What ONE food would you recommend cutting out for weight loss?

While I generally don't like to pin point individual foods as the cause of weight gain, if you had to pick one: The most calorie dense and nutrient deficient one that you over eat now but won't miss if you stopped, would be a start.

I haven't cut out anything. That's what I like, you don't have to swear off anything and lose weight. But I have cut way down on...

Most juices: Fruit juice has a surprisingly high amount of calories. Yes it's "healthy" and "natural" but I get more for my caloric buck from whole fruits or veggies.

White bread: I've replaced most of my bread intake with thin corn tortillas or high fiber wraps. Or gone "naked" with cold cuts and cheese sometimes and skipped bread altogether. Again, more bang for my nutritional buck.

I actually upped:

Meat: Lots of protein, and often not as many calories as one would think. I actually eat more bacon than before! (A BLT is very satisfying and quick)

Dairy: Smoothies can be a great way to have an afternoon snack full of whole fruit (see above) and get lots of protein, calcium, and sweetness.

Cutting out sugary pop is usually a good starting point for weight loss, assuming you drink a lot of it. Liquid calories aren't really sating so switching to a calorie-free beverage instead can be an easy way to eat fewer calories.

There's no real need to cut one particular food, but as an individual it can be a good strategy for knocking out some calories that you habitually add every day. I think daily wine is great for me, but if I eliminate alcohol I can cut out around 200 calories/day with no change in eating. If you're a nightly ice-cream eater, banishing it from the house could might have a big impact. You still probably need to log and track, though, because you can always cut out ice cream but start compulsively spooning peanut butter on the hour and wondering why the ice-cream ban didn't help.

rose_lemonade wrote: »

faidwen wrote: »

Sodium!

Wow really? I know it's bad for your heart and stuff but didn't realise it made a difference with fat loss.

Not fat loss, but you would see a scale drop due to less water retention.

Plus sometimes the salty foods are the calorie dense ones...

I've cut out foods that weren't worth the calories, like crappy WalMart bakery items, etc. I try to stick to foods that are worth the "delicious points", AKA calories.

Ready2Rock206 wrote: »

Whatever food it is that puts you over your calorie goal.

Exactly what I was going to say.

OP I realized pretty quickly when I started on MFP that if I started cutting things out completely, it would be unsustainable and I would not stick with it - I think many people have this same experience.

Rather than cutting things out, I decided to commit to adding things to my lifestyle - more protein, more vegetables, more whole grains, more exercise, more sleep. By doing that, and logging accurately with a reasonable deficit, I found that the things I wanted to include naturally took precedent in my diet, and things like wine, ice cream, and pizza that I wanted to still enjoy, I had room for, but not as often, and/or not in as large of quantities.

I lost 35 lbs and never cut a thing, other than calories.

Woo.