For cryin' out loud. I eat pasta, fast food and ice cream!

I think the point of the post is that you can eat foods that you like and still lose weight. That is true. You can maintain your weight this way as well. If you are trying to build muscle, train for a sport etc you need to make sure you get the correct nutrients but realistically you dont need to cut out everything that isnt 100% "clean."

"Perhaps the most important illusion is the belief that a calorie is not a calorie but depends on how much carbohydrates a person eats. There is an inflexible law of physics — energy taken in must exactly equal the number of calories leaving the system when fat storage is unchanged. Calories leave the system when food is used to fuel the body. To lower fat content — reduce obesity — one must reduce calories taken in, or increase the output by increasing activity, or both. This is true whether calories come from pumpkins or peanuts or pâté de foie gras. To believe otherwise is to believe we can find a really good perpetual motion machine to solve our energy problems. It won’t work, and neither will changing the source of calories permit us to disobey the laws of science." -Dr. Jules Hirsch

You say this (well, okay, the Dr. Hirsch says this) as if our bodies are closed systems. It also ignores the possibility that the foods we eat affect how we feel and, perhaps more importantly, affect our desires/cravings for certain foods. Consider the possibility that by excluding certain foods (say, bread), it reduces our desire to eat/overeat certain foods (like, oh, I dunno, how about bread).

But alas, I am not a doctor. I'm just a guy who, along with many others, has found a different approach than the CW dieting approach of attempting the eat all things in moderation regardless of overall health and well-being. I'm not saying everyone should take this same approach, but I am saying that, if you find the CW approach isn't working for you long-term, there is another way, and once you get past what may be best described as an "addiction" to certain foods, you may just find that it is easier, and may actually give you the long-term results you want.

Ugh, looks like I'm doing it wrong too apparently according to the clean people. I'm not allowed to eat ANYTHING that tastes good otherwise the food police will arrest me. :grumble:

SO unless it's loaded with garbage it tastes like @ss?

I really hope my body is resilient enough that 200 calories of ice cream isn't going to make it malfunction.

I don't see anyone saying, "All I eat is ice cream and fast food." I see a lot of people saying, "In addition to a healthy, balanced diet, I make room for things I find enjoyable that might not be perfectly healthy."

Similarly, my entire life isn't about working and doing chores. In addition to doing what I'm supposed to do, I make room for reading fictional novels, watching a little television, playing games on the computer, etc.

I know. Maybe if I experience a miracle, I can eat pasta without going to the hospital because everyone knows that the P in pasta stands for poison. :laugh:

As it turns out I had pasta with locally made sauce and meatballs just last night!

I also have homemade ice cream in my freezer.

Ugh, looks like I'm doing it wrong too apparently according to the clean people. I'm not allowed to eat ANYTHING that tastes good otherwise the food police will arrest me. :grumble:

This is why "clean people" get messed with. I used to eat "dirty" and still do on occasion...but taking out the boxed, premade, processed foods out of my diet as much as possible has lowered my sodium, has given me more energy, and i don't have to worry about carbs or anything else because 90% of the ones I am getting are the "good kind" anyway so why give me/us crap? I did not tell you, nor did I see anyone else saying your way was wrong. All I saw was opinions. and just so you know...if you can't get your "clean" food to taste good...well then it is your fault for not knowing how to cook and flavor things. because all those "dirty" foods...well those are all cooked and flavored with "clean" things...then they are over processed to "enhance" the flavor and to stay "fresh" longer.

The whole "skinny isn't healthy" bit is just wishful thinking on the part of people who want to feel they have superior control over their longevity by eating "clean." Having a normal BMI lowers a person's risk for all sorts of diseases no matter what the person is eating. 90% of type 2 diagnoses are overweight or obese. The idea that a thin person will give themselves diabetes and heart disease by eating pasta and ice cream is absurd.

This is so wrong. My bmi has been everywhere from 17-21 in the past few years and I wasn't healthy at any of those weights, I was literally giving myself health problems because all I really ate was pasta and sugar and such, I got dizzy and passed out a lot even though I was "within healthy calories for my age and exercise level" because I wasn't eating healthy foods. I couldn't even walk up the stairs without breathing heavily. It's totally possible to be skinny but utterly unhealthy in the same way obese people are unhealthy.

Also, whoever said it's not possible to get enough calories of health foods needs to read more about what healthy foods actually are.

My biology professor (not some random nutritionist or trainer but a phD and tenured professor in how the human body works at a prestigious university) gave a rant about how we're not built or evolved to be consuming fast foods daily. Then he said "you are what you eat, quite literally."

Sure, I have snacks. I had ice cream last night at midnight (lol). But that was my first sugary treat that day, it was only half a cup, and I had hundreds of calorie of lean meats, vegetables, and healthy carbs and fats all day long before it.
If you're not ready to give up junk, do it slowly, if you dont' want to that's okay too, but just don't know you can never claim to be healthy, no matter how thin you are, if your 1800 cals a day half consist of fast food.

How am I underestimating? My BMR is 1816. I added 50 calories when I found out I was pregnant and every Monday from here on out I am adding 11 calories which will put me right around 400 extra calories at the end of my pregnancy which is right around where I need to be. I weigh every single thing I eat to the T.

I meant that in general, it looks like you're underestimating the calories in the food you eat.

ME TOO!!!! It is a lifestyle change and if you don't make it one YOU can stick to, you won't....
I never feel hungry or deprived. And if at the end of the day I am out of calories but STARVING I eat an apple, yup I will go over my calories if I need too.... Seems to be working!

I couldn't agree more. I have actually lost 35lbs since February, although it was a while before I discovered MFP.
The MAIN thing is, I do not use the word DIET any more, it is a lifestyle change, and the biggest change for me is I got off my rather large butt and started walking. Sure, it was a big struggle at first but I walk between 60 and 90 mts EVERY day now, I manage to stay just under my calorie goal for each day, but if I dine out, I am going to have whatever meal I want! The strange thing for me is that I was never one for sweet stuff, except the occasional icecream, but I did love chips, cornchips, salty foods. Well I get cravings for sweets now, so I make sure I have low cal healthy homebaked muffins in the freezer ( sweet and savory ones) and I also keep several different types of lo-cal sweet yoghurty muesli bars. As for eating whatever I want, I had so much food yesterday, more than I would have eaten before I started my new lifestyle. Although it wasn't my usual choice for lunch, I had a roll with a sausage and BBQ sauce, dinner was grilled lamb chops with 4 vegies, I had fruit, and a snack bar, toast and egg for breakfast, too, and was still a few hundred calories below my allowance. I have to admit though that we rarely buy fast food, but we have oven baked fries, crumbed fish, etc.
When I dieted years ago, by almost starving myself, and getting to the weight that the "experts" said was my ideal weight, I could not look at a lettuce leaf without regaining a pound, and then, deciding that I wasn't going to deprive myself of my favourite foods any more led me to my heaviest weight! :O
Now I have found the right balance at last, and the main thing for me is I MUST exercise, I can have anything I want, in moderation, and knowing that I CAN have anything stops me from going off the rails.
On days where I dine out, I usually try to make the other meal, whether it is lunch or dinner, a lower calorie choice, such as soup ( I keep a lot in the freezer) and a bread roll, or a vegetarian dish such as lo-cal eggplant parmigiana, or stuffed capsicums, or even an omellete/ egg on toast, etc.
If I drink wine, which I love, it is counted as well in my allowance, although I am not imbibing for the month of July.
What I am eating, combined with my walks, is working well for me- I have lost 3lb this week, although some weeks the loss has been small- remember slow and steady wins the race.
Yes as someone commented there are a lot of people with food allergies etc, and it must be hard for them, but the original comment was based on the folk who CAN eat all foods, and I totally agree with what she said.
Do what is working for you, and keep doing it! Good Luck, everyone.