Yes. You CAN eat 'normal' food! (my rant.)

janegalt37

"Normal" appears to be processed, calorie-dense food according to the examples listed here. If your goal is to simply lose weight with no regard to performance, overall health, and body composition then by all means, keep eating "normally"

If your goal is visible abs, athletic performance-related, or a fitness competition you'll need to abide by that annoying saying because good abs truly are made in the kitchen. Unless you're genetically gifted you won't get ripped eating pizza for dinner (and if you can do that, I'm jealous). You get out of your body what you put in to it.

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but there are many different ways of eating and many reasons for doing so. if you honestly, truly can't live without this magical food in your diet I'd take a good look and figure out why. Food is nourishment, oftentimes delicious, and it shouldn't be a source of struggle.

Obviously, our modern society has a huge problem seeing that what is considered ''normal'' by most is processed crap food.
Too many people base their happiness on food. They say ''omg, I would never give up junk because I'd feel so deprived''.
It's just food.
If you really feel like you can't enjoy life without junk food, I'd try to find the reason why.
There is a misconception about the ''organic rainbow lettuce brigade''. I've read comments stating that people who don't eat junk must be so unhappy. Is it so hard to believe that some of us enjoy kale, lean turkey and avocado without feeling deprived?
Don't let food take over your emotions. Don't let it be the reason why your happy or unhappy.

-Proud member of the organic rainbow lettuce brigade!

Very true.

We should eat to live, not live to eat.

Food is merely fuel for my body.

This makes me sad.

Me, too. You could just as easily say "sex is merely for procreation" and only 'have intercourse' with your husband when you're ready for another child. What kind of life is that?

MAKE LOVE AND ENJOY THE CHEESEBURGER.

(Apologies if someone has said this already. I'm only on page 6 - and obviously very bored.)

LorinaLynn

Me, too. You could just as easily say "sex is merely for procreation" and only 'have intercourse' with your husband when you're ready for another child. What kind of life is that?

MAKE LOVE AND ENJOY THE CHEESEBURGER.

(Apologies if someone has said this already. I'm only on page 6 - and obviously very bored.)

*Applause!*

I think I'm going to have a Tastycake. No nutritional benefit, but lots of psychological benefit.

tsh0ck

shameless bump?

kmozymoz

I'll just put it out there that I've lost 10 pounds in two months, and I eat Lean Cuisines and Marie Callender's all the time. Not for every single meal, but lots of times for dinner because I work a lot and sometimes I only have time to grab them from the store. My body hasn't rebelled against me. I'm not ballooning up like a whale.

And nothing I eat is organic. I'm poor. If that's what you like and that's what works for you, awesome, but this is working for me too.

Elizabeth_C34

I really want a cheeseburger...

ninerbuff

I really want a cheeseburger...

I eat at least one a week.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

JessicaHoskins

I have @144 pounds to lose, have lost @ 6 lbs so far, & while I 'm here on MFP, I eat anything that I please:
There are NO "Bad" foods on this site; Moderation is the key.

Elizabeth_C34

I really want a cheeseburger...

I eat at least one a week.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I approve of this diet plan.

jaqiswany

I've been eating normal food all year. Lost 43 pounds doing it. Portions are KEY!

I agree, portions and moderation, thats all im learning to do

trudy45

agreed x

Witchmoo

Wow, sensible and balanced post......beats some of the more unhinged posts one sees on here!

mocha1975

Wow, sensible and balanced post......beats some of the more unhinged posts one sees on here!

I was just about to say the same thing!! Round of applause to the OP - all newbies should read this for all the reasons stated.

mocha1975

I really want a cheeseburger...

I eat at least one a week.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I had one yesterday......and will continue to do so on a regular basis!

mocha1975

This is perfect!!! So many people just joining this site need to read this and believe it! I started out at 190 and am now down to 125 - by working out (NOT 4 hours a day like some people think they need to),portion control and making healthier food choices. I still eat pizza, pasta, chocolate (my weakness ) and other "junk" food...but I've learned to not eat enormous portions and instead of half a plate of mac and cheese I only eat 1/2 of an actual serving size then fill in the rest with veggies. I've had tons of people ask me how I did it and 'what kind of diet are you on'. LOL Of course I smile and say I'm not on a diet! hahaha I wouldn't last.... Diets mean you are not 'allowed' to eat certain types of food and my thought is...if I want it I'll eat it! That's why those commericals about the gum that tastes like desserts makes me laugh....I'm sorry, but if I want a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream I highly doubt a piece of gum that tastes like ice cream will do! :laugh:

TOTALLY agree with you! side note: You have just described my lifestyle/food choices and my response to people's line of questioning re my weightloss

SarahCW1979

'all of that food is terrible and they must stock their fridge with organic lettuce grown under the sunshine reflected off a tropical rainbow'

OMG I laughed so hard I nearly blew coffee out of my nose! You are so right. You can and SHOULD eat normal foods even when you are dieting because what happens when you reach your goal weight and then you go to a party with buffet food laid out in front of you SCREAMING your name.... COOKIE MONSTER DOES A HOOVER IMPRESSION THATS WHAT! Most of us are here because we have no self control with the foods we love, if we dont learn to control ourselves we'll always be struggling against our internal cookie monsters.
I replaced my lunch with a KitKat chunky... it was a peanut butter one, I was NOT saying no to that!

tsh0ck

new folks all over this place, so I'm bumping back up to the top.

susannamarie

Heh, nice thread.

I'm pretty pleased with the results I've been getting with respect to energy and weightloss without having to get rid of all the food I like or drop to stupidly low calories. Honestly the biggest help probably was cutting out at least half the soda (yeah, I know, there's still too much, but I was going through a case every 2-3 days).

pauljsolie

As long as White Castle stays in business, I'll never be president of the ORLB. Love my "sliders"!!!

ninerbuff

Had 2 scoops of REGULAR Rocky Road ice cream for dessert. Still have some calories to consume for tonight....................thinking maybe peanut butter.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

theNurseNancy

While I agree with your main concept, just because you are eating less doesn't mean you're any healthier.

tsh0ck

so losing weight to the point of not being obese doesn't increase your health?

HonkyTonks

While I agree with your main concept, just because you are eating less doesn't mean you're any healthier.

This isn't actually true. The health benefits of not being overweight FAR outweigh any health benefits gained from eating nothing but "clean" (unprocessed) foods.

valenief

this post!

Coach74sb

Rant on! I totally agree with you. There's no need to spend lots of extra money or change to eating "health" foods or special diets. The only thing guaranteed to happen is that you'll lose weight and then put it all back on again once you start eating "normally."

It's more a matter of simply math to first lose weight, then maintain that lost weight: burn more calories than you take in! Eat in moderation. Move around, stay active. Be a happy person.

It took me a LONG time to figure that out ... but now that I am armed with that knowledge, I WILL meet my weight loss goal and maintain that new weight for the next 40 years until I hit 100! :smokin:

stephreed11

Love this. Agree 100%!

tsh0ck

In honor of cheeseburger Tuesday, a bump.

ninerbuff

While I agree with your main concept, just because you are eating less doesn't mean you're any healthier.

Said could be the same of eating healthy. If eating healthy was all it took, we wouldn't need the pharmaceutical industry nor medical field to help rid us of disease and other illnesses.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

In honor of cheeseburger Tuesday, a bump.

I had extra reconstituted onions on mine today. Good thing no clients till this evening.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

tsh0ck

niner, I think your clients are in good shape even with the onions, my friend.

danahake

I couldnt agree more. I also eat normal food and lose weight. if I could only consume healthy gross food I wouldnt be dieting at all. : )) kudos to you for this post.