Calorie Control or Eating Clean?
bee3091m
Posts: 6
Hello!
I know there have been plentyyyy of topics on controlling calories vs eating clean but I just wanted a definitive list of opinions based on what I eat now:-
Right now I find it very easy to eat clean during the day. Usually my diet is filling and healthy. On a normal day I'll have 2 boiled eggs for breakfast, some almonds as a mid-morning snack, a healthy salad with some protein (usually chicken or eggs or even cottage cheese) for lunch and then a mid afternoon piece of fruit.
Then my dinner will also be healthy - roast or steamed veg with a piece of fish of meat...
BUT that's when the cravings start to kick in. I HAVE to have a piece of chocolate or a scoop of ice cream.. it drives me crazy! I don't know if it's just low willpower or what but I tend to indulge in SOMETHING. I am always well within my calorie intake for the day though.. Usually the small indulgence will add a much needed 100 calories to my daily intake (otherwise I feel like I'm eating too little)
Without this indulgence, I'd be essentially eating clean. So I wondered if these treats everyday is hindering my weight loss process?
In a month I've only lost 5 pounds when I feel like others lose a good half a stone or more in the same amount of time.
I also exercise minimum three times a week but sometimes four. I feel like I should have lost much more by now...
Basically what I'm asking is, should I cut out the sugar completely? Or are daily treats ok?
Does anyone have any tips on how to kick the sugar cravings?
Thanks for your input!
xx
I know there have been plentyyyy of topics on controlling calories vs eating clean but I just wanted a definitive list of opinions based on what I eat now:-
Right now I find it very easy to eat clean during the day. Usually my diet is filling and healthy. On a normal day I'll have 2 boiled eggs for breakfast, some almonds as a mid-morning snack, a healthy salad with some protein (usually chicken or eggs or even cottage cheese) for lunch and then a mid afternoon piece of fruit.
Then my dinner will also be healthy - roast or steamed veg with a piece of fish of meat...
BUT that's when the cravings start to kick in. I HAVE to have a piece of chocolate or a scoop of ice cream.. it drives me crazy! I don't know if it's just low willpower or what but I tend to indulge in SOMETHING. I am always well within my calorie intake for the day though.. Usually the small indulgence will add a much needed 100 calories to my daily intake (otherwise I feel like I'm eating too little)
Without this indulgence, I'd be essentially eating clean. So I wondered if these treats everyday is hindering my weight loss process?
In a month I've only lost 5 pounds when I feel like others lose a good half a stone or more in the same amount of time.
I also exercise minimum three times a week but sometimes four. I feel like I should have lost much more by now...
Basically what I'm asking is, should I cut out the sugar completely? Or are daily treats ok?
Does anyone have any tips on how to kick the sugar cravings?
Thanks for your input!
xx
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Replies
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I have tried both ways. The thing with eating clean and not counting is that it can work but u have to do just that " eat clean" . If you want treats you should track to ensure you are staying within your limits. Also I found eating clean worked for a while but eventually my weight loss stalled. There is still a lot of calories in food that are considered clean. If you eat too much of anything you will gain weight0
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If you eat 3000 cals of food, does it matter if they came from "clean" food, or "dirty" food?
Does your body say "Clean, so it doesn't count. Clean...clean...clean...Oh, that bite there is dirty, so full count on it. Clean...clean...DIRTY!"?
Maybe this might explain it better: Counting is science, while eating anything you want as long as it is clean is faith.
And really...just what is "clean"? I've seen like 30 different answers to this.0 -
it doesn't have to be one way or another...you can do both...one might help the other...0
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This^If you eat 3000 cals of food, does it matter if they came from "clean" food, or "dirty" food?
Does your body say "Clean, so it doesn't count. Clean...clean...clean...Oh, that bite there is dirty, so full count on it. Clean...clean...DIRTY!"?
Maybe this might explain it better: Counting is science, while eating anything you want as long as it is clean is faith.
And really...just what is "clean"? I've seen like 30 different answers to this.
8000 calories worth of spinach is still 8000 calories. (and probably a distended colon :laugh: )0 -
I just stay within my calorie goal (give or take a bit) and don't drop my food on the floor. This seems to be working.0
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Calories to control weight
macronutrients for body composition
micronutrients for health0 -
I've found it helpful to find healthier alternative to my favourite foods.
For ice cream I take some bananas, water and almond milk, blend them up and put them in the freezer. In a few hours I have delicious ice "cream".
My worst habit has always been chips and cheesies. Like eat two of the giant party sized bags in a day type bad habit. I found a recipe online that creates a doritos taste-alike that I put on air-popped popcorn with coconut oil. You just take some nutritional yeast, and paprika, cumin etc, put them in a coffee grinder and sprinkle it on. It's really good!
To me "clean eating" is just limiting all the chemicals in your food and trying to stick to food that hasn't seen a factory.0 -
I've found it helpful to find healthier alternative to my favourite foods.
For ice cream I take some bananas, water and almond milk, blend them up and put them in the freezer. In a few hours I have delicious ice "cream".
My worst habit has always been chips and cheesies. Like eat two of the giant party sized bags in a day type bad habit. I found a recipe online that creates a doritos taste-alike that I put on air-popped popcorn with coconut oil. You just take some nutritional yeast, and paprika, cumin etc, put them in a coffee grinder and sprinkle it on. It's really good!
To me "clean eating" is just limiting all the chemicals in your food and trying to stick to food that hasn't seen a factory.
that sounds a good idea for "icecream". should try it out myself thank you~0 -
5 pounds lost in a month is very reasonable unless you are obese and able to achieve a large calorie deficit while still eating plenty. How much do you have to lose?
I don't see the point in withholding particular foods that you like which also fit in your calorie goal. Who gets to decide what is clean anyway? I eat lots of dirty stuff and I'm losing just fine.0 -
that sounds a good idea for "icecream". should try it out myself thank you~
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You're welcome! I'm going to try strawberries and kiwi next.
The original recipe I found wanted you to add a bunch of sugar, but I made it without and didn't find I was missing anything. You could also easily swap the almond milk for regular milk or soy.0 -
Here's an interesting post from a guy who says "clean eating made him fat, but switching to ice cream and fast food got him lean. http://www.healthylivingheavylifting.com/how-clean-eating-made-me-fat-but-ice-cream-and-subway-got-me-lean/
Good perspective on the whole "good vs bad" "clean vs whatever" issue.
Personally, I eat all kinds of foods, pizza, chocolate, burgers, beer, ice cream - if it fits in my daily calories (and occasionally when it doesn't!), I eat it!0 -
I gave up eating clean after gaing weight year after year bingeing on my favorite 'forbidden ' foods! As many have said the bottom line is calories! If you want to eat clean more power to you! I prefer to keep my calories to 8400 per week and enjoy my daily ice cream bars. Do what works for you! I think we all know the best thing for ourselves but tend to let others influence our choices!0
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Personally, I just prefer this "clean-eating" stuff because I'm aiming to improve my overall health, not just lose weight.
But that's just me.0 -
I know what you mean by eating "clean", even though that wording is bound to send your thread straight to MFP hell.
I lost the first 40 or so lbs by sticking mostly to a lower carb diet consisting of mainly vegetables, meats, some dairy, and healthy oils. I did so for a good 45 or so lbs of loss, without calorie counting. I enjoyed eating that way, still do, because I actually love how I feel eating that way. But I also never intended to make it a permanent change as I like sweets and never had any intention of cutting them out forever.
I think you definitely can lose weight eating intuitively and sticking mostly to foods that are whole, and difficult to overeat. That too depends on the person. I find it nearly impossible to gain weight while low carbing as the food is volumetrically dense and often fill me up before I even finish my meal; and they keep me satiated for a very long time. I did stall out on my weight loss though because I had a very high fat diet and that ultimately shut the loss down. Cutting down on my use of oils and butter would have likely got me back on track.
But here's the thing, the minute I folded back in the treats my weight started creeping up again. I don't have the same control with sweets as I do with veg, fruit, and meat. If you start folding in foods that can trigger you to eat above your weight loss target, you'll need to find a way to offset that.
Some people do it by calorie counting. I do it by intermittent fasting.0 -
In my opinion you'll do better if you do both. Can you eat doritos, twinkies, and krispy kreme doughnuts and lose weight? Yes. But seriously how many people are successful doing that outside of one guy who tried to show the world it could be done? Not many.
Clean eating is pretty simple in my opinion. It's foods with one ingredient. Doritos have like 70 ingredients. But, an apple is an apple and lettuce is lettuce. Your body has to filter and or process all the preservatives, additives, etc that go into making sure something in a box lasts for 3 years. Maybe the effect is negligible for most people but what if eating more natural improved your digestive tract and improved how well your body can extract the nutrients of the foods you are eating?
It's been my experience that my body just performs better when I eat foods with one ingredient.0 -
So I wondered if these treats everyday is hindering my weight loss process?
If you are counting right and under your goal, it shouldn't matter. 5 lb/month seems good--is your goal higher? Do you have a great deal to lose? If so, maybe you'd want to adjust your goal, not start eating under it. It's definitely possible to eat a healthy diet and be healthy and still have some ice cream or chocolate. Just don't start skimping on nutritious foods to save calories for them (for health reasons, I mean), and it doesn't sound like you are doing that.
Eating "clean"--whatever that means to people--may make it easier for some people to cut calories, but it doesn't sound like that's your issue.0 -
I do both, as the above poster stated I eat "clean" for my overall health BUT I don't deny my small cravings. I aim for an 80/20 in clean eating sometimes I meet that and sometimes I don't but I don't stress over it.
I don't understand why there people have issues with the definition of clean eating. In a perfect world to eat clean you wouldn't eat anything that comes from a factory but we don't live in that world so it's eating things that have not been processed. Such as fresh spinach vs. canned spinach, no boxed cereals, anything that isn't "natural", and ideally all items would be organic but again not a perfect world. If you do buy something from a shelf you should be able to easily pronounce the ingredients with no chemicals added.
ETA: I don't personally think food should be categorized as "clean" or "dirty" especially if it brings on guilt to the person who is consuming it but I say that I generally eat a "clean" diet because it is a lot shorter than the explanation above and even those who don't agree with the word still have a basic concept of what it entails.0 -
But seriously how many people are successful doing that outside of one guy who tried to show the world it could be done?
If you mean as a primary food, who would want to do that, except as an experiment?
If you mean in moderation, on occasion (or even as a small treat every night), it seems like lots of people here do that. My "unclean" tastes run to ice cream and homemade treats, not particularly "processed" stuff (whatever that means, it's almost as vague in how it's used as "clean"), but I've been losing as well eating some treats as part of an overall healthy diet that focuses on fresh, nutrient-dense foods as I did when I briefly cut out those treats (just to show myself I didn't need them and stop misusing them).
For whatever it's worth, the "processed" stuff I mostly tend to eat (again, depending on how it's defined, I get that store-bought ice cream, however made, is processed, but I'm skeptical it would be much different for health purposes if I dug out my ice cream maker, and also I get that anything with flour or sugar are processed according to some) tends to be stuff I seek out for health reasons. Like yogurt and smoked salmon, which I find helpful in meeting my protein goals, and even protein powder on occasion (same, plus I can't do cardio immediately after eating real food, but I can wake up, have protein powder, milk, and fruit and go for a nice long bike ride). If you were to tell me I'd be healthier cutting those out, I'd respectfully disagree.0 -
Processed = not naturally occurring or altered from it's natural state such as Cheetos or refined sugar; this includes additives to prolong shelf life as well.0
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Everything is processed according to that definition (not naturally occurring or altered), and yet almost everyone who cares about food being processed distinguishes between some kinds of processed foods vs. others.
I mean in theory I could buy the wheat (I guess even pick the wheat, there's lots of wheat not that far from me) and grind it into flour myself, but I don't see why that would make the resulting flour or the foods made with it more or less healthy. It would just take a lot more time!
That's my point about smoked salmon. My dad used to smoke salmon that he caught himself or that we got from friends of the family. That's what I ate growing up. Now I buy it in the store, but I still think it's healthy. It's also processed.
Similarly, eating frozen vegetables, especially in a climate that is cold much of the year, like where I live, is probably as healthy or more than buying the vegetables trucked (or flown) in from elsewhere or stuff you canned, and I'm really not interested in canning vegetables.0 -
Just do whatever works for you and whatever makes you happy...trying to convince other with our own way is kinda waste of time.
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Calories to control weight
macronutrients for body composition
micronutrients for health
And controlled portions of ice cream, chocolate and wine for the soul.0 -
My definition of eating clean is washing my produce before I eat it.
Calorie counting, moderation, and fitting things into my macros works for me.0 -
Calories to control weight
macronutrients for body composition
micronutrients for health
And controlled portions of ice cream, chocolate and wine for the soul.
Excuse you.
One does not simply control portions of wine. Blasphemy!0 -
so i was on this last year and i lost 40 pounds , but since winter this year i been really slacking off and i gained 10 pounds uh and it seems like its harder this time around to kick it, now that its summer i want to get out drink more water eat heather and this time around its going to be diff when last year i use to walk around work and never sat down for 4-5 hours a day , this year im not walking as much so its really going to take alot of will power to do this and im really trying hard to not do what i have been doing , my doc wants to see in Aug, and she told me next time she wants to see some weight go down im kinda freaking out , im going to try and do this again like i did all last year!!0
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Your diet seems a bit restrictive to me. You are really lacking on the carbs end of things. That probably makes you more prone to cravings.
This is why both counting and macronutrient balance are important IMO. I eat what I want, as long as it fits my macros and meets my nutrient requirements.0 -
I do IIFYM. I fill up most of my day with protein, fruits, veggies, yogurt etc and then the rest I spend on whatever treats fit within my goals.
Honestly even if eating clean worked better strictly in terms of results, I wouldn't be able to stick to it and so it wouldn't be feasible. The best plan is the one you'll be able to follow long-term.0 -
it doesn't have to be one way or another...you can do both...one might help the other...
This. Big time. Most of the time my dinner is considered "clean." Chicken and rice is the easiest. Then depending on bulk/cut, I fill up with what ever I feel like. Usually that's cookies and milk or some peanut butter and milk.
Allowing yourself "dirty" items, I feel, will ultimately keep you from a total meltdown and failing.0 -
what a yummy recipe - thank you!0
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5 pounds lost in a month is very reasonable unless you are obese and able to achieve a large calorie deficit while still eating plenty. How much do you have to lose?
I don't see the point in withholding particular foods that you like which also fit in your calorie goal. Who gets to decide what is clean anyway? I eat lots of dirty stuff and I'm losing just fine.
In total I'd have to lose around 30 pounds to reach my ideal weight, which is 115 pounds. I'd be happy to get to 125 pounds though. (I'm 5.2)
Thanks for your input It makes me feel better to feel like I can still eat what I want and like I'm not on a diet! 0
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