Processed Foods Hindering Weight Loss?

Don't plan on losing wright faster if you're going to just keep doing whatever on weekends and holidays.

Well, I can't do a lot of processed food. It totally hinders my weight loss. What about really simple lunches of boiled eggs and fresh raw veggies? I do that a lot and it's super easy.

It's interesting how it is often men that get on these threads and insist, to women, that weight loss is ONLY about calories in and out and that quality of food does not matter at all. Frankly, I'm getting sick of it. The body is a complex system with HORMONES and different foods affect those hormones in very different ways. Women often have a more difficult struggle with metabolic issues than men. Most of us have struggled many years believing that it is only calories in/out and willpower only to discover that conventional dieting advice does NOT work, and actually harms our health. But we have to keep hearing "calories in, calories out", and that it's something we did wrong that mere calorie restriction did not work. BS.

Processed food is definitely not for me. When I eat lots of processed foods I cannot control cravings and my health deteriorates. Read the ingredients on the labels. I cannot tolerate wheat, corn, canola, soy, msg, etc and that stuff, one or more, is in almost every food that comes in a package. (I am NOT a special snowflake; many people are sick from their diets and don't have a clue-not their fault when most doctors are clueless on nutrition as well). Food manufacturers spend much time and money on researching how to make their food more desirable (addictive) so that we will eat more and BUY more. No that's not a conspiracy, it's right out in the open.

OP: I would suggest also being concientious of your macro ratio. Dried fruit is killer for me. Sugar is still sugar and dried fruit is an especially dense form of it. I have no problems with RAW, unsalted nuts and they don't stimulate me to over eat. However, roasted and salted nuts DO create cravings. Again, it's the processing and added refined salt (sea salt is fine for me), and added oils such as canola, soy, peanut (I don't eat peanuts-cuz they are not nuts). Don't avoid healthy fats; they are our best friend for health and weight loss.

Edit: even though I think the calories issue is lesser than quality, I do still measure and track my food. For fun, and good practice, I do often estimate a portion by eye and then weigh it. I am extremely accurate with small portions. I find bigger portions harder to judge so I enter all the ingredients in a recipe in MFP and then measure how many cups/servings are in the entire dish.

Processed food is definitely not for me. When I eat lots of processed foods I cannot control cravings and my health deteriorates. Read the ingredients on the labels. I cannot tolerate wheat, corn, canola, soy, msg, etc and that stuff, one or more, is in almost every food that comes in a package. (I am NOT a special snowflake; many people are sick from their diets and don't have a clue-not their fault when most doctors are clueless on nutrition as well). Food manufacturers spend much time and money on researching how to make their food more desirable (addictive) so that we will eat more and BUY more. No that's not a conspiracy, it's right out in the open.

Processed food is definitely not for me. When I eat lots of processed foods I cannot control cravings and my health deteriorates. Read the ingredients on the labels. I cannot tolerate wheat, corn, canola, soy, msg, etc and that stuff, one or more, is in almost every food that comes in a package. (I am NOT a special snowflake; many people are sick from their diets and don't have a clue-not their fault when most doctors are clueless on nutrition as well). Food manufacturers spend much time and money on researching how to make their food more desirable (addictive) so that we will eat more and BUY more. No that's not a conspiracy, it's right out in the open.

Sme woman needing less carbs may be due to not having enough muscle mass??? I don't know just guessing that because men have more muscle they can use carbs more efficiently?

Sme woman needing less carbs may be due to not having enough muscle mass??? I don't know just guessing that because men have more muscle they can use carbs more efficiently?

Women that have PCOS and some that are post menopausal do better on lower carbs, as do people with hypothyroid and some people with insulin sensitivity due to being overweight. While it does not negate the energy equation, there is a downstream effect of lowering their metabolism and therefore impacting the calories out part of the equation. As a side note, they also do better with exercise, particularly strength training.