I am not convinced...

I don't know what kind of "evidence" it is, but in college I had an eating disorder. I weighed 95 lbs, but I ate a kitkat bar every single day. Most of my meals were made up of mac'n'cheese or a slice of pizza or a frozen dinner. I just limited my daily food intake to ONE kitkat bar and ONE piece of pizza. So yeah, I guess you can eat anything and still lose weight if you lower your calories enough. (these days I typically eat really healthily with one treat a day and a restaurant meal once a week and have been maintaining fine).

just go to mcdonalds, get a 6 piece nugget, milkshake, 2 double cheeseburgers and then run 6 miles..youll feel better, trust me

Here is what I do and it works good for me, since I was a fast food addict I couldn't just drop it all like nothing. I was completely addicted to sweat tea, I actually got the shakes when I went without drinking a 26 ounce of sweat tea for mcdonalds or pals for 1 week. I used to drink one or two of those every single day. And now, 5 weeks later, I haven't had a tea in 3 weeks.

Granted, I do still eat fast food. For instance, this morning I had a butter biscuit with some jelly (380 calories, good breakfast.) and for lunch I had some loaded fries form Charlie's, which is my absolute favorite place to eat, (almost 500 calories, not very good but oh well) and in between that I had a starbucks coffee (bout 200 calories)

That is all I had today other than a powerade or two and I wasn't hungry today. My biggest problem was snacking, I don't get out a lot so I'm usually at home with nothing to do, which means boredom, which means eating two big bags of chips without realizing it. I cut my snacking down a LOT, and I do still have cravings and get bored and want to eat, but you have to be strong and not give in. I would eat 3 meals that were about 300 calories so I could have room for some snacks and my drinks, since I don't really like water I drink mostly powerade and apple juice. And I try to keep myself busy, because I am usually not very hungry if I am out doing something, and it is a good way to burn calories. Even if I just walk around the mall for 3 hours not buying anything, I'm doing something.

I cried about every day for the first 2 weeks of my diet. I was so hungry, all I wanted to do was eat. So, I had an indulgence day once a week for the first 3 weeks I would eat whatever I wanted, and that's what kept me going. 5 weeks in and it is still hard, but I'm too devoted to give up now. I hope this was helpful to you, and I wish you the best of luck!

Yes and no....I very much believe in all things in moderations, but I also believe that it is pretty much impossible to maintain a healthy weight eating the SAD without meticulously tracking every little calorie and to me, that's no life.

I've maintained easily for about 13 - 14 months now primarily cooking for myself using whole foods as ingredients and eating plenty of lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats with a smattering of whole grains thrown into the mix....I don't log calories or anything like that.

I don't find it boring given that I know how to actually cook and I can prepare these things in numerous ways and while I was losing I learned a great deal about PORTION control, which can be difficult on the SAD. That said, I do enjoy a good pizza...just went out tonight....but stuff like that is a once every couple of weeks type of occasion for me and I will now only have a slice or two from a small that I share with my wife rather than ordering the large and eating half the pie and then ordering another one to take home because the remaining 1/2 would only be viable for my lunch....ridiculous I was in the old days!

I eat in a healthy manner most of the time. BUT I also drink beer & wine, eat pizza, have sweet treats, etc that fit within my goals. I've lost 18 lbs so far. What I'm trying to do is find a way of eating for LIFE rather than be on a diet. So, it's been slow (at or less than .5 lb a week) but along with weight lifting, my body is changing and I never feel like binging or feel unsatisfied.

This content has been removed.

This professor lost 27 pounds in two months eating nothing but Twinkies, Oreos, Doritos, Li'l Debbies, and other assorted chips and snack cakes in order to prove the point: for weight loss, it truly is calories in / calories out. For optimal health, there's a lot more to it, involving macro and micro nutrients. However, you could eat table sugar and nothing but table sugar and still lose weight, as long as you maintain a deficit. You'll feel like crap and probably lose muscle from the lack of protein and all sorts of things from lack of fats and fat soluble vitamins, and lots of other ill effects...but you most certainly would still lose weight.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

Ugh. I would be tired of it on the first day. That definitely proves the point though.

Fad diets are for making money. Eating in a deficit is how it's been done for all time, whether it was by choice or not.

I think It's all about balance. In terms of weight loss 1500cals of cake a day will have the same effect as 1500cals of 'clean eating' (whatever that means) but the cake won't fill you up and won't give you the nutrients. I tend to eat 'healthily' throughout the way (try to get good balabce of macros, lots of veggies etc - although I like veggies anyway) but most evenings after dinner I use whatever remaining calories I have left to have a small treat of some kind.

In the past I've dieted by completely cutting out things I like and trying to eat a completely different foods from usual - I always get bored with this and give up, resulting in putting whatever I lost back on. Now, I allow myself a daily treat and every so often an 'unhealthy' meal out/drinks and keep it within my calories and I don't feel like I'm dieting - for the first time in my life I'm confident I will see this through to my goal weight and stay there. (eventually - I've got a load road to travel, but this is a life change)

I've found that although I started out eating my usual foods in smaller quantities, my repertoire has changed gradually over time - veggies have less calories so I'm eating more salad as it's a good low calorie plate filler, I'm eating less bread as it has a lot of calories for a side item, I'm cooking from scratch pretty much all the time as I can control the calories, etc. But none of that was conscious, it just happened over time.

I also try to follow the 80/20 rule. Just the fact that I know I can have a piece of chocolate if I want it stops me from actually craving it most of the time. Whereas in the past when I have tried to completely cut out chocolate/cake/fast food I have ended up not being able to think of anything else and inevitably binging on them!

It's all about moderation, don't cut out anything completely that you wouldn't want to give up for the rest of your life.

The only thing I need to do at the moment is lose weight, by losing weight I can start to control other things, I have found the calorie control easier then counting out specific foods altogether. I have to have a high salt diet due to an adrenal condition, so am automatically attracted to 'junk' food as the easy option. I have now moved to make my own fresh food and flavourings I can control.

Heres a post that might help ... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/mcdonalds-diet_n_4557698.html

Im totally into having a balance, so I eat healthy natural food (fruit, whole grains, lean organic meats etc) but also allow my myself the odd bad thing.

We had a Chinese takeaway last night, I ordered what I liked and kept with-in my calorie limit.

People who say, you need to give up everything I think are either going to become health feaks or are just kidding themselves..

I think the calorie counting is silly. It makes people grumpy. It makes women b!tchy.
I have personally gotten into this thing where if I recall what it makes me feel post eating (bloated, groggy, foggy headed, ect), I'm probably not going to eat it. Mainly because I enjoy being hyper and energized over what society says with cake and fried food.

I eat taco bell, pizza, ice cream, burgers, regularly but stay in a calorie deficit and lose weight. It's fine if you're not convinced, you can also be not convinced that gravity exists, but gravity doesn't care what you think, it's gonna go ahead and keep holding you down to the earth...

QFT. I eat fast food at least twice a week, sometimes more. Do I order the same things I did when I weighed 50+ pounds more? Of course not. Do I still sometimes order a quarter pounder with cheese instead of a salad? Yep. Did I just spend the last week having ice cream cake from DQ? Yep. Am I still losing? Yep.

I work at McDonalds and subsequently I have McDonalds for lunch 3 or 4 times a week. I'm still seeing weight loss results because I don't choose the unhealthiest options on the menu, and when I'm not at work, I eat and exercise well.
So yeah, I think you can eat fast food in moderation and lose weight, especially if it prevents binging!

So.... before everyone starts caps locking their opinions of what healthy food is and why a Paleo/clean eating diet is so much better....I want to say up front that I totally get that and understand that....I am a nurse....I know what fruits and veggies and whole grains are I have tried it before... did it work? Yup... but I must say, that it is not nearly as satisfying or filling to me to eat this way...I get bored... stop eating this way... fall off the wagon... and guess what.... BINGE BINGE BINGE.... so I am trying something new.... eating whatever I want (granted I am cutting sweets...I have to say I have figured out that I waste a TON of calories on that crap) but I am going to stay at my calories... give or take a few... So for example I just had taco bell....I am not convinced I am going to lose weight eating this stuff... I know that it's all about caloric deficit in the end right? But why do I have such a hard time believing this?? Has anyone had the luck with eating the unhealthy American food way? In moderation of course...I am not saying I eat fast food at every meal...I love my chicken/salmon/veggie nights... but something's gotta give... Do I have to do the boring clean eating/Binge eating? That clearly has not in the end helped me on the scale

I think you've answered your own question. If eating "clean" causes you to binge, you're not doing yourself any good (for weight loss, physical health or mental health). Find a happy medium that YOU can live with. Good choices can still be made regarding fast food/junk food.

ETA: some people who eat "clean" or "paleo" schedule in "cheat" (I hate that word) days or cheat meals. You might try that. Limiting your "non-paleo" foods to one day per week, or 3 meals per week. But, really, it sounds like the IIFYM platform would work better for you than paleo.