What foods to avoid??

lemurcat12

afort001 wrote: »

But I am doing the calories in and calories out . But I haven't been eating a lot of carbs or sugar. High protein foods make me not so hungry , and sugary stuff just makes me want more sugar.
Thanks for the responses , I have been doing this almost 3 weeks and have lost 8 pounds . And I'm excited bc I really , for once , don't walk around hungry all the time . Sometimes I have trouble trying to get all my calories in .

There are reasons why it's usually not great to get a huge amount of calories from protein.

So let's say there's a range of 20-50% and you are 200 lb with a goal of 125 and eating 1600.

20% is 80 g of protein (320 calories) and 50% is 200 g (800 calories).

If the goal is 125, it would arguably be beneficial to get around 100 g of protein (to preserve muscle while exercising and on a deficit -- .8g/lb of goal weight). More is fine with most people (without kidney issues, etc.), but there's no real reason for it. And you are sacrificing calories that could be used for foods that provide other sorts of nutrition and, especially, energy (which fat and carbs are better for).

So let's say we have three different sets of macros:

High protein: 50% (200 g) protein, 20% (80 g) carbs, 30% fat (about 53 g).
High protein, low carb: 50% (200 g) protein, 5% (20 g) carbs, 45% fat (80 g).
Balanced: 25% (100 g) protein, 45% carbs (180 g), 30% fat (about 53 g).
Low carb/keto: 25% (100 g) protein, 5% carbs (20 g), 70% fat (about 124.5 g).

Average TEF for each (assuming this is not already taken into account in the calorie counts) is: protein (20-30%, I will use 25%); carbs (5-15%, it somewhat depends on the type of carbs, I will assume a mixed diet and go with 10%); and fat (3-4%, I'll use 4%).

So the average TEF for the three diets is:
High protein: 251
High protein, low carb: 237
Balanced: 191
Low carb/keto: 153.

So it's certainly not lowering carbs in and of itself that would make a difference. The high protein diet does give you about 60 extra calories over the balanced diet (the high protein low carb one only 46 more calories), but you have to decide if a theoretical number of calories extra burned is worth having to eat 100 g more protein (100 is easy for me, 200 would be a chore) and the various sacrifices of the other macros and possibly effects on the body that would affect energy for exercise, as well as the overall dietary satisfaction.

For me, definitely majoring in the minoring and much more sensible to focus on eating the right amount of foods that independent of TEF I find delicious and satisfying and to make up an overall healthful nutritous diet and make me feel good.

indiacaitlin

I try not to ban any food or label food as good/bad. I allow myself everything in moderation! If you start telling yourself you can't have a particular food, you're going to make yourself want it even more. Balance is key and you have to think of this as a lifestyle change and not a 'diet'.

Having said that, if you know your body reacts badly to certain foods, bread for example, then obviously try to keep it to a minimum. Once you start labelling food as 'bad' you'll start beating yourself up when you eat it and it just creates a really unhealthy relationship with food.

fr33sia12

indiacaitlin wrote: »

I try not to ban any food or label food as good/bad. I allow myself everything in moderation! If you start telling yourself you can't have a particular food, you're going to make yourself want it even more. Balance is key and you have to think of this as a lifestyle change and not a 'diet'.

This isn't always the case though. I haven't once wanted any of the foods I've cut out of my diet/lifestyle change, including alcohol. There are a lot of people who cut foods out of the diet for no reason other than they want to (not because of allergies etc) and have done it successfully.

amusedmonkey

Avoid foods that take you over your calorie allowance to lose weight. It doesn't matter what foods they are, if you eat too many calories of any food you may not lose as much as you expect.

Also avoid foods that you don't like. No sense in spending your precious calories on something you regret eating.

Foods that don't fill you up. You don't need to avoid them completely, but it's best to balance your diet in a way so you aren't hungry all the time.

kommodevaran

I don't get that "lose x pounds by y", what's the rush, and October has 31 days, it may be possible for you to lose 20 pounds by the end of October, but not by the start of October.

I don't get the "what to eat, what not to eat" - that idea must have come from somewhere, and then you would already know what to eat and what not to eat. (But of course, that is a misconception, so yes, you have every reason to question that belief.)

You need a calorie deficit to lose weight, and some foods and combos and setups make it more easy or difficult to stick to the calorie deficit, but which those are, is individual and you need to experiment on yourself.

Exercise can burn some additional calories, and moving more is great for your health, as long as you don't hurt yourself.

Shadowmf023

Spoiled food and food that don't fit your macros and calories.

kommodevaran

fr33sia12 wrote: »

indiacaitlin wrote: »

I try not to ban any food or label food as good/bad. I allow myself everything in moderation! If you start telling yourself you can't have a particular food, you're going to make yourself want it even more. Balance is key and you have to think of this as a lifestyle change and not a 'diet'.

This isn't always the case though. I haven't once wanted any of the foods I've cut out of my diet/lifestyle change, including alcohol. There are a lot of people who cut foods out of the diet for no reason other than they want to (not because of allergies etc) and have done it successfully.

But cutting out something you don't want, isn't the same as telling yourself you can't have it. That is the opposite - it's denying yourself something you want.

Not everybody is aware of how much wording can affect our attitudes, and how our attitudes affect our behavior. Some don't care, or don't react differently to particular wordings, but lots of us do and can use that to our advantage.

indiacaitlin

kommodevaran wrote: »

fr33sia12 wrote: »

indiacaitlin wrote: »

I try not to ban any food or label food as good/bad. I allow myself everything in moderation! If you start telling yourself you can't have a particular food, you're going to make yourself want it even more. Balance is key and you have to think of this as a lifestyle change and not a 'diet'.

This isn't always the case though. I haven't once wanted any of the foods I've cut out of my diet/lifestyle change, including alcohol. There are a lot of people who cut foods out of the diet for no reason other than they want to (not because of allergies etc) and have done it successfully.

But cutting out something you don't want, isn't the same as telling yourself you can't have it. That is the opposite - it's denying yourself something you want.

Not everybody is aware of how much wording can affect our attitudes, and how our attitudes affect our behavior. Some don't care, or don't react differently to particular wordings, but lots of us do and can use that to our advantage.

And this is why there is no one size fits all approach to weight loss. Everyone reacts differently - some can cut things out just like that and never crave them or want them, and some can't. If you're one of the people who can't just drop those things from your life then punishing yourself every time you have food you've labelled as 'bad' is only going to make you feel guilty and resent yourself for eating those foods - which is not a healthy thing to do and leads to further issues.

It's a super personal thing and everyone can put their opinions in and share what has worked for them - I've found I've had to try a variety of approaches to find something that has worked for me

daniip_la

First, please don't plan too heavily on losing X amount of weight by Y date, especially when you should only count on losing 2lbs/week (max) at your current weight.

You can eat anything you like, though I'd stay away from foods I'm allergic to or don't enjoy. I, for one, am not the biggest fan of salads (what a lot of people think of as the ULTIMATE diet food). I've lost nearly 70lbs not eating them.

Just eat to your calorie goal every day, be as accurate as you can, and be happy with the weight you lose!

lemurcat12

kommodevaran wrote: »

fr33sia12 wrote: »

indiacaitlin wrote: »

I try not to ban any food or label food as good/bad. I allow myself everything in moderation! If you start telling yourself you can't have a particular food, you're going to make yourself want it even more. Balance is key and you have to think of this as a lifestyle change and not a 'diet'.

This isn't always the case though. I haven't once wanted any of the foods I've cut out of my diet/lifestyle change, including alcohol. There are a lot of people who cut foods out of the diet for no reason other than they want to (not because of allergies etc) and have done it successfully.

But cutting out something you don't want, isn't the same as telling yourself you can't have it. That is the opposite - it's denying yourself something you want.

Not everybody is aware of how much wording can affect our attitudes, and how our attitudes affect our behavior. Some don't care, or don't react differently to particular wordings, but lots of us do and can use that to our advantage.

This is true for me. Thinking about my diet and realizing I was eating foods I didn't really want to eat -- either because I didn't like them that much (at least for the calories) or would prefer other alternatives or (in some few cases) because the specific foods did not work for me -- is one thing. Telling myself that some food is "bad" or "I can't have it" is quite different, and I don't do that. Approaching it as about what I want is -- again, for me -- empowering and of course if I change my mind I can have the food (although there are lots of foods that I just never eat or so rarely that it might as well be never). One thing I like about the "eat what you want, not what you don't" approach is that I focus as much on what foods I want in my diet, which I actually think is more important for nutrition than just focusing on not eating things. The effect, of course, of including lots of foods I want to be eating is that I will often decide I want to eat them vs. more calorie or less nutrient dense alternatives (whole grain vs. processed or fruit vs. donut, for example). I can do this without telling myself I will never eat white pasta or cookies or so on (and I do eat both, because for me they are sometimes worth the calories and not overall bad for me in moderation).