Anyone eat what they want and manage to lose weight?

kayleexbabeex

Says it all in the title really but I know so many people that literally eat what they want and still manage to stay at a decent weight and not put any on. Is it possible to not diet and still indulge in what you want with an exercise plan put in place? X

juxtapose13

i would love to know that too ....i suppose if you can stay within your range it should work
i have an issue with self control if i have a piece of chocolate i will end up eating the entire thing and normally my count is wayy higher that it should be after that ...

Riff1970

I eat anything I want as long as it fits into my total calories for the day.

Gotta have control when you eat fatty foods and only eat small portions.

bendyourkneekatie

Yep. Not that I don't ever forgo something or eat less than I might like, but I've not cut anything out and I certainly don't feel deprived. Learning the art of not eating mindlessly/anxiously/pointlessly.

Nige_Gsy

Exactly what Riff1970 says above. Over 60 pounds down with just that principle.

steelbreeze

Haven't got to maintenance stage yet, but have reliably lost 1-2lbs every week and am still having chocolate occasionally. My tip? I get a small selection box of wrapped chocolates (green and blacks) - each bar is 15g and about 100 cals. If I have enough cals at the end of the day (usually on a gym day), that's my treat. Having them tucked away in the 'fridge stops me craving it and going to the local store where it'd be a proper size bar, which I would then have to eat completely. So yes, I am eating what I want - within reason - and not beating myself up the week after a holiday (lots of eating out). It's a journey, not a destination!

Some more tips here.

steponebyone

You can eat whatever you want, anything you want, everyday for the rest of your life. How bout that?

emmaprocopiou

I do eat what I want and lose weight, but what I eat I within my calorie goals to lose weight.
If I eat at maintenance I will stay the same if I eat over I will gain. Simples

darrensurrey

I used MFP's diary for 18 months I think (check my profile for exact timings). Nowadays I don't bother but make sure I'm active every day which means some kind of sport for an hour or more, or weight work. If I have time, I do both.

Sued0nim

kayleexbabeex wrote: »

Says it all in the title really but I know so many people that literally eat what they want and still manage to stay at a decent weight and not put any on. Is it possible to not diet and still indulge in what you want with an exercise plan put in place? X

Food types - hell yes

Amounts - hell no

Look none of us got here by doing the right thing - we all have to adjust

Do you have to cut out specific foods or food groups - hell to the no

Do you have to cut out excess calories - yup

How do you do that? Up to you

For me I adjusted slowly what I ate - always with an eye on calories

Basically if you can't afford it out of your calories you can't have it

If you want it you find a way to adjust the other calories you're eating to eat it

the trade off is going hungry at another time - or changing another meal to a lower calorie hit

The trick is always hitting your nutritional requirements and eye on the calorie purse

if you've got the calories you can spend them - if you don't you can't borrow them from the future - you can save some to spend later in the week though

not rocket science once you think of it as a calorie purse

kommodevaran

Sure. I eat what I want and I lost weight (45 pounds) that way and keep it off (16 months now) that way. In fact, I couldn't have stuck to my eating plan if it wasn't made up on food I like. That was one of the main reasons I failed in the past. Don't "diet". Your diet is just the way you eat. You need to eat a little bit less to lose weight, but a dramatic all-in approach will most likely fail.

What you want will adapt somewhat to your habits. My tastebuds appreciate the more subtle tones of real food now, while before I "needed" the rush of junk food. I still have cravings for junk, but they are managable. I plan my meals, look forward to them, eat more mindfully and enjoy my food so enourmously more than I did before.

I allow myself more fat, and I think that makes my food taste better, it makes it easier to get in more vegetables, and my overall improved diet keeps me more satisfied for the appropriate amount of calories.

I don't keep any hyperpalatable foods in the house, and I shop guerrilla style. That helps a lot too. I couldn't rely on willpower alone.

I don't have an exercise plan. I just do normal everyday activity. Walk a bit more often than before that's about it.

vespiquenn

The key is that we eat what we want, in moderation. No amount of exercise is going to fix a bad diet if you continuously eat above your calorie goal.

75in2013

You can't outtrain a bad diet.

You can eat what you want as long as you stay under your calorie goal (losing weight) or close to your calorie goal (maintaining weight).

Expatmommy79

Read this:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=141807961&p=822484731#post822484731

He lost 32 pounds in 135 days eating crap. He maintained a deficit. There is a detailed post on the Nutrition Debate forum on MFP called something like "Still skeptical about CICO" he has posted there. Its awesome.

Dvdgzz

Expatmommy79 wrote: »

Read this:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=141807961&p=822484731#post822484731

He lost 32 pounds in 135 days eating crap. He maintained a deficit. There is a detailed post on the Nutrition Debate forum on MFP called something like "Still skeptical about CICO" he has posted there. Its awesome.

I hate that guy. It's all genetics(sarcasm).

zyxst

I eat what I want, just not the amounts I want.

Dvdgzz wrote: »

Expatmommy79 wrote: »

Read this:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=141807961&p=822484731#post822484731

He lost 32 pounds in 135 days eating crap. He maintained a deficit. There is a detailed post on the Nutrition Debate forum on MFP called something like "Still skeptical about CICO" he has posted there. Its awesome.

I hate that guy. It's all genetics(sarcasm).

But they're great genetics.

Dvdgzz

LMAO! TY. Anyway, here is the thread. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it/p1

zerojunk

Hell no I can't, I mean in theory, I could. I am one of those fit fat guys with all their fat around their belly. I used to think who cares if I'm 250, I'm in better shape then most thin people and I get to eat as much as I want. Then I read one of those studies saying you're worse off then people with fat on their legs and arms etc and now I'm cutting the fat right off me. It never made sense to me that you could be better off with the same fat I have plus more on top of it in other areas but I am not messing around when it comes to possible early death. Gonna play it safe and just drop the weight.

SezxyStef

Sure for the first 2ish years on MFP I ate an entire chocolate bar every night...even now I eat what I want but stay in goal...

SezxyStef

zerojunk wrote: »

Hell no I can't, I mean in theory, I could. I am one of those fit fat guys with all their fat around their belly. I used to think who cares if I'm 250, I'm in better shape then most thin people and I get to eat as much as I want. Then I read one of those studies saying you're worse off then people with fat on their legs and arms etc and now I'm cutting the fat right off me. It never made sense to me that you could be better off with the same fat I have plus more on top of it in other areas but I am not messing around when it comes to possible early death. Gonna play it safe and just drop the weight.

Viseral fat is not a good thing but that doesn't mean you can't eat what you want you just have to eat it in moderation and stay in goal.

zerojunk

SezxyStef wrote: »

zerojunk wrote: »

Hell no I can't, I mean in theory, I could. I am one of those fit fat guys with all their fat around their belly. I used to think who cares if I'm 250, I'm in better shape then most thin people and I get to eat as much as I want. Then I read one of those studies saying you're worse off then people with fat on their legs and arms etc and now I'm cutting the fat right off me. It never made sense to me that you could be better off with the same fat I have plus more on top of it in other areas but I am not messing around when it comes to possible early death. Gonna play it safe and just drop the weight.

Viseral fat is not a good thing but that doesn't mean you can't eat what you want you just have to eat it in moderation and stay in goal.

I understand the theory, but I can't do it without huge risk of going above my goal. Gonna go with ol faithful and not break my no junk programming lol.

singingflutelady

Dvdgzz wrote: »

LMAO! TY. Anyway, here is the thread. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it/p1

+1 check out his thread for sure

SezxyStef

zerojunk wrote: »

SezxyStef wrote: »

zerojunk wrote: »

Hell no I can't, I mean in theory, I could. I am one of those fit fat guys with all their fat around their belly. I used to think who cares if I'm 250, I'm in better shape then most thin people and I get to eat as much as I want. Then I read one of those studies saying you're worse off then people with fat on their legs and arms etc and now I'm cutting the fat right off me. It never made sense to me that you could be better off with the same fat I have plus more on top of it in other areas but I am not messing around when it comes to possible early death. Gonna play it safe and just drop the weight.

Viseral fat is not a good thing but that doesn't mean you can't eat what you want you just have to eat it in moderation and stay in goal.

I understand the theory, but I can't do it without huge risk of going above my goal. Gonna go with ol faithful and not break my no junk programming lol.

unfortunately a lot of folks try this and fail due to the restrictiveness of it...hence the 80/20 rule I follow...

80% is "healthy" foods 20% is stuff people would consider not so great...

I have tried the no junk and always always end up falling off the wagon.

Good luck to you tho.

zerojunk

This is my second time losing weight and last time it was zero junk too..... Worked just fine until I got with a bigger girl with a great face and she kept pushing the crap on me cause it made her feel bad that I wouldn't have any at all. So axe the junk and girls who eat it is my motto this time around. Nothing but CIA/NSA black ops girls who are gymnasts this time around lol. Maybe FBI if they are on top of things.

murlandpierre2016

I do eat what I want but I also exercise daily and I take super colon cleanse. I try not to eat anything heavy after 7pm. I portion my food and I either drink water or seltzer water.
So far I lost 4.4 lbs.

singingflutelady

murlandpierre2016 wrote: »

I do eat what I want but I also exercise daily and I take super colon cleanse. I try not to eat anything heavy after 7pm. I portion my food and I either drink water or seltzer water.
So far I lost 4.4 lbs.

Just a warning. Abusing laxatives can cause lot of issues including not being able to go without using them and electrolyte imbalances (which can lead to some serious consequences like cardiac arrest). All they do is get rid of fecal matter and tons of fluid. They don't make you lose fat.

scolaris

I practice 80/20 thinking too. And I'm not terribly good at. Let's say my 80/20 is probably closer to 66.66/33.33... Hahaha! The issue for me comes down to adequate nutrition. When I'm going to stay within my calorie range, I know I'll be miserable & prone to cravings if I haven't gotten the proper nutrients. So at least 2/3s of what I eat needs to contribute toward that each day. I don't sweat the other stuff. I just aim for my weekly deficit goal. And I've learned to avoid the things that feel no bueno after ingesting them. But overall I've lost over 25 lbs this way at about a pound a week. Now that I'm 20 lbs off goal half a pound a week seems to be my pace. I haven't suffered. But I'm always thinking 2 or 3 meals ahead and I do a lot of pre logging to make it all work.

kommodevaran

murlandpierre2016 wrote: »

I do eat what I want but I also exercise daily and I take super colon cleanse. I try not to eat anything heavy after 7pm. I portion my food and I either drink water or seltzer water.
So far I lost 4.4 lbs.

What is the super colon cleanse and what's the purpose of it? If it's about emptying the colon - you know that it fills up again after you eat, do you? Timing of meals doesn't have an impact on your weight, but a structure that fits well with your schedule will make it easier for you to stick to the appropriate calorie intake (which is what controls your weight).

endlessfall16

Anything is POSSIBLE, but is it practical? No for most people.

For me the places that I like to eat at regularly serve portions and types of food that I cannot begin to guess the calorie amount.

It's like buying whatever you want using credit card with payments that you are not sure you can make, it's just a matter of time before you become overwhelmed.

zerojunk

endlessfall16 wrote: »

Anything is POSSIBLE, but is it practical? No for most people.

For me the places that I like to eat at regularly serve portions and types of food that I cannot begin to guess the calorie amount.

It's like buying whatever you want using credit card with payments that you are not sure you can make, it's just a matter of time before you become overwhelmed.

Maybe someone is casting curses on you to fail so they don't sound like they were wrong when saying you're going to fail, give em a nice heart attack curse and choose your own course. lol

arditarose

I LIKE everything I eat. I don't eat pizza and pastries all the time, but I find ways to incorporate them into my diet and am able to lose/maintain. It is really not the basis of my diet though, because I would be hungry if I ate such calorie dense food all the time and would not meet my nutritional needs. Find balance.