Did anyone loss weight with eating anything they want???

I eat what I want as long as it fits within my calories.
Yes, I exercise.
I have lost 55 lbs.

I could certainly eat more pizza and ice cream, but not in the portions I want. Also, I'd be hungry, as 500 calories of that is not as filling as something like a chicken, potato, and broccoli meal.

I do have pizza and ice cream rarely, and do exercise more on those days, but the majority of my calories do not come from empty calorie foods.

Yes. Stick to your caloric target and you can still lose weight. It's calories in vs calories out.

Ice creme every night as long as its under my cals

Yes, but not as much as I want. Portion control.

No. Eating what I want is how I got here. The foods that I "want" the most have lots of calories and do not fill me up. If I eat them now I will be hungry because I won't have room for more filling foods in my calorie allowance.

I do make room in my allowance sometimes for these high calorie foods but plan and make up for it on the days around it by decreasing calories. Will exercise more but I am never going to out walk pizza.

I don't see this approach changing when I have a few more calories when maintaining my weight either.

I eat anything I want, but my wants have changed: I often (not always) now want to lose another pound more than I want chips or French fries, so I eat less of things and more satiating lean proteins and vegetables.

Yes, I ate pizza (for those counting "empty calories", it was part skim milk cheese and I make the pizza myself, so not as many "empty calories") almost every day and often had fudge pops for snacks at night. If it fit my calories it was ok to eat. I'm down 42lb to date. I did avoid empty calories, but only so much as a sugary drink meant I was hungry at the end of the day, where as a sugar free drink allowed me to eat more. I do manage to fit in a mud slide once a month (a 800 calorie desert drink) As far as I can tell I was never malnourished so I think I got enough variety.

Yes, I exercised (SL5x5, Ultimate Frisbee, the occasional running, extra walks), but I ate back 100% of my exercise calories. So, strictly speaking they didn't contribute to my weight loss as my plan had the deficit built in regardless of exercise. If you just count all of the exercise as weight loss it contributed maybe 20% of my total.

I don't deprive myself, but I try to stay within my goal. My breakfast is pretty much the same, and I may have a light lunch, or just a snack, in order to enjoy dinner with my husband. I do the cooking.

so far so good
just need the calorie deficit. when i exercise, i get to eat more. which i like

Yes, I just ate less calories than I burned, which is the only way to lose weight.

Tastes definitely change over time. I eat what I want, but I also think white bread/starches taste bland compared to whole grains. I love how vegetables can make a plate look like a rainbow. My stomach feels pretty iffy if I eat high fat content red meat since it's not used to it anymore. But I've also been making changes to my intake since 2011, so that's 4 years of re-acclimation.

I still enjoy treats and if I really want the cookie, I eat the cookie. But I also work to make sure the cookie fits into my day. I rarely eat out because I love what I cook. If I'm craving something specific, like pizza, I find a phenomenal recipe for homemade pizza with goat cheese, onion, arugula, and turkey pepperoni and I love every bite. I love that I can make any food I want healthier and at a fraction of a cost (shout-out to pintrest for compiling everyone's fabulous healthy recipes at a click of a button).

This week, I wanted burgers so I made my own with reduced fat beef and aged sharp cheddar. I skipped the bun, because frankly it gets in the way of my meat and instead include a large serving of various vegetable dishes on the side.

When you stop thinking about healthier food as "diet food" and instead start looking at it as a sensory, enjoyable experience it really does change the definition of eating what you want, but it does take time to re-acclimate your palate so start making small changes over time (ie white bread to refined wheat bread to whole wheat, etc) can really make a difference for your future self and how you look at and enjoy food.

I guess really the question all depends on the context intended.

But I have been through periods where I exercised no restrictions including portion control and maintained weight. I've found that my natural eating urges taper off at a certain point regardless of how much energy I use in a day. So if I have a job that is more taxing in a physical sense, or maybe if I was retired and spent a lot of time exercising, I do reach a point where my natural desires are enough.

And at times, it's made me realize that I somewhat miss having jobs that kept me in shape. It's almost like double dipping, being paid to exercise, unless you just hate the exercise portion of the job.

You can eat whatever foods you want. You just have to limit their quantity. Calories in, calories out.

If you're hoping to lose weight eating however much you want, then I hate to break it to you, but exercise will not help with that. If you've gained the weight in the first place, then exercising more without limiting food intake will probably just lead to you feeling hungrier and eating even more.