Anyone lose their weight eating clean

I follow an 80/20 clean eating habit. I'm three weeks in and I love it. I lost approximately 5 pounds the first week, but I've hovered around the same weight for two weeks now, despite an active deficit. However, I feel better, more energized, and healthy. It's also resetting my palate, for lack of a better word. Things I used to love, junk food, isn't that great when I attempt to eat it, even though my brain isn't on board and still craves what it remembers the food to be like. The other things are far too salty or sweet. I'm finding I appreciate the subtle flavors of the foods I eat without the addition of many spices or condiments. It's a weird transition for me, but I'm digging it.

Without meaning to sound glib it may be your success has come from learning to cook a little better using fresh, whole food ingredients than rely on pre packaged stuff (which tends to be higher in calories, less nutrients and less volume per serving.)

IIRC is was Leigh Peele who said one of her top "secrets" to weight loss was learning home cooking skills.

There seems to be this weird false dichotomy in the minds of many dieters: bland, boring rabbit "diet" food on one hand or yummy, high calorie, highly processed "sin" food on the other whilst all the while missing the vast expanse of the middle ground.

If your food is too boring flavor wise try using some fresh herbs, a little fresh rosemary can really make some tasty chicken, just chop it up and put in under the skin of your chicken before you bake it, you can remove the skin after if you don't want the extra fat. Also, try nutritional yeast! It tastes like nacho cheese and you can put in on popcorn or salad or just on some toast.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

titotito48 wrote: »

I am trying to incorporate tasty meals not plain. I have looked on line and gotten quite a few recipes that were really good. Today is day 6 eating clean (non processed foods). My stomach has already gone down 2 inches. Yay! I had lost 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks doing this in the past but my meals were pretty plain then so I didn't stick with it. Anyone else have success with this? Oh, and 6 pounds so far this time. I know it will slow way down after my body gets used to this.

I suppose it would depend on your definition of "clean"...I eat what many would consider to be pretty "clean"...but that doesn't mean my food is boring and bland. I eat mostly whole foods and/or minimally processed foods and prepare meals using primarily scratch, whole ingredients...i know my way around the kitchen pretty well and make a lot of awesomeness.

keep in mind that eating "clean" doesn't mean squat if your taking in too many calories. weight management is about energy balance...consume more energy than your body requires then that surplus of energy is stored as body fat for later use...basically your backup generator. when you consume less energy than your body requires, that backup generator kicks on and you burn fat to make up for that deficiency.

This is true for me too, and I second the advice about calories.

I think of "processed foods" as including lots of things I eat, however -- just today (before dinner) it would include feta cheese, cottage cheese, maybe the pickled daikon I made at home (maybe because I pickled it myself it wouldn't count?) at minimum, and of course those foods aren't especially caloric, and nor is smoked salmon and many other things I could name.

Personally, though, I find concentrating on home cooking, which allows me to make meals that are consistent with my personal tastes and include the amount of vegetables and other foods I want, is the easiest way to control calories without feeling like I am giving anything up. I typically ate lots of home cooked "whole" (or "unprocessed" or "minimally processed") foods before losing weight, however, so I don't think of it as a diet or even a "lifestyle change" and never lose sight of the fact that merely doing this is not enough to guarantee I will not overeat. I have to be conscious of amounts too, and of the specific "whole foods" I choose.

I lost my weight (44 pounds) from eating clean and exercising regularly. My definition of eating clean is eating mainly home cooked meals, measuring my food, and maybe eating out at the most one to two times a week. My definition of exercising regularly is one hour of cardio (spinning and/or elliptical) 5 times a week; and weight training 2 to 3 times a week. I eat some processed foods (sweets, chips, breads, and other junk food) here and there and in moderation. Have maintained weight loss for 1.5 years. I lost my weight slowly which took a little over a year, was not a short and quick weight loss routine. I owe my weight loss to faithful sweat cardio sessions as the gym 5 to 6 times a week) because when I was just tracking food intake the two pounds I lost here and there was not staying off. In addition, I use Sunday's for week meal preparation which covers my breakfast, lunch, and dinners to save me from eating anything. For snacking during my breaks at work I eat fresh fruit which is easier to throw in my purse without preparation time.