what to eat? what not to eat? Im so confused!!

Limit your portions, stick to your MFP calories, try to exercise as much as you can and don't eat anything processed!! Processed foods are the enemy :frown: :devil:

the way i look at it is that nothing is banned, apart from processed food, that way you can have what you want but stick within your allowance x good luck xxx

Even here you will get plenty of dissenting opinions

I've lost 10 pounds and 5 inches around my waist, and I still eat processed foods. I eat what I want, but I keep it reasonable.

My main goal is to make sure I get enough protein - that keeps me full for longer. As a result, to fit within my calories I eat slightly less carbs. I limit my alcohol to 1-2 drinks total on weekdays, maybe a couple extra if there's an event on the weekend. When I go out to eat, I try to look at the menu ahead of time, to get some idea what is smart to order.

All of that aside, if it's a special occasion, or I'm at a tapas restaurant (I REFUSE to calorie count every little thing I get at a place like that), or whatever, I just try to be reasonable. If you're making yourself miserable, you know you're not going to sustain it. I would look for a couple key factors for you (for me, I was always hungry all afternoon when I didn't get enough protein), and stick to those for awhile. Then add a few more rules if you need it - but don't be afraid to break them all. Food can be fun! Good luck!

Simple principle is that NOTHING is forbidden. BUT understand how it fits into your target for the day/week.

Yes I do work on the bike with the express intention of burning enough for a beer or a half of wine, or even a meat feast pizza.

Count it, plan it, enjoy it. You are building a life change, and if you don't enjoy your food you'll be aiming for failure.

Good luck

I count my calories...I log everything...I weigh and measure everything and I stay at a caloric deficit. That's it. Along the way I've picked up some more nutritious eating habits and I've started managing my macros for fitness goals (among other things), but I don't have anything that is off limits or whatever. Severe restriction is not going to be sustainable for life.

Dont read too much into the posts. EVERY ONE and their brother has an opinion on which is the best food to eat and which food they think is poison. Take it all with a grain of salt. What has worked for me is portion control, more veggies, more water, and more walking.

PS-there is no such thing as a bad food

If you take it with a grain of salt the sodium will make you retain water. It's poison! :happy:

The good news is you don't have to be perfect, you just have to be better.

1) tracking for a couple of weeks before I worried about losing.
(although seeing what I was eating I couldn't help but rein back a bit)

2) seeing where I could make small changes on things that weren't that important to me.
(Don't even think of taking chocolate out of my diet!!!)
--Reducing quantities where I won't notice it so much
--Swapping out things instead of eliminating them.

3) Look at my diary and started adding foods that had positive healthy effects specifically for the health issue in my family.
I found most of the things I "should" add were really yummy too! salmon, avocado, oatmeal, mango, red grapes....
(Sort of think of food as medicine to deal with family history of various health issue oatmeal is good for heart health, mango and red grapes lower cholesterol, tumeric and cinnamon good for arthritis)

4) every couple of weeks I see where I can make another couple of small changes.
If you completely revamp your diet, it's way easy to revert to old ways in times of stress. (and who doesn't have stress?)
If you make a series of small changes, food still offers you some sense of comfort.
sort of a comfort continuum, and after a while the first small changes will seem comforting in themselves.
You don't have to be perfect you just have to do better.

5) also rather than being uberstrict with the target MFP set for me. (I swear this saved my life.) I was happier once I gave myself a range:

ROCK BOTTOM: 1200 cal
TARGET: MFP Calories for lose 1 lb a week (when that hit 1200 I changed to lose 1/2 lb per week)
TOP OF RANGE: Maintain Calories for my GOAL Weight.

---

(SAFETY VALVE: Maintain Calories for CURRENT Weight - remember to keep updating this number as you lose)

---

I naturally tended to do 2-4 days between 1200-1300 cal then a day at about 1500-1600 cal then back to the 1200-1300 cal. (No hard science here, but I credit the zig-zagging calories with preventing plateaus.)

--As long as I stayed under the top of my range I should continue to lose, even if it is at a slower rate.
--As long as I don't go past my safety valve I shouldn't gain.

6) I only worry about it 1 lb at a time.
Forget I *NEED* to lose 20, 30, 50, 100 lbs. I'm only worried about 1 lb the next one. I'll worry about the others later.
Once I found ways to lessen the stress, I found it way easier to focus on the process and let the results follow. (It's what worked for me some people need the stress to get them motivated. Me I get scared and overwhelmed and don't see the big goal as achievable. )

7)
The closer I got to my goal the smaller I made my deficit. Yes, this took longer to get to my goal, but I was focusing on (am STILL tweaking) strategies for maintenance. What I found difficult (and haven't yet conquered) it establishing a guideline for a range for maintenance, being that I'm not really good at hitting the same number everyday.


Food is not the enemy.

Oddly enough on my journey here I've reduced guilt over food.
I have the occasional treat and I fully enjoy it with no guilt involved.
The thing is since I'm not eating crap all the time, now the occasional treat is just that a TREAT it's special and I enjoy it so much more than when I was unconsciously shovel junk food into my face.

I figure if I've got a good plan that I can actually maintain I can keep this off for a long time to come, without feeling deprived.

Good Luck