What foods have you replaced? What have you eliminated?

Pretty much everything. I did a total diet overhaul. I had my ups and downs with it, but in the end, my diet became a healthy one instead of what a typical 7yo would eat, if given the chance. I went from total crap to healthy.

Aside from extremely rare occurrences, there is not a single meal that is anything like what I used to eat.

Jruzer wrote: »

I'm always puzzled by those who say they've given up "nothing". Maybe I had a horrible diet compared to others, but I will admit to "giving up" lots of things:

- Caramel Bugles
- Swiss Cake Rolls
- Sugar soda
- Cinnabons
- Little Debbies
- McDoubles

along with many other things. Not because I forced myself to "give them up", but because they're not worth the calories to me. I don't occasionally go and get Swiss Cake Rolls from the gas station just so I can say that I didn't give them up. There are other foods that I used to eat frequently - Kwik Trip doughnuts come to mind - that I still do eat, but much less frequently than before. Maybe a few every six months instead of 6-12 per week.

Most of the things people say they've given up I never really ate. I gained weight eating overly large servings of the same kinds of food I eat now (although I used more oil and butter when cooking), plus overly indulgent restaurant meals (I still go out to eat but I don't pretend something I do 1-2x/week is a special occasion that justifies all out indulgence, and that too is a matter of eating less and getting dessert much more rarely, not eliminating foods), plus not ordering Indian when I am tired after work at least 1ce a week (with lots of leftovers for subsequent meals). Again, I still eat Indian food, but more like once a month and I make sure to fit it in my calories.

The only things I've consciously given up are the treats (many sweet, not all) that are around my office all the time, as I was eating those because they were there, not because I really cared about them. The specific foods aren't ones I've given up, but mindless eating and most snacking has been given up by me (most of the time, as I'm a work in progress).

Jruzer wrote: »

I'm always puzzled by those who say they've given up "nothing". Maybe I had a horrible diet compared to others, but I will admit to "giving up" lots of things:

- Caramel Bugles
- Swiss Cake Rolls
- Sugar soda
- Cinnabons
- Little Debbies
- McDoubles

along with many other things. Not because I forced myself to "give them up", but because they're not worth the calories to me. I don't occasionally go and get Swiss Cake Rolls from the gas station just so I can say that I didn't give them up. There are other foods that I used to eat frequently - Kwik Trip doughnuts come to mind - that I still do eat, but much less frequently than before. Maybe a few every six months instead of 6-12 per week.

Before I started MFP, I ate three meals a day and an evening snack. Now, I eat three meals a day and an evening snack.

It's the same food too. I still have the same pasta & meatballs for dinner and ice cream for dessert on Wednesdays. Now, I just eat one serving of it instead of 2-3 servings that I used to. I used to eat a huge bowl of chips as a snack, now I eat 1 serving. I used to go to Wendy's at least once a week and get a double cheeseburger, now I go once in a while (and honestly haven't felt like going at all lately, so I haven't) and I get a single cheeseburger and only eat half the fries.

A lot of people don't need to change what they eat, so they don't have to give it up. They need to change how much of it they eat.

I do find myself gravitating toward "healthier" options more often than I used to, but I haven't really changed my overall diet that much.

Replaced

Regular yogurt with Greek yogurt
White bread with whole wheat
Chocolate with dark chocolate
Veggies added to lunch & dinner always (this was hit or miss)


Eliminated.........nothing

Water, unsweetened tea, diet soda....as usual.

I haven't eliminated anything from my diet aside from gluten because I have Celiac disease. I mainly am working on limiting my portions because my real issue is how much I eat. I find that now I'm more likely to buy ice cream bars rather than have a bowl of ice cream because there is built in portion control. Sometimes I get the kid's meal at Qdoba instead of the full size. Just little things like that.

Replaced: I love pasta but instead of a whole bowl of pasta, I'll have a carefully measured out portion and then fill the rest of my bowl with grilled or steamed veggies. It looks like I'm having a huge bowl of pasta, but it's way less calories and just as satisfying. I try to also experiment with lower calorie cocktails but if I want a giant margarita, I'm having a giant margarita.

Eliminated: nothing. I have, however, drastically reduced my bread/chips/carb consumption. Not because carbs are evil or anything, but because I'd rather save those calories for things that are more filling rather than sit around at 6 pm all pissed off because I blew through my calories earlier and have no room for a beer.

I gave it all up: soda, candy, chips, 5 lbs of sugar a shopping trip, take-out dinner three to five times a week... My diet was completely over the top, devoid of all common sense and was absolutely shameful. That was not how I was raised and I have no excuse for it.

Some of it I'll happily never eat again and some of it I'm happy to enjoy on special occasions or as a one off indulgence but on a day-to-day basis I just don't eat it.

I'm one of those people who haven't given up anything (pretty much). My diet was good, my portion control was terrible! Now, the only meal I consider to be different from before is breakfast. I have oatmeal every day, instead of cereals like Corn Flakes, or the sugary alternatives. I also nearly always had toast, butter and jam to accompany my cereal - I've cut my breakfast calories in half, but still feel full. I find I have sandwiches for lunch far, far less now, as I consider bread to be taking up too many calories compared to how sated I feel afterwards. So I've gravitated to soups, salads, and the occasional lunch of crispbreads/crackers etc, but I still have sandwiches occasionally. Dinner though is basically the same foods - chicken, oily fish, occasional red meat, plus veggies and a carb, in a vast range of recipes - just with careful portion control, and a more conscious way of cooking them (I was once very free with oil for cooking, now it's measured or not needed at all, and there's no real difference in the end taste). I also still have fairly regular desserts or ice cream - probably 2-3 times a week.

The one thing I'd say I'd given up would be chocolate - but that's not quite true! I used to have several bars a day, now it's one or two a week. In addition, when I'm wanting a snack, it's fruit or the occasional serving of nuts - I didn't eat too many crisps and salty snacks before (I'm a sweet not savory person), now it's basically never. So you can see how I've gone from well over 2500 cals per day to 1200 calories without that much change in the actual foods I consume, and genuinely very little hunger! Nearly 8 weeks in, and I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that the scale numbers drop every single day - and it makes complete sense when I look at my diet! I wish I'd known this years ago - many years wasted on diets that promised the world and delivered nothing long term!