Advice from switching away from clean eating...

Eat what you want. There are many people with huge weightloss numbers who eat what the like, within their calories goal. It won't stall you or reverse you progress, but eating what you enjoy and not thinking in terms of clean/ dirty might make you happier. Eat, track, enjoy.

I agree it can be easier to overeat processed food. Cause a lot of times it tastes better . It's "processed" specifically in order to taste better so we will buy more of it. I think restricting yourself from what you really want will only cause a rebound effect (at least it does for me). Labeling a food as off limits is a sure way to crave and go overboard on it. Finding a middle road between restricting and binging is what it's all about. Processed food won't make you gain weight if eaten in moderation to satisfy hunger.

ETA -- Congrats on your loss, that is amazing!

I eat what I want. Sometimes that's "clean", sometimes it's "dirty". Hasn't hindered my progress at all.

Why not just amke it your goal to eat mostly healthy (or clean if you'd prefer) with 20% allowance for treats. Aim to hit your macros whether the food is "clean" or "dirty". If you are hitting your macros you won't be able to fit in a whole lot of junk anyway.

Basically I have spent the last 12 months eating fairly cleanly, even going so far as going vegan at one point, and currently on the Mediterranean diet. However, I just have come to the conclusion that I like food. I like clean food, I like "dirty" food, I like it all...

Have you found it just as easy to loose/maintain or harder? I feel as though by eating "clean" i have more self control over what I eat, but it is getting to the point where my mentality towards food is becoming a bit disordered...on the other hand, I feel that by eating more "junk" food that I can go completely over the other side and undo the almost 100lb weightloss I have achieved! I just want to eat like a human being!

I know the feeling. I used to think certain foods were good and certain foods were bad. I used to think if I ate something "bad", I couldn't stop and would gain all my weight back.

What I'm learning is that no foods are good or bad. I don't avoid any foods except those I have intolerance to (soy, dairy). I am sensitive to sugar, so I go really easy on sweets. I am caffeine intolerant and decided to cut out 99% caffeine, so I don't drink caffeinated sodas but do have one cup of tea in the am and decaf coffee.

I was obese for most of my life, then when I turned 40 I joined a gym and signed up with a personal trainer. He taught me how to eat properly and exercise, and he told me, 'Log your food. You will be doing this for the rest of your life." My highest weight was about 220 in my early twenties, but I managed to lose down to about 190. That's the weight I was when I was 40. It took me several months to get to about 150, where I was for a long time.

About five years ago when I stopped logging and started eating more again and gained back about 30 lbs over the last five years. Now, I've lost 20 of that and I'm ten pounds to my weight goal.

I see my renewed eating habits as a way of life. It's about making choices. I can have that low fat 450 calorie ginger pumpkin muffin, but do I really want to put that into my body (especially with all that sugar). I could eat half and save the rest for another day, or I can cut it into fours and share with others. I choose not to eat it at all because I'd already planned my eating and exercise plan for that day, and all that sugar makes me feel edgy and hungrier.

However, I went to a party a few weeks ago and I had sweets.I knew I'd be going to a party where I would eat more so I saved some calories for the event. I did not go over my calorie limit that week and I ended up losing a few pounds anyway.

The concept that I'm still not used to, which I heard from my trainer all those years ago, is that you have to make sure you are properly fueled. That means when you exercise, you have to make sure you are getting enough "gas" to keep yourself running at normal speed. Fuel is another word for food.

Finally, no food is good or bad as long as you eat it in moderation (and you're not allergic or sensitive to it).

I find it much easier to meet any of my fitness goals when I do not exclude any foods because im not as miserable and its less likely I will binge.

I ate a lot of "bad" food today. I would log it, but I don't want it in my database, so what happens at the State Fair stays at the State Fair. Anyway, point is I didn't even come close to my calorie goal today and that was with a mess of junk food. Granted this day was a accumulation of several days of intense walking as was making sure I can locate my classes among other things in prep for getting ready for school. But, that is kind of the point, if you move more and burn more you can eat more and it doesn't matter what it is as long as you are in a deficit.