I think there are two factors that go into maintaining good weight.
1. Calories
2. Metabolic rate
The interesting thing is that some things you eat will increase your metabolic rate, and others will decrease it. And those effects will change depending on the context.
Blindly under-eating calories runs a high risk of gradually decreasing your metabolic rate. That is bad for your weight in the long run, but, more importantly, bad for every other thing your body does. A high metabolic rate means your body is able to organize things and move them to where they need to be so as to not get bogged down with junk and to slow down the vicious feedback loop of bodily disorder that is aging (as far as we can tell)
Probably the best indicator of when you have undergone a metabolism-shifting intervention is when your general sense of "well-being" changes. It's hard to pin down because the signals are likely very varied. When you eat standard commercial fried chicken, you feel pretty sluggish soon afterwards (most common food complaint I've noticed among friends). You may even get a head ache, and in some cases stomach distress. If you pay attention, you may notice that you feel a little more depressed, less creative, maybe emotionally numb. These are all signs of a slowed down metabolism.
If you eat a tablespoon of sugar, you may feel a rush of well being. You may feel tingles on your tongue, a lightness in your head, feelings of playfulness, sociability. Those are all signs of a speeding up metabolism. You may also feel cloyingness on your tongue, maybe even slight nausea. Those are feelings of a slowing down metabolism. The same food can have different effects on your body based on the context. For sugar specifically, you can speed up your metabolism if you do not have other nutritional limiting factors. If you are deficient in minerals, vitamins, protein, etc. your body will not be able to speed up metabolism appropriately. It would be akin to drastically speeding up an assembly line conveyor belt (effect of the sugar as a fuel) without having enough people manning the belt, having borders of the appropriate size to help avoid messes, having enough of some other upstream component, etc. The end result is a bigger mess than before.
The other important factor to consider is the effect of environment on your metabolism. This may be more important than food for some I think.
Nutrition science is unlikely to come to a consensus, but you can help yourself by focusing on anything you can feel. Identify the feelings you like. Take the actions that appear to lead to those feelings. Realize that the same action can and will provide different feelings because of how context dependent everything is. Pursue "well-being" in the most granular fashion that makes sense to you at the moment.
Probably, the most important change you can make to your mental model regarding nutrition, if it's not something you already do, is to realize that nothing is ever off-limits. You need to determine what will work for you in real time. Blanket indefinite approval or rejection of any food almost certainly ensures that you won't reach your potential.
1. Calories
2. Metabolic rate
The interesting thing is that some things you eat will increase your metabolic rate, and others will decrease it. And those effects will change depending on the context.
Blindly under-eating calories runs a high risk of gradually decreasing your metabolic rate. That is bad for your weight in the long run, but, more importantly, bad for every other thing your body does. A high metabolic rate means your body is able to organize things and move them to where they need to be so as to not get bogged down with junk and to slow down the vicious feedback loop of bodily disorder that is aging (as far as we can tell)
Probably the best indicator of when you have undergone a metabolism-shifting intervention is when your general sense of "well-being" changes. It's hard to pin down because the signals are likely very varied. When you eat standard commercial fried chicken, you feel pretty sluggish soon afterwards (most common food complaint I've noticed among friends). You may even get a head ache, and in some cases stomach distress. If you pay attention, you may notice that you feel a little more depressed, less creative, maybe emotionally numb. These are all signs of a slowed down metabolism.
If you eat a tablespoon of sugar, you may feel a rush of well being. You may feel tingles on your tongue, a lightness in your head, feelings of playfulness, sociability. Those are all signs of a speeding up metabolism. You may also feel cloyingness on your tongue, maybe even slight nausea. Those are feelings of a slowing down metabolism. The same food can have different effects on your body based on the context. For sugar specifically, you can speed up your metabolism if you do not have other nutritional limiting factors. If you are deficient in minerals, vitamins, protein, etc. your body will not be able to speed up metabolism appropriately. It would be akin to drastically speeding up an assembly line conveyor belt (effect of the sugar as a fuel) without having enough people manning the belt, having borders of the appropriate size to help avoid messes, having enough of some other upstream component, etc. The end result is a bigger mess than before.
The other important factor to consider is the effect of environment on your metabolism. This may be more important than food for some I think.
Nutrition science is unlikely to come to a consensus, but you can help yourself by focusing on anything you can feel. Identify the feelings you like. Take the actions that appear to lead to those feelings. Realize that the same action can and will provide different feelings because of how context dependent everything is. Pursue "well-being" in the most granular fashion that makes sense to you at the moment.
Probably, the most important change you can make to your mental model regarding nutrition, if it's not something you already do, is to realize that nothing is ever off-limits. You need to determine what will work for you in real time. Blanket indefinite approval or rejection of any food almost certainly ensures that you won't reach your potential.