Weight loss without eating right?

I've tried the cutting back method, but it didn't work for me. I do better cold turkey. Dump the junk. When you do, your tastes will change and the healthy stuff will start to taste good to you. As long as you keep eating junk, even less of it, you'll crave it and eventually use portion control.

Just imo.

First off, I've been here for a while, but I'm finally ready to get things in gear.
Secondly, I know successful weight loss is a combination of eating right and exercising. However, the problem I'm running into is giving up food I love for healthy food. (I'm sure many of you know that some healthy food is not as good as we would like it to be). This is truly a tedious process for me, that I think few people truly understand.

As of right now instead of stopping cold turkey I've focused on portion control and giving up large amounts of sugary drinks. After all of this rambling can I expect to see some results by just focusing on exercise and portion control until I can fully wean myself off unhealthy food?

As long as the unhealthy food, in the portions you eat it, allows you to stay in a calorie deficit, then you will still lose weight.

Apply some common sense, obviously. If you're eating "mostly" whole and nutritious foods and you're eating "some" junk food, then you'll be just fine and I'd say keep going with that plan. If you're literally eating all twinkies and cookies and just eating so little of them that you don't exceed your calories, you will STILL lose weight, but you'll not feel good and you'll eventually have micronutrient deficient problems that will lead to health issues.

Individual food items outside of their contribution to your total intake of calories, do not make you fat.

I agree with above posters that you can absolutely lose weight while still eating the foods you love. I've been doing that this whole time. I have changed some of the things I eat, but overall I try to eat healthy with some treats thrown in there! For me, portion control works well! Feel free to add me as a friend and look at my crazy diary

I think it's a good idea, actually. Of course everyone is different but, to me a radical change in everything I was eating, plus restricting calories, would be too much and I would never stick with it. Making changes over time is more sustainable, in my opinion.

And as long as you're eating the right number of calories you will lose weight. It's better overall to eat healthy foods, but as far as weight loss is concerned, the calories are what matter.

Different things work for different people. I have a friend who lost a lot of weight in the beginning. (like first month) by eating nothing but garbage. But instead of having 2 big macs she'd have 1 etc. She started a blog with what she was eating everyday and how much of it. And what exorcises she was doing. I imputed her meals into here once just cause I was curious, she was at 3,000 calories before dinner once. It eventually caught up to her. She stopped dropping and started gaining again.

I think though, if you do more than just portion control, and maybe count your calories you could do well. I haven't given up everything. If I have extra calories at the end of the day and I want a candy bar, I have a candy bar.

I only pay attention to my calorie goal. Some days it's through exercise to burn off extra calories, some days I eat healthy, and some days I just eat small amounts of junk food. As far as weight loss is concerned, if you create a calorie deficit you WILL lose! I'm proof of that

I am from the south, I totally understand about the flavor thing! I have the occasional junk and as long as it fits in my daily goals, I don't see a problem. I do understand also that the junk is usually loaded with salt so I expect to see a stall or slight gain in my weight afterwards. I am finding a lot of tasty recipes though that are "like" my junk (Monty Cristo Mmmm....) but heathier and they aren't bad.
Hope this helps :flowerforyou:

You can lose weight by eating junk and just cutting back. Some of my closest friends eat a vending machine bag of chips for lunch, lots of ramen noodles and lots of beer and have always been thinner than me who always ate mostly healthy foods. I was always the chubby one even though I ate good foods and worked out. I just ate too much.

To be healthy you will want to try to cut back on the junk more, eliminate or replace with healthier ingredients. Do what works for you and that you can live with.

I got to my goal weight I don't think I ate the "best". I just made sure to work the calories off to get back under my daily limit. One of my issues with a show like the Biggest Loser is they put you in this bubble of good food versus real world food. In the real world, you will have a big cheese burger and fries or have a candy bar for a snack. It happens. I learn to balance what I eat (whatever I want to eat) with the required exercise to work off those calories. So basically if I am looking at a donut and I want to eat it, I just have to make sure I am willing to burn that off as well. If not, I pass on it.

I think as long as you mostly try new healthier foods then yes, you will lose weight if you stay under your calorie goal.

I can't do the "in moderation." that some people seem able to do. If I say I am only going to have one piece of pizza, I end up eating 4. So I just don't have pizza often. I do however eat fried chicken etc (I am a southern girl and if there is one thing I learned from the South it's how to cook with oil/shortening/gravy lol) But I can portion it out better and make sure I know how much is in something if I cook it myself even if it's unhealthy I still choose better choices.

Let me start off by saying congratulations on your decision to really kick your weight loss goals into gear! The hardest step is always the first one, but I'm sure once you begin to habituate yourself to new habits you'll find its actually quite enjoyable.

Your concerns with limiting portions and sugary drinks is an excellent first step to take. There is a major difference between the idea of weight loss and getting ripped. For something like getting perfect 6 pack abs, there may be specific foods you have to avoid. When doing general weight loss, portion and calorie control are usually more important as well as trying to make slightly better eating decisions when available. The sugary drinks aspect is a big one that you'll see great results from giving up. However, there are several really healthy recipes that you would never know were healthy based on the taste. My facebook page is actually doing a focus on healthy recipes this week, so if you're interested I'll post it at the bottom of this post. So far, I've covered Pizza, Pancakes, side salads, and today I posted a recipe for a Steak Sandwich!

www.facebook.com/OHealthCenter

As long as you fit the food you're eating inside your calorie goal, you should be fine.

However, you'll probably switch slowly to more healthy food because unhealthy food generally doesn't make you feel full as long and gives you less energy to work with.

I hardly ever eat (very) unhealthy food anymore. It just doesn't supply me with enough energy

There is a person on my friends list who's food diary consist of mostly fast food. If there's a vegetable to even be seen, it's generally a french fry or a tater tot, maybe a fried mushroom. She has been losing weight because she remains consistently under her calorie goal, but I would guess that she is starving in terms of nutrients and will have health related issues down the line (heart disease, gall bladder issues, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc).

i would suggest making small changes at a time... things that you can live with and stick to. If you don't mind drinking tea instead of a large coke or have wheat bread instead of white, the little changes over time count towards gradually improving your health. I don't think there should truly be a total elimination of anything. It's all about a balanced, healthy diet, not 100% grass and berries, or 100% fat and junk food.

Good luck to you.

I have not completely cut out the less-healthy (and even totally unhealthy) foods I love, and I don't ever plan to. I believe in "all things in moderation." Here's what I have focused on:

* Portion control. My trainer says that your stomach is the size of your fist. He said to imagine your meal squished into a ball -- it ought to be about the size of your fist. If it's more than that, you are eating too much for one meal.

* I do count my calories. This helps me get an idea of how much I am eating through the whole day. It also encourages me to eat lower calorie foods, because if I ate 1300 calories worth of Twinkies, I'd still be starving!

* I concentrate more on adding healthy foods to my diet than on cutting out unhealthy ones. I set my food tracker on here to show me protein, vitamin A and C, and iron (instead of showing me how much fat or carbs I'm eating), and I try to maximize those in my diet. I figure, if I am eating only 1300 calories, and most of it is actively doing me good, then there's not enough room for it to be doing me much bad.

* Oh, and drink a TON of water. I drink water all day long, and only occasionally have a soda (usually if I'm at a bar). Not only does cutting down the sugary drinks really help with calories, but drinking water all day helps you not feel so hungry. I've gotten to where I actually prefer water. I bought myself a Sprite Zero this morning, and ended up putting it in the fridge, because I'd rather drink water.

Also, a tip I read that has really worked for me, is to eat the same foods over and over. I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day, and then I keep two kinds of healthy snacks on hand at all times. (I do mix it up for dinner, because I'm cooking for the whole family.) If I know I am going to eat X, then there's no temptation to eat Y. There's no rummaging around in the pantry looking for something to eat, and coming out with a box of oreos. Then, when I go out to eat, or decide to buy a cherry pie for dessert, there's no guilt because I know I eat healthy most of the time.

Oh, and the result? I've been doing this for 75 days now, and I have lost 12 pounds. That's more than a pound a week.