Will cutting junk alone benefit me?

I have lost weight before for a period of time by just cutting out junk. When I substitute fibrous vegetables and lean meats (adequate protein) for my junk food diet, I automatically eat less and lose weight. At a certain point though I stopped losing. Counting calories makes the whole process a lot clearer. It's not so bad, you should try it.

I'd bet it would. It's basically what I did. I started eating real food. I lost weight.
Try and see.

And honestly, you don't want to cut the things you enjoy. Life is too short. If it triggers you to binge or something of that nature, then that is different. But if you like sandwiches, start making smarter choices, swapping for something that perhaps is just as tasty, but more nutritious and/or less calories.

But if you love certain things, by cutting them completely, you are more likely to go right back to eating them after a short while and with a ferocious appetite for them, leading to gaining any you lose and then some.

ndj1979 wrote: »

i would suggest the following:
enter stats into MFP
set MFP to one pound per week loss
eat to the number MFP gives you
make sure that you are eating nutritious foods
fill in your calories with thinks you like, like pizza, ice cream, etc.

Good advice.

sammiebeatty wrote: »

diannethegeek wrote: »

sammiebeatty wrote: »

I'm a very picky eater, so I'm struggling to find alternatives, which is why I thought it would be best to cut out the junk food as best as possible.

I'm not a fan of vegetables, bar vegetable soup, I basically have a bland diet of potatoes, pasta and meats, making it hard to get variety, and low calorie meals!

This is why it's so unpredictable. There's no telling what you'll find to fill in your calories once you cut the foods you live on. For instance, I have a sandwich every day for lunch. If I cut that out, there's a 50/50 chance I'd end up replacing it with something more calorific.

I'm not against the plan. I just don't think it's a guarantee of success. You definitely need to track it and have some idea of how to adjust if it doesn't work.

Yeah I'm going to try track it all as best as possible, it's the weighing of everything that gets complicated, especially while on the go with work

I don't weigh everything. I tend to weigh nuts, cheese and meat. Everything else I just measure, or even guesstimate. I understand the argument that it can be inaccurate but so are other estimates (like my BMR and exercise burns). I'm losing just fine. Don't let the "requirement" of weighing food deter you from logging.

AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »

Cutting CALORIES will benefit you. It doesn't matter what you eat, but how MUCH.

This.
Every time I cut my favourite foods out, I end up craving them like crazy and then ended up going through crazy binges, thus ruining my progress. Once I realised that food is food and a calorie is a calorie, I was able to relax, be happy and lose weight. If restriction hasn't worked for you in the past, you may want to consider flexible dieting.

To feel fuller, emphasize on getting enough fiber, fat and protein.

A calorie is a calorie. As mentioned above, eat what you like, just weigh it all (everything that isn't a pure liquid) and log accurately and honestly. My 80+lbs loss is proof that weight loss can be achieved including chocolate!

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

sammiebeatty wrote: »

I'm a very picky eater, so I'm struggling to find alternatives, which is why I thought it would be best to cut out the junk food as best as possible.

I'm not a fan of vegetables, bar vegetable soup, I basically have a bland diet of potatoes, pasta and meats, making it hard to get variety, and low calorie meals!

Given this, no, I don't think it will work. Unless you develop an adult's palate, you won't learn to like eating like an adult (vegetables and nutrient dense foods).

Follow MFP.

It might depend on what op means by "not a fan". I find that when I have hyperpalatable foods, they make everything else pale in comparison, and I don't enjoy eating "regular" food. When I cut most of the treats, stuff I used to find unappealing started to taste a lot better.

It didn't do anything for foods I really intensely disliked, but a lot of the foods that were just boring and bland and "meh" have become things I really enjoy eating.

OP, I think it's worth a shot. If you don't like it, you can always add the treats back in.

I think diet overhauls are great, but one has to be open to them. Claiming one is a picky eater and can't eat veg makes me think one is not interested in a diverse, nutrition-dense, balanced diet (which is fine, whatever, one can still lose weight). I may be biased because even though I changed my taste somewhat at one point I always liked fruits and veg and never found that so-called "hyperpalatable" foods made me unable to appreciate well prepared healthful foods (or were actually more palatable than homemade, an idea that offends me as stupid). And as for "ultra processed" foods, no matter how much I ate I never loved overly sweetened foods, found an inability to enjoy less sweet foods, or (again) thought they were better than homemade (including delicious savory homemade). The last food I really craved was lamb after I gave up meat during Lent.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I think diet overhauls are great, but one has to be open to them. Claiming one is a picky eater and can't eat veg makes me think one is not interested in a diverse, nutrition-dense, balanced diet (which is fine, whatever, one can still lose weight). I may be biased because even though I changed my taste somewhat at one point I always liked fruits and veg and never found that so-called "hyperpalatable" foods made me unable to appreciate well prepared healthful foods (or were actually more palatable than homemade, an idea that offends me as stupid). And as for "ultra processed" foods, no matter how much I ate I never loved overly sweetened foods, found an inability to enjoy less sweet foods, or (again) thought they were better than homemade (including delicious savory homemade). The last food I really craved was lamb after I gave up meat during Lent.

I don't think giving up sweets has to necessarily mean doing a full 180 and drinking kale smoothies and such. I would definitely say my diet is drastically different, and I think it's healthier, but I still tend to go for sweet/ salty bland tastes. the difference is now it's things like apples, carrots, lettuce, oats and salsa, instead of cookies, ice cream, cake and crackers.

In terms of "hyperpalatable" processed foods being tastier than homemade, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the degree of palate development matters. Most of my "trouble foods" were very simple sugar, salt and fat combinations with low or zero bitterness, sour or umami flavours. I've always disliked complex "adult" foods like mushrooms or dark leafy greens, and even meat, so for me, Kraft and Sara Lee just remove all the things I don't like, and crank the rest up to 1000. This is all purely conjecture, mind you, but it would be interesting to know correlation between picky underdeveloped palates and strong preference for processed food.

(By the way, I am not implying in any way that no one should eat cookies, ice cream, cake, or crackers on occasion if they enjoy it and find it easy to maintain a healthy diet)