how did you get up and stop eating bad food?

CandehMandeh wrote: »

You can still have those "bad foods", just have less of it. There's no way I could ever just stop having chips or chocolate.

Yep. Everything in moderation.

Food is food! No such thing as bad food except if it is rotten. Just eat less than you need

Define bad?

I stopped eating at fast food places once I saw the calories per sandwich. Holy snotballs, Id rather have an amazing steak for that calorie damage. I don't miss the expense, or the food. I've tried it since I quit 4 years ago and it tastes appalling to me now with the excessive salt and grease. Yack.

Going out to restaurants became more about how much sodium they cook food with. *wow* Ive acclimated to the point where I now send food back as "way too salty." I expect to be able to taste the food I am buying, not just the salt.

However, I love low salt chips. Homemade fries out of the fryer. Cake with gobs of frosting. Pizza.

Moderation is always the key, except for some people there are trigger foods. Oreos would be a good example of a food that is hard to only eat 1 serving and leave the package alone. So many lonely cookies wishing they had been lucky enough to be chosen. Why deny them that experience?

Without moderation we overindulge and then feel guilt and remorse and we are more susceptible to making poor choices again. Success comes from being able to say yes, sometimes. And "no, not right now but maybe tomorrow."

When I first started my journey it was difficult to say no. So I would say, no not right now. let's go for a walk instead. And if, when I got back, I still wanted the piece of cake then Id eat it. At least I went for a good hour long walk first and burned off calories to make room for the delightful morsel. More often than not I would go for a walk, feel great when I got back, and opt out of the cake. THAT felt great! Some days I ate the cake and felt great cause at least I worked for it.

Success is how you set yourself up. Figure out what works for you and go for it.

I read helpful links on these forums like the ones here:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260499/i-like-old-posts-and-i-cannot-lie/p1

and more recently:
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/superfoods/

and learned that there is no such thing as bad foods, good foods, or super foods. I learned there is no single food that is going to hurt your weight loss efforts, or help them. I learned that what matters for weight loss is being within a calorie deficit. I learned what matters also for health is to eat a variety of nutrient dense foods. I learned what matters for my happiness is to not deprive myself of foods I love.

There are no bad foods unless you have allergies.

Keep on enjoying the foods you love, you just need to exercise some self control and moderate portion sizes. If there are foods that you tend to binge on just buy them in small quantities - you may have the urge to pig out but if there's none in the house......

Log it into the MFP app (or website), it may take a bit but eventually you'll be horrified at the numbers you see.
...at least that's how it's working for me.

I focused on adding good things to my diet. I focus on eating lean proteins and vegetables for most of my meals. This helps to keep me feeling full and provides me with the nutrition that I need.

I also try to pre-log my days so that I can see what kind of wiggle room I have to add in smaller treats. I find that eating foods that I enjoy but are high in calories in moderation helps to keep me sane, but the smaller portion can be worked into my goal.

Some tips for making moderation work for me:

• Pre-logging my food (as previously mentioned)
• Setting a reasonable calorie deficit giving me enough of a deficit to lose weight, but also allowing for enough calories to keep me feeling satiated throughout the day and with room for some treats.
• Setting an activity level for myself that also helps with the right calorie goal. I like to eat a lot of food. Therefore I do a fair amount of cardio to earn a higher calorie goal.
• I focus on quality treats that I really enjoy. I find that I much prefer a single serving of a high quality ice cream that I really like over a larger portion of something that is just ok. I often finding myself asking "is it worth the calories to me".

It has also helped that I view my calories the same as my money/budget. I need enough money to pay for my essentials. If I don't have enough money, I need to find a way to make supplemental income. I need to decide what HAS to be spent each month, what I need to save for retirement, and then see how much is leftover for my wants.

I eat fast food still. In moderation, and I look up the nutrition before choosing. Say I go to Wendy's. Instead of getting a cheeseburger and fries. I'll get a grilled chicken sandwich and a small chili. I still drink soda sometimes. Again, in moderation. Normally I go over on calories on the weekend. I don't believe in depriving yourself. It works for me.