Eat whatever you want

i couldn't do it any other way. the way i ate to lose weight had to be the same quality and type of food that i would eat to maintain my weight loss.

so far so good....maintaining 140 pound weight loss for almost 6 months (and i just ate two peanut butter chocolate chip cookies warm out of the oven)

Yes, because if I am not willing to give up a food forever, then I was not going to give it up for weight loss. So I eat one measured serving of ice cream, not a pint at a time. I eat fried foods less often. And I did decide I could never eat refried beans again and eat black beans instead. I do me. :-)

I do for the most part, but recently discovered that I still binge on something I hadn't had in a long time - damn Combos. Ate the whole bag.

I wish I could, but if I ate what I wanted within my calories I'd just be hungry all the time. I don't think it really works for people who mostly like sweet stuff, lol.

But yes, I make meals that I actually like and often base them on my cravings (other than sweets, obviously).

fr33sia12 wrote: »

I think most people assume that if they hear you say "I eat whatever I want" that means junk food etc.

I'm always surprised by how many people assume it means "eat all junk food." I never wanted to eat all junk food, and certainly not now. I want to eat a balanced, nutrient dense diet and what I crave are a variety of foods, including lean meats and vegetables (and lately mostly fruit). And, sure, I personally want to eat some ice cream on a hot day sometimes too, or to go out for Italian, as I plan to tonight!

Nothing is completely off limits to me, but some things are only occasional treats. I find I am much less hungry if I limit some kinds of food. I want to limit hunger more than I want to have whatever I want, just limiting portion size.

For "eat whatever you want" to mean anything you also need to define the frequency. In this regard I doubt calorie conscious people would eat a donut everyday.

I am following an approach where I literally can eat as much as I want, like diet never register my mind, eg buffet, whole large pizza, 30 oz steak, etc., but even then, on cut back days I still need to limit certain foods (soda, sugar coated pastries...) to keep my chance of success. Foods aren't equal. Consume them strategically and discrimately to increase your chance of success.

Francl27 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

fr33sia12 wrote: »

I think most people assume that if they hear you say "I eat whatever I want" that means junk food etc.

I'm always surprised by how many people assume it means "eat all junk food." I never wanted to eat all junk food, and certainly not now. I want to eat a balanced, nutrient dense diet and what I crave are a variety of foods, including lean meats and vegetables (and lately mostly fruit). And, sure, I personally want to eat some ice cream on a hot day sometimes too, or to go out for Italian, as I plan to tonight!

Well in my case, I was eating 90% junk/high calorie food before I decided to lose weight, so...

I wasn't, and I think I still eat what I want within my calories when eating a quite nutritious diet with sweets only on occasion. Sometimes I want more than fits in my calories, of course. Heck, even when I was fat and didn't care I'd sometimes want more than I could eat and had to make choices.

rankinsect wrote: »

I can eat whatever I want, but certainly not always as much as I would want.

There are times I have to think whether a food is worth it, though. For example, cookies are tasty but not very filling, so if I eat some, I will be hungrier later. Sometimes I make that choice. Other times I choose something different.

I find myself evaluating whether a food is really worth it; it's almost like shopping for something I don't need. If I'm lucky, someone is with me who can taste something & tell me if it's really worth the calories, fat, carbs, etc. Nothing worse than getting a mouth full of something that looks yummy but isn't!