Please teach me, how you became a clean and healthy eater...
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Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
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Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
So did you basically just say that she's going to struggle and get stuck?0 -
Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
Or she can send you a message and remind you of this post when she successfully loses weight without cutting out whole food groups....
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Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
I wouldn't do it. I bet you'll send noods.0 -
Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
I'm wondering what is wrong with a person that makes them actively root against someone who is doing something to improve her/his health just so that they might appear to be right about something so stupid.
You're a bad person. 0 -
Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
I think you are implying ^ this to me. I would like you to know that if I were stuck or struggling, which does happen when losing weight, I will re-evaluate my calorie goal and logging. I will definitely not PM you.
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Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
Creepy
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yopeeps025 wrote: »Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
Creepy
On many levels!
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bcomingfitmom wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
Creepy
On many levels!
31 male with no pic and blank profile. Hmmm
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Have no idea how to do that, but I can teach you how to Dougey.0
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yopeeps025 wrote: »bcomingfitmom wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
Creepy
On many levels!
31 male with no pic and blank profile. Hmmm
Talking about sending privates.
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activefatgirl wrote: »Questions for all of you who have made it over the hump to living a clean and healthy lifestyle. How did you do it? Really, how did you go from Fat and unhealthy to Fit and healthy. Regardless if you lost 100 pounds , 50 pounds or 30 pounds you realized you needed to change your current situation, your current eating habits and you did it!!! Congratulations!!!! Now teach me HOW?? Teach me your success...
How does one go from eating unhealthy foods like burgers, fries, pizza, pasta, creamy salad dressings, deep fried crap to eating clean foods like chicken breast, quinoa, whole wheat pasta, brown rice every day (I want to be one of these people).
How did you finally say.. Enough is Enough!
How did you change all your unhealthy eating habits to your current healthy eating?
How did you stay on course in the beginning of your journey to make sure you wouldn't fall off course?
What helped you the most in the beginning of journey?
I've only lost 21 lbs since mid July, but I will tell you some of the things I have done.
I started running. I did my first 5K in mid July mostly walking it, and I've been doing 5Ks ever since beating my previous time. I started cutting down on soda. I'm currently on a 12 day streak without sodas, but it took 3 months to get here. I decided not to cut anything out. I still eat chocolate, pizza, burgers, fries, corn dogs, full calorie caesar dressing, pasta, butter, etc. I changed how often I ate those foods and how they were made. I stopped buying fast food burgers, because restaurant burgers or homemade burgers were better and typically lower calorie due to being smaller. I ate smaller servings of fries, but I usually order a different side. I had one corn dog at the fair and a sandwich. I get dressings on the side and dip my fork into it to get the taste of dressing without all the calories. I got a small budnt cake for my birthday rather than a huge cake. I just started making one small choice at a time. I recently switched to brown rice and whole wheat pasta and found it was more filling and didn't lack much on taste. I'm never going to be one of those clean eaters (I like eating out too much), and I'm never going to give up foods I love.
Every day is a new day to make another choice. You don't have to go cold turkey. I drink water more than anything else now, but that was over months. Be kind to yourself. Don't worry about going over one day. ALWAYS log. It may not be accurate, but at least you have some sort of guess at something. Make sure to get enough protien and fiber (how much is enough will depend on your exercise and your body).
You will fall off the wagon. It's just going to happen. Accept it, log it, and move on. Learn something from it, and start another day. One day won't derail your progress.0 -
bcomingfitmom wrote: »Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
I think you are implying ^ this to me. I would like you to know that if I were stuck or struggling, which does happen when losing weight, I will re-evaluate my calorie goal and logging. I will definitely not PM you.
you sound like you have an awesome approach. What a ridiculous thing to say to you, trying to tear you down or something. Keep doing what you're doing!
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redversustheblue wrote: »bcomingfitmom wrote: »Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
I think you are implying ^ this to me. I would like you to know that if I were stuck or struggling, which does happen when losing weight, I will re-evaluate my calorie goal and logging. I will definitely not PM you.
you sound like you have an awesome approach. What a ridiculous thing to say to you, trying to tear you down or something. Keep doing what you're doing!
Thank you
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Scarecrowsama wrote: »bcomingfitmom wrote: »I am definitely not at normal weight! I need to lose about 100lbs. I am eating whole grains as a part of a wholesome diet. And as of 5 weeks I am down by 2.5 kgs. So I don't think whole grains are the devil here
Give yourself a chance, cut them and see the results, you can't loose anything but weight
For the people who talk about how is possible.. I am not going to waste my time with you, I recommend cutting them, but I am not saying that it is not possible to loose, it all depends on how much you eat, and we are discussing healthier or not.
*looks at avatar* hmmm, yes a faceless blob. *looks at avatar of all people saying its okay to eat whole grains/tasty things* Yeah, I'm gonna go with the advice from the people who look amazing and are eating tasty foods.
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by not trying too hard.0
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Scarecrowsama wrote: »Just give it time, I want you to comment here again when you struggle and you are stuck, send my a private to remind me this post
So how much have you lost? According to your empty profile and ticker nothing so far.
I've lost 119 lbs while still eating pasta, pizza, ice cream... and anything else I choose to eat, just less than I used to.0 -
How do you do it? One step at a time.
1. Log all your food in your diary. Every. Single. Day.
2. Use the notes section to record how you feel - hungry, bloated, tired, upbeat.
3. Analyse. See what foods pushed you into the red. Think about how you could make swaps of what you ate for something better. Or just reduce the quantity of it.
4. Play about with the macros (carbs, proteins etc) to see what your body feels best on.
5. Try new recipes - Pinterest is a good source, or buy a new cookbook like the Hairy Dieters, or Jamie Olivers 15 minute meals. All these are calorie counted with the focus on flavour AND health.
6. Try new foods like quinoa, but you don't have to like them. It's perfectly possible to eat healthily and lose weight without kale.
7. Keep going.0 -
Baby steps!!! I have found that I can still have anything that I want (in moderation) but all of that stuff that was sooooooooooo yummy and hard to give up does not taste the same or as "good" as I remember it tasting so now it is not really that tempting for me. Of course, I have my days when absolutely nothing will do except chocolate ice cream or cheetos. When i have those cravings, I try to put them off for a few days to see if I really, Really, REALLY just have to have them. If the craving lasts, I have a small amount of whatever it is that I'm craving.0
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Well for me I know that it just isn't an option to eat that junk any more. I can eat healthy and be a healthy weight, or I can eat junk and be fat. I got sick and tired of being fat. I don't look at those items as food any more. Just as junk. Not For Me. Healthy foods don't have to be boring or bland. Buy many herbs and spices and google to see what foods work with which ones. Like for example dill, tarragon, basil, all that good stuff. You don't have to give up flavor. You can make an omelet with 2 eggs, 1/4 cup shredded lowfat sharp cheese, a little salt and pepper, and dill. Lots of protein, reasonable calories, great flavor. Why eat some nasty fast food when you could make a wonderful omelet?
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BombshellPhoenix wrote: »Scarecrowsama wrote: »I do not use any logic there, I just mention facts, she is talking about weight loss, and whole grains do not help for that matter, because we talk about amounts of sugar and insulin response.
If you are healthy and have a normal weight it is your business whether or not to consume whole grains, they are often processed as well and they have more discussion but is less dangerous compared to a person who wants to loose weight.
The fact is, irregardless of weight, unless you have a medical condition, it's calories in vs out.
I started out in the obese BF%. I ate whole grains, sugar, fast food, etc. Lost 53 lbs and reduced my BF%, increased my fitness level.
Eating "clean" is subjective. It's all about context. For health, absolutely pay attention to your nutrient intake. For weight loss, calories. Getting a good balance of macros is body comp but the ultimate factor to weight loss will always be calories deficit.
You don't need to eliminate foods from your diet to lose weight or fat. You just need to learn balance
This. And to help "make it happen" a big key for me was planning ahead. I eat out several times a week, and I plan for those trips and know I'll go over a little those days and have to be under other days, or look what fits in my calories for the day.
For me, incorporating whole foods became much easier when I meal planned, and batch cooked on the weekends. I can cook large meals, portion it into individual servings, and then freeze it. Essentially, I make my own freezer meals so that I can still be lazy. I also love using my crockpot. I'll cook a whole bunch of a protein (like chicken), and then I can use it in different ways for different meals (such as on top of a salad, in tacos, etc).
Experiment with recipes and flavors, and find what you enjoy. I LOVE roasted vegetables, and they taste so much better than what I had as a kid growing up (no one should have to eat frozen spinach heated up in a microwave with no seasoning whatsoever). My boyfriend has discovered he actually likes brussel sprouts, but only if they're roasted.0 -
log, log, log you foods and weigh them, guessing will often lead you to eating more than you think
add in a portion of vegetables, when your ready swap one of your higher calorie meals for a lower alternative, keep going till your happy with your balance
check out cookery sites and books, experiment with flavours, the blog on mfp has some nice recipes
if you want an ice cream then have an ice cream, keep it under your calories and enjoy it
there's no reason unless you have allergys/medical conditions that you need to be eating "clean" all the time0 -
melaniecheeks wrote: »How do you do it? One step at a time.
2. Use the notes section to record how you feel - hungry, bloated, tired, upbeat.
That's a good idea that I haven't been doing. Going to steal it. :-)
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How did you finally say.. Enough is Enough!
I don't think I've really said "enough is enough"...there are still times when I will eat what I want because I'm out with friends or I'm simply craving junk, but I definitely became more interested in clean eating when I got to college. Intense studying, lack of sleep, partying here and there, etc. all made me realize I needed something to help balance it all out so I didn't crash and burn. In addition, when you're surrounded by fit, active people your age you kind of can't help but catch the fitness and nutrition bug. I thought to myself "all of these people look really happy and healthy, how can I do that for myself?". From there I began to research and figure out through trial and error what made me feel my best in terms of certain foods and exercises.
How did you change all your unhealthy eating habits to your current healthy eating?
SLOWLY- switching from easy-mac and ramen noodles to healthy salads and filling homemade oatmeals didn't happen overnight. At first I thought trading candy bars for special K bars was the best move, but now I know better with the importance of reading nutrition labels (yes, special K bars aren't that great for you!). I've always enjoyed cooking, but once I had my own apartment and began grocery shopping and cooking for myself I realized that I enjoyed having control over what I ate and knowing exactly what was in my food. I also learned that it's okay not to buy EVERYTHING organic, and generic brands of some foods are just as good as brand named foods - this kept my clean eating costs down. For me, clean eating is more logical than anything - eating whole foods with fewer ingredients and less chemicals just makes sense, and again, I like being able to know and pronounce the things I'm putting into my body. It takes time and planning, but I learned that it's not as difficult or expensive as one might think.
How did you stay on course in the beginning of your journey to make sure you wouldn't fall off course?
Doing my own grocery shopping and cooking my own food is huge. Also, I make sure to plan out my meals (especially dinners) and make grocery lists before I go shopping so that I know what I'll be eating and won't feel the need to purchase anything that isn't on my list. After college, I had to move back in with my mother, but thankfully she is very supportive of clean eating and let me do the grocery shopping and meal planning at home as well! Having that support system is also huge, especially one that is educated on or is at least open to learning the whys and hows of of clean eating. Again, for me clean eating is simple logic - put good food in, get good things out.
What helped you the most in the beginning of the journey?
Researching, planning, and making lists. I know I'm repetitive here, but if I ever do something it's important for me to fully understand WHY (hence all the research). Lists and planning kept/keep me organized and on track and add to that feeling of accomplishment and control over my food. Finally, realizing that you won't be able to be perfect all the time and that it's okay to have something greasy, cheesy and/or fatty sometimes is key. The 80/20 rule is my best friend 0 -
Learn to cook. Make a variety of great new recipes using vegetables and meats, and develop a love for the taste of veggies.
I spent a long time not liking veggies. When I began using MPF, I attempted the whole - adding the 5-7 veggies and fruits to my daily diet - and discovered still that I was more often adding more fruits than veggies. And, nothing wrong with fruit -except that it's a bit of a sugar overload when you make daily smoothies with 2 bananas, 10 strawberries, and one small handful of spinach... But, again, it was a learning process. I spent a lot of time looking at recipes using vegetables once I accepted that my fruit smoothies weren't doing it for me...
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- Baked squashes with olive oil and a sprinking of seasalt? Roasted cauliflower and garlic? Mushroom/onion/pancetta stuffed tomatoes? ... start playing with recipes and eventually you'll find that you can have favorites too. And, with fresh veggies - you can definitely call it healthy, nutrient-filled, eating.
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- Good luck!0 -
activefatgirl wrote: »Regardless if you lost 100 pounds , 50 pounds or 30 pounds you realized you needed to change your current situation, your current eating habits and you did it!!! Congratulations!!!! Now teach me HOW?? Teach me your success...
I approached it in a few different ways.
First, I became as mindful as possible about what I was eating and why, what was unhealthy or leaning to weight gain about it and what were good habits I might like to keep. Also, what I was eating because I loved it and would want to keep in my diet and what mindless or not worth it calories I was consuming. (For example, while I think the idea that grains are terrible is ridiculous, I am not someone who loves all bread, so the fact I was eating a high calorie bagel for breakfast every morning, when not buying a muffin instead, was not only unsatisfying, but for me wasn't even about preference. It was laziness and lack of organization/time management.)
Second, I figured out what I thought was healthy and how to achieve it. This can be done in baby steps. For me, I figured out that a huge part of my problem was that I was eating high calorie restaurant meals a lot and yet treating each night out as if it was a special occasion that justified a splurge. I was working late and ordering food on my employer, as we were permitted to do. If I just cooked the way I do when I cook for myself, with minor changes (apply moderation to cheese and oil), I ate pretty healthy (as I define it), but for various reasons I wasn't doing this. So I figured out how--mostly having a plan and the food I needed on hand, and doing some prep work on the weekends. As I continued I added more to this--I started focusing on getting more vegetables and then trying more vegetables and ended up subscribing to a farm share (CSA) which forced me to have lots of vegetables on hand at all times which I would need to cook to avoid waste. I learned to cook more dishes and learned to experiment with what would satisfy a particular taste I was craving, etc.
As part of all this is the idea that I was making a positive change, that would enrich my life and lead to me eating more food that I enjoyed (I love food and see no reason to stop enjoying that part of my life, I just added cooking healthy food to my love). What I did not do is distinguish between "clean" and "unclean" foods or see eating healthy as about deprivation. That would have doomed me. A good example is chicken. If you class chicken as "healthy" and think of it as part of a dull diet and in its highest and best incarnation as boneless, skinless breast, eating it seems like a chore. But if you think of chicken as a tasty meat (which it is) and explore the ways to cook with it--my favorite is roasting the whole bird, but there are tons of different options--then cooking a delicious chicken dinner seems exciting and attractive. Yet, it's still quite healthy and calorie conscious, depending on what else you eat, etc. I don't eat foods because they are good for me; I have learned to love all kinds of foods that are part of a healthy diet.
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I find showering to be the best tool at my disposal for leading a clean lifestyle. As for health, being accountable for your diet and staying active seem to work well.0
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Gradually. I still haven't given up kettle chips, cookies or ice cream and I don't plan on giving those things up. I just started making small changes. Slowly replacing my fave taqueria food with my own homemade version. Trying all different types of exercise. Anything from cross fit type or functional movement, running, to yoga. Keep slowly adding and making adjustments to your diet and fitness plans. It will fall into place. Find things you like. Add variety.0
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Honestly, I had so many of those 'enough is enough' moments - what really did it for me was slow gradual change. I have always eaten the foods that you categorized as healthy, but I always ate the other stuff too. So, I started shifting more and more of my intake towards nutritionally dense food.
Then I started logging.
Then I started counting calories.
Then macros...
And once I started counting macros, it became really obvious that the nutritionally dense foods were the ones that were allowing me to feel the best. And that, frankly, tasted the best.
Every once in a while I do eat some of the things that are entirely unhealthful, and I haven't "excluded" anything from my diet. But I have gotten better at making choices, do I want that glass of wine right now (yes), do I want to eat ice cream after dinner (no), do I want pizza or salad (sometimes, pizza, often, salad).0 -
@activefatgirl
How did you finally say.. Enough is Enough!
When I reached 215lbs at 27 yrs old, I said, am I going to reach 300 by the time I'm 30, or am I going to be HEALTHY and FIT by the time I'm 30.
How did you change all your unhealthy eating habits to your current healthy eating?
It was SLOW. Started counting calories on MFP. I quit sugary sodas and diet sodas. Then I quit fast food (the less you eat it the less you miss it). Then I quit alcohol (empty calories, triggers me to eat more). Then I only ate when I was hungry. I realized I was fine with 1-2 big meals a day so, I started Intermittent Fasting. Then, I realized I stuck better to my eating plan when I ate low carb (staying within my calorie goal) and generally felt better. Then, I had a lot of extra energy and decided to start exercising. I didn't go cold-turkey and completely changed my habits from one day to the next, it was a slow gradual process, were one healthy choice led to the next and I could really listen to my body. It's different for everyone.
How did you stay on course in the beginning of your journey to make sure you wouldn't fall off course? I didn't. If I got off track one day, I didn't say "I'll start again on Monday". I just admitted I made a bad choice, and got back on track as soon as possible. I used to be the "start my diet on monday" type. Now, it's more of a lifestyle and I let myself make mistakes, I just correct them as soon as possible.
What helped you the most in the beginning of journey?
Results. I noticed the longer I went without "mistakes" the more I could SEE my progress, and soon people started noticing too. Also, being PREPARED and planning ahead, if I knew I was going to have a complicated day, I packed my lunch with me (sometimes it was food for the entire day) and just ate it in my car from one errand to the next. And keep a bag with your workout clothes in the car, squeeze it in where you can. Fitness apps are also fun.
Now, self-restraint is like a very well exercised muscle. I can sit at my nephew's birthday party all day long and not have a single chip, cake or sip of soda. I'm not even tempted.
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