What ONE food would you recommend cutting out for weight loss?

13

Replies

  • sfcrocker
    sfcrocker Posts: 163 Member
    Premiu ice cream. I used to LOVE Ben and Jerry's (800+ calories per container) and now instead have half a container of Halo Top (140 calories) which is 80% as good
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,158 Member
    edited July 2017
    Things that don't help me meet my nutritional and calorie goals . . . unless I'm already in good order to get my target minimum amounts of protein, healthy fat and fruit/veggies for the day/week and still have calories available. At that point, any tasty food or drink is fair game. So, specifically, what to "cut out" varies day by day.

    FTW: I get as much of my nutrition as I can eating things I think are delicious and desirable, too. Also filling.
  • qweck3
    qweck3 Posts: 346 Member
    edited July 2017
    Initially it was removing sugar and potato but at this point its not so much a food that I cut because I still eat what I want in moderation. Over time working out to what my body needed, eating to my caloric needs with the right type of foods to never be hungry, sleeping properly, not caring about the scale but rather how my clothes fit and how I felt overall and so forth just became second nature and part of regular life.
  • PhylinAZ
    PhylinAZ Posts: 15 Member
    For myself, giving up soda, fast food, and stuff like sweet bakery goods made the big difference for me. I haven't given up the food/drink I truly love, like wine, light beer, chocolate, pasta, and cheese. I just have scaled back the amount I eat & drink on a 1200 calorie diet.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    edited July 2017
    I didn't cut out anything. But I did cut back in a couple of areas - beverages with calories (I switched to diet soda and cut back on alcohol to a couple of times a week) and pasta (putting pasta on the food scale before cooking was an eye opener for me on portion size). Adding a digital food scale to my kitchen and adding enough protein and fiber to my diet did far more than cutting stuff out ever did!
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    I've cut soda with sugar.
  • Marjayhan
    Marjayhan Posts: 59 Member
    She must have eaten a lot of butter. I know 2 people who are very obese and smother everything with butter. So i think cutting out the bad things that you eat too much is the key. For me its chocolate and refined sugar. I love tea and i could have anything up to 10 cups of tea a day with a spoon of sugar in each. Thats a potential 150 calories just from tea alone! So now i treat myself to sugar in my tea once a week and a small bar of chocolate once a week as a reward for sticking to my goals.
  • DamieBird
    DamieBird Posts: 651 Member
    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?

    That must be a LOT of butter, lol.
  • SkimpyMrsCarter
    SkimpyMrsCarter Posts: 105 Member
    edited July 2017
    Everyone is different but since i started my weightlose journey, I no longer eat pork, beef fried foods, chips, rice,salt or pasta. I lost 27lbs so far and its coming off fast.I also drink only water unless im treating myself to a glass of wine
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    Let's see...

    I haven't read all the other comments...

    But my answer is burning me up...

    And I know I'm right...

    OK, here it goes: C2H5OH

    If you don't know what it is, look it up!
  • Marvelous47
    Marvelous47 Posts: 12 Member
    I'm just beginning to take away and replace with clean food... for me I'm taking away alcohol (I love beer & red wine) bread, chips & ice cream...all packed with tons of sugar and empty calories..I"ll let you know...those are my 4 weaknesses...I'm on my 3rd day and not too bad so far....
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    It's virtually impossible to cut out all sodium. It's everywhere. Plus, your body does need it in appropriate amounts.
    Same with sugar. Virtually impossible to cut out all of it.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
    I'm with most of the other posters on this one in that it's not absolutely necessary to eliminate things from your diet; just eat smaller portions.

    that being said, we all have weakness foods and things that should be enjoyed a lot more rarely than we do today! So if you find a calorie dense food that you have trouble keeping in an appropriate portion size, try eliminating that for a while until you get the hang of it.

    I cut way back on added sugar, though since MFP adds all sugar no matter the source together, I routinely go well over the 24g added limit recommended by the diabetes association. I didn't realize how much added sugar I was getting in a day!

    As others have said, a good place to start limiting or cutting is beverages. Drinking your calories doesn't give you the same fullness because you don't have the fiber to help satiate you. Also, the sugar in sugary drinks (including fruit juices) hits your blood stream a lot faster than it does in a whole food item such as an apple.

    I've had to quit keeping packaged cookies or chips in my house because I can't stop myself at a portion size; I want to munch. I've switch to whole grain pastas, though I don't eat as much, because the whole grain is healthier and helps me full fuller faster than the white does. I've severely curtailed my dairy intake, but that's because I've found I have "plumbing issues" when I get too much dairy. I've started actively portioning out my meat and try to get more fatty fish and vegetables in my diet.


    As for the friend who lost a dress size cutting out butter, while she may truly believe that was the reason, I'd say there was something else that changed in her diet or exercise plan - either she was unknowingly limiting the calories she was eating a day, or she upped her exercise and began burning more calories - or she had a serious and bad butter habit!

    This has been true for my sister. She read somewhere that a daily glass of lemon water will help you lose weight, so she's been drinking a glass a day for a month and swears that it's working. What I've pointed out to her is that the lemon water had nothing to do with it; she also quit drinking pop and sugar drinks at the same time, and that's what has led to the weight loss. Sadly, she won't believe me.......
  • nissarayna
    nissarayna Posts: 70 Member
    edited July 2017
    Everyone is different. For me, it was soda. I cut out my regular Squirt, Sprite, 7UP. Didn't drink it at all for 5 months, I've recently started having an occasional bottle of soda, but now it's diet caffeine free Coke. I also lowered my sodium intake significantly. This, along with making healthier choices and portion control has kept me on track.
  • Okiludy
    Okiludy Posts: 558 Member
    edited July 2017
    First I agree that the food you need to cut out is the one that takes you over your limit.

    I think macro's are more important than a specific food. If you eat a ton of sugar your carbs are going to be way too high, just like if you eat butter by the cup your fat content is going to be high. Not saying Keto is bad just you need to eat to your macros whatever they are. Mine are 30/30/40 carb/fat/protein and I feel better like this than either higher fat or carb. Higher protein isn't bad for me, it's just more difficult to hit with the foods I like.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I agree with all the sentiments expressed here about not cutting out specific groups of food so much as practicing moderation...but, for the sake of conversation I'll say bread/crackers/chips. I never liked those things much, so I just don't eat them very often. I am not specifically a low carb dieter by any means. A lot of friends assume that when I do bunless burgers and don't grab a roll/biscuit or go out for Mexican food and eat zero chips. But I just like the other stuff so much more and would rather eat a lot of vegetables, beans, rice, whatever, and then "save my calories" for stuff that feels way more like a treat to me such as meat, cheese, sweets, etc.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited July 2017
    Courtney_Pagh wrote: »
    Processed food. Most experts agree that processed food is awful for our health & it's very inflammatory to the majority of people.

    Our gut health is a huge culprit in America's obesity epidemic. If you're at all interested, I highly recommend you check out Chalene Johnson's (free) podcast, The Chalene Show - she talks a lot about the issue & it's very educational. http://www.chalenejohnson.com/podcasts/dr-zach-bush-on-metabolism-chronic-health-issues-and-gut-health/

    Thing is I lost a lot of weight and improved all my health markers while eating all sorts of 'processed' foods, just in the correct calorie amounts for my weight management goals. We're talking fast food several times a week, HFCS/sugary stuff, Lean Cuisines, 100 calorie snack packs, artificial sweetener etc etc. Lost the weight and had pretty fantastic blood work results. Go figure.
  • SafioraLinnea
    SafioraLinnea Posts: 628 Member
    Frankly, nothing.

    The only exception is foods you can't consume in moderation. If you have to eat a whole bag of chips and can't limit it to your calorie amount, maybe cut out chips until you have control.
  • Aisling826
    Aisling826 Posts: 7 Member
    Sadly, peanut butter. I used to take a spoon out of the jar when I got hungry and didn't feel like preparing anything to eat. I learned I have no control because one spoon would turn into 2 or 3. Before you know it half the jar is gone. I've learned not to even start. I can make sandwiches for the kids but I had to stop licking the spoon. LOL!

    I'm also trying to cut back on pasta. Not because eww carbs are bad, but I tend to overeat pasta.

    In general, I don't believe in cutting out, just cutting back. Except for peanut butter. Seriously, I have a problem.



  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,110 Member
    Anything you eat daily and don't plan to replace with something else when you cut it out
  • gperez8127
    gperez8127 Posts: 23 Member
    Donuts
  • WendyLeigh1119
    WendyLeigh1119 Posts: 495 Member
    Beer. Because if you're going to blow your calories, at least do it on a great wine, liquor, or saké. :|
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    rose_lemonade wrote: »
    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.

    I drastically reduced the amount of baked goods I ate but eat more fruit, which satisfy my sweet tooth for far less calories.

    Getting sufficient sleep, protein, and exercise helps me with cravings as well.
  • evastar
    evastar Posts: 32 Member
    None!
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    I cut out regular soda when I discovered how many calories it had.
  • edlanglais
    edlanglais Posts: 39 Member
    edited July 2017
    There are several things I've stopped consuming, as I've had to make it a lifestyle change. I stopped drinking my calories unless it's something that's loaded with macros and/or nutrients, such as protein shakes or smoothies. I love my homemade protein shakes and naked smoothies now. I'll still have a small soda for a special occasion but that's really it.

    Water is my new go to. I drink it all throughout the day. I also drink a some protein powder, occasionally mixed with 1% milk and glutamine powder. I'll also a drink a naked smoothie protein zone mixed with glutamine powder.

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