Can you really eat anything and lose?

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Replies

  • Rubie81
    Rubie81 Posts: 720 Member
    You definitely can in the short term. Theoretically you could do it in the long term too, but that's much more difficult. Eventually your motivation to count calories will wane. If you don't change the way you eat, then eventually you'll probably gain the weight back.

    Yes, exactly what I was thinking.
  • KeegansMomma
    KeegansMomma Posts: 156
    Me! It was more about portion control for me. Instead of eating 10 cookies I now eat an actual serving size.

    This is me exactly. Portion control is HUGE for me in my weight loss. I'm working on eating more veggies (and fruits at some point) because I know in the end a cup of broccoli or carrots is better for me than a cup of french fries. Not to mention my almost 5 year old son is becoming very...brave and curious with foods...especially vegetables. My mom had a salad the other night at dinner and he tried a bite of pretty much everything that was in her salad. And last night he ate roast turkey, potatos, carrots, and broccoli with us (rather than a PB&J or grilled cheese). So I know that I now have to work very hard to make veggies a part of my every day diet. :)
  • Howbouto
    Howbouto Posts: 2,121 Member
    Yes and no.

    Can I personally? No, I have found by eating sugar and junk , I crave more sugar and junk and can not stay under calories.

    Techinically, if you can eat whatever you want and if you are under calories you will lose weight. Good luck on maintaining it.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I don't do it, but when I was here last year I had a few people on my friends list who ate nothing but garbage and still lost.

    Although it is possible to eat nothing but crap and still lose weight, I don't recommend it because:

    -You'll be malnourished
    -You'll likely be hungrier than if you ate foods with a better nutrient profile
    -You'll probably lose more lean mass than was necessary
    -Your odds of maintaining the loss are very low

    Basically this.
  • ashblonde1
    ashblonde1 Posts: 31
    There are two issues here the first on is the one asked by the OP.

    That is can you eat whatever you want within your goal and lose weight... like pretty much everyone said 'Yes, you can'. I would add that you can as long as you stay in goal calorie wise as well as carb, protein, fat, sugar and sodium.

    The bigger issue is would you want to eat anything? I think it is important to fuel your body with quality food... surely eating 1200 of Fast Food isn't the way forward, is it?

    I do agree with the other poster that said that you should be able to eat some of the junk you ate before, but regular portion sizes.

    I just don't agree that 1200 calories of jelly donuts or fast food is the way forward for anyone that wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle... at least not on a regular basis anyways.
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
    You can do it to a point. But, as you get closer to your goal, you will look like crap. You will still have a lot of fat and look bad. In order to look better, you will want to start fropping the twinkies and lucky charms, and start eating vegetables and fruits and good things. Then, you will start to see fat disappear and a more healthy body emerge. You will feel a lot better too.
  • oneIT
    oneIT Posts: 388 Member
    If you want to lose weight, just stop eating and starve yourself. How is eating junk food any better? Both are unhealthy.
    If you want to be healthy and keep the weight off then eat good natural food and get some exercise. I count cals to make sure I am getting enough now.
  • CynGoddess
    CynGoddess Posts: 188 Member
    -You'll be malnourished
    -You'll likely be hungrier than if you ate foods with a better nutrient profile
    -You'll probably lose more lean mass than was necessary
    -Your odds of maintaining the loss are very low

    Well said
  • kluvit
    kluvit Posts: 435 Member
    Absolutely! No food is off limits as long as it fits within your macros. I had success focusing only on calories, but some others also watch the other macros such as fat, sugar, and sodium. I called mine the cake and ice cream diet because I worked it out that I was able to save up for angel food cake and ice cream (< 300 calories) after dinner almost every night and still stay within macros to exceed my weightloss goal.
  • lilawolf
    lilawolf Posts: 1,690 Member
    Kind of. If you are hungry, then you will feel unsatisfied, and overeat. If you get too many empty calories and carbs from junk food and not enough of the protein, vitamins, and minerals you need, you will feel like you are starving on a reasonable number of calories. As soon as you eat "good" food, you will feel fuller and more satisfied making the diet something you can actually stick to. I try and eat well most of the time with a liberal sprinkling of pizza, wine, and other "bad" foods. I refuse to be hungry and I refuse to give up all of the food I love. I lost 5lbs in 32 days.
  • drewbird911
    drewbird911 Posts: 117 Member
    Yes - Is the answer. I don't eat very clean but have had good sucess counting caloires and exercising. I take a multi-vitamin and do get some fruits & veg.
  • tvanhooser
    tvanhooser Posts: 326 Member
    Well, yes I do but I suppose it depends on what you mean by "anything you want." I eat what I want, but what I want is healthy, home cooked food in moderate portions (from family recipes and healthy foodie recipes I find online) with the occasional treat. If what YOU want is potato chips and cookies and chocolate 24/7, I suppose you would lose if you limited it to the appropriate calorie level -- after all, as someone recently pointed out, you never see a fat malnourished POW or concentration camp survivor. If you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight but you won't be healthy just like the prisoners who eat severely inadequately and work off far too many calories in forced labor for their nutrition level. They aren't healthy and neither would you be.
  • DenyseMarieL
    DenyseMarieL Posts: 673 Member
    The number of calories per day is what your weight loss goal is, no matter what you eat. But, keep in mind that one Big mac is a HUGE part of your daily calorie allowance, and it won't keep you full all day. That's why you eat more of lower calorie items. Foods rich in fiber and protein, it keeps you satisfied because you can eat more of it. Plus, take into account foods high in salt and/or sugar. Not only are you increasing your caloric intake per item, you are adding a health risk.
    A calorie is a calorie no matter what you eat.
  • stephcthomas
    stephcthomas Posts: 78 Member
    What about over all health? You can be slim and still be very unhealthy. There is more to eating a healthy diet than just weight loss.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    The thing is... let's say you have a 2k calories limit, like me.
    I like to eat pizza hut's chicken ceasar pizza. Each slice is ~390 calories. If I eat 3 of them, that puts me at 1170 cals. I have 830 calories remaining.
    And that's one meal.
    You're supposed to have 3 meals in a day, with a few snacks here and there.
    You're probably not going to feel that full too after those 3 slices of pizza. And if you do, it won't be long before you're hungry again.
    My point is that you can eat whatever you want, and you will still lose weight, but this is not a sustainable option. Eating junk makes you want to crave more. If you start eating healthy stuff, there are mainly 3 benefits:

    a) You feel full because it is full of nutrients.
    b) You can (almost) eat as much as you want.
    c) Once you get used to it, you will not crave junk food anymore.

    Believe me, I eat healthy as much as possible now and I'm having trouble filling those 2k calories. I'm not hungry.
    Of course, you can always treat yourself once in a while. I can't live without chocolate, and I like to have unhealthy food too once in a while. :) I'm still human!

    All of this!
  • clopez1987
    clopez1987 Posts: 54 Member
    i honestly dont think you will lose anything eating everything, with my personal experience i stopped eating fried food,sweets, drinking sodas, and lowered my carb intake and thats what helped me lose weight, i don't believe you can lose anything if you keep eating junk food or greesy food even if u stay within your calories.
  • wells0707
    wells0707 Posts: 251 Member
    I have been losing weight just staying under my calories. I do try and get the healthy food in, but I made a commitment to change the way I ate forever and not just while I was losing weight. I have been known for "Nacho Sundays" during football season and still lost weight. My goal is to not deprive myself of what I want just learn to control portions. That way when I reach my goal weight it doesn't all come back.
  • grapeeyes1
    grapeeyes1 Posts: 229 Member
    I eat what I want. 51 pounds gone since April. I now gravitate towards healthier because you get more with healthier. Just stay under your calories!
  • NeverGivesUp
    NeverGivesUp Posts: 960 Member
    I retaught myself how to eat and learned to love fruits and veggies. I gave up everything that makes me feel like crap after I eat it no matter how good the taste. I gave up my most lethal bad habit so as to never gain weight again.
  • tobnrn
    tobnrn Posts: 477 Member
    I eat whatever I want. I try to keep proteins high & let the rest fall where they may. Last 2 weeks has not been typical for me with being very sick.
  • cherbapp
    cherbapp Posts: 322
    Yep...you can eat anything in your calorie limit and lose.

    And you seriously could gain on fruits and veggies if you could fit 3000 calories of it in your stomach each day.

    I started out on 1300 calories of crap food and lost weight but was hungry all the time cuz even a bag of Doritos is over my calories but not much food. Lol

    Slowly I swapped out crap food for healthy food just because I needed more volume. Now (almost a year of swapping later) on especially healthy days, I have trouble fitting 1200 calories of the good stuff in my stomach. :)
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
    Yes, but what kind of weight do you wish to lose? Eating McDonald's cheeseburgers everyday won't fuel your body and will be stored as fat, therefore you body will sacrifice lean body mass (muscle, bone, organs) for the nutrients needed to keep your body going.

    To coin an old computer phrase: G.I.G.O. (garbage in, garbage out)
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Let's say you have 1700 calories a day. I don't think you can eat 1700 calories worth of Jelly donuts and lose weight. I might be wrong but I think you can have a jelly donut now an then. Everything in moderation.

    Sure you can. Why couldn't you? You're not necessarily going to feel good nor be healthy. But you would lose weight if you're in a deficit.

    Yep. Google the Twinkie Diet.

    But you'll have better results if you get good nutrition.
  • mdsjmom98
    mdsjmom98 Posts: 333 Member
    I do. I just make sure to make allowances for it. I also use portion control as well as maybe and extra 15 minute or so activity. So lets say on a given day, I eat a banana for breakfast and a cup of coffee. If I want the "extra" calories, I will often opt for no coffee and maybe a lower calorie snack. Plus I will take into account that I more often than not fall under calorie goal (only by 100-200 cals) so I will maybe have that 18 potato chips the next day as a snack. No deprivation here, just watch your portions.
  • themommie
    themommie Posts: 5,033 Member
    I think you can but it is very hard to stay within your calories eating junk food, it makes you crave more junk and you done get full. You could eat a whole bag of cheetos and it would be approx 1600 cals and that would be all you could eat for that day. Not nutritious but also you would be hungry and want to eat something else. If you eat 1600 cals of oatmeal, fruit, veggies and chicken or shrimp that would be ALOT of food and lots of nutrition......
  • damedame
    damedame Posts: 113 Member
    please i urge anyone on this thread to watch the documentary called "fat head" last i checked it was on netflix.
    essentially yes you can eat anything and lose weight!!
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
    please i urge anyone on this thread to watch the documentary called "fat head" last i checked it was on netflix.
    essentially yes you can eat anything and lose weight!!

    Nobody has to suffer through that idiotic movie to reach this conclusion.
  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
    Yep I have, your more than welcome to view my diary. I've reached my goal weight eating what I wanted
  • MSimm62385
    MSimm62385 Posts: 227
    It is possible this way, yes. But I have a nice collection of friends on this site that will yell at me if I don't eat at least double the protein that MFP tells you to.
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
    I don't eat crap all of the time, but I do fit in the foods that I love, like ice cream every night, and still lose, yes.

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