the twinkie diet method

OMG I TWINKIE I LOVE YOU!!!!

ETA: But bad idea, 125 cals (or so) each (idr), a lot of air, all the sugar.. No no.

When setting up a nutrition plan, I consider a few things.
1. Is this plan healthy for me to be on?
2. Does this plan promote progress towards my fitness goal?
3. Am I going to be satisfied on this plan?
4. Can I see myself doing this same nutrition plan (with modified calories) for the next 10 years?

If I answer yes to these questions, I think the plan is best for me. If not, I need to re-evaluate. I think that it's best to consider long-term health and success when setting up a nutrition plan. Working towards show term goals is great, but you don't want to do things that will make it more difficult to maintain your hard-fought for results long term.

What is your diet plan like?

I think that's a great question. You will lose weight if you burn more than you consume.

It all comes down to what your goals are and how you feel. I like to get the most "bang" for my calories... but I also like to know that I can eat whatever I want and still live a healthy lifestyle. I've lost weight while eating McDonalds quarter pounders... but I had to be hungry for parts of my day to do it. On the days were I don't work out... this is fine for me. Sometimes it's really worth it. On the days that I do work out, I try to eat things that make me feel full and energized for my workouts.

It's not a "diet", it's a gimmick designed to prove that calorie deficits always work, no matter the food. Just apply the same principal to regular food and you'll be much better for it and still lose weight.

This is a marathon, not a sprint. You didn't put the weight on at 2lbs a week, why are surprised that it takes longer to lose it?

Eat what works for you and eat at a calorie defecit based on your TDEE.

It's possible to lose weight as long as you have calorie deficit. However I think that body composition and health ought to be considerations whenever developing a long term plan for your diet. Personally I would make getting enough protein a priority, as well as getting several servings of fruits and veggies. No foods are off limits or "bad" to me, but I do try to eat in a way that promotes satiety. Then there should be room to spend your extra calories on things like ice cream or cookies or whatever.

gjabouin wrote: »

thanks for the help everyone. I don't think you're understanding what I meant though. Im not saying to eat twinkies as a diet. Its just to show that it is possible to eat whatever you want and lose weight as long as you stay under your calorie goal. I was thinking about going low carb but it would be difficult. I take blood thinner medication to prevent stroke and blood clots and I have to take it, not optional. unfortunately I cant eat anything green while on this medication. green foods have vitamin k which interact negatively with my medication. so no lettuce, broccoli, spinach, avocado... etc. I hate it and makes it difficult to be healthy. If I did low carb it would be meat alone for the most part. as it stands I eat a lot of carbs, about 50% of my diet If not more so even though ive been under my goal and losing weight, its been slow. so I was wondering if I should keep doing this or consider something else.

If it's been working, why change? If going low carb is difficult or even dangerous because of your medical condition, why even consider it. A caloric deficit is all that is required for weight loss. Low carbers will tout the quick weight loss in the first few weeks, but this is mainly water weight. Studies show that over the long term, caloric deficit is key. Low carb isn't anything special.

gjabouin wrote: »

thanks for the help everyone. I don't think you're understanding what I meant though. Im not saying to eat twinkies as a diet. Its just to show that it is possible to eat whatever you want and lose weight as long as you stay under your calorie goal. I was thinking about going low carb but it would be difficult. I take blood thinner medication to prevent stroke and blood clots and I have to take it, not optional. unfortunately I cant eat anything green while on this medication. green foods have vitamin k which interact negatively with my medication. so no lettuce, broccoli, spinach, avocado... etc. I hate it and makes it difficult to be healthy. If I did low carb it would be meat alone for the most part. as it stands I eat a lot of carbs, about 50% of my diet If not more so even though ive been under my goal and losing weight, its been slow. so I was wondering if I should keep doing this or consider something else.

It doesn't matter all that much what you eat, but there are some things to consider. You should try to hit your minimum amounts of fat and protein for the day. Here's a good post about how you figure out what those minimums should be:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Other than that, what you eat is personal preference. A lot of people do low carb, but tons of others wouldn't find it manageable long term. Just like some people choose to eat vegetarian and others don't.

ETA: Sorry, incomplete thought. You should also look at your goals, and focus on foods that get you there. I'm all for all foods in moderation if you can. If some foods trigger binges, you may need to step away from them for a while or keep them out of the house. If you can do moderation that's fine.

I'd mostly focus on whole, nutrient dense food for a large portion of your diet. This will give you a large volume of food for the calorie count and will help keep you full. Then, depending on how it fits into your calories, you can work in sweets or treats as you like.

With 40 pounds left to lose (going by your ticker), 2 pounds per week isn't a very reasonable goal anyway. Try for 1 pound per week. And probably even though you chose 2 pounds per week, since MFP won't let you net less than 1200 calories per day, you're probably not actually set up to lose that much anyway. If you go to your Goals page, it'll tell you what your actual weekly weight loss goal is.

For example...I don't have that much less than you to lose. If I try to set my goal to 2 pounds per week, MFP caps it at 1.5 pound per week. Since I'm just getting back into the swing of things, I set mine up for 1/2 pound per week to be more realistic.

Anyway, back to your question. Yes, technically you can lose weight as long as you eat less calories than your body burns in a day (TDEE). You can eat all Twinkies, or McDonald's or whatever other weird diet you want but you probably won't feel very good and you'll probably be hungry all the time. A good balance of mostly healthy stuff with some goodies sprinkled in tends to be the better approach - often referred to as the 80/20 split (sometimes 90/10). 80% healthy stuff, 20% treats.

If you know low carb won't work for you, it's silly to even try it. Lowering your carb intake can help you feel fuller longer though as foods higher in healthy fats and protein tend to stick to the ribs longer than those high in carbs. You can also try to swap out for lower GI foods, like steel cut oats vs rolled oats or whole grain bread vs white.

^Hyman is a quack


OP it does not sound like low carb would be a good fit for you. Choose a plan that is going to be sustainable.

gjabouin wrote: »

thanks for the help everyone. I don't think you're understanding what I meant though. Im not saying to eat twinkies as a diet. Its just to show that it is possible to eat whatever you want and lose weight as long as you stay under your calorie goal. I was thinking about going low carb but it would be difficult. I take blood thinner medication to prevent stroke and blood clots and I have to take it, not optional. unfortunately I cant eat anything green while on this medication. green foods have vitamin k which interact negatively with my medication. so no lettuce, broccoli, spinach, avocado... etc. I hate it and makes it difficult to be healthy. If I did low carb it would be meat alone for the most part. as it stands I eat a lot of carbs, about 50% of my diet If not more so even though ive been under my goal and losing weight, its been slow. so I was wondering if I should keep doing this or consider something else.

I am on cumadin as well (I assume you are on cumadin or warfarin). You can eat green things (not all of them) in moderation and adjust your dose. You should look into a testing kit for at home. I got one and haven't looked back. I needed to change from warfarin to cumadin because the high doses of warfarin were making me really ill but now the cumadin is working just fine. I am in range. I avoid broccoli, spinach and the likes but have reintroduced kiwis, grapes, romaine lettuce, and a few other things one at a time and am doing well!

As for calories - a deficit is a deficit but not all calories are equal in my eyes. Empty calories are a waste to me.