Lose weight and still enjoy foods you love
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mkeithley
Posts: 399
Tom Venuto has a website called burnthefat.com. I get newsletters from him even though I do not subcsribe to his program. He always has interesting and motivating stories. The following was one of them. I decided to post it b/c alot of us on here beat ourselves up after a "bad eating day". I manage to eat a bit of chocolate everyday, I just mange the portion size and eat clean enough thru out the day to allow myself the calories.
How to lose fat by eating pizza
Tom Venuto
QUESTION: We’ve got a question here which is going to be useful for everybody, because probably everybody listening has their favorite foods that they don’t want to give up. For example, I love chocolate. A caller wanted to know, “Is it possible to get a flat stomach and six-pack abs and single-digit body fat while still enjoying your favorite foods like chocolate or pizza?” What’s your take on that, Tom?
TOM VENUTO ANSWERS: Of course it’s possible. You just have to eat small enough portions of chocolate or pizza so you’re still in a calorie deficit. In fact, you could eat 100% pizza and 100% chocolate diet and still lose weight. Heck, if a guy can eat 100% Subway and lose weight, why not 100% pizza?
All you need is a calorie deficit. Of course, I DON’T recommend you eat a100% junk food diet because that’s going to have a negative impact on your health. I’m just trying to make the point that fat loss revolves around having that calorie deficit.
We have some diet book authors, some of them who even have bestsellers on the top of the charts right now, who are spreading the same myth that diet gurus have been spreading for decades; they’re saying calories don’t count. That’s total B.S.
Calories in versus calories out is stating the law of energy balance, but apparently we have a group of people who claim to have figured out a way to avoid the laws of physics.
There’s actually an explanation of why they say that though. What these guys are usually trying to do is to give you a list of eating rules which makes it almost impossible to overeat. You could say that they’re “tricking you” into eating less. I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily a bad thing. If the foods you choose spontaneously make you feel fuller on less calories, I might even argue that’s a good thing.
But they’re misrepresenting how it works because there’s a huge difference between saying “don’t count calories” and “calories don’t count” but they’re lumping them together as if they were the same thing.
Do you see the difference between those two statements? If anybody listening doesn’t see the difference, then make sure that you get the difference, because it’s huge.
Suppose I tell you that the only thing you can eat is lean proteins (like egg whites, chicken, fish and green salads and other vegetables), lean plus green and I’ll also let you take in some essential fats and oils, to make sure you get all the essential nutrients.
Then suppose I say, “Don’t count calories; you can eat as much as you want.” I bet you’re going to have a really hard time eating in a calorie surplus, because I’ve removed food groups that are dense in calories, like starches and grains and sugars.
But does that mean that calories don’t count? No. It means that instead of counting calories you were given a bunch of eating rules that usually curb caloric intake automatically.
“Calories don’t count” is one of the worst myths out there because if people don’t understand the calories in versus calories out equation, they’re not going to be able to get past the plateaus that we just talked about and they’re going to start thinking there’s a cause and effect relationship between specific foods and gaining fat.
They’re going to figure, “Eating pizza equals getting fat.” It doesn’t. They’re going to think that eating chocolate equals getting fat. It doesn’t. It’s not a cause and effect relationship where “junk food” automatically turns into fat. Eating too many calories equals gaining fat.
Now if you take a pizza and you load that thing up with triple cheese and sausage and pepperoni and olives and just stack the calories in there, then you have a very calorie-dense food. Even though no food in itself makes you fat, calorie-dense foods, if you eat them frequently, are more likely to give you a calorie surplus.
Or some foods stimulate your appetite or don’t keep you full for long, so you end up eating more of other stuff later, and again, you’re likely to eat in a calorie surplus.
The bottom line? As far as your favorite foods go, my philosophy is that depriving yourself completely of your favorite foods is a great way to make yourself miserable and to be almost certain that you fall off your diet very quickly. My philosophy is allow yourself your favorite foods as long as you acknowledge that calories count and you obey the law of calorie balance.
This is one reason that I don’t prefer the full day off the diet or the free for all cheat day, because some people might interpret that loosely and they may almost feel obligated to see how much food they can eat and how much they can shove down their throats. They say, “Hey, it’s cheat day, so I have to cheat real good. I don’t want to miss out on this!”
They end up in a huge surplus and if they go so far over on the cheat day, when it all averages out over the week, they’re even and they haven’t lost any body fat.
Your best approach is to know your calorie target, or at least the ballpark, and inside that calorie target, give yourself a compliance rule.
One that works really well for me and for my clients is 90% compliance. I give you a list of clean foods like the ones that I mentioned before that include high nutrient density foods with all the essentials and I say, “Eat these 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time, eat whatever you want.”
If you look at it from this perspective, then you can see that there’s no such thing as forbidden foods. For most people, in the long run, any diet that gives you flexibility is going to work better than a diet that demands 100% “clean eating.” This is not only my personal belief, it’s also well supported in the clinical nutrition and behavioral psychology journals.
How to lose fat by eating pizza
Tom Venuto
QUESTION: We’ve got a question here which is going to be useful for everybody, because probably everybody listening has their favorite foods that they don’t want to give up. For example, I love chocolate. A caller wanted to know, “Is it possible to get a flat stomach and six-pack abs and single-digit body fat while still enjoying your favorite foods like chocolate or pizza?” What’s your take on that, Tom?
TOM VENUTO ANSWERS: Of course it’s possible. You just have to eat small enough portions of chocolate or pizza so you’re still in a calorie deficit. In fact, you could eat 100% pizza and 100% chocolate diet and still lose weight. Heck, if a guy can eat 100% Subway and lose weight, why not 100% pizza?
All you need is a calorie deficit. Of course, I DON’T recommend you eat a100% junk food diet because that’s going to have a negative impact on your health. I’m just trying to make the point that fat loss revolves around having that calorie deficit.
We have some diet book authors, some of them who even have bestsellers on the top of the charts right now, who are spreading the same myth that diet gurus have been spreading for decades; they’re saying calories don’t count. That’s total B.S.
Calories in versus calories out is stating the law of energy balance, but apparently we have a group of people who claim to have figured out a way to avoid the laws of physics.
There’s actually an explanation of why they say that though. What these guys are usually trying to do is to give you a list of eating rules which makes it almost impossible to overeat. You could say that they’re “tricking you” into eating less. I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily a bad thing. If the foods you choose spontaneously make you feel fuller on less calories, I might even argue that’s a good thing.
But they’re misrepresenting how it works because there’s a huge difference between saying “don’t count calories” and “calories don’t count” but they’re lumping them together as if they were the same thing.
Do you see the difference between those two statements? If anybody listening doesn’t see the difference, then make sure that you get the difference, because it’s huge.
Suppose I tell you that the only thing you can eat is lean proteins (like egg whites, chicken, fish and green salads and other vegetables), lean plus green and I’ll also let you take in some essential fats and oils, to make sure you get all the essential nutrients.
Then suppose I say, “Don’t count calories; you can eat as much as you want.” I bet you’re going to have a really hard time eating in a calorie surplus, because I’ve removed food groups that are dense in calories, like starches and grains and sugars.
But does that mean that calories don’t count? No. It means that instead of counting calories you were given a bunch of eating rules that usually curb caloric intake automatically.
“Calories don’t count” is one of the worst myths out there because if people don’t understand the calories in versus calories out equation, they’re not going to be able to get past the plateaus that we just talked about and they’re going to start thinking there’s a cause and effect relationship between specific foods and gaining fat.
They’re going to figure, “Eating pizza equals getting fat.” It doesn’t. They’re going to think that eating chocolate equals getting fat. It doesn’t. It’s not a cause and effect relationship where “junk food” automatically turns into fat. Eating too many calories equals gaining fat.
Now if you take a pizza and you load that thing up with triple cheese and sausage and pepperoni and olives and just stack the calories in there, then you have a very calorie-dense food. Even though no food in itself makes you fat, calorie-dense foods, if you eat them frequently, are more likely to give you a calorie surplus.
Or some foods stimulate your appetite or don’t keep you full for long, so you end up eating more of other stuff later, and again, you’re likely to eat in a calorie surplus.
The bottom line? As far as your favorite foods go, my philosophy is that depriving yourself completely of your favorite foods is a great way to make yourself miserable and to be almost certain that you fall off your diet very quickly. My philosophy is allow yourself your favorite foods as long as you acknowledge that calories count and you obey the law of calorie balance.
This is one reason that I don’t prefer the full day off the diet or the free for all cheat day, because some people might interpret that loosely and they may almost feel obligated to see how much food they can eat and how much they can shove down their throats. They say, “Hey, it’s cheat day, so I have to cheat real good. I don’t want to miss out on this!”
They end up in a huge surplus and if they go so far over on the cheat day, when it all averages out over the week, they’re even and they haven’t lost any body fat.
Your best approach is to know your calorie target, or at least the ballpark, and inside that calorie target, give yourself a compliance rule.
One that works really well for me and for my clients is 90% compliance. I give you a list of clean foods like the ones that I mentioned before that include high nutrient density foods with all the essentials and I say, “Eat these 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time, eat whatever you want.”
If you look at it from this perspective, then you can see that there’s no such thing as forbidden foods. For most people, in the long run, any diet that gives you flexibility is going to work better than a diet that demands 100% “clean eating.” This is not only my personal belief, it’s also well supported in the clinical nutrition and behavioral psychology journals.
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Replies
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Tom Venuto has a website called burnthefat.com. I get newsletters from him even though I do not subcsribe to his program. He always has interesting and motivating stories. The following was one of them. I decided to post it b/c alot of us on here beat ourselves up after a "bad eating day". I manage to eat a bit of chocolate everyday, I just mange the portion size and eat clean enough thru out the day to allow myself the calories.
How to lose fat by eating pizza
Tom Venuto
QUESTION: We’ve got a question here which is going to be useful for everybody, because probably everybody listening has their favorite foods that they don’t want to give up. For example, I love chocolate. A caller wanted to know, “Is it possible to get a flat stomach and six-pack abs and single-digit body fat while still enjoying your favorite foods like chocolate or pizza?” What’s your take on that, Tom?
TOM VENUTO ANSWERS: Of course it’s possible. You just have to eat small enough portions of chocolate or pizza so you’re still in a calorie deficit. In fact, you could eat 100% pizza and 100% chocolate diet and still lose weight. Heck, if a guy can eat 100% Subway and lose weight, why not 100% pizza?
All you need is a calorie deficit. Of course, I DON’T recommend you eat a100% junk food diet because that’s going to have a negative impact on your health. I’m just trying to make the point that fat loss revolves around having that calorie deficit.
We have some diet book authors, some of them who even have bestsellers on the top of the charts right now, who are spreading the same myth that diet gurus have been spreading for decades; they’re saying calories don’t count. That’s total B.S.
Calories in versus calories out is stating the law of energy balance, but apparently we have a group of people who claim to have figured out a way to avoid the laws of physics.
There’s actually an explanation of why they say that though. What these guys are usually trying to do is to give you a list of eating rules which makes it almost impossible to overeat. You could say that they’re “tricking you” into eating less. I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily a bad thing. If the foods you choose spontaneously make you feel fuller on less calories, I might even argue that’s a good thing.
But they’re misrepresenting how it works because there’s a huge difference between saying “don’t count calories” and “calories don’t count” but they’re lumping them together as if they were the same thing.
Do you see the difference between those two statements? If anybody listening doesn’t see the difference, then make sure that you get the difference, because it’s huge.
Suppose I tell you that the only thing you can eat is lean proteins (like egg whites, chicken, fish and green salads and other vegetables), lean plus green and I’ll also let you take in some essential fats and oils, to make sure you get all the essential nutrients.
Then suppose I say, “Don’t count calories; you can eat as much as you want.” I bet you’re going to have a really hard time eating in a calorie surplus, because I’ve removed food groups that are dense in calories, like starches and grains and sugars.
But does that mean that calories don’t count? No. It means that instead of counting calories you were given a bunch of eating rules that usually curb caloric intake automatically.
“Calories don’t count” is one of the worst myths out there because if people don’t understand the calories in versus calories out equation, they’re not going to be able to get past the plateaus that we just talked about and they’re going to start thinking there’s a cause and effect relationship between specific foods and gaining fat.
They’re going to figure, “Eating pizza equals getting fat.” It doesn’t. They’re going to think that eating chocolate equals getting fat. It doesn’t. It’s not a cause and effect relationship where “junk food” automatically turns into fat. Eating too many calories equals gaining fat.
Now if you take a pizza and you load that thing up with triple cheese and sausage and pepperoni and olives and just stack the calories in there, then you have a very calorie-dense food. Even though no food in itself makes you fat, calorie-dense foods, if you eat them frequently, are more likely to give you a calorie surplus.
Or some foods stimulate your appetite or don’t keep you full for long, so you end up eating more of other stuff later, and again, you’re likely to eat in a calorie surplus.
The bottom line? As far as your favorite foods go, my philosophy is that depriving yourself completely of your favorite foods is a great way to make yourself miserable and to be almost certain that you fall off your diet very quickly. My philosophy is allow yourself your favorite foods as long as you acknowledge that calories count and you obey the law of calorie balance.
This is one reason that I don’t prefer the full day off the diet or the free for all cheat day, because some people might interpret that loosely and they may almost feel obligated to see how much food they can eat and how much they can shove down their throats. They say, “Hey, it’s cheat day, so I have to cheat real good. I don’t want to miss out on this!”
They end up in a huge surplus and if they go so far over on the cheat day, when it all averages out over the week, they’re even and they haven’t lost any body fat.
Your best approach is to know your calorie target, or at least the ballpark, and inside that calorie target, give yourself a compliance rule.
One that works really well for me and for my clients is 90% compliance. I give you a list of clean foods like the ones that I mentioned before that include high nutrient density foods with all the essentials and I say, “Eat these 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time, eat whatever you want.”
If you look at it from this perspective, then you can see that there’s no such thing as forbidden foods. For most people, in the long run, any diet that gives you flexibility is going to work better than a diet that demands 100% “clean eating.” This is not only my personal belief, it’s also well supported in the clinical nutrition and behavioral psychology journals.0 -
Wow! This is exactly what I keep telling everyone else and nobody will listen to me! I've been counting calories and still eating things I love. Of course I just started, but I know that it works. My sister done this and she lost 100 lbs. Of course you have to follow it with lots of excercise to see great results, but it does work!0
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I agree! Since I have started eating healthier foods I have not deprived myself of anything that I really wanted. I factor in the calories (for smaller portions than I used to scarf down) and adjust the rest of the day. If I know I'm going out that night I input my likely foods that I will eat in the morning so I know my calories for the day. Often this helps motivate me to exercise more so that I can have additional calories :laugh:0
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amen to that . im always telling people i eat what i want and not hungryI agree! Since I have started eating healthier foods I have not deprived myself of anything that I really wanted. I factor in the calories (for smaller portions than I used to scarf down) and adjust the rest of the day. If I know I'm going out that night I input my likely foods that I will eat in the morning so I know my calories for the day. Often this helps motivate me to exercise more so that I can have additional calories :laugh:0 -
I totally believe & agree with this.
Years ago I was doing the Adkins diet and did have great result because it was easy to count and then one day I figured out the calories I was eating and guess what (?) it was around 1,000 calories. The problem with the Adkins diet is it gets very boring, it's great at first but then ugh!
The big thing I love about this site is the ability of choices and good ones and I don't feel deprived or crazy. My plan is to use this site even when I reach my goal so I don't go back to my old bad habits.
I have been on this site since Jan 7th and I'm still as pumped as I was the first week. It really can be done. I have had cheat days about 6 - 8 days in the last 17 weeks and then right back at it.
Here's to all :drinker:0 -
like this morning i eat this m-f breakfast sometime sat like today
Egg - Grade A Large - Egg White Only, 12 Egg White(s) 192
Hormel - 97% Fat Free Ham, 4 slices (2 ounces) 60
Onions - Raw, 2 tbsp chopped 8
Tomatoes - Roma Tomato, 0.5 Tomato 18
Oscar Mayer - Bacon - Fully Cooked - Ready To Serve, 1 serving (15 g) 70
Fresh Produce - Bell Peppers (Green), 0.5 Cup Raw 15
white bread 2 slices 110 :bigsmile:0 -
I remember when I tried last to lose weight about 7 years ago it was on Atkins--I just eat no carbs at all almost and everything else I wanted to eat--including TONS of bacon every day-and thought "it's ok because no carbs! :sick:
I did lose weight then but I was riding almost 20 miles a day. I lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks and guess what--that's as long as I lasted because I was starving!! I gained it all back plus about 30 more to go with it. And, ended up with high blood pressure, too boot. Had to be due in large part all that sodium I had been consuming :sick:
Now that I'm actually eating healthy, I can even have things I couldn't before because of my blood sugar levels--like fruit! You will never believe how good an apple tastes when you haven't had one in years
And cereal and carb-smart ice cream and even the occasional potato! 0 -
Counting calories works for me and my daughter. We have been with mfp counting calories since March 5th. We have both lost 30 pounds each. With all the help and recipes on this site and hungry girl we have been eating great. We tease each other, why haven't we done this before. We are never hungry. We are just making smart choices now and some excercises and it is working. Our lives were changed when we discovered my fitness pal and hungry girl!0
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Thank you, bean friend. I checked out that website, it is awesome. There are many really good articles about losing belly fat, and the part leptins play... etc etc.
Great info!:drinker: (oh, no alcohol in that drink -- cheers)0
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