Eating bad food but staying under my numbers-- is this ok???

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mlebleek
mlebleek Posts: 4
in Food and Nutrition
I'm a bit confused right now. I've been losing a pound a week since I started MFP and I love it but I'm starting to get concerned looking at my food diary. I am definitely staying under my numbers in calories, fat, carbs etc but when I look at the actual food items I eat I can't believe I'm losing weight. Like for dinner tonight I'm planning on having sloppy joes with corn and curly fries, lunch is going to be leftover guacamole from my Chipotle last night and chips and breakfast was two pancakes with light butter, light whipped cream and syrup. Even without working out today (Sunday is my break day) I have 250 cal left for a snack at night which I think will be a 240 cal snickers bar (hee hee). I'll still hit my target even though to me that looks like a pretty 'bad for you' food day. Oh and I do report everything that crosses my lips, even just a bite of my son's taco but I plan my meals at the beginning of the day and then anything I eat more of or differently I add through out the day. I just don't know if I should be eating different foods or if eating the same foods I used to but in smaller portions is ok? What do you all think?

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  • sillyguy
    sillyguy Posts: 7
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    thats doesnt sound "so healthy" but you are under the cal goal, which is a good thing.... i dont think "healthy eating" happens over night, or even two nights :)......so maybe over the next month or so you can make some different choices. You may continue to lose weight, but without makeing better choices i think most people wont feel as good as they could..but no matter..dont give up the snickers!!! they are like my power bar!! good luck!
  • lsand
    lsand Posts: 78 Member
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    You can be thin, and not healthy. It's about more than how much you weigh, if you want to ward off diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc... I say don't give up everything you like but you should incorporate some healthy foods such as fruits and veggies. And exercise of some kind will keep you strong. Good job on the weight loss!
  • annatyler
    annatyler Posts: 1
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    I would focus on eating more healthy foods in general, I think that is the key to feeling good and being healthy, regardless of weight loss. You will still lose the weight if focusing on healthy foods and portion control.
  • ellenzab
    ellenzab Posts: 5
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    Try going into "Reports" and selecting "nutrition." Then, select different nutrients and see how you stack up! You might find that you are lacking in certain vitamins or minerals. and that might help guide you to different food choices.
  • bsellers
    bsellers Posts: 6
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    To my knowledge, to lose weight you have to watch your calories. Since I started the program I have had days where I might eat something I shouldn't, but its all about portion control. Eat slow and eat until you're about 3/4 full. That's how weight loss happens. Now you should be trying to eat healthier foods, as they improve your overall health. However, I don't think we should deprive ourselves of the occasional guilty pleasure or we will be less likely to continue with the diet.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    If you completely give up the stuff you love you will eventually cave and pig out and give up.
    But you DO need to incorporate fruits and veggies.
    Smaller portions of the stuff you love, and add in the stuff you can tolerate. Don't eat anything you DON'T like just because it's "healthy" because you will end up miserable. You should never have to choke anything down.

    yogurt, berries, oranges, grapes, carrot sticks and celery sticks with fat free ranch to dip, apples with peanut butter, rice cakes...
    these are all things that I have recently ADDED to my grocery lists that I never ate before and I feel better for it.
    Choose things like those for snacks between meals and eat smaller potions at meal time.
  • eliblish
    eliblish Posts: 124 Member
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    One thing you could do to make your favorite meals a little healthier is to substitute. For example your sloppy joes. Just use lean beef instead of fatty, use whole wheat buns, make homemade oven fries instead of curly fries, and have a vegetable instead of corn. That's what I do and then you still get to have the meals you love but with no guilt. :)
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    One thing you could do to make your favorite meals a little healthier is to substitute. For example your sloppy joes. Just use lean beef instead of fatty, use whole wheat buns, make homemade oven fries instead of curly fries, and have a vegetable instead of corn. That's what I do and then you still get to have the meals you love but with no guilt. :)

    excellent ideas!
    Or use ground turkey instead of ground beef, the sloppy joe sauce covers all the flavor of the meat anyways....
    green beans or broccoli instead of corn. Put the sloppy joe in a pita or flatbread wrap instead of on a big bun.....

    have one pancake only, not 2, skip the whipped cream, use low-cal syrup or just measure out a portion of your regular syrup. top with fresh fruits...
  • sniffles
    sniffles Posts: 295
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    I'm going to 'weigh in' too. Are you losing weight to lose weight? Or do you want to change your entire lifestyle so you don't put it back on?

    I'd suggest GRADUALLY weaning yourself off foods you KNOW are unhealthy. Say this coming week you decide to cut back on chocolate (one snickers a week instead of one a night?) or something like that. Make small changes that make sense to you and when you've adapted to the change make a new one!

    It's the easier way to change your lifestyle.

    If you're not wanting to change your lifestyle, if you just want to lose the weight... then keep doing what you're doing but chances are the weight will come back the moment you hit your goal and 'relax'.
  • mlebleek
    mlebleek Posts: 4
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    oh I do have fruits and veggies-- like I had blueberries with my pancakes and besides the corn I'll have a salad with dinner using light dressing but I also allow for a serving of croutons and 1/2 a serving of cheese as well. I normally wouldn't have guacamole for lunch but it is left over from last night and would go bad (and so yummy) and besides the fat it's pretty good for you. I don't know, at the end of the day I just feel like I eat so much more than 1300 calories (or whatever it is with exercise) but I know I don't. I can't decide if that is good or bad??
  • kwardklinck
    kwardklinck Posts: 1,601
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    Nope not going to work. You have to choose food that gives you some nutrition as well. You need 2 servings of dairy and 3-4 servings of fruits and veggies. It is a learning process so just start by adding some healthy stuff to your not so healthy stuff. Avoid candy and alcohol. It gives you nothing but calories. Not all calories are created equal. It's ok to splurge every now and then but you should be eating healthy most days.
  • ChellieIrish
    ChellieIrish Posts: 593 Member
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    I'm going to 'weigh in' too. Are you losing weight to lose weight? Or do you want to change your entire lifestyle so you don't put it back on?

    I'd suggest GRADUALLY weaning yourself off foods you KNOW are unhealthy. Say this coming week you decide to cut back on chocolate (one snickers a week instead of one a night?) or something like that. Make small changes that make sense to you and when you've adapted to the change make a new one!

    It's the easier way to change your lifestyle.

    If you're not wanting to change your lifestyle, if you just want to lose the weight... then keep doing what you're doing but chances are the weight will come back the moment you hit your goal and 'relax'.

    I have to agree with this :wink:

    The best way to get to your ideal weight and stay there is to have everything you like but in moderation :wink: I try and eat healthily :heart: everyday but have a small treat included in my daily cals (for me I have biscuits) Then after my weigh in day which is Fri I have what I call a "Treat Day" It gives me something to look forward to and keeps me on track :bigsmile:

    Good luck with your losses and well done so far :flowerforyou:
  • mlebleek
    mlebleek Posts: 4
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    Thanks for the thoughts! I do have to cut back on snacks but I think the only way I will keep loosing weight is by not depriving myself. If my kids had curly fries for dinner tonight it would go one of two ways--- 1. I would have a salad instead and still sneak some of their fries or 2. I could just measure out my own portion and eat only that much and have a salad. Maybe my mind is not in the right place yet but I hate the idea of a diet. I had cancer three years ago and for a while could not eat anything. After that I decided that I would be healthy but not deprive myself of the fun foods of life. So I get my fruits and veggies (I swear I do :) and I eat whole wheat instead of white, I have skim milk and low fat yogurt, I use light salad dressing and low fat cheese, and I actually do make my sloppy joes with ground turkey and use spray butter instead of real butter but I also allow myself to have a candy bar every once in a while, or whipped cream (light) on my pancakes or a cookie or two at the end of a hard day. I think that I've been going a little crazy with snacks with my extra exercise calories at the end of the day and I will try to do better with that-- that can't be healthy and sugar is cancer's favorite food! But what this site has taught me is that controlling portion size is so important! I think that is the lifestyle change I needed at this time in my life cause I find it super easy to have 1/2 a cup of low fat ice cream rather than 3. Thanks for your help everyone, you are awesome!!!
  • washingtonn
    washingtonn Posts: 13
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    No Ma'am YOU ARE AWESOME. From your last post I really dont think you are doing that bad. If you cut out everything you love you are truly going to be miserable.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    I think your first post made it seem worse than it actually is. From your last post I would say you are doing good. As long as you don't feel deprived and you are eating enough of the right things, make small changes here and there and work toward healthier. Enjoy your favorites, what's the point of living if you don't enjoy your life?:flowerforyou:
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    After reading a weeks worth of your food diary I just have to say I think you have a candy addiction!!

    3 or 4 times a day you reach for the gummi worms or chocolates or something. One huge change would be to change one of those snacks to a yogurt, and one to veggies or fruits, but still have one serving your favorite candies a day so you don't feel deprived.

    Also, you seem to like mexican food as much as my boyfriend does! I have never seen so much tacos, burritos, guacamole, etc.
    This seems to be the culprit for going over your fats almost every day. Maybe allow yourself mexican or takeout once or twice a week instead of the 4 or 5 times. (unless this past week was unusual for you)

    Just a few suggestions to help with the "healthy" aspect of your diet. You have your calories under control, but a lot of them seem to be empty calories.
  • talygal
    talygal Posts: 17 Member
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    :flowerforyou: NO! This is not ok. Eating bad foods is what got us in this perdicament. Yes, eat more veggies, lean protein, nuts, fruits and save the "bad food" for snacks. Eating foods that are high in fat, sugar and sodium will only cause health problems down the road. I want to be healthy and eat well. I feel like crap when I eat crap. I am learning how to have a healthy relationship with food so in order to succeed, I have to change my behavior and how I think.

    If you changed your eating habits to include more veggies, fresh fruits, lean protein and the like, just imagine how much healthier you would feel and be! Hope this helps.
  • tutujoli
    tutujoli Posts: 104 Member
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    I'm gonna disagree with a lot of people here....kind of. lol

    I think it's fine, when you're starting out, to eat the foods you're used to eating. It gives you time to figure out how it all works without stressing about "having nothing to eat."

    The trick is that you have to change your food as you learn more. Try a new (healthier) recipe each week. When you find one you like, take an old unhealthy recipe out of rotation and replace it with the new one! :)

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