Eating "junk" and losing weight?

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.

You took the words right out of my mouth! Most days, I eat pretty well, but I'm sure not going to deny myself dessert or hamburger and fries now and then

p.s. be as angry as you want to be about it, but science will always trump anecdotal experience.

Spoken like someone with no real life experience.

haha! that is the funniest thing i have heard all day!

Can science confirm that?

Your mom confirmed it already. Anecdotal experience, like a boss!

Did that just happen?

I think it just happened.

God I love this site.

p.s. be as angry as you want to be about it, but science will always trump anecdotal experience.

p.p.s. heavy smokers are also thinner than non-smokers - if weight is the most important indicator of health, perhaps we should all look into smoking!

p.p.p.s. j.k. about the smoking! terrible habit!
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This made me LOL. Not sarcastically at all. I'm a scientist and I appreciate your humor :-).

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!

Change your definition of "junk." I don't consider food to be "junk" if I am hungry. It's only "junk" if I eat when I'm not hungry.

I eat clean because I don't trust myself.

I eat clean because I don't trust myself.

Good for you! Seriously, it takes a lot of strength to admit that and take control of it! Wish you the best!

Thank you. I began this journey on 1/1, and I've already lost 46 pounds. Eating clean has been great.

I happily and unapologetically eat what other people might classify as junk. Candy bars, pizza, cup cakes, etc. I can't see how perhaps 10% of what I eat is going to undo the 90% that's non-junk and make me an unhealthy person.

I happily and apologetically eat what other people might classify as junk. Candy bars, pizza, cup cakes, etc. I can't see how perhaps 10% of what I eat is going to undo the 90% that's non-junk and make me an unhealthy person.

^^This!! But do you mean un-apologetically?

Yes. That's what I get for blindly following spell check's suggestion. :blushing:

I happily and apologetically eat what other people might classify as junk. Candy bars, pizza, cup cakes, etc. I can't see how perhaps 10% of what I eat is going to undo the 90% that's non-junk and make me an unhealthy person.

^^This!! But do you mean un-apologetically?

Yes. That's what I get for blindly following spell check's suggestion. :blushing:

No worries! I only wanted to be sure you meant what I thought you did! :-)

I'm jumping in without reading all 6 pages. I'm just starting out and if my diary were public, you'd see plenty of 'junk'. I'm slowly changing my eating habits. And I'm learning moderation. If I go out to eat, I order what I want and eat less of it. If I am eating fast food, I'll get a grilled chicken sandwich (dry - no heaps of mayo!). I'll also get an occassional coke when I'm out since I stopped buying them at the grocery store. At home, I am making mostly the same recipes that I used to eat but I'm subbing a lot of ingredients for healthier versions. So far, it's working for me. I firmly believe that all things are ok in moderation and that I have to take baby steps so I don't burn myself out. As I lose more weight, my calorie deficit will get smaller. By the time that happens, by slowly working toward a cleaner diet, I'll be in a place where I have a healthy relationship with food again. I don't think it's a good idea (for me) to go from extreme overindulgence of food to the opposite extreme overnight.

<----Eats my fair share of what some might refer to as "junk" or "bad". Healthy weight and all numbers are in the healthy range.

http://www.simplyshredded.com/research-review-the-dirt-on-clean-eating-written-by-nutrition-expert-alan-aragon.html

All-or-Nothing Dieting & Eating Disorder Risk
In 1997, a general physician named Steven Bratman coined the term orthorexia nervosa [21], which he defines as, “an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food.” It reminds me of the counterproductive dietary perfectionism I’ve seen among many athletes, trainers, and coaches. One of the fundamental pitfalls of dichotomizing foods as good or bad, or clean or dirty, is that it can form a destructive relationship with food. This isn’t just an empty claim; it’s been seen in research. Smith and colleagues found that flexible dieting was associated with the absence of overeating, lower bodyweight, and the absence of depression and anxiety [22]. They also found that a strict all-or-nothing approach to dieting was associated with overeating and increased bodyweight. Similarly, Stewart and colleagues found that rigid dieting was associated with symptoms of an eating disorder, mood disturbances, and anxiety [23]. Flexible dieting was not highly correlated with these qualities.
Although these are observational study designs with self-reported data, anyone who spends enough time among fitness buffs knows that these findings are not off the mark.

BEST post I've seen in a very long time! Way to quote science like a boss! Love it! THANK YOU!! :-)

Edit: Sorry...I'm a scientist and I find that this is severely lacking in all the finger pointing we see! :-) Back it up, yo!

Edit 2: Before I'm flamed, myself included :-P. I do usually try to put a wide-angled lens on things though. It's the global climate systems climatologist in me :-P.

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.

I agree with this!

If people want to fill themselves with processed junk and frankenfoods that is their human right.

It means more fresh, nourishing food left for ME :-)

PS someone upthread said 75% fresh, whole, real foods was unattainable. Well I am eating 100% that way.

If people want to fill themselves with processed junk and frankenfoods that is their human right.

It means more fresh, nourishing food left for ME :-)

PS someone upthread said 75% fresh, whole, real foods was unattainable. Well I am eating 100% that way.

I'm pretty sure the argument has been more that it's unsustainable, not attainable. I could be wrong, but I think the people arguing for the so-called junk food are simply saying that they refuse to cut it all out to an extreme because that would not be sustainable for them.

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.

Ahhh---only young people dare to abuse their bodies this way--"youth is truly wasted on the young." At my age, If I ate like that for a couple of months, I would probably end up in the hospital (or worse). I'm not surprised that you were sick of sweets after that.