Can you lose weight by eating Lean Cuisines?

You may gain some temporary water weight from the extra sodium, but provided you have a calorie deficit everyday, you'll lose weight.

Technically it doesn't matter what you eat to lose weight, but it will REALLY affect how you feel.

I can budget alcohol in my calories, but I tell you what, I don't ever feel like hitting the gym the next day when I drink.

You can lose weight eating cheese puffs everyday if you maintain a caloric deficit. My thoughts on lean cuisines and others, is you don't really learn lifestyle changes. Like how to prepare healthy delicious foods, how to make smart choices. They are a quick fix to lower caloric intake. That said, I keep a few in my freezer at all times, for emergencies. Probably twice a month.

I know they're not healthy, but have people here lost weight by eating them? They're just easy to make when I don't have a lot of time on my hands. Plus, the spaghetti and meatballs isn't that bad and it's only 270 calories!

so, is it okay if I eat them?

(and i realize losing weight is all about the caloric deficit, but this leads me to believe WHAT you eat doesn't actually matter if lean cuisines are okay.. i don't know, weight loss confuses me to no end.)

If you like them, you can certainly lose weight eating them. Just keep in mind they do tend to have a lot of sodium so if you're sensitive to it there might be some water retention. I like the spring roll ones.

I would never DEPEND on them for weight loss, but if once in a while you don't have the time to cook a fresh healthy meal and need something quick and easy, I would pick Lean Cuisine over most other types of "fast meals".

If you know in advance when you won't have time to cook a meal, maybe make some extra dinner a few nights before and freeze the leftovers so you have your own ready-in-five-minutes meal, but healthier because its homemade!

You can lose weight eating cheese puffs everyday if you maintain a caloric deficit. My thoughts on lean cuisines and others, is you don't really learn lifestyle changes. Like how to prepare healthy delicious foods, how to make smart choices. They are a quick fix to lower caloric intake.

I agree with this. I lost around 10 lb one year when I swapped out Lean Cuisine's Chicken Enchilada Suiza for my "normal" lunches of a McDonald's double cheeseburger, but that's not saying much.

I don't eat them at all now, because I find there are other equally tasty options that I can make just as quickly as nuking a Lean Cuisine...but I also don't think it is bad or wrong to have them in moderation!

Yes. I rarely eat them, but I do keep some of there sandwiches, for some reason I enjoy, when I am in a bind for time. As others have said, not the best long term solution because once you get sick of them what do you fall back on?

ETA: Best advice I can give OP. Its all about calories. Control those those and you will lose weight. Then, as you eat different foods, take not of how they effect you. Are you hungry sooner, tired, etc. Be more aware of how different stuff affects you and you will start naturally moving towards certain choices. Awareness is important.

I like to have bigger meals. That being said, if I'm feeling lazy, I'll get a Lean Cuisine steamer or a Healthy Choice steamer and whip up a side of veggies sometimes. I've had no problems.

It's not what you eat. It's the caloric deficit. Are you creating a moderate deficit? Good. You'll lose weight.

Of course they are only like 300 cals each.

So you know how frozen meals always are dreached in extra sauce? (This is likely where all your sodium is). What I do is I take steamed veggies and add them to my lean cuisine/healthy choice/smart ones meals. For an extra 30 calories I double the size of the meal. My favorites to add are asparagus, green beans, and broccoli. All that fiber makes the meal super filling. Plus the veggies taste really good mixed in with all the extra sauce

sure...things like that are a useful tool...OCCASIONALLY. Better to eat real, fresh food than processed frozen stuff, but it won't hurt you to use them on busy days or whatever. I've never been impressed with the flavor of most of them. (although the Lean Cuisine mushroom pizza isn't bad at all.....)

Try searching for "the big fat truth about low fat foods" was on the bbc. Took a presenter/mode,l Zoe Salmon, who swapped a healthy diet for low fat ready meals for a month and tracks her progress

I started out on weight watchers, and these were pretty much a staple for me, and in a couple of months I went from 222 to 192 where I am now. I think the healthy choice, lean cuisine, and smartones are a good choice for losing weight. I would normally eat a dinner and a piece of fruit with it, and it worked great for me. I do believe cooking and preparing every meal ahead of time is the best option, but I would try this, not get time to go shopping, cook the meal, etc... and end up eating crap. I still eat them pretty regularly, eating things made from scratch are the best bet, but these have worked for me, and I pretty much stay short on time.

I joined this site just to weigh in on this topic. I am a recently graduated college student who went from being active to sedentary (desk job). I live alone and don't like to cook. So I started eating lean cuisines 3-4 times daily with just a ton of diet cranberry juice (5-10 calories per serving). I do mix in snacks and such in occasionally (not healthy ones), but the bulk of my diet is just the lean cuisines. I have lost about 20 lbs and have honestly not been hungry once. Sure they have a lot of sodium, but each one has ~30% of your daily sodium so 3-4 daily would put me at about the average recommended sodium limit. I have about 5 lbs more to go so I should be at goal in about 1-2 more months. For me its a quick, convenient way to make sure I'm limiting my calories without having to worry about measuring or calorie counting. Well, hope this helps everybody seemed against the idea so I wanted to speak up for the other side.

I'm sure you can. I'd limit them as much as possible though. Very processed and high in sodium.

Will you be eating at a calorie deficit by eating Lean Cuisines? If the answer is yes, then yes, you will lose weight.


However for me they just aren't that good and they are not enough food.