reducing portion vs changing what you eat

I do believe you can lose by just cutting. As long as you don't have a tremendous amount of weight to lose. Get a food scale. It is one of the best tools for weight loss. You'll be shocked to see what a true protion size is. Good luck.

I lost like 80 pounds that way. Instead of a giant $6 from carls jr with a large fry, I would eat half the burger, half the fries, extra (diet) soda.

it pretty much comes down to what your starting point diet is like.

for me, i discovered (through logging here etc) that i had key food stuffs that were pushing me upward. if i cut out the cake/sweets at work and moderated the cheese/bread/pasta intake at home, my diet was coming in pretty good looking & i had no problem dropping 20odd lb into the top of my target range. My diet is by no means 'clean' but it's full of protein and veg and all that other good stuff so i was happy.

if your starting point is not so great and you depend on a lot of fast/procesed foods, then maybe a bigger overhaul would be needed.
if your staring point is great but large, portion size is the issue.
in reality, for most people it will be a combination of all of these with the emphasis on what your own particular weaknesses are.

I started out by simply telling myself "all foods are permissable, but not all foods are beneficial". It totally took the power away from the food and gave it back to me. Knowing I can eat whatever I want has really helped me choose better quality fuel for my body because I just want to!! I have an occassional treat without any guilt.

Hi! I can say from experience that a few years back before I had my second child I was at 280 lbs, I started drinking diet soda instead of soda, and ate more yogurt and granola as a snack instead of the little debbie snacks I had eaten my whole life, and I started working out for 45-55 min 4-5 nights a week and got down to 211 in a matter of 5-6 months! Ya I cut out the bad snacks and soda, but I didn't change anything else, I didn't start eating veggies or lots and lots of fruit, for my lunch break at work I would go to Jack in the box right next door, sometimes I'd get a salad, sometimes I'd get a jumbo jack and fries or tacos, and then for dinner I'd eat whatever foods I had been eating all along, mainly mexican style foods, which tends to have high calories! So I didn't eat clean, I just changed the soda and snack thing and kept working out and the weight dropped off me like that!

So to answer your question, no , from my own experience, you don't have to change to just eating "clean" to lose weight, but it might depend on your body weight, type, and all that. But I also think to keep the weight off it would be good to incorporate some sort of veggies and fruits into our daily meals for the nutrients they give This time around I'm finding it much harder to lose weight, I think because I don't have a job like I did before, so I find myself wanting to snack all day, and don't have the healthiest things for snacks. Maybe I should buy yogurt and granola again and eat that anytime I want a snack! So if you don't want to eat clean you don't have to, you can still lose weight as long you're exercising on a regular basis and making sure you're not over eating on the calories. Eating clean or just cutting portions is a personal choice, do what works for you and makes you happy!

I think many people started out simply eating less food, and then changed to "cleaner" eating over time.....

I started eating smaller portions, and then my body needed more nutrients to keep me going. I ended up eating a bit healthier, but it was done over time (with many slip ups). It was gradual over the course of a year.

This! I started by controlling portions then when I figured I can eat more of better things.

That's how I lost my pregnancy weight...still eat the same stuff, I just don't pig out all the time. But I didn't have a terrible diet anyways....

Portion control. Not eating as much unhealthy foods. Exercise. Drinking water instead of sodas.

I've done both. I changed what I ate and made sure I would eat healthy serving sizes.

I precook on weekends and freeze the perfect serving sizes, so there is no way I can eat too much of a dinner or lunch.

Also, for snacks, I pack them ahead of time (i.e. nuts) and take every day my little bag with nuts to work. If I take the entire bag, I may be tempted to snack on more than I should.

at first i ate smaller portions. then i started eating healthier foods. i realized i coudl eat a ton of fruit and veggise and feel full instead of one thing that was sugar or carb loaded and feel hungry and have a sugar high/low. now i just eat healthier.

I have lost 45 pounds by changing what I eat and not concerning myself with volume.

I eat protein(eggs, beef, chicken, fish, seafood, ect..) , lots of good veggies, cheeses, nuts, good oils, berries, dark chocolate for the sweettooth, some whole grain pasta, cereal.

I don´t eat any processed foods, white starch of any kind(bread, potatoe, rice, corn, ect) , high sugar fruit, sugar, ect..
I walk 4 times a week.

When I get hungry, I eat. I just choose what I eat differently now.

I generally eat what I want but use portion control. So far that has worked for me. However, I have started to think more about what I eat based on their calories so that I'm getting the most bang for my buck (i.e. broiled salmon, steamed asparagus, and roasted red potatoes for 400 calories vs. 1 piece of pizza for the same amount of calories).

I do a little of both. I was generally eating healthy 80-90% of the time but thought I could eat as many fruits and veggies as I wanted. I learned this is not true.

MFP for me started just tracking calories. Now I track the nutrients as well. When you begin to view food as a means to fuel your body and not as anything else, the healthy part just comes naturally. I'm still not perfect and I'm definitely a work in progress and if I want a cheeseburger I'm going to have one. But I track it now.

I think many people started out simply eating less food, and then changed to "cleaner" eating over time.....

I started eating smaller portions, and then my body needed more nutrients to keep me going. I ended up eating a bit healthier, but it was done over time (with many slip ups). It was gradual over the course of a year.

I agree with this~