Eating "junk" and losing weight?
ashleylmp
Posts: 40 Member
I see SO many people on here who have their diaries open and eat more than half of their calories from what's considered "junk" food. What's the deal with this?! I realize I'm the one with 150 pounds left to lose, but wouldn't these people be losing more if they would eat fruits and vegetables at every meal? I'm striving for 75% fresh food. Is that maybe unrealistic? And there are people losing .5 pounds per week but eating candy, chips, etc. Would it not make a difference if they'd eat real food instead? Maybe I'm just confused!
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No. It doesn't make any difference at all. I get sufficient vitamins and minerals, make sure my macros are met, and my calories are within my allotment. That is all and it works.0
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I'm probably one of these people you're talking about. I never cut out anything when I was losing weight, and I'm not about to cut it out now that I'm maintaining. So yes, you see cupcakes and slurpees and pizza and burgers in my diary on a regular basis. However, I do try and focus on eating mostly healthy food, hitting my macros and overall calorie goal. I refuse to assign food labels such as "good" or "bad" or "junk". If at the end of the day I have the carbs and calories left over to enjoy a slurpee, I'm going to have the slurpee, and enjoy every sip of it.
As for how quickly I lost, I lost my weight at an average pace of just over a pound a week, exactly as fast as I wanted to lose it.0 -
I see SO many people on here who have their diaries open and eat more than half of their calories from what's considered "junk" food. What's the deal with this?! I realize I'm the one with 150 pounds left to lose, but wouldn't these people be losing more if they would eat fruits and vegetables at every meal? I'm striving for 75% fresh food. Is that maybe unrealistic? And there are people losing .5 pounds per week but eating candy, chips, etc. Would it not make a difference if they'd eat real food instead? Maybe I'm just confused!
Some people just want to lose weight and think less about the nutrition part. Each to their own, I just do what I want and congratulate anyone who meets their own goals - whether they match mine or not.0 -
They might use IIFIYM0
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I'm probably one of these people you're talking about. I never cut out anything when I was losing weight, and I'm not about to cut it out now that I'm maintaining. So yes, you see cupcakes and slurpees and pizza and burgers in my diary on a regular basis. However, I do try and focus on eating mostly healthy food, hitting my macros and overall calorie goal. I refuse to assign food labels such as "good" or "bad" or "junk". If at the end of the day I have the carbs and calories left over to enjoy a slurpee, I'm going to have the slurpee, and enjoy every sip of it.
As for how quickly I lost, I lost my weight at an average pace of just over a pound a week, exactly as fast as I wanted to lose it.
Same here! I don't share because I don't need the judgements from random people. I have enough drama in my life lol! But if I want this to be sustainable, I will eat health-IER while still enjoying everything I love. I'm not going to cut everything I love out of my life only to relapse later because I want things I enjoy. It's all about learning to moderate them and work for them. :-)0 -
If they're losing weight, why does it matter to you what they're eating?0
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Depends. Most humans, if they never eat anything they actually like for months on end, will eventually snap and throw themselves head first into a vat of ice cream, followed by hotdogs with deep fried onions and then carry on like that until they realise they've just put on 150% of their starting weight. Hence the phrase yoyo dieting.
Mere mortals realise that it's ok to enjoy food and take steps to improve their health at the same time. It's more sustainable.
ETA: I've done 30lb? Wow. And all with the help of beer and stuff.0 -
I'm not willing to cut out anything that I won't cut out for the rest of my life. It's not sustainable. I eat my fair share of fruit & veg and other healthy foods, but I eat junk too.0
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For me, I want to be healthy and energetic. Not just thinner.0
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I'm not willing to cut out anything that I won't cut out for the rest of my life. It's not sustainable. I eat my fair share of fruit & veg and other healthy foods, but I eat junk too.
^^This0 -
I totally understand eating things you love! I love potato chips, so I've been allowing myself one serving of pop chips every night. I'm talking about logging only 5 items, three of which were made at a restaurant. I want to be healthy once I lose the weight. Can I accomplish that by eating fast food as long as I stay under my calories? That's just the vibe I get from so many people. I'm not trying to judge of call anyone out, just seeing how everyone else is losing the weight
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I'm not willing to cut out anything that I won't cut out for the rest of my life. It's not sustainable. I eat my fair share of fruit & veg and other healthy foods, but I eat junk too.
This is exactly my thoughts. I'm really not willing to go my entire life without consuming foods I enjoy - including junk. The MFP experience has been so eye opening for me because as long as I hit my net calorie goal each day, I'm losing weight and getting fit (and fitter). In the past, when I've tried other methods I always felt like I was on a diet, trying to constantly avoid certain foods that were prohibitive under a set formula. In the case of MFP, a calorie is a calorie.
I primarily eat very healthy these days, but I still can fit in my red wine and pizza night. That's sustainable for me!0 -
There is weightloss and there is fit and healthy. You can eat 'junk' food and lose weight. But you can't follow that path if your goal is to get fit and improve your health. Your journey is yours...decide what your goals are and go for it.0
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I totally understand eating things you love! I love potato chips, so I've been allowing myself one serving of pop chips every night. I'm talking about logging only 5 items, three of which were made at a restaurant. I want to be healthy once I lose the weight. Can I accomplish that by eating fast food as long as I stay under my calories? That's just the vibe I get from so many people. I'm not trying to judge of call anyone out, just seeing how everyone else is losing the weight
Of course you can.0 -
Reality is that there is no such thing as junk food.
There are macronutrients and there are micronutrients. Get the right amount of each. The source of those nutrients is pretty much 100% irrelevant in terms of weight and body composition. They only matter insofar as the way you enjoy them and how they satisfy you.0 -
In the real world 75% healthy foods is unrealistic. I belive that if you are exercising and burning the calories you eat you can still be fit and healthy.0
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Some people don't care about getting their diet as being healhy as possible, they just want weight loss. On the other hand, others are trying slowly change their diets over time, so they might be eating some naughty foods every day still. IMO if a person just woke up one day and decided to eating nothing but "Fresh stuff' I would expect them to fail eventually in weight loss the same as the person who just eats junk food.0
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There is weightloss and there is fit and healthy. You can eat 'junk' food and lose weight. But you can't follow that path if your goal is to get fit and improve your health. Your journey is yours...decide what your goals are and go for it.
Oh really? I think if you looked you find quite a few of us that fit every definition of healthy and still eat what many of the "clean" eating types would call junk food.0 -
if it fits your macros you can eat it and still lose weight.
losing weight, and getting fit, are different things imo though.
depends what your goals are.0 -
I'm not willing to cut out anything that I won't cut out for the rest of my life. It's not sustainable. I eat my fair share of fruit & veg and other healthy foods, but I eat junk too.
this
IMO it's far more important to focus on long term compliance and sustainability, than it is to worry about whether you'd lose an extra 0.5lb a month if you were better at self deprivation. The closer you get to goal, the slower you have to go to avoid losing lean body mass. it's not about how quickly you can lose weight, it's about keeping it off for life. And that's about learning how to enjoy the foods you love in quantities that are going to enable you to remain at a healthy body fat percentage.0 -
healthy is not a subjective term and is not measured solely by weight.There is weightloss and there is fit and healthy. You can eat 'junk' food and lose weight. But you can't follow that path if your goal is to get fit and improve your health. Your journey is yours...decide what your goals are and go for it.
Oh really? I think if you looked you find quite a few of us that fit every definition of healthy and still eat what many of the "clean" eating types would call junk food.
There are many that will disagree but that's so they can justify it and keep doing it. But hey that's your choice
If the 'food' was made in a laboratory does anyone really believe it can be Improving your overall health??0 -
I'm not willing to cut out anything that I won't cut out for the rest of my life. It's not sustainable. I eat my fair share of fruit & veg and other healthy foods, but I eat junk too.
Exactly this. I’ve lost 20lbs without making any sort of drastic change with what I’m actually eating. I refuse to not eat something that I want to eat. That’s not the kind of life I want to live and it isn’t sustainable for me. I would be miserable everyday if I even tried to do that. What I do is eat less, and make sure I stay at or under my calorie goal. There are days though where I just feel like eating potato chips and that’s all I eat all day. And no one will ever make me feel bad about that.
There are plenty of fanatic people in these forums (who imo like to fancy themselves dietitians/ nutritionists when they aren’t) that will tell you it’s terrible and that you can’t do it and you shouldn’t eat any junk food because it’ll make you want more or something. But it’s your life, you know how much you can handle and if you’ll be able to limit it or not.
Tl;dr- only you can know what you’ll realistically be able to eat in sustainable way.0 -
healthy is not a subjective term and is not measured solely by weight.There is weightloss and there is fit and healthy. You can eat 'junk' food and lose weight. But you can't follow that path if your goal is to get fit and improve your health. Your journey is yours...decide what your goals are and go for it.
Oh really? I think if you looked you find quite a few of us that fit every definition of healthy and still eat what many of the "clean" eating types would call junk food.
There are many that will disagree but that's so they can justify it and keep doing it. But hey that's your choice
If the 'food' was made in a laboratory does anyone really believe it can be Improving your overall health??
Your body doesn't care where that gram of protein or that gram of fat came from.0 -
There is weightloss and there is fit and healthy. You can eat 'junk' food and lose weight. But you can't follow that path if your goal is to get fit and improve your health. Your journey is yours...decide what your goals are and go for it.
Exactly, I want to be fit and healthy!0 -
You -can- lose weight and eat junk if you eat at a deficit. This works for -some- people. I did slimfast which is junk and lost weight, but I was eating 1200 calories and felt awful from eating crap. So it is possible. I now eat 1600ish but healthier food and exercise and I feel a lot better abeit don't lose weight as quickly, but on slimfast I was skinny fat because at 1200 calories I did not have the energy to exercise.0
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There is weightloss and there is fit and healthy. You can eat 'junk' food and lose weight. But you can't follow that path if your goal is to get fit and improve your health. Your journey is yours...decide what your goals are and go for it.
Exactly, I want to be fit and healthy!
Then focus on your nutrient intake and exercise.0 -
A few years back, to prove to my sister and others it could be done, I went 2 months eating nothing but desserts and stayed within my daily calories, lost 2lbs and didn't gain anything. I wouldn't encourage someone to do that for their diet, but it can be done, heh.
A normal day was something like, 2 swiss cake roll packs 550 calories, 2 packages of smores pop tarts 400 calories, 1 cup of ice cream (vanilla) 300 calories, piece of carrot cake 400 calories. I also worked out 45mins- 1 hour a day still 5 days a week during that time. I was sick of sweets after that little adventure though, I hardly ever eat anything real sweet that isn't very low carb these days.0 -
i agree I still eat chocolate chips chicken kebabs etc just not every day and I stay within my calories, if I didn't I to would eat the fridge and cupboardsI'm not willing to cut out anything that I won't cut out for the rest of my life. It's not sustainable. I eat my fair share of fruit & veg and other healthy foods, but I eat junk too.
^^This
it's all about moderation and I have also lost 23 pound in 8 weeks 0 -
you keep telling yourself that...maybe one day you'll believe it
healthy is not a subjective term and is not measured solely by weight.There is weightloss and there is fit and healthy. You can eat 'junk' food and lose weight. But you can't follow that path if your goal is to get fit and improve your health. Your journey is yours...decide what your goals are and go for it.
Oh really? I think if you looked you find quite a few of us that fit every definition of healthy and still eat what many of the "clean" eating types would call junk food.
There are many that will disagree but that's so they can justify it and keep doing it. But hey that's your choice
If the 'food' was made in a laboratory does anyone really believe it can be Improving your overall health??
Your body doesn't care where that gram of protein or that gram of fat came from.0 -
I'm of the opinion that as far as WEIGHTLOSS is concerned, a calorie is pretty much a calorie but in order to get the best nutrition with a limited caloric budget, you can't waste calories on junk. For me personally, there's absolutely NO WAY I could get by on so few calories (800 calories per day on a supervised VLCD) if I was eating any junk, or even eating calorie dense healthy foods like sweetpotatoes, nuts or legumes. I make every calorie count for MAXIMUM nutrition and you'd better believe I get over 80 grams of protein a day PLUS lots of micronutrients from vegetables... and if I got all my calories from cheetos, I'm sure my weight loss would be the same but my body would be STARVING for nutrients!0
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