Eating Clean - Lost 10 lbs in July

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Hi everyone,

I tried a challenge I found on IG by a woman named @mankofit and in the first week alone I lost 7 lbs in mostly water weight thanks to cutting out a significant amount of sodium. I'm going to share the grocery list. Based on seeing a bunch of posts on various social media sites, it pains me to see people spending an exorbitant amount of money (for those who don't have it) on these fad diets or cleanses that are only temporary. This woman I follow didn't have to put this list up nor the fitness challenges because she charges people for this. Anyway, I figure why not share it as well instead of keeping it all to myself?

FRUIT (can only eat fruit in the morning - I assume because you have all day to burn off the sugar)
strawberries - 1 cup
grapefruit - 1/2
kiwi - 1 cup
blueberries - 1 cup

CARBS
brown rice, sweet potato, oatmeal, unsalted rice cakes, Ezequiel bread

VEGGIES
brussel sprouts, asparagus, cucumber, celery, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale, iceberg lettuce, green beans

tofu, portobello mushrooms, beans, chickpeas

LEAN PROTEINS (no shakes)
eggs (only one yolk allowed a day), chicken breast, salmon (twice a week), turkey, tilapia, cod, halibut

GOOD FATS (1 tbs at a time, 2-3 times a day depending on macros)
olive oil, coconut oil, almond butter, peanut butter, walnuts, avocado (1/4 only)

Typically, my breakfast consists of 1/2 grapefruit, a couple of strawberries and/or kiwi a cup of oatmeal and 1 egg with a yolk and 3 without.

Three hours later I eat a protein, veggie and a carb. Depending on what I make for the week, I will preface that with iceberg lettuce with cucumbers, tomatoes and drizzled with balsamic vinegar dressing.

Three hours later I will eat the same thing again.
Three hours later (this is usually my pre-workout meal) I eat this again (minus the salad).
Three hours later (post workout) I eat greens and a protein.
Of course I'm drinking a ton of water (with lemon) before, during and after each meal.

Eating every 3 hours speeds up your metabolism. The seasonings I use are cayenne pepper (Google it and you'll see how it helps with weight loss), garlic powder, onion powder, crushed rosemary and Mrs. Dash. I put Stevia in my oatmeal.

I HATE brown rice so I sauté some onions and seasonings in olive oil and when the 90 second Uncle Ben's rice is done, I mix it in all together - YUMMMMM.

I do cardio AND strength train 3-4 days a week. I hope you ladies are still not using the excuse that you don't want to "BULK UP". THAT'S A MYTH!!!!!!!!!!!! Muscle burns fat so when I had a cold for a week, I was still losing weight - not because I couldn't eat due to the cold. To the contrary, I continued to eat my meals every 3 hours.

GOOD LUCK!
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Replies

  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    First congrats on the weight loss.

    You lost 10lbs in July because of your calorie deficit, and only because of your calorie deficit.

    Not because you only ate fruit in the morning (ridiculous practice, carb timing has no effect on body composition until you get in to ridiculously low body fat percentages)

    Not because you ate every 3 hours (meal timing is irrelevant, has ZERO effect on metabolism and ZERO effect on body composition)

    Not because you ate carbs considered to be low on the glycemic index scale (the glycemic index has no effect on body composition)

    Please do research on proper nutrition so you're not blindly following a cookie cutter nutrition plan. Just because it works, doesn't mean it's what you have to do to lose weight, you're losing weight because the plan has you eating at a deficit, not because of the fruit in the morning, the meal timing, the clean eating, etc.

    Again, congrats on the weight loss.
  • fitobsessed
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    First let me say to you thank you for the compliment!

    Second, it wasn't soley because of the calorie deficit because if that were true, I would have lost the 10 lbs this time last year when I WAS eating at a calorie deficit and working my *kitten* off even more than I'm doing now. It IS because of WHAT I ate. Cutting out a significant amount of sodium and sugar in my FOODS as well. You're really going to tell me it wasn't because of what I PUT into my body that contributed to weight loss?

    To even say that clean eating is not what contributed to my weight loss is absurd - otherwise I could whatever I wanted, correct?

    I have no problem with people posting their opinions and thoughts but leave out the snarkyness please.

    Oh and again, thanks.
  • kalieah
    kalieah Posts: 143 Member
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    LOL I'm sorry, but that guy needs to learn his place. i understand where he's coming from about the carb timing, but clean eating has many benefits, and the lowered sodium intake WILL help you shed that water weight! If you eat 1600 calories a day of BAD, junky food, you will more than likely gain or not lose any weight. but 1800 calories of clean eating, PLUS lifting, will most definitely help you lose weight!
  • IMarieB
    IMarieB Posts: 33 Member
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    @fitobsessed, congrats! No matter what people say I think what you eat makes a difference. If you fill up on crap you will feel like crap and want more crap. I've seen mankofit on IG as well she's a bad mamma jamma. Once again good job!
  • fitobsessed
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    I probably should have read your profile before responding. A.J. - I don't think your issue is with people eating clean, I think your issue is how you were raised as a result of your mom being a "health nut" and the fact that despite that, you still managed to be overweight as a kid.

    Your second paragraph reeks of harsh tone and attitude. Don't stereotype EVERYONE who eats clean as people who "walk around like the're somehow better than those who don't" which "you can't stand". You're too young to be that salty - no pun intended.
  • fitobsessed
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    LOL I'm sorry, but that guy needs to learn his place. i understand where he's coming from about the carb timing, but clean eating has many benefits, and the lowered sodium intake WILL help you shed that water weight! If you eat 1600 calories a day of BAD, junky food, you will more than likely gain or not lose any weight. but 1800 calories of clean eating, PLUS lifting, will most definitely help you lose weight!

    I've seen his other posts - speaks to his character so I'm not taking it personal LOL. I agree with you - I could see his point as well (I always like to look at both sides of a story/debate), but people like him would get his point across much better if he didn't come across as an *sshole - which is what he called himself in a different quote so I'm not calling him something he isn't calling himself LMAO.
  • fitobsessed
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    @fitobsessed, congrats! No matter what people say I think what you eat makes a difference. If you fill up on crap you will feel like crap and want more crap. I've seen mankofit on IG as well she's a bad mamma jamma. Once again good job!

    Thanks girl! I feel real sluggish and sleepy when I eat *kitten* LOL. Age has something to do with it too - I could eat a hamburger every day for lunch when I was in my early 20's and still lose weight - not anymore LMAO.
  • Mama530
    Mama530 Posts: 605 Member
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    Great job! Thank you for sharing with us. You are very inspiring!
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    First let me say to you thank you for the compliment!

    Second, it wasn't soley because of the calorie deficit because if that were true, I would have lost the 10 lbs this time last year when I WAS eating at a calorie deficit and working my *kitten* off even more than I'm doing now. It IS because of WHAT I ate. Cutting out a significant amount of sodium and sugar in my FOODS as well. You're really going to tell me it wasn't because of what I PUT into my body that contributed to weight loss?

    To even say that clean eating is not what contributed to my weight loss is absurd - otherwise I could whatever I wanted, correct?

    I have no problem with people posting their opinions and thoughts but leave out the snarkyness please.

    Oh and again, thanks.

    All that matters for weight loss and proper nutrition is calorie intake and macronutrient breakdown of that calorie intake. Obviously there are certain foods you should avoid, but it is a small list (trans fats, hydrogenated oils, etc.). I'd love to have a debate if you'd like. Read this when you have the time, it's very informative about why people tend to think that low carb diets cause faster fat loss. It is true that low carb diets may cause faster weight loss, but it is the fat loss that is important. I'd love to discuss it with you after you finish reading. I'm not trying to attack anybody, just trying to have a discussion. Once again, congratulations on your weight loss, that's great, if it's working for you, then keep using it.

    http://impruvism.com/why-calories-count/
  • jfrankic
    jfrankic Posts: 747 Member
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    Congratulations on your 10 pound loss!
    You lost 10lbs in July because of your calorie deficit, and only because of your calorie deficit.

    Truth for any fat or LBM lost. The exception here is water weight.
    Not because you only ate fruit in the morning (ridiculous practice, carb timing has no effect on body composition until you get in to ridiculously low body fat percentages)

    Truth.
    Not because you ate every 3 hours (meal timing is irrelevant, has ZERO effect on metabolism and ZERO effect on body composition)

    Truth.

    Clean eating certainly has it's benefits, without a doubt. Reducing sodium will help with water retention, not with fat loss. Eating junk will likely make you feel like poo. Lots of benefits. If you want to eat like this, then follow this eating plan.

    I'm wondering if this type of eating sustainable for you in the long run? If I can't see myself following a "diet" for three or six month and one, three or five years, then I'm not going to start it now. For me, I'll eat "clean" (or natural, real foods) 80% of the time and eat my pizza at least once a week, have wine on the weekends and some kind of chocolate every single day. I also fast for 14-16 hours a day and eat two HUGE meals. This fits my lifestyle. And as you can see from my ticker and profile pix, it has certainly not hindered my fat loss. :wink:

    BTW, I eat 2,600 calories a day and lift heavy stuff 3x per week. :drinker:
  • pdkc1
    pdkc1 Posts: 14
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    bump
  • fitobsessed
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    First let me say to you thank you for the compliment!

    Second, it wasn't soley because of the calorie deficit because if that were true, I would have lost the 10 lbs this time last year when I WAS eating at a calorie deficit and working my *kitten* off even more than I'm doing now. It IS because of WHAT I ate. Cutting out a significant amount of sodium and sugar in my FOODS as well. You're really going to tell me it wasn't because of what I PUT into my body that contributed to weight loss?

    To even say that clean eating is not what contributed to my weight loss is absurd - otherwise I could whatever I wanted, correct?

    I have no problem with people posting their opinions and thoughts but leave out the snarkyness please.

    Oh and again, thanks.

    All that matters for weight loss and proper nutrition is calorie intake and macronutrient breakdown of that calorie intake. Obviously there are certain foods you should avoid, but it is a small list (trans fats, hydrogenated oils, etc.). I'd love to have a debate if you'd like. Read this when you have the time, it's very informative about why people tend to think that low carb diets cause faster fat loss. It is true that low carb diets may cause faster weight loss, but it is the fat loss that is important. I'd love to discuss it with you after you finish reading. I'm not trying to attack anybody, just trying to have a discussion. Once again, congratulations on your weight loss, that's great, if it's working for you, then keep using it.

    http://impruvism.com/why-calories-count/

    AJ - why didn't you just post this the first time?!?! THIS response is SO much better than the first one!! NOW I'm open to reading anything you have to say without feeling like one of us has to jump on the defensive!!! Aye LOL! So I'll read this on my way home. And if I didn't say it in my original post, I acknowledge that at LEAST 7 lbs of the 10lb weight loss was due to water weight - and hell yea I'm happy about that LOL. I actually didn't look at this as a low carb diet - I just wanted to eat the "right" foods. I suffer from arthritis in various joints and I need some sort of grocery list of the foods I could eat that might help me - I have noticed less flare-ups.

    I actually use the IIFYM calculator and it helps a bit but I find I can't eat that much protein (unless I try to eat 6 times a day). This past week I haven't been able to finish eating a meal and I struggle with eating the right amount of carbs and protein (no problem with the fat lol). I needed SOMETHING or someone to tell me what foods to eat/recipes that didn't include a lot of sodium and sugar.

    THANK YOU for the link.
  • fitobsessed
    Options
    Congratulations on your 10 pound loss!
    You lost 10lbs in July because of your calorie deficit, and only because of your calorie deficit.

    Truth for any fat or LBM lost. The exception here is water weight.
    Not because you only ate fruit in the morning (ridiculous practice, carb timing has no effect on body composition until you get in to ridiculously low body fat percentages)

    Truth.
    Not because you ate every 3 hours (meal timing is irrelevant, has ZERO effect on metabolism and ZERO effect on body composition)

    Truth.

    Clean eating certainly has it's benefits, without a doubt. Reducing sodium will help with water retention, not with fat loss. Eating junk will likely make you feel like poo. Lots of benefits. If you want to eat like this, then follow this eating plan.

    I'm wondering if this type of eating sustainable for you in the long run? If I can't see myself following a "diet" for three or six month and one, three or five years, then I'm not going to start it now. For me, I'll eat "clean" (or natural, real foods) 80% of the time and eat my pizza at least once a week, have wine on the weekends and some kind of chocolate every single day. I also fast for 14-16 hours a day and eat two HUGE meals. This fits my lifestyle. And as you can see from my ticker and profile pix, it has certainly not hindered my fat loss. :wink:

    BTW, I eat 2,600 calories a day and lift heavy stuff 3x per week. :drinker:

    Every "body" is different and what I can tell you is that there is no way on God's earth I could eat 2,600 calories a day unless I eat like crap all day. You're doing exactly what I'm doing - I probably should have said I didn't stick to this 100% of the time - are you kidding me? I had ice cream a few times, pigged out on Buffalo Wild Wings and had a Friendly's cheeseburger. THOSE are the days I might have hit 2,600 calories. But I haven't had a drink in a while only , fasting won't work for me - I need food and I also don't lift "heavy stuff" - I lift at most 10lbs - I was doing 15lbs but didn't like the results.

    Thank you for the comment.
  • fitobsessed
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    Okay - I did notice I said most of my 10 lbs weight loss was due to water weight - I knew I wasn't bugging. READ PEOPLE READ LMAO!
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    AJ - why didn't you just post this the first time?!?! THIS response is SO much better than the first one!! NOW I'm open to reading anything you have to say without feeling like one of us has to jump on the defensive!!! Aye LOL! So I'll read this on my way home. And if I didn't say it in my original post, I acknowledge that at LEAST 7 lbs of the 10lb weight loss was due to water weight - and hell yea I'm happy about that LOL. I actually didn't look at this as a low carb diet - I just wanted to eat the "right" foods. I suffer from arthritis in various joints and I need some sort of grocery list of the foods I could eat that might help me - I have noticed less flare-ups.

    I actually use the IIFYM calculator and it helps a bit but I find I can't eat that much protein (unless I try to eat 6 times a day). This past week I haven't been able to finish eating a meal and I struggle with eating the right amount of carbs and protein (no problem with the fat lol). I needed SOMETHING or someone to tell me what foods to eat/recipes that didn't include a lot of sodium and sugar.

    THANK YOU for the link.

    Sorry, trying to shorten this quoted text. Low carb is great if you need to see drastic movements on the scale as you're starting to get motivated, but you do have to understand that unless you plan on going low carb for the rest of your life, the moment you go back to eating a normal amount of carbs, you are going to see an inevitable drastic increase in weight so you need to be prepared for that. Also, eat whatever foods make you feel good and hit your calories and macros. This can be done eating mostly lean beef, chicken, vegetables, and what most people consider to be clean foods, or it can be done eating some processed and fast foods. Both paths will lead to the same result, granted you take a multivitamin, as hard as it is to believe. Nobody is telling you that you have to eat carbs, or processed food, or junk food, but you can, and you can be perfectly healthy doing it, that's all I'm saying. It's good that you're tailoring your diet to your personal needs, everybody should be doing that. There is not one diet plan with foods on it that are perfect for everybody. Anyway, once again, congratulations on your weight loss, and you look great if I may say so. :flowerforyou:
  • SJVZEE
    SJVZEE Posts: 451 Member
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    First let me say to you thank you for the compliment!

    Second, it wasn't soley because of the calorie deficit because if that were true, I would have lost the 10 lbs this time last year when I WAS eating at a calorie deficit and working my *kitten* off even more than I'm doing now. It IS because of WHAT I ate. Cutting out a significant amount of sodium and sugar in my FOODS as well. You're really going to tell me it wasn't because of what I PUT into my body that contributed to weight loss?

    To even say that clean eating is not what contributed to my weight loss is absurd - otherwise I could whatever I wanted, correct?

    I have no problem with people posting their opinions and thoughts but leave out the snarkyness please.

    Oh and again, thanks.

    I lost almost 50lbs eating utter rubbish-fast food several times a week, lean cuisines, chips, regular soda, cookies etc etc. No exercise either. Weight loss really is about the calories and as long as I restricted them the weight fell off. As for meal timing and metabolism-total bunk.

    Eta: I'm now in maintenance and eat a whole foods, plant based diet. But, I do it for the health benefits and not to lose weight. I still need to track what I eat, even eating 'clean', or I'll start gaining weight.
  • kalieah
    kalieah Posts: 143 Member
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    ^^^ to the guy who said he lost weight eating pure junk, yes. if you're at a calorie deficit then of course you can lose weight. But WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO PUT ALL OF THAT BAD STUFF IN YOUR BODY?! I understand every once in a while, but every day?!?! It just doesnt make sense to me. but thats my opinion.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    ^^^ to the guy who said he lost weight eating pure junk, yes. if you're at a calorie deficit then of course you can lose weight. But WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO PUT ALL OF THAT BAD STUFF IN YOUR BODY?! I understand every once in a while, but every day?!?! It just doesnt make sense to me. but thats my opinion.

    A single food is not healthy or unhealthy by itself without context. Food is either healthy or unhealthy in the context of your daily intake. For example, if you have already hit your daily goals for all of your micronutrients, and you have 200 calories, 12g of fat, and 22 carbs remaining for the day, then a glazed doughnut from krispy kreme would be a healthy choice given the context of your intake that day. If you have already hit your macro, micro, and calorie goals for the day, then any fruit or vegetable you eat is going to be an unhealthy choice because it will cause you to exceed your calorie goal for the day. People who eat fast food a majority of the time are often very unhealthy. This is not because fast food is unhealthy, but instead because these people are over consuming in general. Yes fast food has a higher mass quantity of fat in it which makes most fast food very calorically dense, but if you're logging all your intake and not exceeding calorie goals, and hitting macro and micro goals, fast food can be a very healthy choice. You can't blame the food their eating, you have to blame the quantities they're eating.
  • Zumaria1
    Zumaria1 Posts: 225 Member
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    You look fantastic!!! Congrats on your weight loss.
  • SJVZEE
    SJVZEE Posts: 451 Member
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    ^^^ to the guy who said he lost weight eating pure junk, yes. if you're at a calorie deficit then of course you can lose weight. But WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO PUT ALL OF THAT BAD STUFF IN YOUR BODY?! I understand every once in a while, but every day?!?! It just doesnt make sense to me. but thats my opinion.

    Because at the time it would have been too overwhelming to drastically change my diet to a totally different, 'healthy' one, and it would not have been sustainable-I would not have stuck with it because I would have felt too restricted. The plan I followed (alternate day IF) met me where I was at and did'nt require me to make drastic changes to the way I ate, except for restricting calories (and that was only every other day). I'm at a different place now than I was back then, but it was a process I had to go through, to get to where I am now. The great thing is I lost 50lbs along the way and learned some very important tools that I now use in maintenance. Also, I had blood work done this spring, while still eating tha way and my numbers were pretty awesome :)