How do YOU do it?

to those who eat whatever and whenever but within caloric limit, I guess you guys either don't eat very much to begin with or you don't really have bad eating habit with junk foods.

Agreed.

It reminds me of when I ate pescetarian for awhile (1 year) and realized my husband's friend lost like 60 lb from making just that one change. I didn't see the sudden/drastic loss from cutting meat, but I NEVER ate much meat. Meanwhile this guy ate tons of fast food burgers, chicken, as well as wings, steak, etc. So for him it made a huge impact quickly.

to those who eat whatever and whenever but within caloric limit, I guess you guys either don't eat very much to begin with or you don't really have bad eating habit with junk foods.

No. I just find out ways to make it work. If I'm going out to a big dinner and/or drinking, I make damn sure I spend an extra hour or two hiking, snowshoeing, running etc. I've been to plenty of 7-8 course beer or wine pairing dinners and for the most part maintained my daily deficit. If I've sat on my *kitten* all day, I don't get to drink beer, I don't get dessert, and I'm eating plain old grilled chicken and dry salad in my lonely apartment.

I've also figured out the things I really want. I don't waste calories on french fries... unless I'm at a place that has awesome french fries. I don't mindlessly eat bread, but if I'm at a lace that has great bread...

You aren't really saying anything opposite from my point. you do have a pretty good eating habit.

my earlier point was that if someone can eat whatever and whenever and still within a small calorie limit, this person either eats very small amount of food or simply doesn't eat much of those junk foods which usually aren't very fulfilling and calorie dense. :bigsmile:

Do you eat whatever, and I mean whatever, (chips, soda, crackers, cake, full fat coffee creamer, etc) just a deficit and have succesuflly lost weight?
Or sticking more to healthy, unproccessed, lof fat.. or what not?

Just wondering.

I eat a whole lot less of whatever I want. I don't do low calorie/low sugar/diet stuff. I eat full fat dairy and REAL sugar (except sodas... sugar sodas make me feel ill). I aim to at least meet (or exceed) my fat, fiber and protein goals. The snacks that I eat usually make up enough of the carbs. I've been losing weight steadily even though I eat what I want. If it doesn't fit in my macros, I go to sleep knowing that I can have it tomorrow if I still want it.

Way to addicted to simple carbs to eat what I want and still maintain control. Using MFP helps me see all the empty calories that prevent me from achieving deficit. Severe restrictions on food made with ground grains has cut my cravings. I am a pasta and fried food junkie but candy is meaningless to me. A snickers bar will rot in my fridge. I don't have self control issues with candy....but I could scarf a Super Bowl of pho and 4 fresh rolls with a Thai tea 3 x a day. 3 wks ago I had 3 tsp of Pad Thai and for 2 days I fought the cravings hour by hour. I would cruise the fridge and pantry looking at food. Scared me straight. Realized that there was no point in reincorporating the problem foods into my new lifestyle. Your relationship with food will determine whether you can just control intake of junk food or not.

I eat what I like, so I do use coffee creamer, eat chips, drink diet soda, have fast food, etc. I try not to eat terribly all the time but I lost my weight by exercising and having a calorie deficit! (I've lost 65 pounds in total so my ticker isn't accurate).

1. Nothing is off limits. That said,
2. I've cut out a lot of processed foods and increased my consumption of fresh produce. For one thing, it's much more filling.
3. I log everything and keep track of my macros.
4. When I break from my usual fare, I do so in moderation. That means limiting myself to one or two slices of pizza on the rare pizza day. Today I received some fabulous homemade fudge from a friend. I got out the scale, broke off an ounce, and thoroughly enjoyed it, guilt-free, and logged it.
5. I set my goal at a half-pound loss per week. Sure, it took longer, but I never felt deprived. Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm eating the very same way I was eating while losing weight except for consuming more calories. This means I've been eating sustainably from day one and I plan to continue that way.

More detail on what worked for me:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1095703-mfp-1-year-anniversary
Here's a follow-up:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1153938-next-stop-maintenance

Thank you for posting this, its nice to see not everyone loses weight from drinking protein shakes and salads. I like realistic.

But drinking protein shakes, lifting weights, getting fit (and even eating salads) is realistic and easy to do :-)

I had to eliminate my triggers of chocolate and ice cream completely from my diet for the first few months until I felt I was able to be in control of those items instead of the other way round. But other than that, I ate most of the same foods, just less of them at any one sitting. I noticed my eating became 'cleaner' not because I labelled food as good or bad but my choices were now made based on how well a food contributed to feelings of satiety.

I eat everything in moderation now. If you deprive yourself too much your more likely to fall off the bandwagon. This has happened to me in the past where I restrict junk food too much and then go over my calories for the day or just decide to forget to count them after I make a poor choice. It drives me crazy that I can't have a piece of cake or some cookies or two slices of pizza. I find it more sustainable in the long run to have a little bit of everything.

I could not stay within my calorie allowance and lose weight if I ate everything I wanted to eat. Particularly, as most of what I would like to eat is higher in fat and therefore calories, than what I am eating now. If I had a day of eating all those things, there would not be enough exercise hours in the day to burn it.

Over time, I have become more used to making healthier food choices and most of my food cravings have gone. A large part of my diet now consists of vegetables and fruit. I also incorporate lean protein and carbohydrates and try to make most of my choices healthy ones. E.g. wholemeal pitta instead of white bread etc.

There are days when I want something that could not be called healthy. I find it useful to enter what I would like to eat into the food diary for the day along with all my healthier foods before hand and when I see the rather scary total calorie number, I make alterations until I have a manageable meal plan that is within my allowance. This can mean not having it, or having a smaller amount of some things to make space for others. Knowing in advance, what the calorie cost is can sometimes put me off having it completely.

There are occasions when I want an extra something and I work out what exercise I would have to do to work it off. It is surprising how often you realise you do not want it that much when you realise how much work you would have to do in order to have it or failing that, work out how much longer you would have to wait to lose that next pound if you did not work it off.

My overall diet contains compromises, such as skimmed milk instead of full fat etc. Compromises and having smaller portions or less often allows me to have a diet of things I find pleasant and some things that I really enjoy. As for things like cake and chips and crisps, they are in my MFP food list but appear very rarely in my food diary.

I am still fairly new on MFP and my diet is working for me. When I have been here a bit longer, I might be looking at making changes, but right now, small very occcasional treats keep me on track.

I eat whatever I want within reason. Although most of the time I try to follow the 80% clean eating principle. I also began exercising, primarily Jillian Michaels 30DS, HIIT workouts and taebo, all can be done at home! If I begin losing my way, I put it behind me and pick up where I left off and definitely don't dwell over it!

I eat whatever I want but less than I used to. I've always been a fairly heathy eater so my "whatever I want" includes a lot of veggies and whole foods.

Yep, have lost it and kept it off while eating burgers, pizza, chips, sweets, half & half in my coffee, ice cream, etc - just not every day, and stay within my calorie limits (most of the time).

Let's see, a large Big Mac meal is almost 1,400 calories.

For those that are obese and sedentary, just go ahead and keep on eating whatever you want, whenever you want, and see how far that gets you ;-)