...
  • Cauliflower. ...
  • Strawberries. ...
  • Celery. ...
  • Kale.

Is popcorn empty calories?

Not only is popcorn high in fiber, it even delivers some protein. A 1-ounce serving (about 3½ cups) has 4 grams of fiber, almost 4 grams of protein and clocks in at 110 calories. This combination makes it a snack with staying power with very few calories, which can help with weight loss.

How would your body feel if you only are empty calories?

Feeling Hungry All.

That's why you're hungry all day, every day, too. Every time you have a blood sugar crash, your body is looking for easy sources of quick energy (hi sugar and carbs!). And even without the blood sugar component, highly processed foods are simply not as satiating as whole foods.

What burns fat instead of calories?

Lift Weights to Burn Fat

Adding muscle by lifting weights and other resistance exercises can also help burn fat. 6 While many people focus more on cardio for weight loss, there's no doubt that strength training is a key component in any weight loss routine. Here are some benefits of weight training.

How are pickles 0 calories?

So, in the US, the law says that if a thing has fewer than five calories per serving, the company is allowed to round that down to zero. Smaller pickles have a little less than five calories, so the companies round that down. Flavored water is the same way.

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