Can you eat whatever you want?

slowturtle1

Kind of depends on what it is you want to eat, and in what amounts. :laugh:

I do eat whatever I want, but some of what I want is pretty darn healthy. I work hard to make sure I have enough calories for indulgences, and plan my meals to make sure I get a good balance.

You could lose weight eating nothing but Twinkies or McDonalds, but you'll find you can eat a lot more of healthier foods.

^^^^Exactly! A McDonald's hamburger once a month probably won't wreck your progress if you just really must have one, and nothing says you can't have a baked dessert now and then, but what would be the point of making these staples if being healthier is the goal? If I have a choice of fruit or cheesecake, 9 times out of 10 I'll choose fruit because I actually love fruit, but if I really want to indulge and have the calories to spare, I'll have the cheesecake and not worry about it. Everything in moderation.

Sabine_Stroehm

I follow these broad guidelines which I've taken from reading (amongst others) Alan Aragon.
- Hit my macros
- Get 80% of my calories from clean, whole foods
- do whatever I want with the other 20%

Also to the poster who talked about alcohol consumption, I read an interesting article on that yesterday.. looks like there's not a simple answer

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sex_news_sports_funny/a_muscleheads_guide_to_alcohol_1

That was very interesting! Thanks for linking it.

gsager

What I mean by that is last week I didn't loose any weight, I stayed under my calories and thought I ate pretty reasonably compared to my past. As long as I stay under my suggested calorie level & I follow my plan and exercise, can I eat whatever I want within reason? Thx.

That is right.

Gilbrod

Yes. I fluctuate between 185-190. But my clothing never gets tighter. Work hard, play hard, yada yada yada.

beckylawrence70

I do and it works for me. I also work out alot too.

rileysowner

Not if you want to be healthy and get your hormones and digestion working well. I could eat 700 calories in processed Twinkees every day and probably lose some weight through some caloric deficit - but it would probably wreak havoc on my body and I would be even unhealthier than before. There are also studies showing that if our hormones are too out of whack, no matter what we eat, it will be stored as fat, even if we eat at a caloric deficit (our bodies will then be cannibalizing our muscles for fuel, etc).

Quality over quantity. Then everything will work itself out.

The twinkie deit showed that is not the case. Not to say that is the way to eat, but the guy who did it not only lost weight, but his other health markers improved as well. That is he was healthier. Another example is the documentary Fatheads (available on netflix). In that he ate a calorie controlled diet of 2000 calories of only fast food for 30 days. He lost weight and also had improvement in other health markers. Again this is not to say that is an optimal diet. Even the guy who made the documentary said that a good diet needs to include more veggies, but it does show healthy eating is much more flexible than most people think.

cgray

I've eaten whatever I've wanted and maintained my weight by counting calories for 15 years. But I'm not sure that what I want represents what everyone would want because I'm a very picky eater. So my answer would be yes, followed by a cautionary I'm pretty sure.

ninerbuff

Been doing it for years. Been within 10lbs of weight for over 20 years.


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

jarrodc

Here's a few points I feel you should know:

1. Weigh loss is not worth tracking over weeks, it's becomes worth tracking over months. This is probably the most common mistake I see.

2. Satiety is far more than just what macro nutrients you eat. Some foods will actually make you hungrier, for example, most high carbohydrate foods, yet they are often far higher in calories per gram than their fat/protein counterparts. This is a pretty clear example, but there is many more examples out there, and this is one of the finer parts of dieting that is neglected by most, leaving them hungry and causing them to fail in the long term... A great example is people who follow IIFYM (if it fits your macros) diets, these dieters seldom succeed. Your best bet? Eat vegetables, lots, with meat, and some fruit. Grains? Well that's more controversial than abortion in some circles.

jarrodc

Not if you want to be healthy and get your hormones and digestion working well. I could eat 700 calories in processed Twinkees every day and probably lose some weight through some caloric deficit - but it would probably wreak havoc on my body and I would be even unhealthier than before. There are also studies showing that if our hormones are too out of whack, no matter what we eat, it will be stored as fat, even if we eat at a caloric deficit (our bodies will then be cannibalizing our muscles for fuel, etc).

Quality over quantity. Then everything will work itself out.

The twinkie deit showed that is not the case. Not to say that is the way to eat, but the guy who did it not only lost weight, but his other health markers improved as well. That is he was healthier. Another example is the documentary Fatheads (available on netflix). In that he ate a calorie controlled diet of 2000 calories of only fast food for 30 days. He lost weight and also had improvement in other health markers. Again this is not to say that is an optimal diet. Even the guy who made the documentary said that a good diet needs to include more veggies, but it does show healthy eating is much more flexible than most people think.

Have you ever seen anyone that got 6 pack abs on a twinkie diet? No. Because it's hard as hell to stick to a diet of under 2000 calories for any long period of time.

harribo_mum

I lost all 70lb by eating whatever I wanted and staying under my goal so yes you can but I've had to change that as my health was badly affected and I was ill constantly.

So yes you can but would you really want too? The odd treat now and again is ok but everyday is never going to do you any good!

ash190489

Yes, I believe you can eat whatever you want as long as you stay under your daily calorie goal - however, in saying that, you'll soon find whilst on this path (like I did) that it is in fact BETTER for more reasons than one to eat foods that are healthier and therefore 'HIGHER QUALITY' as I have found this tends to also lead to HIGHER QUANTITIES AS WELL. If you eat better./healthier food options you can have more - whether that be more of the actual food, or it's density ---

"Nutrient-dense foods have a high nutrient/calorie ratio. Meaning they are rich in nutrients when compared to their calorie content."

For instance, I found that I was really hungry for my next meal after having a white bread ham & salad sandwich. When I switched my bread over to whole grain bread (12 seeds & grains & brown) with the same ham and salad, I was not hungry after the same amount of time after consuming it. Often the bread calories are all fairly similar (multigrain is a little bit more as it is jam packed with goodness) however, it's worth the few extra calories if it means that I won't be hungry again a short while after and eating something else anyway.

I am amazed that I have just come home from work and instead of sitting on the couch eating treats, I have come home, chosen to eat a small handful of natural and unsalted almonds and a protein shake & I will be on my way to gym in a few minutes! I was not this person 3 months ago!!! This journey is amazing --- in terms of educating ourselves on health, our own bodies and the value of food.

Good luck on your journey. Just remember there will/could be days where you stuff up, but just pick yourself up and get back on track the next day!! Nothing can get in your way!

rileysowner

Not if you want to be healthy and get your hormones and digestion working well. I could eat 700 calories in processed Twinkees every day and probably lose some weight through some caloric deficit - but it would probably wreak havoc on my body and I would be even unhealthier than before. There are also studies showing that if our hormones are too out of whack, no matter what we eat, it will be stored as fat, even if we eat at a caloric deficit (our bodies will then be cannibalizing our muscles for fuel, etc).

Quality over quantity. Then everything will work itself out.

The twinkie deit showed that is not the case. Not to say that is the way to eat, but the guy who did it not only lost weight, but his other health markers improved as well. That is he was healthier. Another example is the documentary Fatheads (available on netflix). In that he ate a calorie controlled diet of 2000 calories of only fast food for 30 days. He lost weight and also had improvement in other health markers. Again this is not to say that is an optimal diet. Even the guy who made the documentary said that a good diet needs to include more veggies, but it does show healthy eating is much more flexible than most people think.

Have you ever seen anyone that got 6 pack abs on a twinkie diet? No. Because it's hard as hell to stick to a diet of under 2000 calories for any long period of time.

I have no idea if a person could get a six pack on a twinkie diet. If you read my post you would have realized that I was not advocating that, simply pointing out that our bodies are much more flexible with food than many people present them to be. I am guessing that if a person wanted to eat only twinkies, they are not really looking for a six pack, not everyone is. As another person stated, to stay within ones calories, it soon becomes apparent that the calorie dense, nutrient poor food is just not that satisfying, so instead of eating a lot of that, they eat more nutrient/fiber dense food that is not as calorie dense.

MintyStarshine

I read about a guy who lost weight (almost 30lbs) by eating (almost) nothing but junk food.

This is his diet:

Espresso, Double: 6 calories; 0 grams of fat
Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake: 150 calories; 5 grams of fat
Centrum Advanced Formula From A To Zinc: 0 calories; 0 grams of fat
Little Debbie Star Crunch: 150 calories; 6 grams of fat
Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake: 150 calories; 5 grams of fat
Diet Mountain Dew: 0 calories; 0 grams of fat
Doritos Cool Ranch: 75 calories; 4 grams of fat
Kellogg's Corn Pops: 220 calories; 0 grams of fat
whole milk: 150 calories; 8 grams of fat
baby carrots: 18 calories; 0 grams of fat
Duncan Hines Family Style Brownie Chewy Fudge: 270 calories; 14 grams of fat
Little Debbie Zebra Cake: 160 calories; 8 grams of fat
Muscle Milk Protein Shake: 240 calories; 9 grams of fat
Totals: 1,589 calories and 59 grams of fat

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

It said his bad cholesterol went down too.
It's pretty weird to me.
However, I am not really one for junk food. This is one big girl who doesn't really like cake!

Florawanda

I have been monitoring my sugars for about half the time I've been on MFP, and got such a shock when I first began to look at them... I reckon I was a chocoholic, and have still been having several sweet things every day, and stayed under my goal. And that was a lot less chocolate, biscuits, etc than I had been having, when my weight was slowly increasing. When I have tried dieting before, I had to ban chocolate completely, because, just like an alcoholic, one taste was enough to start me eating loads - this time I have been able to have more self-control, just, eg, having half a Crunchie bar, and leaving the other half for the next day. But looking at sugars showed I was still eating more than double the amount of sugars than my goal was. Natural sugars, from fruits and other things are probably better than the artificial kind, but you find loads of sugar in all sorts of things, eg bread, sauces, and processed foods. So now I am beginning to educate myself more about what my diet actually contains, rather than just eating whatever I like as long as it is under calorie goal.

At the end of the day, our bodies are delicately balanced, and giving them the wrong sort of fuel (and we may all react differently to different foods) is going to affect this balance. So get to know your own body, listen to its reactions to different foods, and give it the fuel that will help it rung most efficiently.