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What ONE food would you recommend cutting out for weight loss?
rose_lemonade
Posts: 8 Member
My friend's mum dropped a dress size in two weeks just from cutting out butter. Have any of you guys found cutting out/cutting down on one certain thing from your diet to be super helpful in terms of weight loss?
Bread? Sugar? Meat? Dairy? Cooking oil? Alcohol?
Bread? Sugar? Meat? Dairy? Cooking oil? Alcohol?
9
Replies
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entire boxes of girl scout cookies
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While I generally don't like to pin point individual foods as the cause of weight gain, if you had to pick one: The most calorie dense and nutrient deficient one that you over eat now but won't miss if you stopped, would be a start.13
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Sugar for sure! I challenged myself to go sugar free and I didn't change anything else about my diet and I dropped weight quickly! I also felt a lot better for not having any sugar. I wasn't obsessive about it, just obvious sugar items.20
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I haven't cut out anything. That's what I like, you don't have to swear off anything and lose weight. But I have cut way down on...
Most juices: Fruit juice has a surprisingly high amount of calories. Yes it's "healthy" and "natural" but I get more for my caloric buck from whole fruits or veggies.
White bread: I've replaced most of my bread intake with thin corn tortillas or high fiber wraps. Or gone "naked" with cold cuts and cheese sometimes and skipped bread altogether. Again, more bang for my nutritional buck.
I actually upped:
Meat: Lots of protein, and often not as many calories as one would think. I actually eat more bacon than before! (A BLT is very satisfying and quick)
Dairy: Smoothies can be a great way to have an afternoon snack full of whole fruit (see above) and get lots of protein, calcium, and sweetness.10 -
Absolutely none. The reason your friend's mom dropped weight is because she was burning more calories than she was taking in. I still have allll of my favorite foods. Maybe less than before, but they're still a part of my diet.10
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I have cut out butter, oil, and bread. I'm also watching my sugar now... cause it was extremely high before and my doctor told me that I needed too3
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I continued to eat all the foods I liked during my weight loss phase, just at the correct calorie amounts. However, I did switch from regular soda to diet soda and eliminated several hundred calories a day with minimal fuss.5
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almostfifty2014 wrote: »Sugar for sure! I challenged myself to go sugar free and I didn't change anything else about my diet and I dropped weight quickly! I also felt a lot better for not having any sugar. I wasn't obsessive about it, just obvious sugar items.
I'm thinking about cutting sugar (and alcohol obvs) for a week or two and seeing how I feel. It'll be hard as I do have a sweet tooth but I'm hoping it'll help reduce my cravings long term.5 -
I used to drink 3-6 sodas per day...cutting those out cut a lot of calories.14
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Cutting out sugary pop is usually a good starting point for weight loss, assuming you drink a lot of it. Liquid calories aren't really sating so switching to a calorie-free beverage instead can be an easy way to eat fewer calories.
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Whatever food, if there is one, that you find it hard not to overeat. For me, bags of chips.7
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There's no real need to cut one particular food, but as an individual it can be a good strategy for knocking out some calories that you habitually add every day. I think daily wine is great for me, but if I eliminate alcohol I can cut out around 200 calories/day with no change in eating. If you're a nightly ice-cream eater, banishing it from the house could might have a big impact. You still probably need to log and track, though, because you can always cut out ice cream but start compulsively spooning peanut butter on the hour and wondering why the ice-cream ban didn't help.
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Whatever food it is that puts you over your calorie goal.1
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I never gave anything up, since weight loss is based on consuming less calories than you burn throughout the day. I've decreased or minimized the frequency of certain foods, though.
The body requires a certain % of fat to thrive for hormonal balance, digestion, for fat soluble vitamins, healthy skin and hair and much more. Hopefully you're getting your 20% fats from elsewhere.ansmit4642014 wrote: »I have cut out butter, oil, and bread. I'm also watching my sugar now... cause it was extremely high before and my doctor told me that I needed too
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Sodium!6
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rose_lemonade wrote: »My friend's mum dropped a dress size in two weeks just from cutting out butter. Have any of you guys found cutting out/cutting down on one certain thing from your diet to be super helpful in terms of weight loss?
Bread? Sugar? Meat? Dairy? Cooking oil? Alcohol?
Bread and Pasta2 -
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Sugar.3
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rose_lemonade wrote: »
It doesn't.11 -
rose_lemonade wrote: »
Not fat loss, but you would see a scale drop due to less water retention.
Plus sometimes the salty foods are the calorie dense ones...5 -
soda (not that it causes it directly, but that it can easily cause excess calories and thus, weight gain)0
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I didn't give up any foods this time, but I've been real serious on cutting down on woo
Success. Been maintaining my weight effortlessly for 2 1/2 years
Thank you, Myfitnesspal
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Peanut butter1
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I've cut out foods that weren't worth the calories, like crappy WalMart bakery items, etc. I try to stick to foods that are worth the "delicious points", AKA calories.6
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Sadness.carterbrent wrote: »Peanut butter
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Ready2Rock206 wrote: »Whatever food it is that puts you over your calorie goal.
Exactly what I was going to say.
OP I realized pretty quickly when I started on MFP that if I started cutting things out completely, it would be unsustainable and I would not stick with it - I think many people have this same experience.
Rather than cutting things out, I decided to commit to adding things to my lifestyle - more protein, more vegetables, more whole grains, more exercise, more sleep. By doing that, and logging accurately with a reasonable deficit, I found that the things I wanted to include naturally took precedent in my diet, and things like wine, ice cream, and pizza that I wanted to still enjoy, I had room for, but not as often, and/or not in as large of quantities.
I lost 35 lbs and never cut a thing, other than calories.7 -
I eat everything in moderation and lost 20+ lbs so far.1
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rose_lemonade wrote: »
Not fat loss, but you would see a scale drop due to less water retention.
Plus sometimes the salty foods are the calorie dense ones...
Water retention is temporary.2 -
rose_lemonade wrote: »
Not fat loss, but you would see a scale drop due to less water retention.
Plus sometimes the salty foods are the calorie dense ones...
But sodium is also something that can add flavor to lower calorie foods and make a deficit easier to maintain. Think of sprinkling a bit of soy sauce on steamed broccoli or adding a bit of salt to roasted vegetables. Eliminating sodium would result in a much less palatable diet for many people.
The average dieter will likely have better results by using sodium strategically instead of eliminating it completely.8 -
Woo.11
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