How clean was your diet while actively losing weight?

My rule of thumb is to make sure I get at least two cups of veggies and two cups of fruit into my daily meals. Always some whole grains at breakfast and lunch. Protein of some kind (lentils, salmon, sardines, chicken, beans, eggs). Eat the "fun stuff last" and don't make too much. For example, my husband bought a full size blueberry pie this weekend. One of my weaknesses. If I buy pie, I buy a single slice or a mini pie, not a whole pie. Guess who put on two pounds after eating three servings of pie this weekend? Me. Back on track today. If he wants more pie, I will get him pie from Publix which contains real butter and milk. I won't eat it because I am allergic to casein. I made paleo sugar free banana pecan muffins today as a healthier treat. High protein paleo flour, Swerve instead of sugar, and some chopped pecans. Very tasty and very filling so you don't overeat. I may replace the oil with applesauce or butternut squash next time around. Moral of the story is eat well most of the time, don't beat yourself up when you overeat something you love, put it in the past, and continue moving forward with healthy diet and exercise. That moved my weight from 203 pounds to my current 153. It has been 151 as a setpoint for awhile now, so I know that returning to good behavior will reset it within a week to 151 again. My new goal is to get below 150 and into the 140s.

I aim to hit my protein and fiber goals, that keeps me from getting hungry. I try to eat a reasonable amount of veggies and fruits for good health. Whether any of that comes from "clean" food I have no idea. I eat fast food a couple of times a week. I have either ice cream, cookies, a brownie, or cheesy snacks pretty much every day. Coke Zero and Diet Dr Pepper make me happy. I managed to stick to 1500 cals to lose weight and now @ 1800 to maintain eating like this.

Finding a way of eating that you enjoy and satisfies you that you can eat for the rest of your life is IMHO the best thing you can do.

So, my body is weird. I am far hungrier when eating so called "clean" foods. I don't find them satiating whatsoever. I can eat a 500-600 calorie salad the size of my head, with chicken added for protein, and I am starving within the hour. Meanwhile, I can eat 300 calories of chips and feel completely satisfied. One time I tried a vegan meal kit service. I'm not even vegetarian, but I felt like it couldn't hurt to eat more plant-based foods, and thought it was great that everything was low prep and very healthy. I was getting plenty of calories and I actually thought the meals tasted pretty good, but I've never been so hungry in my life. Less than an hour after eating a 500-700 calorie dinner I would feel like I hadn't eaten all day. And I wasn't eating even vegetarian for other meals/snacks (just dinner), so it wasn't just "switching to a vegan diet" either.

So, long story short "clean eating" is never going to work for me. I have successfully lost weight eating junk all day long, because calories in calories out, but obviously I know that's not good for me. I find that regardless of what I eat for lunch on a work day, I am starving at the end of the day. I also tend to care less about what I'm eating at work because I'm super busy. So I try to make my lunch really healthy- veggies, fruit, and lean protein only. Then for dinner I eat something that still fits into my calorie day but that I'm more excited about eating and that will be more filling.

I lost 50lbs eating literal junk, and had no problem maintaining after that. I found the leaner I got the less cravings I got.

This is in part what convinced me of the validity of CICO.

I'm sure my diet wasnt clean at all , by any definition of the word, while actively losing weight.

Nor while in maitenance since then.

IMO eat a variety of foods in a balanced nutritious way (use credible source guidelines if not sure what this would be) and keep to correct calorie limit and don't stress about unneccesary detail like clean or dirty eating.

I try to cook with mostly whole foods (but don’t shy away from using ingredients like Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, curry pastes, crackers, sometimes pre-made sauces etc). And my homemade meals make up probably 75% of my diet.

The other 25% percent are snacky. Usually have a protein bar each day, will often have cookies or candy or ice cream for part of my dessert. But often some of the dessert is also bananas, oats, yogurt, natural or unnatural peanut butter 😅.

It’s really a mix. But I do make a point to make the loose majority of my meal ingredients “whole” ingredients, and also a portion of my snack ingredients too.

I pay attention to levels of fiber and protein and servings of veggies/fruit in my meals and snacks, so to add the additional restriction of “MUST BE 90-100% CLEAN!” would be totally unsustainable to me. Too much micromanaging.