can i lose weight but still eat rubbish?

I still eat "poorly" from time to time, but now I know how to eat smaller portion sizes. I think that being allowd to eat ANYTHING has helped me stay on track with my weightloss because I don't feel deprived of unhealthy foods that I love (fried chicken, ice cream, crackers) but I know that when I DO eat these things from time to tmie I won't overdue it and I know that I need to workout even harder to make-up for it...

Good luck finding the balance that works for you! :flowerforyou:

It's about balance and feeling good. Often times we'll have a craving, but when we fulfill it (ordering that cheeseburger), we not only have to deal with the caloric load ("Man, I only have 200 calories left and I haven't had dinner yet...") but the food isn't as good as we thought it would be and it makes us feel tired, bloated or hungry again soon after. That's what most processed foods do... the healthier I eat, the less I actually want the greasy stuff.

Domino's pizza is one of my crutches, but last few times I ordered it, I wondered why I bothered because it wasn't nearly as good as my mind worked it up to be. Could've made a much yummier dinner myself with a little more effort and probably half the calories....

See what I mean? It's also a mindset. Choose the healthy foods you like to eat, and then slowly incorporate more of them. Start out on the calorie counting part of the journey, and gradually add better-for-you foods (less processed) and eliminate bad ones (calorically-dense, uber-processed, high in sodium/sugar/carbs with little protein and fiber) until you find a balance that is giving you enough protein, fiber, and a balance of fats and carbs - a balance that will keep you full, energized, and satisfied, where you're meeting your calorie goals and macros, and hopefully leaves a little left over for one of your favorite snacks, i.e. oreos and milk.

Technically you can lose weight by just counting calories... but you're going to feel a lot better and be able to sustain your weight loss/healthy lifestyle if you choose more nutrient-dense foods. It is a gradual thing, though. Do what you can now and make subtle changes, and you will be surprised how far you can come.

God bless

**Side-note: Edited because food shouldn't just fall into "good" or "bad" categories... there are better foods, and there are convenience foods. I'm sorry Pizza, I didn't mean to call you bad.

A journalist did a programme about this a year or so ago in the UK. He had a full medical before he started, only ate junk food but stayed within his limits, then had a medical at the end of the period (I think it was one month)

Apart from all the negative effects this had on his moods and emotion etc he lost weight but the medicals showed that he was in considerably worse health at the end of the experiment compared to the start.

This... You can lose weight but you probably will still be hungry and probably less healthy but that may be your goal..who knows!

Again:

Wrong: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so.
Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.

Mission Impossible: Portion Control on Junk Food. Haub noted he was overweight and having problems managing his weight. “I was eating healthier, but I wasn’t healthy,” he noted. “I was eating too much.” Haub, like so many Americans, has issues with portion control. Yet, mysteriously, he was able to eat his fill of junk and was able to “push away the wrapper” to keep within his calorie budget on junk food. Why couldn’t he do this with healthy fare? Science has clearly shown that when you eat a tsunami of refined sugar, insulin levels skyrocket and plummet, resulting in a raging appetite for more sugar. And don’t forget the stress and abuse you’re putting your pancreas and liver through. No one can control their appetite on a 60% junk food intake.
http://blogs.webmd.com/pamela-peeke-md/2010/11/the-twinkie-diet-caution-toxic.html

Never said it was ideal. Just pointing out that even with eating a junk food diet, he lost weight and his health improved. You haven't said anything that discounts that.

I haven't forgotten that you are a card-carrying member of the MFP Food Police and have an agenda and are strangely preoccupied with how others choose to eat.

obviously you are as well as you are commenting on a thread about what some one is going to eat. you eat crap all the time= you are going to look like crap. its simple really.

Never said it was ideal. Just pointing out that even with eating a junk food diet, he lost weight and his health improved. You haven't said anything that discounts that.

I haven't forgotten that you are a card-carrying member of the MFP Food Police and have an agenda and are strangely preoccupied with how others choose to eat.

obviously you are as well as you are commenting on a thread about what some one is going to eat. you eat crap all the time= you are going to look like crap. its simple really.

Actually, I answered her question without a lecture and an alarmist mentality then sent her a PM with healthier alternatives that will allow her to satisfy her sweet tooth.

What have you added to this thread?

When you are trying to lose weight, it's important that you eat nutritious foods and not junks. Otherwise, it could pose some serious damage to your health.

Never said it was ideal. Just pointing out that even with eating a junk food diet, he lost weight and his health improved. You haven't said anything that discounts that.

I haven't forgotten that you are a card-carrying member of the MFP Food Police and have an agenda and are strangely preoccupied with how others choose to eat.

Glad I made an impression on you.

Is this a joke? Seriously, who asks if they can eat junk food and be healthy.

Technically you can....but i really think after you start recording everything you eat on here...and how quick those junk food sucks up your calories and fats for the day...that you'll eventually steer away from it. I'm a junk food craver too - but found the difference in the way you feel when you eat the good calories as opposed to the fluffy ones is pretty amazing. you should just try one day without and see what you think. Good luck to you either way, and enjoy this site its pretty cool!!!

you can lose weight, but there is more to being healthy than just your weight. It is a matter of balance. A sweet or high fat food once in a while is okay. I find it helps me stay with the program and the longer i am on it the less often I want them. The whole point is to make healthy changes you can stick to.

If you're referring to the food you want to eat as "rubbish" then I don't really think you're fooling yourself, but you're an adult and you can make your own decisions whether they are "good" "great" or "poor". Would I personally recommend it? No. Can you lose weight and eat rubbish? Yes.

You can put anything you like in your mouth - cookies, ice cream, fish and chips, crisps etc… You do need to log it. When I started, I was amazed on where my calorie count was going.
That cup of ice cream, and I mean measured cup, was 300 calories! Thats 1/4 of the day allowance, and you think its filling? nope.

The key is to see what is going where and adjust. I found that by 10:30/11am I was hungry… why? because I was shorting myself on calories for breakfast. Couldn't make it on 200 calories (1 egg, veg, omelet microwaved) so I added in meat, and now I get hungry right before lunch. So I added in a small snack at 11am. It varies, but I try to keep it at 100 calories or less… So it could be 1/3 cup of ice cream, or it can be a lot of sugar snap peas.

You will need to see how you are eating and adjust based on logging EVERYTHING. And throw out the word diet. Diets don't work, as the premise is changing what you are eating for a while to lose weight. You need to change how you are eating for life.

Add in the exercise, it makes a big difference. I can do two 45 minute power walks during the day, (lunch time and before dinner) and find I don't / can't eat all my calories.

Wean yourself away from the rubbish, it will just make you bounce up and down in weight and in cravings. Once in a while you might get a craving for "X", have 100 calories of that, it generally will remove the craving, then follow up with 100 calories of something healthy, like a banana. Train your body and mind to substitute the perceived cravings.

Great post!

While it may not be healthy, in terms of cleaning out your arteries, improving heart health, etc. I absolutely agree that you can lose weight if you stick to only whatever calorie goal. With a combination of dieting, portion control, calorie counting, and exercise, I was able to lose 40 lbs in about 3 months, and I have maintained that lost for 6 months now

I'm still in denial that I have lost 10lbs my first 30 days of using MFP considering the food that I eat. However, because I log EVERYTHING I put in my mouth, it has made me aware of just how much I ate pre-MFP days and I have reduced that amount drastically. So yes, in my experience thus far, you can still have your "rubbish" daily and lose weight. You will notice, however, that you will want to cut back on the amount of junk. I'll never forget my very first day of logging my food. I had reached my calorie limit by 11am!! Incredible!

My advice? Restricting yourself too much, too soon, of your normal eating habits will result in frustration, stress, and unhappiness. Especially on days when you "fall off the wagon" and go on a binge. Try eating as you normally would, log everything, and see how quickly your mind changes when you start to reach for that "rubbish" on the 3rd or 4th day!

Good luck to you! Happy losing! :drinker:

You take baby steps away from high fat, high sugar foods. For example, if you crave a chocolate bar, melt 10 chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave oven. Dip a banana in it, and slowly enjoy each bite. Consider how good it tastes. Drink a glass of water. You feel full now, and calm. Walk away.
Do the same with high quality versions of foods you like. Make a whole wheat crust pizza with lots of tomato sauce and a little cheese instead of the high fat version at the fast food place. Years from now, you will not have high blood pressure and diabetes, or, if you are genetically predisposed to it, your condition will be easily controlled with diet and medicine, and you will feel and look wonderful.

It sounds like (from your profile) you want to make a permanent lifestyle change and keep the weight off. Eating a healthy diet will give you a healthier body long term, but going on and off diets and seeing your weight yo-yo does you no good physically or mentally. My suggestion would be to make gradual changes. You could try to eat only healthy food, cut out all excess sugar and junk food, but how long could you sustain that for? It will probably be easier (and therefore more sustainable) to gradually cut back on the junk.

Instead of focussing on what you're cutting out, try to think of healthier things you can add in. As others have said, on only 1200 calories, you will probably struggle to feel full and satisfied on only junk. Try new things and experiment with your diet, without thinking of it as a way of depriving you. (A lot of people find 1200 hard to stick to anyway, that might be something you look at increasing in the future).

As you gradually make changes, you can focus on one aspect at a time, maybe cutting sodium levels for a few weeks, or cutting down on sugar, drinking more water, getting more fibre, protein etc.

I'm not advocating living off junk at all, but I know how hard it is to stick to a diet that feels like a diet. When I started MFP I decided that I wasn't going to give up any of the foods I like. I still have pizza, chocolate, wine etc. Over three months, my diet has got a lot healthier, I've found new foods that I like and I don't eat as much of that stuff as I once did, but I also feel like this is a way of eating that I can continue forever. I'm not miserable from depriving myself of food I like, but at the same time, I've naturally started making healthier choices.

Ultimately, a healthy diet is going to be much better for you than one full of junk, but I believe that if you make it a gradual process, you'll find that you're far more likely to stick to it in the long term.