If 'eating clean' is so easy for you, how did you get fat?

My diet before actively trying to lose weight was for the most part what people on here would call "clean eating". I just ate way too much. I have always been able to put away a lot food. I don't really like a lot of processed food, don't really eat fast food and prefer savory to sweet food for the most part. I have always loved eating until I am stuffed but I am learning to be satisfied with less. For me it was a change in quantity I needed not quality.

This describes me exactly. I love to cook. I rarely buy anything packaged. I make my own bread, my own crackers, my own granola. I can't imagine a situation in which I would eat fast food--the smell of it turns my stomach. I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, but I love the challenge of vegan baking. But long story short, I was eating too much, and I had the mindset that since I worked out, I could eat as much as I wanted. I packed it on slowly, but I packed it on.

I guess that lies in one's definition of eating clean (which I think is what many are arguing here - people just use 'eat clean' and it really doesn't mean anything, or at least means something different to everyone).

Mine is eating plenty of meat, vegetables, and fruits. Yours is eating plenty of homemade baked goods.

I would definitely get fat if I always had homemade bread, crackers, and granola in the house. There's nothing to keep you full in that (except for granola, which may be filling for some but is very high cal - though for me I could eat it all day without getting full).

Easy answer in my case... I got very ill and went from being a Fitness Instructor and Physio Rehab to someone who couldn't walk two flat blocks. I ate the same, couldn't burn it off and gained 30 lbs in 4 years - an average of 2/3 of a lb a month, pretty d*mn easy to do.
Now, although I am returning to better health, I have to pay attention to my food.

My diet before actively trying to lose weight was for the most part what people on here would call "clean eating". I just ate way too much. I have always been able to put away a lot food. I don't really like a lot of processed food, don't really eat fast food and prefer savory to sweet food for the most part. I have always loved eating until I am stuffed but I am learning to be satisfied with less. For me it was a change in quantity I needed not quality.

This describes me exactly. I love to cook. I rarely buy anything packaged. I make my own bread, my own crackers, my own granola. I can't imagine a situation in which I would eat fast food--the smell of it turns my stomach. I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, but I love the challenge of vegan baking. But long story short, I was eating too much, and I had the mindset that since I worked out, I could eat as much as I wanted. I packed it on slowly, but I packed it on.

I guess that lies in one's definition of eating clean (which I think is what many are arguing here - people just use 'eat clean' and it really doesn't mean anything, or at least means something different to everyone).

Mine is eating plenty of meat, vegetables, and fruits. Yours is eating plenty of homemade baked goods.

I would definitely get fat if I always had homemade bread, crackers, and granola in the house. There's nothing to keep you full in that (except for granola, which may be filling for some but is very high cal - though for me I could eat it all day without getting full).

Eh, I didn't have those around so much--I was just giving them as an example of things that people usually purchase in packaged form that I make at home. I also was eating and continue to eat mostly locally grown, preferably organic fruits and vegetables and a healthy dose of locally caught fish, with a little locally raised meat thrown in for good measure. (I live near one of the country's largest farmer's markets and buy most of what I eat there.) I always assume by "eating clean" people mean eating whole foods. But I can eat a lot of whole foods.

I am more curious about those who " eat 1000 calories and full" while having 100 pounds to lose...I am a slight case of food addiction so I know why I can't lose weight...

Ya, I honestly think those people are lying to themselves. I can't imagine overweight people not being able to eat 1200 calories.

That or they've starved themselves for so long that their metabolism is so damaged that it's barely burning anything.

I have a friend who swears by eating clean making her lose weight...The fact is every time she goes on diet, she cuts out pizza, brownie, and other "junk food" she called. But I am tired of explaining to her why she loses weight because she insists that it's eating clean the key to weight loss while carbs make her gain weight...oh well...

But that's where we differ in opinion. In a sense, she is losing weight because she's eating clean.

Eating all that junk, it's easy for her to get to 2000+ calories. Cutting that out and eating real food makes it much harder to overeat.

Yes, at the end of the day, she's eating fewer calories, but it's because she's eating foods the fill her up much more than she did before.

But, ya, if she decides she wants to start eating like she did before, she'll obviously gain the weight back. That's why people talk about making it a 'lifestyle' and developing new 'habits'.

Ya know I don't disagree...I guess we all take one side of the same story and run it.

I eat pretty clean simply because I don't know how to cook. I barely know how to use my oven and microwave.
I dont like hambergs and soda because I didn't grow up eating that stuff. My "dirty food" will be a trip to the nearest asian store and get a bag of dumplings.

This is what gets me about clean eating. How in hell are dumplings "dirty?" WTF?????

I love all these posts! I'm hungry right now....I tried to replace my McD's breakfast with a homemade protein smoothie....not happening. I'm HUNGRY, did I mention that? I eat because food tastes good and I really don't like cooking. I do it because I have a family to feed. I was looking for an easy way to lose weight but truth be told....it's never easy. This MFP has been an inspriation to me.....reading about everyone else's struggles makes me feel more normal. It has made me be accountable for the food I eat by logging it every day and I'm coming up to a year and I've managed to do it daily. I'm reading everyone else's diary entries....cool way to see what other people make for snacks/meals. There are so many (what I feel, are) "fads" out there...gluten free (I totally understand if eliminating gluten makes you feel better or have a medical diagnosis) Paleo (I have no idea what that is), low/no carb, raw foods....eeek! I cannot keep up, but I have found on the MFP ....generally it's eating less than you're burning in calories. Pretty black & white to me. I got fat because I got lazy. I prefer to sit in front of Facebook. Eating clean? I dunno ...that means washing your lettuce before you make a salad.

I am more curious about those who " eat 1000 calories and full" while having 100 pounds to lose...I am a slight case of food addiction so I know why I can't lose weight...

Ya, I honestly think those people are lying to themselves. I can't imagine overweight people not being able to eat 1200 calories.

That or they've starved themselves for so long that their metabolism is so damaged that it's barely burning anything.

I have a friend who swears by eating clean making her lose weight...The fact is every time she goes on diet, she cuts out pizza, brownie, and other "junk food" she called. But I am tired of explaining to her why she loses weight because she insists that it's eating clean the key to weight loss while carbs make her gain weight...oh well...

But that's where we differ in opinion. In a sense, she is losing weight because she's eating clean.

Eating all that junk, it's easy for her to get to 2000+ calories. Cutting that out and eating real food makes it much harder to overeat.

Yes, at the end of the day, she's eating fewer calories, but it's because she's eating foods the fill her up much more than she did before.

But, ya, if she decides she wants to start eating like she did before, she'll obviously gain the weight back. That's why people talk about making it a 'lifestyle' and developing new 'habits'.

BUT both pizza and brownies can be clean if made from scratch using organic ingredients. The problem is 'clean' does not necessarily mean 'low calorie'. Even those on a Paleo diet can eat brownies made using quinoa rather than flour! Honestly, someone can cook from scratch using inferior ingredients which does not make the end product clean OR they can use quality ingredients to give a 'clean' product. Although the two products will look the same, one will have a wide range of food additives while the other will not YET both could have close to the same calories. Eating clean is not about calories, it is about avoiding the food additives and other nasties.

I started eating clean recently. I got fat after eating boxes of brownies, bags of cookies, 3 sandwiches in a day, anything and everything from the frozen section, pasta (mac and cheese and those sidekick type of things), chicken fingers, cheese and crackers (not in moderation), and eating fast food almost every day.

So eating clean made me lose weight because I'm not eating so much cr@p. 57lbs lost in 5.5 months. Yea I'll stick to eating clean.

I could have written this post. I've only been eating healthier and exercising for 2 weeks and I'm down 3.2lbs. Granted, I have a LOT to lose. It tends to come off of obese people at a faster rate then someone who only has 10-20lbs (just throwing out a random number) to lose.

Well this is an easy question to answer. I have eaten clean for years, by "clean" I mean real foods (not packaged), home cooked, etc. I got fat eating clean. Why? My portions were too big. Pretty simple math got me to that conclusion. Too many calories and you'll get fat. Doesn't matter if those excess calories are from buckwheat and broccoli or Oreos. Granted, this made losing weight easier for me than most, since I was already eating healthy, i just had to reduce portion size. I still was a good 30 lbs overweight though.

I got fat by eating fast food and pizza whenever I was bored instead of hungry.

Eating clean is easy for me now, because I don't eat junk like that anymore. I don't crave it, I don't want it, and I certainly don't need it. It actually repulses me when I see anyone eating processed or fast foods. Eating clean isn't just the smart thing to do, but becoming "obsessed" with clean eating is how you get results.

I started eating clean recently. I got fat after eating boxes of brownies, bags of cookies, 3 sandwiches in a day, anything and everything from the frozen section, pasta (mac and cheese and those sidekick type of things), chicken fingers, cheese and crackers (not in moderation), and eating fast food almost every day.

So eating clean made me lose weight because I'm not eating so much cr@p. 57lbs lost in 5.5 months. Yea I'll stick to eating clean.

It's not the fooad that created your overweightness, it was the fact you ate too much of it.
You lost weight because you cut down on your caloric intake.

Exactly this. My extended family, parents, etc., are all farm-raised country folk who make and eat everything from scratch. They eat all their fruits and vegetables, too. They just eat a lot of it. A LOT of it.

I'll fourth(?) this. I have been "eating clean" (mostly organic, made at home, quality ingredients) and have been a vegetarian for years, and I still got fat. It doesn't matter what you eat as far as weight goes, it's how much you eat. As for how you choose to nourish your body, that's another conversation that people debate wildly. But bottom line, you can absolutely eat "clean" and get/be fat.

My problem has always been overeating, even with healthy food. I've learned, over and over again, that even eating too much veggies, meat, and nuts will result in weight gain on the scale. I'm scaling back my portions, which is really difficult. Resisting junk food isn't that hard for me, everyone has their own demons to fight.

Just trying to understand. I mean yeah, I feel fuller and better now than I used to, no doubt, but just because I feel better doesn't mean the cravings magically go away and I don't wish every day that I could just go and get a nice 3000 calorie meal (which I've only done once in 14 months). Sure, some things just don't seem worth the calories anymore, so I don't have them, but it doesn't mean I don't crave them.

And yet there are people like the girl a few posts above who claims not to crave or want any 'junk' anymore. I mean, I tried the 'clean eating' thing (for me it means no refined sugar, by the way, so basically no processed foods, but no homemade foods made with sugar either). I lasted 3 months. Maybe they're just in denial? Or maybe they never really liked fast food and pizza in the first place (which seems to be the case of some people here I see), but then why were they eating it?

Granted I have been only doing this for about a month, but I can absolutely say that my craving for junk food have decreased. A LOT. I used to eat fast food almost daily, and the more I ate the more I wanted it. Part of it was definitely habit. For some of us, greasy, fatty, high cal food is/was a literal addiction - that means when you eat it, the reward and pleasure centers of your brain are stimulated, and it therefore increases your desire. When you cut it out (and the first week for me was a nightmare) those areas of your brain are less and less stimulated, therefore the drive to eat that type of food goes down. Sure I think about it every now in then, but my desire to not undo all the work I've done to try and kick that habit outweighs my desire for momentary satisfaction.

Some people do great with consuming the things they REALLY enjoy in moderation. Awesome! For me, that's like telling an alcoholic they can only have one beer a day. Ain't gonna happen.

Maybe in the past they ate a lot of food processed or otherwise. Now they have discovered clean eating is working for them now. What is your point? To each his own. If clean eating is working for them and they feel great who cares?

I myself feel much better when i eat healthier (not 100% clean) but veggies, fruit, lean meats. I have less heartburn, less bloating less digestive problems.

Just trying to understand. I mean yeah, I feel fuller and better now than I used to, no doubt, but just because I feel better doesn't mean the cravings magically go away and I don't wish every day that I could just go and get a nice 3000 calorie meal (which I've only done once in 14 months). Sure, some things just don't seem worth the calories anymore, so I don't have them, but it doesn't mean I don't crave them.

And yet there are people like the girl a few posts above who claims not to crave or want any 'junk' anymore. I mean, I tried the 'clean eating' thing (for me it means no refined sugar, by the way, so basically no processed foods, but no homemade foods made with sugar either). I lasted 3 months. Maybe they're just in denial? Or maybe they never really liked fast food and pizza in the first place (which seems to be the case of some people here I see), but then why were they eating it?

I'm pretty sure people who claim to eat no junk ever and/or not want any junk food ever are full of ****. Like I said in my post earlier...I've never really been a huge junk food guy save for my sodas and I eat tons of whole foods and cook most things from scratch...but my wife makes some awesome chocolate chip cookies and I like having one for desert a few times a week...I often eat dark chocolate for desert...I occasionally have ice cream, etc. 80-90% of my diet consists of awesome nutrition...having a cookie doesn't negate that fact and that's what people need to get through their thick heads. Rocking the **** out of your nutrition is really pretty easy when you allow yourself to enjoy a cookie now and then without feeling all guilty and ****.

it doesn't matter how "clean" one eats if they don't know how to eat in moderation... for FAT people that is a foreign word!!