Real Food

TammyVieu

Anyone out there have sucess eating "real life" foods and still lose? I was a member of wieght watchers before they went to points plus and lost alot of weight. Once they chaned to all the free fruit nonsense I lost nothing. Switched to MFP and the rest of the weight came off. The reason, I never felt deprived. If I wanted something I ate it, but in weighed and measured portions. I am not a big fruit and veggie lover and while I know they are good for you, being a normal BMI is good for you too. I guess my real question is, have you been able to maintain your weight this way? PS- I don't mean to offend anyone with the real life food comment. That just goes for my life. I live far away from a grocerey store and have 3 kids so in my real life, we have chips, frozen meals, cookies, and pizza.

jackieatx

If you eat processed food at a deficit, sure, you will still lose weight, but not necessarily healthily. If you eat actual real food, it would be a heck of a lot better for you and your kids. Real food is grown, not just bought at a grocery store. And if you get out of the house to get pizza and stuff, why can't you choose healthy food instead?

saraann4

eat whatever you want. Just make sure you are in your daily calorie goals also including fat, protein, carbs, or whatever else you track. I don't know "real" food. I just eat food. real or fake, I guess.

a_certain_shade_of_green

so "real life food" is chips, frozen meals, cookies and pizza? i just want to be clear before i answer

if those things are what you are calling "real life foods" then my answer would be...

yes, i have had success when including these things in my day to day eating. however its 2 portions of chips a week and a pizza every now and then. maybe a couple of cookies with a cup of tea or coffee.

im not really sure what your actual question is though, as you seem to have answered this one yourself by saying that you ate what you wanted and had success doing it

taso42

I eat a mixture of make-believe and real-life food. Since make-believe food has no calories i can eat as much of it as i want and still lose weight. I am typing one-handed right now as I'm polishing off a unicorn burger with dinosaur-milk cheese.

MemphisKitten

I eat a mixture of make-believe and real-life food. Since make-believe food has no calories i can eat as much of it as i want and still lose weight. I am typing one-handed right now as I'm polishing off a unicorn burger with dinosaur-milk cheese.

LOVE THIS!!! :laugh:

megsmom2

Not sure what you mean by "real food". I eat pretty much just normal everyday foods, making better choices rather than worse ones most of the time. I don't eat unrestricted amounts of things, and I do pay pretty close attention to whet I'm doing, but its real food...chips, cookies, fruit, hamburgers..in reasonable planned amounts.

vjohn04

I eat whatever I want (which includes quite a bit of restaurant food) My diary is open if you would like to look.

I over-indulged a couple days this past week....

BUT, I still eat whatever I want, as long as I hit my calorie goal.

laughingdani

I eat a mixture of make-believe and real-life food. Since make-believe food has no calories i can eat as much of it as i want and still lose weight. I am typing one-handed right now as I'm polishing off a unicorn burger with dinosaur-milk cheese.

That's where the last of my unicorn meat went.... :grumble:

RachelFrost1

For the sake of your children I really hope that you consider cooking some real, unprocessed meals with whole grains, vegetables, beans, etc. Not living near a grocery store is not a very good excuse for eating crap. A friend of mine eats 100% unprocessed food and she only shops twice a month and she has two small kids. Prepackaged foods are the worst thing you could be feeding your family.

libbymcbain

I eat a mixture of make-believe and real-life food. Since make-believe food has no calories i can eat as much of it as i want and still lose weight. I am typing one-handed right now as I'm polishing off a unicorn burger with dinosaur-milk cheese.

You want some fairy wing relish on that burger honey?

wibutterflymagic

For the sake of your children I really hope that you consider cooking some real, unprocessed meals with whole grains, vegetables, beans, etc. Not living near a grocery store is not a very good excuse for eating crap. A friend of mine eats 100% unprocessed food and she only shops twice a month and she has two small kids. Prepackaged foods are the worst thing you could be feeding your family.

This! And the cost of pre-packaged meals is ridiculous. Your money and time is better spent buying unprocessed food and making your meals.

ALH1981

i would like to point out the differnce in how you feel when you consume 'real food' as compared to 'fruit and veges' - that should be your real concern

TammyVieu

Gee. One of the main reasons I left weight watchers was due to the smart a__helpful, hateful comments on thier message boards. I see with my first message board post on MFP that the only difference is that with MFP I dont have to pay to be insulted. I was under the impression that these boards were for support and advice. By the way , all 3 of my children are perfectly healthy and are not at all overweight. We do have homemade meals most of the time. My only point is that with most "diets" there are heavy restrictions on what to eat and what not to eat. I have chosen to plan my day around being able to have pizza or a cookie without feeling guilty. I see so many posts on here from people who never eat anything that is "unhealthy" that is fine for them if that is what works for them. I am working really hard to find a plan that will work for me long term. I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful welcome to MFP, it has been an eye opening experience.

LoraF83

For the sake of your children I really hope that you consider cooking some real, unprocessed meals with whole grains, vegetables, beans, etc. Not living near a grocery store is not a very good excuse for eating crap. A friend of mine eats 100% unprocessed food and she only shops twice a month and she has two small kids. Prepackaged foods are the worst thing you could be feeding your family.

Yay for your friend for figuring out how to do that all the time.

I'm a huge fan of home cooked food using whole ingredients. I love to cook from scratch.

However, life is life and sometimes we hit the drive through. I'm not going to beat myself up over that.

To the OP - just try to make good choices as often as possible. Get the nutrition you need and don't worry about the occassional frozen pizza or french fries.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

IIFYM

RachelFrost1

Gee. One of the main reasons I left weight watchers was due to the smart a__helpful, hateful comments on thier message boards. I see with my first message board post on MFP that the only difference is that with MFP I dont have to pay to be insulted. I was under the impression that these boards were for support and advice. By the way , all 3 of my children are perfectly healthy and are not at all overweight. We do have homemade meals most of the time. My only point is that with most "diets" there are heavy restrictions on what to eat and what not to eat. I have chosen to plan my day around being able to have pizza or a cookie without feeling guilty. I see so many posts on here from people who never eat anything that is "unhealthy" that is fine for them if that is what works for them. I am working really hard to find a plan that will work for me long term. I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful welcome to MFP, it has been an eye opening experience.

FYI, just because your kids may not be overweight does not mean that they are healthy.

abrahamsitososa

I eat almost 100% real live food now. Organic raw and vegan. I used to consider eating a burger or a steak as having my cheat day. My cheat days are now cooked salmon or cooked vegetable soup with no other meat/animal products. I'll also have some baked sweet potato fries with coconut or avocado oil. That's on my rare cheat days. And I feel the difference right away on my energy levels at the gym the next day every time I cheat.

SideSteel

Prepackaged foods are the worst thing you could be feeding your family.

Why?

Topher1978

Grow a garden rather than a lawn. Plant as many fruit trees as your house will allow.

SideSteel

Gee. One of the main reasons I left weight watchers was due to the smart a__helpful, hateful comments on thier message boards. I see with my first message board post on MFP that the only difference is that with MFP I dont have to pay to be insulted. I was under the impression that these boards were for support and advice. By the way , all 3 of my children are perfectly healthy and are not at all overweight. We do have homemade meals most of the time. My only point is that with most "diets" there are heavy restrictions on what to eat and what not to eat. I have chosen to plan my day around being able to have pizza or a cookie without feeling guilty. I see so many posts on here from people who never eat anything that is "unhealthy" that is fine for them if that is what works for them. I am working really hard to find a plan that will work for me long term. I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful welcome to MFP, it has been an eye opening experience.

FYI, just because your kids may not be overweight does not mean that they are healthy.

Just because she may feed her children processed foods does not mean they are unhealthy.

Capt_Apollo

Gee. One of the main reasons I left weight watchers was due to the smart a__helpful, hateful comments on thier message boards. I see with my first message board post on MFP that the only difference is that with MFP I dont have to pay to be insulted. I was under the impression that these boards were for support and advice. By the way , all 3 of my children are perfectly healthy and are not at all overweight. We do have homemade meals most of the time. My only point is that with most "diets" there are heavy restrictions on what to eat and what not to eat. I have chosen to plan my day around being able to have pizza or a cookie without feeling guilty. I see so many posts on here from people who never eat anything that is "unhealthy" that is fine for them if that is what works for them. I am working really hard to find a plan that will work for me long term. I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful welcome to MFP, it has been an eye opening experience.

that was your first mistake.

Topher1978

I eat pizza, and lose weight. Not often though. And I had a lot of cookies around Christmas, and still lost 5 lbs. But I suggest fruit and veggies for sure. Turn your lawn(s) into a garden(s) and plant some fruit trees, this will help a lot. Canned fruit and veggies are still full of nutrients. Get ones without additives. I know that a lot of people here will say additives are fine, but they make me ill personally when I have been away from them for a long period. But I would say grow a large garden, can your own stuff, buy brown/wild/whole grain rices in bulk, buy pinto beans in bulk, and get good meat. Make your own pizza dough with 1/4 corn flour and 1/4 whole wheat flour, and it just got a lot healthier and more filling, and it tastes great. Very easy as well. Use your freezer for lean meats. Also, when you get to the store, buy a large amount of fruit, and prep it and freeze it. Make fruit smoothies with it. When you make cookies, add 1/3 whole wheat, you will never notice the difference. Make it with 1/3 whole wheat and always add some oats to it, and they are much better foods. Do this when you make pancakes as well. Oats and 1/3 whole wheat do not affect the taste in a bad way, and it will make you feel better afterwards.

When I was cooking on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico (worked in the oil field) I cooked like this, and even the roughnecks loved it. They never noticed that I was making their sweets healthy. So, there are a lot of good choices that you can make with your restrictions.

RachelFrost1

Prepackaged foods are the worst thing you could be feeding your family.

Why?

Prepackaged foods are filled with preservatives and most also have artificial colors, artificial flavors, and several other known carcinogens such as carageenan. Just look at the ingredient list on any packaged food and tell me if the forty or so ingredients are ones that you would use if you were to cook that from scratch. Bread for example has about forty or fifty ingredients in store bought bread. Good bread only needs about five ingredients, I doubt if your grandma would have put fifty ingredients in her bread. Watch the movie Food Inc., and/or read the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Pollan recommends not eating anything that your great grandmother would not have recognized as food and also not eating any packaged foods with more than five ingredients.

RachelFrost1

Grow a garden rather than a lawn. Plant as many fruit trees as your house will allow.

I'm with you, Growtest.org is a great website for learning to grow the majority of your food.

SideSteel

Prepackaged foods are the worst thing you could be feeding your family.

Why?

Prepackaged foods are filled with preservatives and most also have artificial colors, artificial flavors, and several other known carcinogens such as carageenan. Just look at the ingredient list on any packaged food and tell me if the forty or so ingredients are ones that you would use if you were to cook that from scratch. Bread for example has about forty or fifty ingredients in store bought bread. Good bread only needs about five ingredients, I doubt if your grandma would have put fifty ingredients in her bread. Watch the movie Food Inc., and/or read the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Pollan recommends not eating anything that your great grandmother would not have recognized as food and also not eating any packaged foods with more than five ingredients.

But why does it being artificial, automatically mean that it is bad for you?

quirkytizzy

You can still maintain weight and eat processed foods, yes. I'm in a bit of a bind with food, money, and the insanely picky bf's tastes, and have thus not been able to incorporate as many fresh and healthy foods as I would like.

For three years I maintained eating normal foods, even drinking soda - a change in medication and a depression changed my eating habits to bring me where I am today. It can be done, moderation and being active is the key to working around a less than perfect diet.

(And never mind the "OMG IF YOU EAT A TV DINNER YOU WILL GET CANCER GAAAHHHHH" folks. They will do what they do.)

Topher1978

Grow a garden rather than a lawn. Plant as many fruit trees as your house will allow.

I'm with you, Growtest.org is a great website for learning to grow the majority of your food.

Thanks!!

lucasriggs

Real food. Hah, in 2012.

I only eat virtual food downloaded from piratebanquet.com.

amonkey794

I eat a mixture of make-believe and real-life food. Since make-believe food has no calories i can eat as much of it as i want and still lose weight. I am typing one-handed right now as I'm polishing off a unicorn burger with dinosaur-milk cheese.

^ This

RachelFrost1

Prepackaged foods are the worst thing you could be feeding your family.

Why?

Prepackaged foods are filled with preservatives and most also have artificial colors, artificial flavors, and several other known carcinogens such as carageenan. Just look at the ingredient list on any packaged food and tell me if the forty or so ingredients are ones that you would use if you were to cook that from scratch. Bread for example has about forty or fifty ingredients in store bought bread. Good bread only needs about five ingredients, I doubt if your grandma would have put fifty ingredients in her bread. Watch the movie Food Inc., and/or read the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Pollan recommends not eating anything that your great grandmother would not have recognized as food and also not eating any packaged foods with more than five ingredients.

But why does it being artificial, automatically mean that it is bad for you?

ARTIFICIAL, PETROLEUM BASED CHEMICALS are carcinogens. Not only that, but they fool your body into thinking it is getting something it is not getting. Therefore you want to eat more and more because your body is not getting what it wants/needs. It has been proven that eating this artificial junk does not aid in weight loss. Just look at our country, we eat the most processed foods of any country in the world and we are by far the fattest country in the world. The children growing up now are the first generation ever that will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. This should be a HUGE eye opener. We are riddled with heart disease and diabetes, yet we fill our bodies with more and more CHEMICALS. What our bodies need is REAL FOOD. Humans were meant to eat FOOD, not chemicals. Like I said before I highly recommend watching Food Inc., Food Matters, Forks over Knives, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.