What Foods to stay away from besides fast food

For me personally, I went into this with the idea that I refused to cut ANY food from my diet. I enjoy pizza, chocolate, wine, fast food, etc...I just don't eat it daily, and watch my portions. I have lost nearly 40lbs since January 1st. No plateaus yet!!! Fingers crossed LOL

I sounds like you are doing everything correctly, just try to stay 500 calories below your daily allowance and avoid calorie densed foods and eat plenty of steamed or raw veggies. Good luck!

Me too, I eat what I want just don't go over my calories for the day. I only hit one big plateau since I started that lasted 3 weeks. I ate one meal without counting calories (Thanksgiving Dinner) and that jump started the weight loss again. My biggest challenge is sodium....

Everything is fine IN MODERATION....I would try to find a healthy balance betweem your calories, good fats, fruits and veggies, anddrink plenty of water...in time you will find what works for you...some things work for some people..also,people plateu differently..especially if you've got a lot to lose.

congrats on your success so far..and good luck on your success in the future..

I try to stay away from oil, and salt, and processed foods. And sugar. A little is fine- everything in moderation, but a little processed food skyrockets my sodium and fat for the day.

I try not to consume anything with more than 25% calories from fat.

you have to retrain you're brain to eat healthy.

exactly.

The best list is in the book "Sugar Busters (Lifestyle). i don't eat bananas because they are too high in sugar (have plantains instead), or eat berries.
and watch the "whole wheat" bread, if it has "Enriched flour" its just as bad for you as wonder white bread. make sure you get the cracked wheat, or stone ground instead.
keep the Lean meats low in sodium. and also good green veggies are lowest in sugar, so i stay away from potatoes, if i can.
good luck, and take care :-)

Your diet seems rather carb-heavy to me. I would switch the bread to Ezekial/sprouted grain and only at 1 meal rather than 2. The apple for breakfast is okay, but swap the banana and pears out for non-starchy veggies. A chicken salad with a cup of low-sodium veggie soup would be a much healthier lunch than the sandwich + pears.

You can eat anything you want. I get irritated when people say "Stay away or avoid fruits" Ask any diabetic. The sugar in fruits is NOT the same as sugar thats refined. We need to eat PLENTY of fruits and vegetables in our daily diets. The things that hammer your calorie goals are thinks like breads, rolls and ANY food that comes in a box. Try to eat only the perimeter of a store. The fresh vegetables, fruits and proteins, meats, eggs, and yes cheeses (low fat) Lunch meat is not healthy for you at all even if its deli turkey. If you want a turkey sandwich , buy a whole turkey, bake it, slice it and have real turkey.

Same goes for chicken. use chicken breast thinly sliced if you want a chicken sandwich. You will find out that once you start eating healthy that the unhealthy foods really do nothing when it comes to satisfying you and your appetite. No soda pop regular or diet. Avoid diet or anything thats labeled fat free. Once you've got that figured out. Find out the calories in the foods you eat and try to eat what you need to eat to lose weight. You will be amazed how much healthy food you can eat and remain under your calorie goals compared to unhealthy fast foods. Weight loss is simple so keep it that way. Good Luck

Stay away from processed foods. Eat as many whole foods with raw veggies, whole grains, and lean protein as the center of your foods. Drink plenty of water as well.

This is probably the key. You're going to have to regulate how and what you eat - not like you're a robot or unfeeling human. Just that you're going to need to shift your intake because you need to eat "healthy."

I enjoy the convenience of canned food and deli meats, but *for me* they just have too much sodium. We need salt, but I was pushing way past the MFP limit every day when I first started (and my blood pressure reflected that). I didn't shame myself for that - just used it to learn what foods to eat that had less sodium. Now I'm going days at a time well under the sodium limit.

Instead of deli meats, which I love, I get a roasting chicken. Rinse it off, cut up a lemon and stick in side,put in a roasting pand, and an hour in the oven you have a nice seasoned chicken. Depending on your portion sizes, it's 3-4 meals at least. Pull the skin off after roasting (my preference) because while there is saturated fat in the skin, roasting it "dry" really kills the texture of the meat. I just make sure I pull off any visible fat when I eat it and I'm good with that. The chicken itself becomes a side dish to the rest of my meals which are vegetable and fruit based.

I find that bread is by bête noire in the sense that I love it but it is not really my friend. So I am eating less, and eating bread that's richer and tastier. I am eating Dave's Killer Bread 21 grains, and I find that one slice at breakfast is tasty.

For me, personally, I am trying to reduce all the substitutes for what I like. I don't want "diet" foods because generally speaking they simply do not taste like the real thing. There are some diet foods I like because I like the taste, but I don't say "it's just like real crème brûlée!" I will eat what I like, especially the real thing, but just smaller portions or I adjust everything else that I eat.

The reason people say there are food to stay away from is that a lot of the convenient foods are high in salt and sugar. In moderation, these things aren't bad for you, but moderation is difficult to accomplish when a bag of chips is a few dollars and the whole bag is gone in seconds. Recording what you eat in MFP will help you see this. Don't punish yourself when you see it - just use the information to make better choices.

Go for vegetables in a variety of ways. They aren't just "good for you" in the sense of "you should eat this as punishment" - they are good, and depending on how to make them, they can be satisfying in their own way. They can stretch out a meal size so you feel "full" with far less calories. I had 2 ounces of chicken the other day mixed in with squashes roasted with garlic and some oriental seasonings and it was quite good. Put vegetables in the foods you prepare - when I make turkey chili, I use finely-grated carrots as an extender. They cook down and add a little more thickness to the chili, and some sweetness, but they also add some other goodness.

Do this for YOU. People will give you advice, and everyone will tell you "you should be doing this." I have told *very* few people that I'm changing my eating and exercise lifestyle, because I don't want the stupid advice. I'm basically trying to reduce fat and calories, increase water intake, and increase exercise. For me.

Good luck, welcome to MFP, and welcome to the journey.

My personal trainer told me that the best way to shop for food (in most grocery stores) is to shop only on the outside four walls and don't go down any isles. That means I shouldn't eat anything that comes in a box or a can (i.e. processed foods). So… Do I do this? Well, not all the time. If you read my food diary you can see that. But, I have been staying away from as much as I used to.

It isn't necessarily staying away from fat, or carbs, or protein, but balancing the three with your calorie allowance as pointed out by MFP. I know my ticker says only 2 pounds lost so it looks like I'm a newbie and I am to MFP, but not to dieting and success with dieting albeit very temporary.

My PT has me reducing the Carbs for the first couple of weeks and keeping the fat the same and increasing the protein to offset the difference in carbs for calories. But here's my best advice.

Improving your eating habits is a process and takes practice to [re]learn. Use MFP to guide you during your practice. If it takes you four weeks to "get it right" then it takes four weeks and so on. Don't kick yourself in the but while you are [re]learning how to do this. If you do great the first four weeks and blow it on Wednesday of the next week, just get back on Thursday and call Wednesday a bad day, not a failure. You did not fail unless you don't get back on when you realize you're off.

So many people, including myself many times, get down on themselves for "failing" and then just really blow it and figure it must be all over now. Then the decline begins again and before we know it we have gained it all back and then some usually.

I wish you the best of luck.

You can eat anything you want. I get irritated when people say "Stay away or avoid fruits" Ask any diabetic. The sugar in fruits is NOT the same as sugar thats refined.

Fruits do have lots of vitamins & minerals, but they also have a high glycemic index. And, in fact, your body treats fructose from fruit just like sucrose from table sugar. Table sugar has a GI of 92 while bananas have a GI of 89. That's virtually identical when it comes to the impact on your blood sugar.

One serving per day in combination with protein (like the egg) is fine, and it's best to eat fruit lower on the GI like apples, berries, or grapefruit.

I actually read an article where the author states that High GI carbs are better than low GI carbs for your post workout meal. High Gi converts to glucose easier helping to get the necessary nutrients to your muscles to aid in the rebuilding process.

I don't stay away from any food I like completely. When I spent three hours hiking, I might come home and have a pizza. On days when I have to sit at my desk all day, I'm conscious of trying to eat lighter, healthier foods to balance out the inactivity.

Ignore what the fitness fanatics say about your body being a temple which you may never sully with Things That Taste Nice, you just have to be responsible and sensible about what you're eating.

As a whole, foods I like to have in my diet on a fairly regular basis are:

- tinned tomatoes for sauces;
- courgettes and aubergines;
- prawns;
- typical stirfry vegetables;
- eggs;
- beans and pulses;
- bulgar wheat and pearl barley.

Things I try not to have too much of on an average day/week:

- bacon :grumble:
- fatty meats such as rind-on pork;
- burgers;
- refined flours;
- white bread;
- processed meats such as sausages;
- cheese. :sad:

The biggest trick for me, is always cook from fresh or frozen but non-processed foods if you can. That way, you know exactly what you're eating.