Cutting junk food out of my diet?
Options
Replies
-
This, so much of this. I was giving way too much power to the "junk". I'd feel bad for being naughty and having ice cream so I would eat ALL of the ice cream (cookies, chips & dip, etc.) so I could get it out of the house and start being "good" again. Now, it's just food. I weigh it and log it the same as everything else. I have been able to make a container of ice cream last over a week, and the other day I bought a bag of chips and some dip and I didn't eat all of them that day. It turns out I have a lot more self control than I gave myself credit for, I had just set my expectations for myself too low.Sarasmaintaining wrote: »For me to be successful at this whole thing I had to come to the realization that I control the food I consume and it doesn't control me. Learning how to eat all the foods you enjoy in moderation will go along way in helping you succeed with this whole thing over the long term OP.0 -
why would you consider any food to be junk?
Food is neither good, bad, or junk it is just food that provides energy and nutrients. Stop assigning moral judgements to something that you eat.
I would be curious what you are considering as junk….0 -
lindsayk324 wrote: »I still struggle with this, but it's helped me to just not keep snacks in the house. I'm particularly bad with quick easy junk like bags of chips, crackers, candy, chocolate, ice cream, things that I can just put directly in my mouth without having to prep or cook. I slowly got my stocks of those things out of my cabinets and just stopped buying them on grocery trips. Now, if I really, really want chips or ice cream, I have to go out and buy it, and I'm usually too lazy to do that.
none of those foods are "junk" when taken into context an overall diet….
I mean ice cream is fat, carbs and protein ….all three macros in one delicious serving….0 -
No such thing as junk food in my house. Whatever it is I weight it out and log it before I eat it. The act of measuring and logging makes me think before I eat which stops the mindlessly eating the whole bag problem. I am starting to find that I enjoy the actual experience of eating more since I have become more mindful about it. Since the amount is limited, I have to slow down and actually enjoy my food.
I used to think I ate a lot because I liked food. Turned out I wasn't even truly experiencing all of the things I was eating, when I was just stuffing myself.0 -
I keep smaller/easily portioned treats in the house, like single serve nutella, palmier cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, ice cream sandwiches, etc. I save 100-300 calories for treats at the end of the day and I wait to eat them until the end of the day. That way I'm not tempted to come back for more. I also pre-log all my treats so that I can see that only 1 fits my allotment for the day, or if I can have more.0
-
why would you consider any food to be junk?
Food is neither good, bad, or junk it is just food that provides energy and nutrients. Stop assigning moral judgements to something that you eat.
I would be curious what you are considering as junk….
I completely disagree with this. Chips, cookies, cake, most food in the "snack" aisle...have few if any actual nutrients, tons of preservatives and additives, high fat (including trans fats until they were banned by the government because they were so detrimental to health), huge amounts of added sugar, etc. Some food serves no purpose other than to make money for food conglomerates.0 -
why would you consider any food to be junk?
Food is neither good, bad, or junk it is just food that provides energy and nutrients. Stop assigning moral judgements to something that you eat.
I would be curious what you are considering as junk….
I completely disagree with this. Chips, cookies, cake, most food in the "snack" aisle...have few if any actual nutrients, tons of preservatives and additives, high fat (including trans fats until they were banned by the government because they were so detrimental to health), huge amounts of added sugar, etc. Some food serves no purpose other than to make money for food conglomerates.
In the context of a balanced diet, there is nothing wrong with having some food that is calorie-dense or high in fat or sugar. Even the foods that you're demonizing provide energy and macro-nutrients. To say they serve no "purpose" is confusing. Why does a potato chip have less of a "purpose" than a grape?0 -
why would you consider any food to be junk?
Food is neither good, bad, or junk it is just food that provides energy and nutrients. Stop assigning moral judgements to something that you eat.
I would be curious what you are considering as junk….
Some food serves no purpose other than to be tasty.
FIFY.
A high number of people here consider any food fair game once you hit your macros as eating over your macros isn't going to gain you extra credit or anything. Granted I've been piss poor about it lately, but once I hit my fiber and get close to my protein I am more than happy to spend the rest of my calories on whatever I want, and it will be full of fat and sugar without fail... Sicilian Pistachio Talenti ... I really shouldn't have to say more.0 -
why would you consider any food to be junk?
Food is neither good, bad, or junk it is just food that provides energy and nutrients. Stop assigning moral judgements to something that you eat.
I would be curious what you are considering as junk….
I completely disagree with this. Chips, cookies, cake, most food in the "snack" aisle...have few if any actual nutrients, tons of preservatives and additives, high fat (including trans fats until they were banned by the government because they were so detrimental to health), huge amounts of added sugar, etc. Some food serves no purpose other than to make money for food conglomerates.
Ok - so lets assume I have eggs, whole wheat toast, whole wheat bread, turkey, greek yogurt, fruit, fish, vegetables and I have 300 calories left in my day and have chips and cookies and I hit my micros, macros, calories, have I eaten junk food or a balanced diet that hits all my dietary needs?
0 -
For those of you who are able to eat treats in moderation, I admire and envy you. OP said she tried this and it didn't work for her. It doesn't work for me either. I get so tired when people say simply don't let food control you and eat whatever you want in moderation. This does not work for everyone!0
-
For those of you who are able to eat treats in moderation, I admire and envy you. OP said she tried this and it didn't work for her. It doesn't work for me either. I get so tired when people say simply don't let food control you and eat whatever you want in moderation. This does not work for everyone!
I find it challenging to control my consumption of mashed potatoes. That doesn't mean I conclude that potatoes serve no purpose. It just means that I have to be aware of that and make decisions accordingly.
0 -
For those of you who are able to eat treats in moderation, I admire and envy you. OP said she tried this and it didn't work for her. It doesn't work for me either. I get so tired when people say simply don't let food control you and eat whatever you want in moderation. This does not work for everyone!
maybe if you changed your mindset from assigning moral judgments to food then you would find it easier to consume things in moderation.
food is just food, there is nothing inherently good or bad about it.0 -
For those of you who are able to eat treats in moderation, I admire and envy you. OP said she tried this and it didn't work for her. It doesn't work for me either. I get so tired when people say simply don't let food control you and eat whatever you want in moderation. This does not work for everyone!
+1
I can eat foods like cookies or chocolate or things like that in moderation ... but not things like potato chips. Even ice cream ... a small bowl just doesn't do it for me. I'd rather not have it at all than to have a little dab of it.
There is, of course, no moral judgement of the food ... food is not good or bad. Or maybe it is that certain foods are just too good!!
But I figure there's no point in having potato chips and ice cream in the house. It's not like they are necessary foods.
0 -
For those of you who are able to eat treats in moderation, I admire and envy you. OP said she tried this and it didn't work for her. It doesn't work for me either. I get so tired when people say simply don't let food control you and eat whatever you want in moderation. This does not work for everyone!
Moderation is learned. Obviously a large portion of us on here didn't have or use moderation, and that is why we're here logging our food and trying to lose weight. I have had to learn moderation all over the place... the biggest one I started with was portion sizes. Moderating how often we eat out. Moderating what I get when we do go out. Those same skills of moderation are just utilized with things that are my personal kryptonite like Oreo's and gelato.0 -
shaliyahdixon wrote: »I've been having trouble with cutting junk food out of my diet. I tried to only eat junk food in moderation. I also tried to make sure it fit my macros, but that eventually led to more craving and overeating. Now I'm back to square one. What method did you guys use to cut junk food out of your diet? What foods did you substitute for junk food?
What is your calorie goal? I ask because many times eating too few calories leads to eating foods you love but are trying to avoid.
I don't believe in junk food, just food. That said, I try to fill my diet with more protein rich foods and have treats (some might call this junk.
) every day.
Do you own a food scale? It really helps to portion food out this way to see how much you are really eating, and then you can work in your treats.0 -
For those of you who are able to eat treats in moderation, I admire and envy you. OP said she tried this and it didn't work for her. It doesn't work for me either. I get so tired when people say simply don't let food control you and eat whatever you want in moderation. This does not work for everyone!
Seriously, it literally took years! What helped me was to start weighing food, counting calories, and just working the foods I love in. This was after years of avoiding certain foods.
However, you need to do what's best for you. I will never put myself through the food avoidance food trip again. 0 -
shaliyahdixon wrote: »I've been having trouble with cutting junk food out of my diet. I tried to only eat junk food in moderation. I also tried to make sure it fit my macros, but that eventually led to more craving and overeating. Now I'm back to square one. What method did you guys use to cut junk food out of your diet? What foods did you substitute for junk food?
I don't know what you mean by "junk food," but what worked for me to cut way down on high calorie, lower nutrient things was to stop snacking. I find that I eat well in the context of a meal, but am more likely to want to grab something tempting I'm not even really hungry for when I eat at unplanned times. Getting out of the habit of doing that was hard initially but once I broke the habit I wouldn't even think about eating the donuts in the breakroom at work that someone brought it, since it wasn't a time I normally ate.
This also has allowed me to continue to include sweets in moderation so long as it's a small capper to a meal (usually dinner) and not an on its own snack, usually. In that context I never seem to struggle with overeating.0 -
shaliyahdixon wrote: »I've been having trouble with cutting junk food out of my diet. I tried to only eat junk food in moderation. I also tried to make sure it fit my macros, but that eventually led to more craving and overeating. Now I'm back to square one. What method did you guys use to cut junk food out of your diet? What foods did you substitute for junk food?
For me, "junk foods" are those snack type items like cookies or chips (not a big chip person here, though) that mostly bring calories in sugar or fat. When I was gaining weight again, a "serving" for me of 4 cookies would come up to about 350 cals, easily. Chips are easy to eat mindlessly and get 300-500 at a time.
One problem I found is to cut them out entirely (i.e. don't have them in the house), leads me to opportunistic eating when I'm out, which often means larger and higher calorie portions.
One strategy for me has been to only buy those types of items in small portioned amounts. I get a box of single wrapped cookies that come to 220-230 cals. One of those is enough for something sweet and chewy, and I can have it whenever I have room in my calories for the day. These days, one box of six cookies lasts me a couple weeks. Knowing it's there and I can have it when I want in sensible portions, actually seems to reduce the craving for that thing.0 -
shaliyahdixon wrote: »I've been having trouble with cutting junk food out of my diet. I tried to only eat junk food in moderation. I also tried to make sure it fit my macros, but that eventually led to more craving and overeating. Now I'm back to square one. What method did you guys use to cut junk food out of your diet? What foods did you substitute for junk food?
don't keep it in the house...if it's not there, you're not going to eat it...EZPZ
This is basically what I'm doing with beer and alcohol in general...I'm not drinking during the week so I just don't keep the stuff in my house and I save my indulgences for the weekend. If I kept a 12 pack in my fridge like I used to, I'd most likely say *kitten* it and just pop a few tops after work. Not having it in the house means there's no tops to pop in the first place.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 393 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.3K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 937 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions