Absolutely, I feel like I see a lot of people confuse healthy foods with lean foods as being the same thing. Avocados are healthy but just one of those delicious bastards can be like 300 calories. Same with nuts like you said. My dad told me he’s been eating a lot of chicken and fish to eat better but then added that he takes large celery sticks and will fill the caved in side with peanut butter as a “healthy snack”. I had to show him the serving size of peanut butter and how little that serving size was compared to what he was actually using for his snack.
To be fair ive never seen it or any other flavor at my normal grocery store but I got it on Amazon at a fairly decent price. Ive been using Amazon for a lot of awesome flavors for various things I like that normal stores never seem to have around here.
Ooh, thanks for mentioning this! Looks like it's higher protein per calorie than PB2 (for the sugar free version) and in stock at my health foods store....
Peanut butter junkie here too. I have been mixing PBfit with this allulose maple syrup that is like 10cal/2tbsp and it is fucking insane. Mix it with my oatmeal in the morning and it scratches my peanut butter fix.
Add oat flour, I make peanut butter cups using PBFit and oat flour. If you have a spice grinder and some oats, give that a try. It does make for a better mouth feel
I can never get the PB fix from PBfit. I have to use the real stuff or it's just not the same. Granted, that makes 1PB and banana sandwich like, 900 calories, but I also don't care.
You're not wrong, but the satisfaction I get out of eating an avocado is worth more than 300 calories. I actually use nuts and avocadoes as weight loss tools. Obviously it's not going to work if people just eat loads of avocado and/or nuts but if the point in a snack is to be satisfying and tide you over and those foods help with that, then they aren't bad. Calories are what matter but so does being able to keep one's appetite in check.
Oh absolutely. I think the problem is the difference between us (who live and breathe CICO and understand portion sizes) vs. those who do not.
I had a friend trying to lose weight a while back, and she said she couldn't understand why she was gaining when she replaced all her between-meal snacks with nuts. Well, she was pouring a small BOWL worth for each snack.
A small serving of nuts can be satisfying to many if they understand to only eat the portion and then give it time to "work" (make you feel held over), but anyone who doesn't know any better is going to freely pour into a bowl and eat like they'd eat any other salty snack.
Yeah it’s rough haha. It feels better replacing those Cheetos with nuts or something but we still can’t eat entire bowls of nuts. At the very least, they are on the right path. Just moving to and even considering other foods is a win. One battle at a time.
Yeah, it's a good point. Haha I would probably make myself sick if I ate a whole bowl of nuts, it's hard to imagine even doing it. But the delay in actually feeling it, and the fact that lots of people seem to be able to eat things like that without feeling uncomfortably full is real, too.
I just used to consider calories over all else and that lead to a situation where I almost never felt satiated. It took time to figure it out.
>A small serving of nuts can be satisfying to many
I'd like meet those people, LOL. "One serving" = 1/4 c. If I want an actual snack, I want more like a cup, but that's really a meal (and change) worth of calories.
See, whereas I can eat literally 3 walnut halves and not feel hungry for another 2 hours. It's like magic. But I understand it's not like that for everyone!
Meanwhile if I eat an apple when I'm hungry I'll be going insane and raiding the cabinet for more stuff the minute I'm done. Annoying!
I *have* noticed that sometimes I can be short on fats, especially at the end of the night, and still be "hungry" after eating properly. In those cases, a little bit of fat serves a purpose (I like cheese) and goes a long way toward taking the edge off. But if I'm actually *hungry*? I need more.
That makes sense, too. Walnuts aren't going to stop roaring hunger in my case either. I tend to use them as more of a snack between meals, on days where I can tell that just having some veggies isn't going to cut it. I have used cheese for this purpose as well. It's probably as you said: Body wants a little bit of fat, giving it that seems to satisfy it. In my case if I try to hold out I'll keep getting hungry and run into problems. I don't tend to have this happen in the evenings, more of a late-afternoon issue. It's interesting how different things can be for different people!
Eating a few nuts to replace unhealthy snacks can work, but my dad was *adding* nuts on top of his previous food. A handful everytime he went through the kitchen which was many times a day. And usually he would put them in a bowl and cover them with olive oil and salt. 🤦🏻♀️
Oh yeah absolutely, I agree. I think I saw someone else here say they make some mean salads that can be high in calories and that’s I guess what I’m alluding too. If your meal is already 500-700 calories and you decide to add that “healthy avocado” on top it might hurt your intake if you’re trying to lose weight. It’s one of those foods that will add up quick even though it seems healthy in something like a salad. My dad’s a prime example of someone who will try to eat a bunch of healthy foods without paying attention to the overall baseline calories he’s still adding at the end.
I lost weight by eating a serving size of food. I looked up a serving size for every food I eat. I’ve lost 82 lbs so far. You are right in people not eating a serving size. A serving size of an avocado is 1/3 of a medium avocado. People who eat healthy and gain weight may also not realize that you may need to count something. Calories, serving size, smaller portions…something. Some people can stop when they feel full and not have to count anything. However, not many people I know can do that.
So true. There was one the other day about not losing weight when all they are eating is salads. Some of the most calorically dense meals I've had are big, beautiful salads with lots of healthy toppings!
People also don’t realise how many calories are in condiments. Even the non creamy based ones can contain so much oil that it completely undoes what they were trying to achieve
Yes! Honestly this is what makes things that are low cal at home often so high cal in restaurants. They're not using 35-cal Hellman's Light or 30-cal Olive Garden Light Italian or 45-cal Nathan's 97% Fat Free hotdogs.
If it was possible to easily commercially source all the little back-pocket tricks I employ at home to have "junk" food for low calorie, I could make a killing selling it short order. LOL.
Have you ever tried cutting hot dogs into two pieces (lengthwise) then putting them in buns? Bam, you have two hotdogs, and with the condiments it feels just as satisfying.
This is how I justify the 200 cal Kirkland hotdogs.
I'll have to try that. I've been tracking macros and eating a lot of sausage recently. Had 2 hot dogs one night, instead and was sorely disappointed how much more fat and less protein the hot dogs had.
Random aside, I hate it when websites post 'sage diet advice' like "Avoid creamy dressings!"
Excuse you, if not for the creamy dressing I'd hate the salad. I don't like sweet foods, so most sweeter dressings are right out. Vinegrettes are typically more sour than anything and are also not great.
Secret trick here is to use Yogurt based ranch. 45cal for two tablespoons, you can have six tablespoons for the cost of two hidden valley.
I never use that much, but the fact you can drown your salad in it if you wish and still be within calorie goals is perfect.
Screw you, diet websites. I'll have my creamy dressing goddamn it!
I found if I get/put the dressing on the side, dip my fork in the dressing (basically coating a tiny bit of the tines), then spear my salad bite - I eat WAY less dressing, but I still get enough that I don't feel like a horse eating hay lol.
There is something better than dressing for salads. Hot sauce. Most brands are 0 calories, although many say its not truly zero calories but less than 5 calories per serving.
I prefer jack in the box hot taco sauce, 1 packet contains zero calories, zero carbs, zero fat and only 60mg of sodium. I pair it with 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese, a tablespoon is 25 calories.
Thats it, 25 calories in total as a salad topper and Jacks taco sauce isnt even spicy. It basically tastes like the topping of jack in the box loaded tiny tacos but without the taco.
The only real hard part is getting the hot sauce without ordering anything else.
That or Italian dressing is my go to for salads.
My grocery store does this. They sell these bagged salad kits under the store brand for like $5.
They claim the kit contains 3.5 servings (haha), with 150 cal per serving (I'm picking a random "flavor" here). So the bag comes out to 525 calories.
BUT. there's only 14 g of protein in the *bag*. (Generally speaking, I'm looking for something like this to be 20% protein by calorie). For that 150 cal serving, there is 12 g of fat. That is, fully 72% of the calories in that "salad" is *fat*. (First ingredient in most of their dressings is "soybean oil.")
That makes me so, so mad.
My RD has me tracking macros. I need 175 g protein and no more than 68 g fat. This salad gives me 8% of my protein and 60% of my fat.
I wish they would break down that calorie content of each item in the salad kit. The packet of dressing is 200 calories. The bacon is 59 calories. The cheese is 75 calories. The actual salad greens are 30 calories. Etc.
makes me think of how many of my coworkers bring salads to work. I make semi joking comments commending them on healthy eating (it's a running joke between us), shortly after which they pour in a small tupperware container of ranch 🤣
My hunt for a dressing that tastes descent and isn't terrible is currently stalled at Lighthouse Gorgonzola Pear. 50cal per 2 tbsp and half the calories of most I've found (that don't taste terrible) sodium is a bit higher than I'd like at 230mg for that serving, but it's the best I've found so far.
Amazed to see 120-200+ cal for a tablespoon or two of a lot of store bought dressings.
A friend of mine who can "never lose weight no matter what" made me a side salad a couple months back. There were easily 2 oz of cheese, 1/2 cup of pecans, a bunch of dried cranberries and pepitas, and hefty pours of olive oil and balsamic glaze. Delicious salad but it was more calories than I'd typically eat in an entire meal.
I think this comment really highlights my point.
There was a time that I wanted to be healthier. So I ate a lot of food that I wasn't really into. I made salad with spring mix, raisins and Hummus because I perceived all of those things to be healthy (no, this combo *wasn't* good at all). But because I lacked satisfaction from my meal, I still wanted to eat more. So I ate even more raisins. It would have been much better if I had had a chicken sandwich and a chocolate bar for dessert. Less calories, more protein and something I actually wanted to eat.
I worked at Chili's right around the time restaurants started being required to put nutrition information on food and I cannot tell you the number of people who freaked out when they saw for the first time that some of our salads were 2500 calories. The Quesadilla Explosion was a big one. It was insane the number of people who would make comments about it. So many people said 'oh but it's my favorite salad! I thought it was low calorie because it's a salad!' It is literally a pile of fried tortilla strips, cheese, and ranch with some lettuce underneath.
Dressing is evil. I always bring my own Skinny Girl dressing to restaurants because most restaurant salads are covered with, like, 400 calories of dressing. You think the salad is the healthy option, but it could actually have more calories than the burger.
Don't even get me started on croutons.
That’s why I offer what I want when I eat out rather than order something “healthy”. The Cheesecake Factory menu says it all. I rather get an 1,800 cal pasta dish than a 2,200 cal salad.
You gotta order dressing on the side, legitimate gamechanger.
that said, there's often a ton of cheese or other things like that in restaurant salads too
Yeah, see my post right above yours. My grocery store doesn't break out dressing from the other stuff, but for a bagged kit with 525 calories in it, 378 come from fat. JFC.
It's the croutons for me. Sooo good, especially when they start to soak up the ranch dressing. I could easily have more croutons than lettuce in my salads.
I often don't use dressings in my salads, so for me it's usually the toppings. Feta cheese, chickpeas, chopped nuts, olives, avocado, fresh mozzarella or burrata... It all adds up! Salads can easily contain a metric ton of calories lol, very frustrating
Yes! This week’s dinner menu was beef bulgogi bowls with rice and pickled veggies, Cobb salad, and skillet enchiladas. One guess what the highest calorie count is?
Thats right! The salad: chicken, bacon, egg, avocado, blue cheese +veggies. Everything portion controlled and measured with dressing? Easily 650-700 calories, not measuring you’d easily slide towards 1,000 on a salad.
I love a huge salad for dinner, typically my salads are 900-1100 calories depending on the toppings and dressing. I measure everything including the lettuce, just because it’s “healthy” doesn’t mean it’s low calorie. I could easily go over my budget with an extra squeeze of ranch or another shake of shredded cheese.
I kind of don't like talking about specific meals in a vacuum, it really can confound a conversation.
To your point, a specific meal can have lots of calories, but if you're doing OMAD than so what. But if your TDEE is 1500 calories and you're eating two of those salads a day, I'd argue that those salads are *collectively* unhealthy because they will cause weight gain, which then causes other health related problems.
Other threads focus on "low calorie" stuff. That by definition involves limiting sugars (fine) but also fats. Since one's body needs fats, eating minimal to no fat for the entire day (for days on end) is also unhealthy.
The Eat Like a Bear diet lady does OMAD and IF, and basically, how she lost all her weight is she eats one huge salad a day, but that salad is like 1200 calories.
Except you'd be hungry a couple hours after McoDonald's but a high calorie, high density salad with protein should keep you satiated for hours and hours
I love those salads! I make a family dinner out of them by using half of the dressing packet, add additional lettuce, a can of tuna or salmon and black beans or garbanzos. If the dressing isn't strong enough I add lemon or lime juice.
Not only that, I think it has something to do with the adding rather than subtracting advice - which is really good advice, don't get me wrong! My regular diet is a lot of junk, tons of sugar and simple carbs. I started adding things - a bowl of oatmeal with greek yogurt and protein powder, a smoothie with lots of greens and fruit, sardines and edamame for light dinners, etc. This has all been great, I have more energy and I don't feel like shit all the time. However, in this in between time where I've been adding healthy food without worrying too much about subtracting unhealthy food, I've gained a fuckton of weight lol. I was eating most of my calories in junk still, and everything healthy I add is just caloric surplus. I'm fine with this for right now especially as I've been eating less and less garbage but yeah. I'm fat haha. But at least this time I'm fat (in part) from fruits and veggies!
I discovered this when I went to sweetgreen a few weeks ago! I was looking for healthier lunch options near my work, and thought, hey, salads are pretty healthy for you. I checked out the menu and almost every salad was 800-900 calories. I tried one and honestly, maybe I'm just not meant to be a salad person, but it definitely did not feel worth the calories to me.
I'm an ultrarunner who was running around 60 to 70 miles per week a couple years ago. Most of my calories were from "healthy" foods.
I gained 30lbs because my running volume was drastically reduced and I kept eating at a surplus over a prolonged period of time.
Once I started tracking my food and exercise it became very apparent how much I was overeating the past year. I was still active but not active enough to justify putting down 3,000 calories a day. In my high volume days, I'd pound an 800 calorie salad nightly or have extra helpings of "good" carbs like sweet potatoes.
I'm a perfect example of how even active people can gain weight if what they're eating is out of proportion to what their exercise is.
it do be like that. I didn't even exercise that much but always prioritized activity before having kids.
I had kids and naturally just became more sedentary, while also feeling physically exhausted the same way I would when I would wake up at 5a to lift weights and run so didn't really notice "oh, I used to exercise away 3,500 calories a week..." and stroller walks wasn't doing it even if I felt like I wanted to pass out after because lack of sleep
>extra helpings of "good" carbs like sweet potatoes.
To be fair, 100g of sweet potatoes has less than 100 calories (and your entire RDA of beta carotene!). Like sure if you're cooking them with a ton of oil, that's one thing but I don't think anyone has ever gained 20lbs from over eating non-fried sweet potatoes.
>I don't think anyone has ever gained 20lbs from over eating non-fried sweet potatoes
Obviously I was eating other things. I also mentioned eating 800 calorie salads nightly, not sure if you saw that. I just used sweet potatoes as an example of a starch people consider healthy. It was also the rice and the legumes and the pasta.
Not sure what your background is but a runner during peak mileage can eat 4 or 500 calories of starches like sweet potatoes throughout the day with minimal fats very easily. Boiled potatoes are offered at aid stations during ultramarathons since they're a very efficience source of energy. It was very necessary while running high mileage to eat that way but it contributed to my weight gain when I dropped down to a fraction of the mileage. The appetite stayed for quite awhile and I just ate how I did previously.
I remember when I tried weight watchers, their point system had several healthy foods as zero points to encourage healthy snacking. Those MFers severely underestimated how many slices of deli turkey meat I can eat in a day. I binge like crazy when I'm hungry, so that taught me that there are no reliable "zero point" foods for me.
The whole zero point food idea makes me crazy. I have seen so many people fail because of that mindset, and I feel so bad for them. They're being lied to.
Edit: I just looked up the list, and it absolutely baffles me. They have beans, bananas, and eggs on there, all of which can easily blow my deficit!
OMG the concept of "zero-point foods" is infuriating! Way too many people confuse zero points with zero calories. I have seen so many zero-point recipes where people act like they're gaming the system by making recipes entirely out of zero-point ingredients. Uh, no, they still have calories, and your body will still count them no matter what Weight Watchers says.
I'm actually ok with the concept of zero point foods, if it were honest. There *are* plenty of vegetables that have a deminimus amount of calories and it's fine to eat a bunch of them.
But the sheer number of things that WW actually places on their 0 point list should make a class action lawyer happy.
I think WW+ is a more honest system (from my 30 second google) but damn the basic system and all them zero points.
I said of this elsewhere, but I gotta figure the points system made a lot of sense in the pre smart phone and to some extent, pre internet era. For one thing, your daily points would have been a custom thing they charged for... it would have been hard to do strict calorie tracking unless one had ready access to BMR equations. I remember borrowing a coworker's WW calculator after realizing they weren't giving *that* out for free. And the points thing would have made it much simpler to track inputs instead of figuring out calorie counts for everything. (People do eat things that don't have bar codes or nutrition labels printed on them.)
But now? Smart phones and MFP/loseit/etc make all of that OBE. It's a weight management system from a different era. There's no reason to pay for it, because it's not a *better* (or now, even simpler) system than everything else out there.
There is a progresso brand of canned soup that is 0 points, but 2 cans of soup is 2 points. They do mention that at the meetings. Like some fruit is low points, but dont do fruit smoothies because its not the same.
Do they explain *why?* I can get that some things in small amounts may have "close to zero" points so it's easier to round down. But if two cans of soup are two points, then one can of soup is one point, and I can't see the logic of allowing "one free soup".
Gosh its been at least a decade, but basically the formula they use for points is based on calories, protein and fiber. If its under a certain amount it doesnt count. Liks how tic tacs are 0 calories despite being entirely sugar. They would give you a paper wheel that you could rotate different things to figure out your points.
Of course, as soon as I figured out that point system, they tossed it and implemented a new system which could only be calculated on their calculator or app. Lame. And i was out.
I get some wild caught fish from Alaska that is more fatty than a rib eye steak. I'm pretty sure WW considers *all* fish to be "zero point" but I could be wrong.
To be fair, while you might not lose weight as quickly, I'd find it very difficult to gain weight eating eggs, beans, and bananas simply because of how much fiber they have.
Oh, yes, I'm the same. I had to quit WW because of all the zero point foods that I ate way too much of, then ate my daily points too. I can eat way more than the average person.
This is my issue with it as well. Especially for things like eggs and beans. I’m overweight because I have a bad relationship with food and am terrible at judging my own satiety and what a normal serving is. I could easily put away several hundred calories worth of hard boiled eggs and beans.
Why did they make salt-filled conveniently snack sized foods "zero points" in the first place? Idiotic.
This goes for product labels too. Pickles are not zero calories if you eat four of them. I don't know how many they are, but it's not zero. Physics doesn't allow that.
Pickles are like ten calories. Physics absolutely allows that is the foods are made of components that we can't digest. Uranium would also be zero calories
I've always wondered about that! Some time I'd like to try out weight watchers and see how much weight I can put on in a month while being under my points. If you tell me I can eat an apple for free, I will eat ten of them.
Yep, same reason intermittent fast doesn't work for some people like myself. For awhile i tried one meal a day. Unfortunately it turns out even with healthy home made food i can easily smash 3000+ calories in one go.
I miss the 2008 system. While it needed to be updated to include carbs and protein in the calculations, I liked that fruit was one or two points depending on the fruit. I think some vegetables were the only 0-point foods because you basically burned as many calories during digestion as the food has.
Chicken had points but was much lower in points than beef. In my first meeting in 2008, the group leader showed that a good sized chicken sandwich, a pretty good serving of cooked vegetables, and some water were the same number of points as a small burger and a small serving of fries. She then asked which one would be more filling.
I think part of it might also be that some people think that eating ‘healthy’ means they can eat as much as they want because what they’re eating is better for you than what they were eating before. Portion sizes are so important
Maybe people try to do everything too quickly. It's a lot to jump into an exercise routine, a calorie deficit, and a diet overhaul all at the same time.
Maybe it would work better to calculate roundabout maintenance calories and eat that, but with healthier foods to change the diet first--break that addiction to sugar and processed carbs. Then, add in exercise but don't eat above the maintenance calories that you calculated when you were sedentary. Then, once you've upped your fitness, that's when you should start a dedicated deficit.
I agree with you. Especially for people with a high SW first using diet to lose weight will make exercise easier and healthier for their joints. You can start walking from the beginning but I think that is hard for people >300 lbs with a sedentary lifestyle.
So first diet and then exercise.
Presmart phone, I can see why WW points had their value. People *do* need an easy system to track intake, and tracking calories for specific foods back then would be a PITA and there'd be a market for a simpler system.
But now? Sure no system is perfect, and nutrition labels can be off, but the apps make it *so* easy (I never thought I'd say this) to track things a whole lot better than WW. (I'm of the opinion people should be tracking macros too.)
WW jumped the shark.
It's so disappointing. I did really well and reached goal on the old MyWW "Purple" plan, which was really focused on high-fiber carbs and low-saturated-fat proteins. I loved it so much that I still try to prioritize the foods on the Purple 0-point list because I felt so good (and had great hair and nails!) on that plan.
That plan is completely gone now, and from what I understand, WW has continuously reduced and eliminated its original services and is focusing on their weight loss drug arm. "Jumped the shark" is a good descriptor.
I'm using the LoseIt app with the "maximize satiety" setting. It emphasises protein and fiber and low saturated fat. I think it would make the WW purple fans happy. I am not cutting my calories crazy low, and for the first time ever, I don't feel obsessive and starving. I am losing slowly, but I can eat like this forever.
In regards to the satiation comparison, most processed foods have addictive additives in them too! So you might be onto something.
I think, after cutting out processed foods for a while, most people will find they’re satisfied for longer from the healthier alternatives than they ever were on the unhealthy foods.
And some companies would advertise their foods addictiveness unabashedly. "you can't eat just one" "once you pop you just can't stop" etc. That's not a good thing.
I think it depends on the person. I don’t have an issue with processed foods, specifically the low calorie substitutes to higher calorie foods. My protein bars are processed but they definitely are filling.
I think if someone performs better without processed food, all the power to them. At no point do I think processed food is healthier than natural foods. But I think if you’re getting nutrients that are satiating like protein and fiber, whether the food is processed or not doesn’t affect satiating as much as the nutrients (imo not a doctor obvi). And also the volume of the food matters
And I remember hearing also that McDonalds added chicken nuggets when chicken was getting popular as a "healthier alternative" but they cooked it drenched in so much oil that it ended up being worse for you. They have a history of making foods that would otherwise be healthy terrible for you.
There is a local burger chain in our area that also has salads. They released the calorie info, and the salad I liked had the same amount of calories as their cheeseburger. But thinking it over, it made sense. The salad had lots of avocado, feta cheese, dried cranberries and almonds besides the chicken, lettuce and other veggies. Plus a delicious citrus vinaigrette dressing that tasted too good to be low cal.
To be fair, I would guess there are just a lot of people who make improvements to their diet, lose weight, and never post about it, because why would they? From their perspective it isn't interesting.
When I switched to eating more whole foods and cut out processed sugar I did lose weight. I find the current foods I eat a lot more satisfying than what I ate when I was gaining. But these foods were selected based on satisfaction: I don't eat things I don't like, I eat things I like that I know will help me feel full and happy.
Also, when people talk about eating "healthy" it's rather subjective. It isn't telling people enough information.
6-8oz of milk and one scoop of protein, on the other hand is probably good for 25+g of protein for around 200 calories which ain’t bad if you’re chasing macros at the end of the day
Adding meals in general, how is eating more than you've been already eating even supposed to work as a weight loss strategy?
I've seen quite a number of acquaintances add protein-enriched snacks to their diets "because protein helps you burn fat!". I don't know about that, but I do know that another 200 kcal on the top of what made you gain weight in the first place isn't going to do any good
Adding protein shakes for breakfast when I used to not eat breakfast reduced my snacking later and helps keep me from binging on carbs. It works for some people
Those conversations drive me nuts. IMHO, if you're on a "cut", you shouldn't be drinking them anyway. (I guess I'm referring to the commercial ones that are like 30 g and \~200 calories.)
I eat 175 g of protein and don't touch the shakes or the supplements unless I screwed something up. I don't need a "meal replacement" because the other things I eat in that meal, I still need to eat.
If I wanted to bulk and caloric intake management was less of an issue, sure slamming 30 g of protein has its uses. But for losing weight, most people should be satisfying their caloric requirement with real foods, there's really no reason not to.
Idk I’m on a cut right now and protein shakes are definitely helping me reach my goals. It’s a meal replacement for me though and I’m full for hours after.
People hate hearing this, but it's much easier to do CICO with processed foods. Spend time weighing and measuring out peanut butter or grab an Uncrustable. Weigh and measure everything in your dish or throw a TV dinner in the microwave. I can't afford to eat frozen meals all the time, but I'll keep some on hand because it's just easier when you're struggling to not have to think about weighing and measuring and to just be able to get food and eat it. Eating healthy means working a lot harder to track your calories and most people don't want to do that.
Yeah this. When I'm watching calories, I always eat less healthily, because I know the frozen pizza I get is 700 cals, I know a chocolate bar is 250 etc. When I'm cooking for myself, even though my favourite foods are salads, I'll just eyeball the olive oil that goes in the dressing, or the oil that goes in for frying, or the butter that I add to mash, and I find I gain weight because of that (and portion sizes in general).
This is my experience as well. It’s also easier when said processed food is pre measured. I’ve lost more weight with a ton of ease having a nightly frozen dinner from Trader Joe’s then I ever did buying a bunch of groceries and making everything myself. I think the mental fatigue is a big part of this as well. It’s a lot more exhausting to be constantly measuring and calculating the amount of calories in every single thing you’re cooking and putting into your mouth. And if you struggle with food noise, you have to think about it even more than you would otherwise (is it worth it to add a little extra feta cheese to this for 70 cals? One serving of olive oil isn’t enough for this, would another tiny splash really kill me?). The only thing I really worry about now is if I’m eating enough protein and fiber, and it’s easy enough to find a couple of rotating meals and snacks that help me achieve both of those things.
I often cook myself dinner, but I almost always eat a breakfast and lunch of processed foods. I just really hate weighing and measuring and the food noise does also make it much harder to figure out what's real and what's just a fluctuation in my brain chemistry.
The issue is that people are told to eat 'healthy' foods, but know nothing about portion sizing.
If you think that certain foods are healthy, eating a lot of that can only be good, right? Portion and meal sizing is something that isn't really taught. When you go to a restaurant (in the US) and always have large portions by default, you think that's normal. When parents cook huge portions for their families, that's normal, right?
One of the first things I learned when I started was that portion sizes are equally important as calorie counts.
Haha yes. I'm taking a break from tracking because it was getting... weird. It's tricky to juggle between being lax enough to not be miserable, but also committed enough to not quit entirely. If I take it too seriously I eat weird stuff like broccoli with cottage cheese on it or tuna without bread, which is depressing and not satisfying enough to really satiate, and the understanding that I can't eat more even if I'm still hungry because of the calorie limit just makes me more hungry because I'm stressing about hunger and thinking about food. Seems like it's easiest to just make good changes to normal meals, like loading on the veggies and cutting back on oils; I don't think most who just "eat healthier" really consider that angle, they probably change their entire diet, which their digestive system isn't used to.
I’m on a similar path. The stress of tracking just makes me want to give up every time. I’m currently focusing on nutrition for mental health first, weight loss second…which means tracking had to go. I’m also working on not weighing myself and trusting the process. Hopefully it pays off in the long run!
I've been only roughly tracking lately (estimating amounts, eating a treat even when I'm already past budget etc) because it just got to be too stressful. But yesterday I said I wouldn't track, and when I went back and logged after all (since what I ate was easy to track) I was actually under budget... But then because I was aware of how many calories I'd eaten, I then wanted snacks and went way over hahah. I think a break will be very good for me, I should be better off without tracking for the time being.
It's just kinda funny. I adhere better to my diet if I'm unaware that I'm doing well hahaah
Eta: my essential goals, for the sake of sanity, is less sugar, more fiber and protein. Whole foods (ie complex salads) or foods that took lots of effort (like sourdough bread) can be lazy logged bc the effort paid for the calories lol
This is funny you said that because I just did a reel today on my IG page about how people will eat a meal that makes them full (you know, lots of volume) but not necessarily satisfied, so they keep thinking about food after and eating other things in their house to curb their real craving. It’s like when you want a cookie, but then you eat an apple, then granola bar, then a yogurt, then finally cave and eat the cookie (or 5). If you just honored what you wanted in the first place, you can move on and it would have consumed less calories overall.
Yeah nuts will fuck you up if you're not careful. It's soooo easy to overeat them because (at least in my experience) it takes a couple minutes to feel full and, because they are objectively so healthy, it's super understandable why someone would think they can eat an unlimited amount if they're new to nutrition. Fruit can also have kind of a lot of calories depending on how much you're eating and, again, totally understandable why someone wouldn't realize that. Like I eat a solid 300-400 calories a day in fresh fruit because it's fucking delicious and objectively pretty great for you but this is not a negligible amount of calories like one might assume.
I remember working at a cafe in college. We had a regular chocolate chip cookie and a vegan chocolate chip cookie. A lot of people assumed the vegan chocolate chip cookie was healthier, but it had twice the amount of calories. Healthier doesn’t automatically meant weight loss. It comes down to a calorie deficit.
I mean, this doesn't really need a theory. They gained weight as you said because they ate more calories than they burned.
Why I don't like CICO is that for those types of posts, the how doesn't explain the why. It's probably a simple matter of not watching the calories that they eat, but it can also be the type of healthy food that you eat as well. Fiber can make you feel more full over a longer period of time, so you may grab less food.
It can also be a mental health condition that has nothing to do with any of those things. I discovered last year that I had ADHD when I put two and two together that I would mostly eat snacks out of boredom, not because I was hungry. When I started my meds, I had better control to say no, which has massively increased my consistency in losing weight. For some people, it may be a good idea to have a journal around to write how they feel or actually evaluate why it is they fell off their weight loss after doing it for months. If you don't address the actual problem you had to gain the weight in the first place, you are setting yourself up to fail every single time.
That's why losing weight is hard, as unfortunately, most people don't figure those things out. And at least, in my opinion, when people explain the simplicity of the mechanism without emphasizing that the how for an individual achieves the undisputed outcome is complicated is a disservice.
Totally tracks. When I want to gain a bit of weight (like today, since I'm slightly below my desired range), I will add some nuts and a couple of cheese sticks for some extra calories. If I ever go above range, part of the calorie cut will be limitation of nuts and dairy, and making sure I weigh out all food including oils/sauces/condiments.
I think it might also depend on the situation. I'm recovering from BED so I find a calorie deficit to be more difficult than it has been in the past for a few reasons. Mostly because I run into the issue of being extremely tired or I get depressed due to both the lack of dopamine from binging and reduction in calories. My weight loss and recovery have been an incredibly slow process for this reason but I'm okay with it.
I disagree with the last part personally. I am wayyyyyyyyy more satiated over a 6 oz steak than say a 16 oz bag of chips, calorie for calorie. Of course protein plays a role in that, but even if it was swapped for the equivalent amount of fruit. Healthy food hits my brain much better. I have found it very interesting how this can vary so widely with personality types. For me counting calories is actually what got me into a rut and it's very counter productive, eating holistically and being in tune with my body (in conjunction with exercise) is my key. Others struggle with that, and need to have a rigid system where they are held accountable. Neither is right or wrong I've found, it's just whatever is right or wrong for the person.
it really be like that 😭😭 before i educated myself on CICO, i was eating “healthier” and just had the mentality that more healthy food + exercise = losing the weight. unfortunately, i found out that the avocado, tomato, egg, and cheese spinach wraps i had been getting from this overpriced “healthy” restaurant were 700-800 cals each!!! my cals to lose weight are 1200 ☠️☠️ and i was eating that wrap thinking i was being so skinny + all my other meals on top of that!! i definitely did have that mentality of “well it’s healthy food so i can eat more of it”.. so it really grinds my nerves now when my very tall family members who don’t think about calories tell me to go for peanut butter apples or avocado toast instead because it’s “healthier” than whatever i’m eating…
It doesn’t \*have\* to be, certainly. My store bought whole wheat bread is 60 calories a slice, and it’s not a “diet” item, either. It just has only 1 gram added sugar.
But often whole wheat bread has honey, etc. added to it as well.
I am someone who cannot feel full without a carb, so I agree with your last point. I can eat the biggest plate of chicken and roasted veggies but still need a bite of bread to feel full.
There is a reason obesity is a medical disease. Insulin resistance is a complex biological state which makes losing weight extremely difficult. The calories hit different
I did a no Sugar added challenge and ended up gaining weight. Instead of candy, a dried fruit by the bowl. So so delicious but so much more calories than candy. I learned to just eat the gummy worms rather than 600 cal of dried fruit.
So true. I feel deprived when I eat a bunch of “healthy” stuff. I just got cal smarter. I regularly enjoy just one serving of air head extremes for 120 cals which feels like a real treat. I also use half and half in my coffee—40 cals and is extremely rich and satisfying. Conversely, I’m not eating cookies or oat milk lattes because they are hard to fit in my calorie budget.
To me it was a lot about eating real meals regularly. I was always snacking throughout the day, just small things like an apple or two cookies and then have one big dinner in the evening. I went on medication that made me incredibly hungry and tired all the time so instead of snacking I thoughts it’s better to have breakfast lunch and dinner. While I did eat what’s considered healthy foods, like lots of veggies, oats, nuts. I‘m a small woman and it was easy to gain a lot very fast by just slightly overeating maintenance.
Don’t forget the sauces!! My friend was on a strict diet and always counted her calories but kept gaining weight, turns out she didn’t count the dressings in her salads :O It was like an extra 300 calories she didn’t know about EVERYDAY and not to mention fast food sauces can be upwards of 300 calories per sauce container so be cautious, it’s easy to overlook!!!!!
Because they make the mistakes, like so many, to go cold turkey and think they can make it for the rest of their lives like this, which is unrealistic and unsustainable for 90% of the people...
I think when you really truly start tracking your calories, you see it for what it is. Guestimating is what probably stops a lot of us from knowing how many cals we are taking in!
I think another issue - and an excuse I probably used myself without thinking about it - is that when people eat or drink something healthy they think they've made room for more food. "I had a diet pepsi, so I can have a bigger meal. I only had a small sandwich and fruit for lunch so I can go crazy for dinner at a restaurant." I definitely used to do that with soda. But eliminating 150ish calories did not make up for the extra 500 calories I thought I could consume.
Rather than the foods being less satisfying (really? a lean protein, veggies and carbs is certainly *more* satifying than 2 donuts! sugary snacks are the most empty thing I know) I think that people who up their activity also get a subtly increased appetite - the body quite rightly notices the increased energy demand and reacts by adjusting hunger and satiety hormones.
But the illusion of healthfulness in really quite calorically dense food is of course something to contend with. About 15 years ago, when my understanding of what and how much I should eat was still very vague, I discovered that a coffee shop chain near my work, one with "high quality, natural whole food" branding, offered "healthy" whole grain nuts and seed muffins. I had breakfast, cycled to work, then grabbed one of the muffins to eat at work. Sometimes also an espresso drink. Well... I first denied it when i heard that the muffins alone were probably more than 500 calories apiece. I'm sure they had some good micronutrients, sure, but at the same time they they really threw off my calorie intake.
The satiety of foods is well studied. If you hen peck low calorie foods all day some of us might be more inclined to unintentionally binge when we start eating more dense foods. When one fixes any food issues you have of course, i find i'd rather eat something dense and satiating like a cup of lean ground beef, fried in a teaspoon of butter (with an orange or some veg as a side), it may be highly caloric, BUT it's so satiating and full of vitamins and minerals, keeps me full forever and well fuelled.
The approach doesn't work for everyone of course. For me I'd rather fewer meals and snacks throughout the day but make them dense, than to snack all day on low calorie fluff, volume eating if you will, just not my thing. Volume eating low cal all day works for many though.
Anecdotally, i see it happen alot with people. They have no clue why they are gaining and blame some vague thing that breaks the laws of physics like thermodynamics . Meanwhile they don't eat barely a thing all day thinking they are being so good, then start eating supper and go to town from supper to bed, their bodies begging for sustenance all day and then the levee breaks, we turn primal and gorge, biological evolution and suchness, hard to game that system.
I think not only is healthy unequal to zero calories (true for veggies, but not for potatoes or oil / fish / any fat source).
The major aspect is that calories from exercise are overestimated. I heard this before and read it on Reddit: The classic "I burnt 400 kcal in my HIIT workout so now I can reward myself with a milkshake / Ice cream (300 kcal)". But in RL the workout just burnt 250 kcal or less. So that's where the weight gain happens.
That's the reason why I don't count exercise during weight loss. I take my TDEE from my fitness watch (that also tracks exercise) but I aim for a higher deficit than recommended to adjust to that overestimation. I would recommend including exercise when you want to gain weight or exercise a huge amount like the ultramarathon runner here in the thread.
Oh and a 0.4 L Milkshake vanilla from McDonalds in my country has 313 kcal. So that number is not guessed. I just guessed the kcal from exercise in my example.
I’ve just started calculating my calories again today after hitting a weight loss plateau. It’s made me realise adding nuts to my yogurt every morning is probably a mistake. Also that adding avocados to my salad should be a treat rather than regular occurrence. Lots of easy little tweaks I can make which would drastically drop the calories.
My husband was hella bummed when he was eating tons of trail mix and went up a pant size lol
Poor dude, he loves trail mix.
I track calories so even though I’d love another sweet potato, it just ain’t happening.
Every time I see a "[something] overnight oats" recipe, I get triggered. Your tiramisu overnight oats have 4x the calories of a normal slice of tiramisu, Susan.
Omg true.
I have found that now I'm focused on maintaining my weight and becoming more athletic, I am gravitating more towards those sorts of recipes. A normal breakfast for me might look like 60 grams of oatmeal, a cup of Blueberries, a Mashed banana and a scoop of vanilla whey protein powder. I call this concoction blueberry pie oatmeal. And calorically, you'd probably be better off eating a slice of blueberry pie and a scoop of ice cream. But this recipe also has about 35 grams of protein and about 20 grams of dietary fiber and I find that when I eat it and am mindful about what I'm eating, it can keep me full until lunch. But maybe I'll try the pie and ice cream for breakfast sometime and see if the satisfaction from eating something I truly enjoy makes up for the "good" macros in the oatmeal.
This is exactly why I don't like the term "junk food". I don't like dividing foods into "healthy" and "unhealthy." Designs ting a food as healthy mskes people feel they have a license to eat it unrestricted. 1 ounce of roasted peanuts is a healthy snack. One pound of roasted peanuts is not. Portions matter, and portions can change a meal from healthy to unhealthy. I maintain that six chicken nuggets can be part of a healthy, balanced meal.
Healthy is also subjective based on a person's dietary needs. I did Noom for awhile. They divide foods into green, red, and yellow categories (that used to, I don't know what the New Noom is like). The green foods are supposed to be "better." However, I have diabetes. The green catagoey foods skew heavily towards low fat and fat free foods. There's several brands of fat free ice cream that are green. But these foods still have tons of carbs. They're not green foods for me. If I just blindly followed the advice that these green foods are "healthy" it wouldn't be good for me.
My husband eats squirrel food (nuts/seeds/dried fruit late at night and wonders why eating “healthy” is making him overweight. I know why I’m overweight I sneak fast food and have BED.
He won’t listen though everything is take a hike-to lose weight.
this is 90% of it, the other 10% is if you're untrained or long detrained, and you're doing moderately intense resistance training, its likely you will gain muscle and the scale will remain steady (or increasing if you're actually eating in a surplus)
I have started excercising and eating healthier (with calorie tracking) at the same time. For 6 weeks the scale did not move the slightest, but I went down a whole size in clothes. However if I had not tracked my calories, I probably would have gained weight because upping your excercise routine will make you hungry as hell and if you don't track, you will think "its okay I worked out today". Well nope, excercise does not add nearly as much extra calories to eat as people think. I am short so for me excercise is a way to eat in deficit and not be miserable, but that extra 200kcal I gain does not make such a difference if someone is already eating 2500kcal even if its "good" calories.
People with the "started going to the gym and not eating fast food" approach are not understanding how little excercise actually matters and how insane portions are nowadays. Looking back I am actually surprised I did not continue to gain weight eating what I did before I started tracking, cause I must have been eating around 3k easily, and that was what I already thought "smaller" portions.
I laugh when I hear people say that past generations were slimmer than more current generations because past ones ate more home-cooked meals and more “real” food instead of fast foods and processed foods. I mean, just as you described, so-called “real” food and/or “healthy” food is not necessarily less calorically dense than is processed and/or fast foods.
It’s shortsighted to think that just because food is prepared at home that it’s going to be better for your waistline than is food prepared and eaten elsewhere.
Nothing low-cal about whole milk, whole cream, butter, fatty cuts of meat, wheat bread, etc.
I used to be the type of person who would crack open a can of mixed nuts and eat them all. Only way I can keep on track is to weigh and record everything
Reading a nutrition label and most of all, understanding what an actual gram or ounce of something ACTUALLY is would go a long way towards helping these types of people.
Underestimated intake and overestimated effort is often most of the case however, often times unbeknownst to the individual.
If someone is serious about this, a scheduled visit to see someone would be a great starting point
"I never lose any weight" *Drinks a 3000 cal Starbucks drink and sneaks half a 1500 cal muffin with their lunch salad*
Just a truism for life, people love to complain and hate making sacrifices.
I know this is a joke but to give a serious answer to your comment: I know a lot of people who want to "eat healthier" who would avoid the Starbucks drink and muffin altogether. But if that's their routine, they would be better off sticking to a muffin (let's say 500 calories), a grande Nitro cold brew with sweet cream (70 calories) and a protein shake (200 calories). If that was lunch, they could get 40+ grams of protein, feel satiated and maybe even still be on track for weight loss. Instead of making a 1000 calorie salad that they didn't even like
Nitro cold brews with the vanilla sweet cream are soooo good! I was floored when I saw they were 70 calories; I thought I was going to have to cut them out!
While whole unprocessed foods tend to have more satiety than ultra processed food, it also can be calorically dense. I think people confuse healthy eating with low calorie eating. Things like nuts, dried fruit, healthy carbs, healthy fats, olive oil can all be calorically dense and should be eaten judiciously if you were trying to eat in a calorie deficit. At the end of the day, it’s CICO. So yes, people can still gain weight from healthy eating.
I think a lot of people are secret eaters. I keep track of everything I eat down to the last mint. I have managed to lose weight and keep my weight down this way. I do avoid fast food and junk food and I don’t feel deprived because I know how to cook.
This is exactly what I have going on, that I am unfortunately just realizing. I haven’t been gaining weight, but I haven’t lost anything. I’ve replaced half of each meal with veggies, but I’ve been snacking in the evening (always have), and now adding cheese and nuts and avocado and whatever because it is “healthier”. I actually eat way more often and way more content now than I did before (I used to eat crap good but almost entirely OMAD - still too many calories). It’s so HARD to figure it out sometimes, I don’t know why it feels like everywhere I look is conflicting information and this and that.
I’m tracking calories now in MFP. Gonna try really hard to commit to that daily, and will start weighing my food to be more accurate. It’s so frustrating to be thinking all this time you’re doing so much better, when really nothing has changed.
And some people are like me that also sleep eat. My mom and oldest sis said they saw me going at the ice cream with my bare hand 😅 (It’s gotten way better since I started therapy and working overnight in a different industry)
Honestly, if you are only slightly overweight like most people (like 5kg) then that means you can eat whatever you want as long as you burn that food off.
Doesn't mean you can eat Nick Avocado's diet and become Mike Tyson, but people hype it more than it really is.
If you really want to eat healthy, eat home-cooked meals. If you want a burger for example, you can grind your own beef after checking its calorie count, and then make patties out of it. Cook the burgers and then use any bread that doesn't have too many calories and use non-calorie-dense condiments and toppings like cheese, lettuce, and some sauces (a good sauce can be made at home too).
Absolutely 🥲🥲🥲 I catch myself saying "F it" and slapping an extra chicken breast on the grill/stove/insta and suddenly I'm eating healthy for 2 people.
And not to mention most of the microwaveable veggies steamers come in 2 serving sizes per bag so it's too easy to make and eat the whole thing 😫
Needs to be packaging that's more "single for life/dying alone" friendly. Thank God baked beans come in the little cans.
And no, before anyone says anything about portioning before I cook, that just means the other half I will "save for later" aka it will go bad in my fridge.
Yes, laziness is why I have these issues and that's why I'm carrying around more weight than I want 🤣
I wasn't referring to the bags of peas/mixed veggies that you can dole out into a pot and heat up, but the 2 serving microwaveble steamer bags. That's about all I get
i mean to be honest the foods you describe are not "healthy" foods. Nuts and things like peanut butter are basically a scam as a health food. I mean peanut butter is not healthy at all! but its marketed that way. Your better off eating candy really. Really healthy foods are lean meats, veggies, fruits. Everything else is just marketed as healthy food.
I get your theory. But apply that same logic to eating clean (less additives, less ingredients) and see how you feel. Focusing on whole foods even throwing in good quality bread ( not the trash the US gets in grocery stores) and see how you feel. It'll prove that theory wrong.
But i disagree on the real sugar thing. sugar is in everything we eat in the US that's not single sourced ( meats, veggies etc) and is something people commonly become addicted to
Facts: Peanuts, and ground peanuts/peanut butter with little or no added sugars, are in fact very nutritious. Not at all like eating candy— that is simply not true.
[https://www.denverhealthmedicalplan.org/blog/healthy-perks-peanut-butter](https://www.denverhealthmedicalplan.org/blog/healthy-perks-peanut-butter)
[https://www.webmd.com/diet/peanut-butter-good-for-you](https://www.webmd.com/diet/peanut-butter-good-for-you)
https://thocc.org/about/news-press/news-detail?articleId=52733&publicid=395#:\~:text=Peanut%20butter%20contains%20soluble%20and,helps%20regulate%20blood%20sugar%20levels.
Yes! I have a relative who always makes “heathy” baked treats.
Like sure, you used dates or agave as a sweetener, but you ate 5 of them because they were so “healthy.” How many would you have eaten if it was just a regular cookie?
Do you think people would benefit from not adjusting their current diet too much then? Like just cutting back instead of changing the type of food? I’m struggling with this too :(
The CICO approach to Weight loss means that you can eat anything that fits into your calorie goals and still lose weight. So if your TDEE is 2300 calories a day, for example, and you wanted to lose a pound a week, you'd aim for 1800 calories a day. I don't know what you normally eat so it'd be hard to intelligently talk about an appropriate meal plan for you. But in short, yes, eat foods you enjoy in moderation.
For an 1800 calorie meal plan, you could eat 2 eggs (140 calories) 2 pieces of light bread (100 calories), 2 pieces of turkey sausage (100 calories) and some margin for your toast (50 calories) for 390 calories. Or maybe like Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches. Have one. Just keep breakfast around 400 calories.
Try 600 calories for lunch. It could be a chick fil a sandwich or a salad or anything as long as it's 600 calories.
A 200 calorie snack. It could be a full sugar, full fat full sized snickers bar or a protein bar or a fruit salad. As long as it's 200 calories.
And then 600 calories for dinner. Or skip the snack and have 800 calories for dinner. Which could be a combo meal with a diet soda at In and Out. Or it could be grilled chicken, wild rice and steamed broccoli. It doesn't matter as long as you stick to your calorie goal, you'll lose weight.
The most important thing is finding foods that you enjoy. If you don't like something, don't eat it just because you perceive it to be healthy. You can lose weight and never exercise or eat a vegetable.
I think people equate eating “healthy” to a lot of different things.
I can eat a perfectly balanced calorie dense salad that is also full of the macros and micros I need - that is “healthy” - but that doesn’t mean it will deficit me enough to lose any weight.
Some people think organic means it’s healthier for them. Some people think no carbs is healthier. Some people think no meat is healthier. None of those things equate, on their own, to weight loss.
I think they also don't even try to restrict amount. They might think eating two chocolate bars is horrible and will make them fat, but eating a heaping cup of cashews is a healthy snack.
Keep in mind if people are building muscle, in the first part of the journey, muscle weighs more than fat. They could be eating 1800 calories on a carb day and 1200 on a low carb day and doing weights. That is a perfect storm to drop massive body fat. They have done this for ages. They still do it because it's still effective.
In the first part tho, you put on some weight, idk about 20 lbs. But you will put some on as you gain muscle. But your muscle Will burn the fat as your metabolism revs up and becomes and in the early stages you CaN do everything right and still put on weight. Diet is a HUGE part of losing weight, like 80% of it. The workout and weight training is 20% of it.
There are also factors such as thyroid and other conditions to consider for weight gain. If you are taking a steroid you will hold weight. You could have come from a place where you weren't hydrating properly and when you fix that your body will hold water weight. Water is zero calories.
It WILL even out and it takes your body like a month to get in the flow of all the changes.
It does not mean the person is necessarily messing up their calorie intake. It could be their body is doing the transition and usually you add weight for a short time before you drop Waaay more. At least with the endomorph body type that I have.
The nuts thing is so real. When I was younger and had anorexia I ate a lot of nuts (not much else) and was always confused why I wasn’t smaller. That was a silver lining of not being educated on nutrition back then I guess because I only got slightly underweight according to BMI 😅
It's not only WHAT you eat but WHEN you eat. The timing of food intake is very important. Don't eat close to going to bed. Your heaviest meal should be at lunch time. Your lightest meal should be at dinner time. Hope this helps
i’m pretty sure there was a study that found most individuals who claim they “can’t lose weight and just gain it” underreported their calories by 50%, and over reported their exercise. super interesting. the researchers weighed all of their portions for a certain amount of time and guess what, they lost weight 😂 and some even argued with the researchers. just goes to show you a lot of people have no idea what a portion of something is, or the nutrition of it.
Absolutely, I feel like I see a lot of people confuse healthy foods with lean foods as being the same thing. Avocados are healthy but just one of those delicious bastards can be like 300 calories. Same with nuts like you said. My dad told me he’s been eating a lot of chicken and fish to eat better but then added that he takes large celery sticks and will fill the caved in side with peanut butter as a “healthy snack”. I had to show him the serving size of peanut butter and how little that serving size was compared to what he was actually using for his snack.
Peanut butter is just cruel in that regard.
I love peanut butter but now eat it rarely. PB&J sandwich is a lot more calories than ham, turkey, tuna, egg salad, etc...
I am also a member of another fitness sub and they always recommend peanut butter to people that have issues gaining weight.
It’s why I have PBfit. I’m a peanut butter junkie. This gives me my fix for a fraction of calories.
It truly is amazing lol. I just got some PB fit pumpkin spice flavor to add to my coffee with protein powder. Tastes amazing!
Hold up! PBfit pumpkin spice flavor?!?! BRB. Gotta jolt to the store.
To be fair ive never seen it or any other flavor at my normal grocery store but I got it on Amazon at a fairly decent price. Ive been using Amazon for a lot of awesome flavors for various things I like that normal stores never seem to have around here.
Ooooo I will have to get some of that
Ooh, thanks for mentioning this! Looks like it's higher protein per calorie than PB2 (for the sugar free version) and in stock at my health foods store....
Peanut butter junkie here too. I have been mixing PBfit with this allulose maple syrup that is like 10cal/2tbsp and it is fucking insane. Mix it with my oatmeal in the morning and it scratches my peanut butter fix.
Mmmm! I was thinking of mixing some with some oat flour for super thick PB :3
Man, PBfit tastes amazing but it just doesn't fill that gloopy-gloppy-cover-the-inside-of-my-mouth shaped hole that is the feeling of peanut butter.
Add oat flour, I make peanut butter cups using PBFit and oat flour. If you have a spice grinder and some oats, give that a try. It does make for a better mouth feel
I take it back. I sprinkled a little PBfit and some Ovaltine over some cottage cheese. Woo baby that's good.
I can never get the PB fix from PBfit. I have to use the real stuff or it's just not the same. Granted, that makes 1PB and banana sandwich like, 900 calories, but I also don't care.
You're not wrong, but the satisfaction I get out of eating an avocado is worth more than 300 calories. I actually use nuts and avocadoes as weight loss tools. Obviously it's not going to work if people just eat loads of avocado and/or nuts but if the point in a snack is to be satisfying and tide you over and those foods help with that, then they aren't bad. Calories are what matter but so does being able to keep one's appetite in check.
Oh absolutely. I think the problem is the difference between us (who live and breathe CICO and understand portion sizes) vs. those who do not. I had a friend trying to lose weight a while back, and she said she couldn't understand why she was gaining when she replaced all her between-meal snacks with nuts. Well, she was pouring a small BOWL worth for each snack. A small serving of nuts can be satisfying to many if they understand to only eat the portion and then give it time to "work" (make you feel held over), but anyone who doesn't know any better is going to freely pour into a bowl and eat like they'd eat any other salty snack.
Yeah it’s rough haha. It feels better replacing those Cheetos with nuts or something but we still can’t eat entire bowls of nuts. At the very least, they are on the right path. Just moving to and even considering other foods is a win. One battle at a time.
Yeah, it's a good point. Haha I would probably make myself sick if I ate a whole bowl of nuts, it's hard to imagine even doing it. But the delay in actually feeling it, and the fact that lots of people seem to be able to eat things like that without feeling uncomfortably full is real, too. I just used to consider calories over all else and that lead to a situation where I almost never felt satiated. It took time to figure it out.
>A small serving of nuts can be satisfying to many I'd like meet those people, LOL. "One serving" = 1/4 c. If I want an actual snack, I want more like a cup, but that's really a meal (and change) worth of calories.
See, whereas I can eat literally 3 walnut halves and not feel hungry for another 2 hours. It's like magic. But I understand it's not like that for everyone! Meanwhile if I eat an apple when I'm hungry I'll be going insane and raiding the cabinet for more stuff the minute I'm done. Annoying!
This is interesting, an apple completely tides me over but I don’t think three nuts would at all
I *have* noticed that sometimes I can be short on fats, especially at the end of the night, and still be "hungry" after eating properly. In those cases, a little bit of fat serves a purpose (I like cheese) and goes a long way toward taking the edge off. But if I'm actually *hungry*? I need more.
That makes sense, too. Walnuts aren't going to stop roaring hunger in my case either. I tend to use them as more of a snack between meals, on days where I can tell that just having some veggies isn't going to cut it. I have used cheese for this purpose as well. It's probably as you said: Body wants a little bit of fat, giving it that seems to satisfy it. In my case if I try to hold out I'll keep getting hungry and run into problems. I don't tend to have this happen in the evenings, more of a late-afternoon issue. It's interesting how different things can be for different people!
Yeah. Like I literally eat 7 cashews. It is enough! I love them.
Eating a few nuts to replace unhealthy snacks can work, but my dad was *adding* nuts on top of his previous food. A handful everytime he went through the kitchen which was many times a day. And usually he would put them in a bowl and cover them with olive oil and salt. 🤦🏻♀️
Oh yeah absolutely, I agree. I think I saw someone else here say they make some mean salads that can be high in calories and that’s I guess what I’m alluding too. If your meal is already 500-700 calories and you decide to add that “healthy avocado” on top it might hurt your intake if you’re trying to lose weight. It’s one of those foods that will add up quick even though it seems healthy in something like a salad. My dad’s a prime example of someone who will try to eat a bunch of healthy foods without paying attention to the overall baseline calories he’s still adding at the end.
No worries! I think your point was good. :)
I lost weight by eating a serving size of food. I looked up a serving size for every food I eat. I’ve lost 82 lbs so far. You are right in people not eating a serving size. A serving size of an avocado is 1/3 of a medium avocado. People who eat healthy and gain weight may also not realize that you may need to count something. Calories, serving size, smaller portions…something. Some people can stop when they feel full and not have to count anything. However, not many people I know can do that.
I came to the comments to blame avocado, nuts, and olive oil.
So true. There was one the other day about not losing weight when all they are eating is salads. Some of the most calorically dense meals I've had are big, beautiful salads with lots of healthy toppings!
People also don’t realise how many calories are in condiments. Even the non creamy based ones can contain so much oil that it completely undoes what they were trying to achieve
Yes! Honestly this is what makes things that are low cal at home often so high cal in restaurants. They're not using 35-cal Hellman's Light or 30-cal Olive Garden Light Italian or 45-cal Nathan's 97% Fat Free hotdogs. If it was possible to easily commercially source all the little back-pocket tricks I employ at home to have "junk" food for low calorie, I could make a killing selling it short order. LOL.
Just found out from this comment that Nathan's has 45 cal hotdogs??? Definitely going to try and find those, I've been craving hotdogs lately
Have you ever tried cutting hot dogs into two pieces (lengthwise) then putting them in buns? Bam, you have two hotdogs, and with the condiments it feels just as satisfying. This is how I justify the 200 cal Kirkland hotdogs.
... this is genius.
You're an actual genius.
I'll have to try that. I've been tracking macros and eating a lot of sausage recently. Had 2 hot dogs one night, instead and was sorely disappointed how much more fat and less protein the hot dogs had.
Random aside, I hate it when websites post 'sage diet advice' like "Avoid creamy dressings!" Excuse you, if not for the creamy dressing I'd hate the salad. I don't like sweet foods, so most sweeter dressings are right out. Vinegrettes are typically more sour than anything and are also not great. Secret trick here is to use Yogurt based ranch. 45cal for two tablespoons, you can have six tablespoons for the cost of two hidden valley. I never use that much, but the fact you can drown your salad in it if you wish and still be within calorie goals is perfect. Screw you, diet websites. I'll have my creamy dressing goddamn it!
I found if I get/put the dressing on the side, dip my fork in the dressing (basically coating a tiny bit of the tines), then spear my salad bite - I eat WAY less dressing, but I still get enough that I don't feel like a horse eating hay lol.
I do this too, but only if I don't have access to my yogurt ranch. Well, used to, at any rate.
There is something better than dressing for salads. Hot sauce. Most brands are 0 calories, although many say its not truly zero calories but less than 5 calories per serving. I prefer jack in the box hot taco sauce, 1 packet contains zero calories, zero carbs, zero fat and only 60mg of sodium. I pair it with 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese, a tablespoon is 25 calories. Thats it, 25 calories in total as a salad topper and Jacks taco sauce isnt even spicy. It basically tastes like the topping of jack in the box loaded tiny tacos but without the taco. The only real hard part is getting the hot sauce without ordering anything else. That or Italian dressing is my go to for salads.
I have been making a “creamy” salad dressing which is basically just non-fat Greek yogurt and Frank’s Red hot. It really hits the spot!
Greek yogurt, lime juice, and lots of tapatio makes my all time favorite taco salad dressing! Addicting!
Lime juice - that’s brilliant!
I do the same thing with pico de gallo - dumping a ton on the salad means I don’t need any other dressing and get some extra veg.
You're so right and I'm a big time sauce guy. I've just been trying to use a lot less, use sriracha instead of ketchup occasionally, etc.
My grocery store does this. They sell these bagged salad kits under the store brand for like $5. They claim the kit contains 3.5 servings (haha), with 150 cal per serving (I'm picking a random "flavor" here). So the bag comes out to 525 calories. BUT. there's only 14 g of protein in the *bag*. (Generally speaking, I'm looking for something like this to be 20% protein by calorie). For that 150 cal serving, there is 12 g of fat. That is, fully 72% of the calories in that "salad" is *fat*. (First ingredient in most of their dressings is "soybean oil.") That makes me so, so mad. My RD has me tracking macros. I need 175 g protein and no more than 68 g fat. This salad gives me 8% of my protein and 60% of my fat.
I wish they would break down that calorie content of each item in the salad kit. The packet of dressing is 200 calories. The bacon is 59 calories. The cheese is 75 calories. The actual salad greens are 30 calories. Etc.
In pre made salat sauces can be way to much sugar
makes me think of how many of my coworkers bring salads to work. I make semi joking comments commending them on healthy eating (it's a running joke between us), shortly after which they pour in a small tupperware container of ranch 🤣
My hunt for a dressing that tastes descent and isn't terrible is currently stalled at Lighthouse Gorgonzola Pear. 50cal per 2 tbsp and half the calories of most I've found (that don't taste terrible) sodium is a bit higher than I'd like at 230mg for that serving, but it's the best I've found so far. Amazed to see 120-200+ cal for a tablespoon or two of a lot of store bought dressings.
A friend of mine who can "never lose weight no matter what" made me a side salad a couple months back. There were easily 2 oz of cheese, 1/2 cup of pecans, a bunch of dried cranberries and pepitas, and hefty pours of olive oil and balsamic glaze. Delicious salad but it was more calories than I'd typically eat in an entire meal.
I think this comment really highlights my point. There was a time that I wanted to be healthier. So I ate a lot of food that I wasn't really into. I made salad with spring mix, raisins and Hummus because I perceived all of those things to be healthy (no, this combo *wasn't* good at all). But because I lacked satisfaction from my meal, I still wanted to eat more. So I ate even more raisins. It would have been much better if I had had a chicken sandwich and a chocolate bar for dessert. Less calories, more protein and something I actually wanted to eat.
This is the right answer
I worked at Chili's right around the time restaurants started being required to put nutrition information on food and I cannot tell you the number of people who freaked out when they saw for the first time that some of our salads were 2500 calories. The Quesadilla Explosion was a big one. It was insane the number of people who would make comments about it. So many people said 'oh but it's my favorite salad! I thought it was low calorie because it's a salad!' It is literally a pile of fried tortilla strips, cheese, and ranch with some lettuce underneath.
It's only 1430 according to their nutrition info, but even still, that's my whole day of calories!!
It’s the dressing that fucks people up
Dressing is evil. I always bring my own Skinny Girl dressing to restaurants because most restaurant salads are covered with, like, 400 calories of dressing. You think the salad is the healthy option, but it could actually have more calories than the burger. Don't even get me started on croutons.
That’s why I offer what I want when I eat out rather than order something “healthy”. The Cheesecake Factory menu says it all. I rather get an 1,800 cal pasta dish than a 2,200 cal salad.
You gotta order dressing on the side, legitimate gamechanger. that said, there's often a ton of cheese or other things like that in restaurant salads too
Yeah, see my post right above yours. My grocery store doesn't break out dressing from the other stuff, but for a bagged kit with 525 calories in it, 378 come from fat. JFC.
It's the croutons for me. Sooo good, especially when they start to soak up the ranch dressing. I could easily have more croutons than lettuce in my salads.
I often don't use dressings in my salads, so for me it's usually the toppings. Feta cheese, chickpeas, chopped nuts, olives, avocado, fresh mozzarella or burrata... It all adds up! Salads can easily contain a metric ton of calories lol, very frustrating
Yes! This week’s dinner menu was beef bulgogi bowls with rice and pickled veggies, Cobb salad, and skillet enchiladas. One guess what the highest calorie count is? Thats right! The salad: chicken, bacon, egg, avocado, blue cheese +veggies. Everything portion controlled and measured with dressing? Easily 650-700 calories, not measuring you’d easily slide towards 1,000 on a salad.
I love a huge salad for dinner, typically my salads are 900-1100 calories depending on the toppings and dressing. I measure everything including the lettuce, just because it’s “healthy” doesn’t mean it’s low calorie. I could easily go over my budget with an extra squeeze of ranch or another shake of shredded cheese.
I kind of don't like talking about specific meals in a vacuum, it really can confound a conversation. To your point, a specific meal can have lots of calories, but if you're doing OMAD than so what. But if your TDEE is 1500 calories and you're eating two of those salads a day, I'd argue that those salads are *collectively* unhealthy because they will cause weight gain, which then causes other health related problems. Other threads focus on "low calorie" stuff. That by definition involves limiting sugars (fine) but also fats. Since one's body needs fats, eating minimal to no fat for the entire day (for days on end) is also unhealthy.
The Eat Like a Bear diet lady does OMAD and IF, and basically, how she lost all her weight is she eats one huge salad a day, but that salad is like 1200 calories.
I'd rather just go to McDonald's at that point.
Except you'd be hungry a couple hours after McoDonald's but a high calorie, high density salad with protein should keep you satiated for hours and hours
I love those salads! I make a family dinner out of them by using half of the dressing packet, add additional lettuce, a can of tuna or salmon and black beans or garbanzos. If the dressing isn't strong enough I add lemon or lime juice.
Not only that, I think it has something to do with the adding rather than subtracting advice - which is really good advice, don't get me wrong! My regular diet is a lot of junk, tons of sugar and simple carbs. I started adding things - a bowl of oatmeal with greek yogurt and protein powder, a smoothie with lots of greens and fruit, sardines and edamame for light dinners, etc. This has all been great, I have more energy and I don't feel like shit all the time. However, in this in between time where I've been adding healthy food without worrying too much about subtracting unhealthy food, I've gained a fuckton of weight lol. I was eating most of my calories in junk still, and everything healthy I add is just caloric surplus. I'm fine with this for right now especially as I've been eating less and less garbage but yeah. I'm fat haha. But at least this time I'm fat (in part) from fruits and veggies!
I discovered this when I went to sweetgreen a few weeks ago! I was looking for healthier lunch options near my work, and thought, hey, salads are pretty healthy for you. I checked out the menu and almost every salad was 800-900 calories. I tried one and honestly, maybe I'm just not meant to be a salad person, but it definitely did not feel worth the calories to me.
Two words. Ranch. Dressing.
I'm an ultrarunner who was running around 60 to 70 miles per week a couple years ago. Most of my calories were from "healthy" foods. I gained 30lbs because my running volume was drastically reduced and I kept eating at a surplus over a prolonged period of time. Once I started tracking my food and exercise it became very apparent how much I was overeating the past year. I was still active but not active enough to justify putting down 3,000 calories a day. In my high volume days, I'd pound an 800 calorie salad nightly or have extra helpings of "good" carbs like sweet potatoes. I'm a perfect example of how even active people can gain weight if what they're eating is out of proportion to what their exercise is.
it do be like that. I didn't even exercise that much but always prioritized activity before having kids. I had kids and naturally just became more sedentary, while also feeling physically exhausted the same way I would when I would wake up at 5a to lift weights and run so didn't really notice "oh, I used to exercise away 3,500 calories a week..." and stroller walks wasn't doing it even if I felt like I wanted to pass out after because lack of sleep
>extra helpings of "good" carbs like sweet potatoes. To be fair, 100g of sweet potatoes has less than 100 calories (and your entire RDA of beta carotene!). Like sure if you're cooking them with a ton of oil, that's one thing but I don't think anyone has ever gained 20lbs from over eating non-fried sweet potatoes.
>I don't think anyone has ever gained 20lbs from over eating non-fried sweet potatoes Obviously I was eating other things. I also mentioned eating 800 calorie salads nightly, not sure if you saw that. I just used sweet potatoes as an example of a starch people consider healthy. It was also the rice and the legumes and the pasta. Not sure what your background is but a runner during peak mileage can eat 4 or 500 calories of starches like sweet potatoes throughout the day with minimal fats very easily. Boiled potatoes are offered at aid stations during ultramarathons since they're a very efficience source of energy. It was very necessary while running high mileage to eat that way but it contributed to my weight gain when I dropped down to a fraction of the mileage. The appetite stayed for quite awhile and I just ate how I did previously.
I remember when I tried weight watchers, their point system had several healthy foods as zero points to encourage healthy snacking. Those MFers severely underestimated how many slices of deli turkey meat I can eat in a day. I binge like crazy when I'm hungry, so that taught me that there are no reliable "zero point" foods for me.
The whole zero point food idea makes me crazy. I have seen so many people fail because of that mindset, and I feel so bad for them. They're being lied to. Edit: I just looked up the list, and it absolutely baffles me. They have beans, bananas, and eggs on there, all of which can easily blow my deficit!
OMG the concept of "zero-point foods" is infuriating! Way too many people confuse zero points with zero calories. I have seen so many zero-point recipes where people act like they're gaming the system by making recipes entirely out of zero-point ingredients. Uh, no, they still have calories, and your body will still count them no matter what Weight Watchers says.
I'm actually ok with the concept of zero point foods, if it were honest. There *are* plenty of vegetables that have a deminimus amount of calories and it's fine to eat a bunch of them. But the sheer number of things that WW actually places on their 0 point list should make a class action lawyer happy. I think WW+ is a more honest system (from my 30 second google) but damn the basic system and all them zero points.
Agreed. If someone can track their "points", it's not much harder to just track calories instead...and for free.
I said of this elsewhere, but I gotta figure the points system made a lot of sense in the pre smart phone and to some extent, pre internet era. For one thing, your daily points would have been a custom thing they charged for... it would have been hard to do strict calorie tracking unless one had ready access to BMR equations. I remember borrowing a coworker's WW calculator after realizing they weren't giving *that* out for free. And the points thing would have made it much simpler to track inputs instead of figuring out calorie counts for everything. (People do eat things that don't have bar codes or nutrition labels printed on them.) But now? Smart phones and MFP/loseit/etc make all of that OBE. It's a weight management system from a different era. There's no reason to pay for it, because it's not a *better* (or now, even simpler) system than everything else out there.
There is a progresso brand of canned soup that is 0 points, but 2 cans of soup is 2 points. They do mention that at the meetings. Like some fruit is low points, but dont do fruit smoothies because its not the same.
Do they explain *why?* I can get that some things in small amounts may have "close to zero" points so it's easier to round down. But if two cans of soup are two points, then one can of soup is one point, and I can't see the logic of allowing "one free soup".
Gosh its been at least a decade, but basically the formula they use for points is based on calories, protein and fiber. If its under a certain amount it doesnt count. Liks how tic tacs are 0 calories despite being entirely sugar. They would give you a paper wheel that you could rotate different things to figure out your points. Of course, as soon as I figured out that point system, they tossed it and implemented a new system which could only be calculated on their calculator or app. Lame. And i was out.
I get some wild caught fish from Alaska that is more fatty than a rib eye steak. I'm pretty sure WW considers *all* fish to be "zero point" but I could be wrong.
To be fair, while you might not lose weight as quickly, I'd find it very difficult to gain weight eating eggs, beans, and bananas simply because of how much fiber they have.
You underestimate how much I can eat. I feel like this system is particularly bad for those of us who are inclined to really binge.
Oh, yes, I'm the same. I had to quit WW because of all the zero point foods that I ate way too much of, then ate my daily points too. I can eat way more than the average person.
This was always my issue with it. I think their reasoning is “no one is gonna binge enough of this for it to ruin a diet”, WRONG they never met me
This is my issue with it as well. Especially for things like eggs and beans. I’m overweight because I have a bad relationship with food and am terrible at judging my own satiety and what a normal serving is. I could easily put away several hundred calories worth of hard boiled eggs and beans.
Why did they make salt-filled conveniently snack sized foods "zero points" in the first place? Idiotic. This goes for product labels too. Pickles are not zero calories if you eat four of them. I don't know how many they are, but it's not zero. Physics doesn't allow that.
Pickles are like ten calories. Physics absolutely allows that is the foods are made of components that we can't digest. Uranium would also be zero calories
Got it, eat uranium. (the radioactivity will really help with the weight loss)
Just ask cancer patients
I've always wondered about that! Some time I'd like to try out weight watchers and see how much weight I can put on in a month while being under my points. If you tell me I can eat an apple for free, I will eat ten of them.
Yep, same reason intermittent fast doesn't work for some people like myself. For awhile i tried one meal a day. Unfortunately it turns out even with healthy home made food i can easily smash 3000+ calories in one go.
I miss the 2008 system. While it needed to be updated to include carbs and protein in the calculations, I liked that fruit was one or two points depending on the fruit. I think some vegetables were the only 0-point foods because you basically burned as many calories during digestion as the food has. Chicken had points but was much lower in points than beef. In my first meeting in 2008, the group leader showed that a good sized chicken sandwich, a pretty good serving of cooked vegetables, and some water were the same number of points as a small burger and a small serving of fries. She then asked which one would be more filling.
I think part of it might also be that some people think that eating ‘healthy’ means they can eat as much as they want because what they’re eating is better for you than what they were eating before. Portion sizes are so important
Maybe people try to do everything too quickly. It's a lot to jump into an exercise routine, a calorie deficit, and a diet overhaul all at the same time. Maybe it would work better to calculate roundabout maintenance calories and eat that, but with healthier foods to change the diet first--break that addiction to sugar and processed carbs. Then, add in exercise but don't eat above the maintenance calories that you calculated when you were sedentary. Then, once you've upped your fitness, that's when you should start a dedicated deficit.
I think this is great advice!
I agree with you. Especially for people with a high SW first using diet to lose weight will make exercise easier and healthier for their joints. You can start walking from the beginning but I think that is hard for people >300 lbs with a sedentary lifestyle. So first diet and then exercise.
In the end people don't want to hear that they're eating too much, no matter what type of food it is.
Presmart phone, I can see why WW points had their value. People *do* need an easy system to track intake, and tracking calories for specific foods back then would be a PITA and there'd be a market for a simpler system. But now? Sure no system is perfect, and nutrition labels can be off, but the apps make it *so* easy (I never thought I'd say this) to track things a whole lot better than WW. (I'm of the opinion people should be tracking macros too.) WW jumped the shark.
It's so disappointing. I did really well and reached goal on the old MyWW "Purple" plan, which was really focused on high-fiber carbs and low-saturated-fat proteins. I loved it so much that I still try to prioritize the foods on the Purple 0-point list because I felt so good (and had great hair and nails!) on that plan. That plan is completely gone now, and from what I understand, WW has continuously reduced and eliminated its original services and is focusing on their weight loss drug arm. "Jumped the shark" is a good descriptor.
I'm using the LoseIt app with the "maximize satiety" setting. It emphasises protein and fiber and low saturated fat. I think it would make the WW purple fans happy. I am not cutting my calories crazy low, and for the first time ever, I don't feel obsessive and starving. I am losing slowly, but I can eat like this forever.
In regards to the satiation comparison, most processed foods have addictive additives in them too! So you might be onto something. I think, after cutting out processed foods for a while, most people will find they’re satisfied for longer from the healthier alternatives than they ever were on the unhealthy foods.
And some companies would advertise their foods addictiveness unabashedly. "you can't eat just one" "once you pop you just can't stop" etc. That's not a good thing.
I think it depends on the person. I don’t have an issue with processed foods, specifically the low calorie substitutes to higher calorie foods. My protein bars are processed but they definitely are filling. I think if someone performs better without processed food, all the power to them. At no point do I think processed food is healthier than natural foods. But I think if you’re getting nutrients that are satiating like protein and fiber, whether the food is processed or not doesn’t affect satiating as much as the nutrients (imo not a doctor obvi). And also the volume of the food matters
Hey, remember when McDonalds released their salad as a healthy option, and it was more calories than their Big Mac?
And I remember hearing also that McDonalds added chicken nuggets when chicken was getting popular as a "healthier alternative" but they cooked it drenched in so much oil that it ended up being worse for you. They have a history of making foods that would otherwise be healthy terrible for you.
And those chicken tenders they had that were all white meat but they were actually worse than the chicken nuggets.
There is a local burger chain in our area that also has salads. They released the calorie info, and the salad I liked had the same amount of calories as their cheeseburger. But thinking it over, it made sense. The salad had lots of avocado, feta cheese, dried cranberries and almonds besides the chicken, lettuce and other veggies. Plus a delicious citrus vinaigrette dressing that tasted too good to be low cal.
“I’m eating healthy” *drenches salad with 600 calories of ranch* Jokes aside, people need to read nutrition labels measure their portions out
To be fair, I would guess there are just a lot of people who make improvements to their diet, lose weight, and never post about it, because why would they? From their perspective it isn't interesting. When I switched to eating more whole foods and cut out processed sugar I did lose weight. I find the current foods I eat a lot more satisfying than what I ate when I was gaining. But these foods were selected based on satisfaction: I don't eat things I don't like, I eat things I like that I know will help me feel full and happy. Also, when people talk about eating "healthy" it's rather subjective. It isn't telling people enough information.
Adding protein shakes without removing anything. The 350 calorie drink is to replace a meal, not be an addition.
This is exactly why i do not drink them. I know myself well enough to know i’m still going to want solid food after one
6-8oz of milk and one scoop of protein, on the other hand is probably good for 25+g of protein for around 200 calories which ain’t bad if you’re chasing macros at the end of the day
Adding meals in general, how is eating more than you've been already eating even supposed to work as a weight loss strategy? I've seen quite a number of acquaintances add protein-enriched snacks to their diets "because protein helps you burn fat!". I don't know about that, but I do know that another 200 kcal on the top of what made you gain weight in the first place isn't going to do any good
Adding protein shakes for breakfast when I used to not eat breakfast reduced my snacking later and helps keep me from binging on carbs. It works for some people
Those conversations drive me nuts. IMHO, if you're on a "cut", you shouldn't be drinking them anyway. (I guess I'm referring to the commercial ones that are like 30 g and \~200 calories.) I eat 175 g of protein and don't touch the shakes or the supplements unless I screwed something up. I don't need a "meal replacement" because the other things I eat in that meal, I still need to eat. If I wanted to bulk and caloric intake management was less of an issue, sure slamming 30 g of protein has its uses. But for losing weight, most people should be satisfying their caloric requirement with real foods, there's really no reason not to.
Idk I’m on a cut right now and protein shakes are definitely helping me reach my goals. It’s a meal replacement for me though and I’m full for hours after.
People hate hearing this, but it's much easier to do CICO with processed foods. Spend time weighing and measuring out peanut butter or grab an Uncrustable. Weigh and measure everything in your dish or throw a TV dinner in the microwave. I can't afford to eat frozen meals all the time, but I'll keep some on hand because it's just easier when you're struggling to not have to think about weighing and measuring and to just be able to get food and eat it. Eating healthy means working a lot harder to track your calories and most people don't want to do that.
Yeah this. When I'm watching calories, I always eat less healthily, because I know the frozen pizza I get is 700 cals, I know a chocolate bar is 250 etc. When I'm cooking for myself, even though my favourite foods are salads, I'll just eyeball the olive oil that goes in the dressing, or the oil that goes in for frying, or the butter that I add to mash, and I find I gain weight because of that (and portion sizes in general).
This is my experience as well. It’s also easier when said processed food is pre measured. I’ve lost more weight with a ton of ease having a nightly frozen dinner from Trader Joe’s then I ever did buying a bunch of groceries and making everything myself. I think the mental fatigue is a big part of this as well. It’s a lot more exhausting to be constantly measuring and calculating the amount of calories in every single thing you’re cooking and putting into your mouth. And if you struggle with food noise, you have to think about it even more than you would otherwise (is it worth it to add a little extra feta cheese to this for 70 cals? One serving of olive oil isn’t enough for this, would another tiny splash really kill me?). The only thing I really worry about now is if I’m eating enough protein and fiber, and it’s easy enough to find a couple of rotating meals and snacks that help me achieve both of those things.
I often cook myself dinner, but I almost always eat a breakfast and lunch of processed foods. I just really hate weighing and measuring and the food noise does also make it much harder to figure out what's real and what's just a fluctuation in my brain chemistry.
The issue is that people are told to eat 'healthy' foods, but know nothing about portion sizing. If you think that certain foods are healthy, eating a lot of that can only be good, right? Portion and meal sizing is something that isn't really taught. When you go to a restaurant (in the US) and always have large portions by default, you think that's normal. When parents cook huge portions for their families, that's normal, right? One of the first things I learned when I started was that portion sizes are equally important as calorie counts.
Haha yes. I'm taking a break from tracking because it was getting... weird. It's tricky to juggle between being lax enough to not be miserable, but also committed enough to not quit entirely. If I take it too seriously I eat weird stuff like broccoli with cottage cheese on it or tuna without bread, which is depressing and not satisfying enough to really satiate, and the understanding that I can't eat more even if I'm still hungry because of the calorie limit just makes me more hungry because I'm stressing about hunger and thinking about food. Seems like it's easiest to just make good changes to normal meals, like loading on the veggies and cutting back on oils; I don't think most who just "eat healthier" really consider that angle, they probably change their entire diet, which their digestive system isn't used to.
I’m on a similar path. The stress of tracking just makes me want to give up every time. I’m currently focusing on nutrition for mental health first, weight loss second…which means tracking had to go. I’m also working on not weighing myself and trusting the process. Hopefully it pays off in the long run!
I've been only roughly tracking lately (estimating amounts, eating a treat even when I'm already past budget etc) because it just got to be too stressful. But yesterday I said I wouldn't track, and when I went back and logged after all (since what I ate was easy to track) I was actually under budget... But then because I was aware of how many calories I'd eaten, I then wanted snacks and went way over hahah. I think a break will be very good for me, I should be better off without tracking for the time being. It's just kinda funny. I adhere better to my diet if I'm unaware that I'm doing well hahaah Eta: my essential goals, for the sake of sanity, is less sugar, more fiber and protein. Whole foods (ie complex salads) or foods that took lots of effort (like sourdough bread) can be lazy logged bc the effort paid for the calories lol
Last point is SPOT ON. My “secret” to weight loss is to finish a healthy/low cal meal with a tiny bag of candy. Makes a HUUUUUUUGE difference for me.
This is funny you said that because I just did a reel today on my IG page about how people will eat a meal that makes them full (you know, lots of volume) but not necessarily satisfied, so they keep thinking about food after and eating other things in their house to curb their real craving. It’s like when you want a cookie, but then you eat an apple, then granola bar, then a yogurt, then finally cave and eat the cookie (or 5). If you just honored what you wanted in the first place, you can move on and it would have consumed less calories overall.
Yeah nuts will fuck you up if you're not careful. It's soooo easy to overeat them because (at least in my experience) it takes a couple minutes to feel full and, because they are objectively so healthy, it's super understandable why someone would think they can eat an unlimited amount if they're new to nutrition. Fruit can also have kind of a lot of calories depending on how much you're eating and, again, totally understandable why someone wouldn't realize that. Like I eat a solid 300-400 calories a day in fresh fruit because it's fucking delicious and objectively pretty great for you but this is not a negligible amount of calories like one might assume.
I remember working at a cafe in college. We had a regular chocolate chip cookie and a vegan chocolate chip cookie. A lot of people assumed the vegan chocolate chip cookie was healthier, but it had twice the amount of calories. Healthier doesn’t automatically meant weight loss. It comes down to a calorie deficit.
my theory? they’re peanut butter and avocado enjoyers.
they’re so good 😭
I mean, this doesn't really need a theory. They gained weight as you said because they ate more calories than they burned. Why I don't like CICO is that for those types of posts, the how doesn't explain the why. It's probably a simple matter of not watching the calories that they eat, but it can also be the type of healthy food that you eat as well. Fiber can make you feel more full over a longer period of time, so you may grab less food. It can also be a mental health condition that has nothing to do with any of those things. I discovered last year that I had ADHD when I put two and two together that I would mostly eat snacks out of boredom, not because I was hungry. When I started my meds, I had better control to say no, which has massively increased my consistency in losing weight. For some people, it may be a good idea to have a journal around to write how they feel or actually evaluate why it is they fell off their weight loss after doing it for months. If you don't address the actual problem you had to gain the weight in the first place, you are setting yourself up to fail every single time. That's why losing weight is hard, as unfortunately, most people don't figure those things out. And at least, in my opinion, when people explain the simplicity of the mechanism without emphasizing that the how for an individual achieves the undisputed outcome is complicated is a disservice.
Totally tracks. When I want to gain a bit of weight (like today, since I'm slightly below my desired range), I will add some nuts and a couple of cheese sticks for some extra calories. If I ever go above range, part of the calorie cut will be limitation of nuts and dairy, and making sure I weigh out all food including oils/sauces/condiments.
I think it might also depend on the situation. I'm recovering from BED so I find a calorie deficit to be more difficult than it has been in the past for a few reasons. Mostly because I run into the issue of being extremely tired or I get depressed due to both the lack of dopamine from binging and reduction in calories. My weight loss and recovery have been an incredibly slow process for this reason but I'm okay with it.
I disagree with the last part personally. I am wayyyyyyyyy more satiated over a 6 oz steak than say a 16 oz bag of chips, calorie for calorie. Of course protein plays a role in that, but even if it was swapped for the equivalent amount of fruit. Healthy food hits my brain much better. I have found it very interesting how this can vary so widely with personality types. For me counting calories is actually what got me into a rut and it's very counter productive, eating holistically and being in tune with my body (in conjunction with exercise) is my key. Others struggle with that, and need to have a rigid system where they are held accountable. Neither is right or wrong I've found, it's just whatever is right or wrong for the person.
it really be like that 😭😭 before i educated myself on CICO, i was eating “healthier” and just had the mentality that more healthy food + exercise = losing the weight. unfortunately, i found out that the avocado, tomato, egg, and cheese spinach wraps i had been getting from this overpriced “healthy” restaurant were 700-800 cals each!!! my cals to lose weight are 1200 ☠️☠️ and i was eating that wrap thinking i was being so skinny + all my other meals on top of that!! i definitely did have that mentality of “well it’s healthy food so i can eat more of it”.. so it really grinds my nerves now when my very tall family members who don’t think about calories tell me to go for peanut butter apples or avocado toast instead because it’s “healthier” than whatever i’m eating…
> Whole wheat bread can be twice the amount of calories as white bread per slice. Please explain this before I have a mental breakdown?
It doesn’t \*have\* to be, certainly. My store bought whole wheat bread is 60 calories a slice, and it’s not a “diet” item, either. It just has only 1 gram added sugar. But often whole wheat bread has honey, etc. added to it as well.
yeahhhh i love me some cashews but like...a large handful is 500 calories lol
I am someone who cannot feel full without a carb, so I agree with your last point. I can eat the biggest plate of chicken and roasted veggies but still need a bite of bread to feel full.
There is a reason obesity is a medical disease. Insulin resistance is a complex biological state which makes losing weight extremely difficult. The calories hit different
I did a no Sugar added challenge and ended up gaining weight. Instead of candy, a dried fruit by the bowl. So so delicious but so much more calories than candy. I learned to just eat the gummy worms rather than 600 cal of dried fruit.
So true. I feel deprived when I eat a bunch of “healthy” stuff. I just got cal smarter. I regularly enjoy just one serving of air head extremes for 120 cals which feels like a real treat. I also use half and half in my coffee—40 cals and is extremely rich and satisfying. Conversely, I’m not eating cookies or oat milk lattes because they are hard to fit in my calorie budget.
To me it was a lot about eating real meals regularly. I was always snacking throughout the day, just small things like an apple or two cookies and then have one big dinner in the evening. I went on medication that made me incredibly hungry and tired all the time so instead of snacking I thoughts it’s better to have breakfast lunch and dinner. While I did eat what’s considered healthy foods, like lots of veggies, oats, nuts. I‘m a small woman and it was easy to gain a lot very fast by just slightly overeating maintenance.
Don’t forget the sauces!! My friend was on a strict diet and always counted her calories but kept gaining weight, turns out she didn’t count the dressings in her salads :O It was like an extra 300 calories she didn’t know about EVERYDAY and not to mention fast food sauces can be upwards of 300 calories per sauce container so be cautious, it’s easy to overlook!!!!!
Because they make the mistakes, like so many, to go cold turkey and think they can make it for the rest of their lives like this, which is unrealistic and unsustainable for 90% of the people...
I think when you really truly start tracking your calories, you see it for what it is. Guestimating is what probably stops a lot of us from knowing how many cals we are taking in!
I think another issue - and an excuse I probably used myself without thinking about it - is that when people eat or drink something healthy they think they've made room for more food. "I had a diet pepsi, so I can have a bigger meal. I only had a small sandwich and fruit for lunch so I can go crazy for dinner at a restaurant." I definitely used to do that with soda. But eliminating 150ish calories did not make up for the extra 500 calories I thought I could consume.
Rather than the foods being less satisfying (really? a lean protein, veggies and carbs is certainly *more* satifying than 2 donuts! sugary snacks are the most empty thing I know) I think that people who up their activity also get a subtly increased appetite - the body quite rightly notices the increased energy demand and reacts by adjusting hunger and satiety hormones. But the illusion of healthfulness in really quite calorically dense food is of course something to contend with. About 15 years ago, when my understanding of what and how much I should eat was still very vague, I discovered that a coffee shop chain near my work, one with "high quality, natural whole food" branding, offered "healthy" whole grain nuts and seed muffins. I had breakfast, cycled to work, then grabbed one of the muffins to eat at work. Sometimes also an espresso drink. Well... I first denied it when i heard that the muffins alone were probably more than 500 calories apiece. I'm sure they had some good micronutrients, sure, but at the same time they they really threw off my calorie intake.
The satiety of foods is well studied. If you hen peck low calorie foods all day some of us might be more inclined to unintentionally binge when we start eating more dense foods. When one fixes any food issues you have of course, i find i'd rather eat something dense and satiating like a cup of lean ground beef, fried in a teaspoon of butter (with an orange or some veg as a side), it may be highly caloric, BUT it's so satiating and full of vitamins and minerals, keeps me full forever and well fuelled. The approach doesn't work for everyone of course. For me I'd rather fewer meals and snacks throughout the day but make them dense, than to snack all day on low calorie fluff, volume eating if you will, just not my thing. Volume eating low cal all day works for many though. Anecdotally, i see it happen alot with people. They have no clue why they are gaining and blame some vague thing that breaks the laws of physics like thermodynamics . Meanwhile they don't eat barely a thing all day thinking they are being so good, then start eating supper and go to town from supper to bed, their bodies begging for sustenance all day and then the levee breaks, we turn primal and gorge, biological evolution and suchness, hard to game that system.
I think not only is healthy unequal to zero calories (true for veggies, but not for potatoes or oil / fish / any fat source). The major aspect is that calories from exercise are overestimated. I heard this before and read it on Reddit: The classic "I burnt 400 kcal in my HIIT workout so now I can reward myself with a milkshake / Ice cream (300 kcal)". But in RL the workout just burnt 250 kcal or less. So that's where the weight gain happens. That's the reason why I don't count exercise during weight loss. I take my TDEE from my fitness watch (that also tracks exercise) but I aim for a higher deficit than recommended to adjust to that overestimation. I would recommend including exercise when you want to gain weight or exercise a huge amount like the ultramarathon runner here in the thread. Oh and a 0.4 L Milkshake vanilla from McDonalds in my country has 313 kcal. So that number is not guessed. I just guessed the kcal from exercise in my example.
For me, my attention is always drawn to the "started eating" and I think to myself "okay, but when did you stop?"
I’ve just started calculating my calories again today after hitting a weight loss plateau. It’s made me realise adding nuts to my yogurt every morning is probably a mistake. Also that adding avocados to my salad should be a treat rather than regular occurrence. Lots of easy little tweaks I can make which would drastically drop the calories.
My husband was hella bummed when he was eating tons of trail mix and went up a pant size lol Poor dude, he loves trail mix. I track calories so even though I’d love another sweet potato, it just ain’t happening.
He can still have trail mix— an ounce at a time, just as if he was out in the boondocks.
Every time I see a "[something] overnight oats" recipe, I get triggered. Your tiramisu overnight oats have 4x the calories of a normal slice of tiramisu, Susan.
Omg true. I have found that now I'm focused on maintaining my weight and becoming more athletic, I am gravitating more towards those sorts of recipes. A normal breakfast for me might look like 60 grams of oatmeal, a cup of Blueberries, a Mashed banana and a scoop of vanilla whey protein powder. I call this concoction blueberry pie oatmeal. And calorically, you'd probably be better off eating a slice of blueberry pie and a scoop of ice cream. But this recipe also has about 35 grams of protein and about 20 grams of dietary fiber and I find that when I eat it and am mindful about what I'm eating, it can keep me full until lunch. But maybe I'll try the pie and ice cream for breakfast sometime and see if the satisfaction from eating something I truly enjoy makes up for the "good" macros in the oatmeal.
This is exactly why I don't like the term "junk food". I don't like dividing foods into "healthy" and "unhealthy." Designs ting a food as healthy mskes people feel they have a license to eat it unrestricted. 1 ounce of roasted peanuts is a healthy snack. One pound of roasted peanuts is not. Portions matter, and portions can change a meal from healthy to unhealthy. I maintain that six chicken nuggets can be part of a healthy, balanced meal. Healthy is also subjective based on a person's dietary needs. I did Noom for awhile. They divide foods into green, red, and yellow categories (that used to, I don't know what the New Noom is like). The green foods are supposed to be "better." However, I have diabetes. The green catagoey foods skew heavily towards low fat and fat free foods. There's several brands of fat free ice cream that are green. But these foods still have tons of carbs. They're not green foods for me. If I just blindly followed the advice that these green foods are "healthy" it wouldn't be good for me.
My husband eats squirrel food (nuts/seeds/dried fruit late at night and wonders why eating “healthy” is making him overweight. I know why I’m overweight I sneak fast food and have BED. He won’t listen though everything is take a hike-to lose weight.
A lot of men never listen until they hear it from a doctor or one of the boys smh
this is 90% of it, the other 10% is if you're untrained or long detrained, and you're doing moderately intense resistance training, its likely you will gain muscle and the scale will remain steady (or increasing if you're actually eating in a surplus)
I have started excercising and eating healthier (with calorie tracking) at the same time. For 6 weeks the scale did not move the slightest, but I went down a whole size in clothes. However if I had not tracked my calories, I probably would have gained weight because upping your excercise routine will make you hungry as hell and if you don't track, you will think "its okay I worked out today". Well nope, excercise does not add nearly as much extra calories to eat as people think. I am short so for me excercise is a way to eat in deficit and not be miserable, but that extra 200kcal I gain does not make such a difference if someone is already eating 2500kcal even if its "good" calories. People with the "started going to the gym and not eating fast food" approach are not understanding how little excercise actually matters and how insane portions are nowadays. Looking back I am actually surprised I did not continue to gain weight eating what I did before I started tracking, cause I must have been eating around 3k easily, and that was what I already thought "smaller" portions.
I laugh when I hear people say that past generations were slimmer than more current generations because past ones ate more home-cooked meals and more “real” food instead of fast foods and processed foods. I mean, just as you described, so-called “real” food and/or “healthy” food is not necessarily less calorically dense than is processed and/or fast foods. It’s shortsighted to think that just because food is prepared at home that it’s going to be better for your waistline than is food prepared and eaten elsewhere. Nothing low-cal about whole milk, whole cream, butter, fatty cuts of meat, wheat bread, etc.
I used to be the type of person who would crack open a can of mixed nuts and eat them all. Only way I can keep on track is to weigh and record everything
Reading a nutrition label and most of all, understanding what an actual gram or ounce of something ACTUALLY is would go a long way towards helping these types of people. Underestimated intake and overestimated effort is often most of the case however, often times unbeknownst to the individual. If someone is serious about this, a scheduled visit to see someone would be a great starting point
"I never lose any weight" *Drinks a 3000 cal Starbucks drink and sneaks half a 1500 cal muffin with their lunch salad* Just a truism for life, people love to complain and hate making sacrifices.
I know this is a joke but to give a serious answer to your comment: I know a lot of people who want to "eat healthier" who would avoid the Starbucks drink and muffin altogether. But if that's their routine, they would be better off sticking to a muffin (let's say 500 calories), a grande Nitro cold brew with sweet cream (70 calories) and a protein shake (200 calories). If that was lunch, they could get 40+ grams of protein, feel satiated and maybe even still be on track for weight loss. Instead of making a 1000 calorie salad that they didn't even like
Nitro cold brews with the vanilla sweet cream are soooo good! I was floored when I saw they were 70 calories; I thought I was going to have to cut them out!
While whole unprocessed foods tend to have more satiety than ultra processed food, it also can be calorically dense. I think people confuse healthy eating with low calorie eating. Things like nuts, dried fruit, healthy carbs, healthy fats, olive oil can all be calorically dense and should be eaten judiciously if you were trying to eat in a calorie deficit. At the end of the day, it’s CICO. So yes, people can still gain weight from healthy eating.
I think a lot of people are secret eaters. I keep track of everything I eat down to the last mint. I have managed to lose weight and keep my weight down this way. I do avoid fast food and junk food and I don’t feel deprived because I know how to cook.
This is exactly what I have going on, that I am unfortunately just realizing. I haven’t been gaining weight, but I haven’t lost anything. I’ve replaced half of each meal with veggies, but I’ve been snacking in the evening (always have), and now adding cheese and nuts and avocado and whatever because it is “healthier”. I actually eat way more often and way more content now than I did before (I used to eat crap good but almost entirely OMAD - still too many calories). It’s so HARD to figure it out sometimes, I don’t know why it feels like everywhere I look is conflicting information and this and that. I’m tracking calories now in MFP. Gonna try really hard to commit to that daily, and will start weighing my food to be more accurate. It’s so frustrating to be thinking all this time you’re doing so much better, when really nothing has changed.
And some people are like me that also sleep eat. My mom and oldest sis said they saw me going at the ice cream with my bare hand 😅 (It’s gotten way better since I started therapy and working overnight in a different industry)
Honestly, if you are only slightly overweight like most people (like 5kg) then that means you can eat whatever you want as long as you burn that food off. Doesn't mean you can eat Nick Avocado's diet and become Mike Tyson, but people hype it more than it really is. If you really want to eat healthy, eat home-cooked meals. If you want a burger for example, you can grind your own beef after checking its calorie count, and then make patties out of it. Cook the burgers and then use any bread that doesn't have too many calories and use non-calorie-dense condiments and toppings like cheese, lettuce, and some sauces (a good sauce can be made at home too).
Absolutely 🥲🥲🥲 I catch myself saying "F it" and slapping an extra chicken breast on the grill/stove/insta and suddenly I'm eating healthy for 2 people. And not to mention most of the microwaveable veggies steamers come in 2 serving sizes per bag so it's too easy to make and eat the whole thing 😫 Needs to be packaging that's more "single for life/dying alone" friendly. Thank God baked beans come in the little cans. And no, before anyone says anything about portioning before I cook, that just means the other half I will "save for later" aka it will go bad in my fridge. Yes, laziness is why I have these issues and that's why I'm carrying around more weight than I want 🤣
At least, the frozen veg won’t spoil, just stick the bag back into the freezer.
I wasn't referring to the bags of peas/mixed veggies that you can dole out into a pot and heat up, but the 2 serving microwaveble steamer bags. That's about all I get
i mean to be honest the foods you describe are not "healthy" foods. Nuts and things like peanut butter are basically a scam as a health food. I mean peanut butter is not healthy at all! but its marketed that way. Your better off eating candy really. Really healthy foods are lean meats, veggies, fruits. Everything else is just marketed as healthy food. I get your theory. But apply that same logic to eating clean (less additives, less ingredients) and see how you feel. Focusing on whole foods even throwing in good quality bread ( not the trash the US gets in grocery stores) and see how you feel. It'll prove that theory wrong. But i disagree on the real sugar thing. sugar is in everything we eat in the US that's not single sourced ( meats, veggies etc) and is something people commonly become addicted to
Facts: Peanuts, and ground peanuts/peanut butter with little or no added sugars, are in fact very nutritious. Not at all like eating candy— that is simply not true. [https://www.denverhealthmedicalplan.org/blog/healthy-perks-peanut-butter](https://www.denverhealthmedicalplan.org/blog/healthy-perks-peanut-butter) [https://www.webmd.com/diet/peanut-butter-good-for-you](https://www.webmd.com/diet/peanut-butter-good-for-you) https://thocc.org/about/news-press/news-detail?articleId=52733&publicid=395#:\~:text=Peanut%20butter%20contains%20soluble%20and,helps%20regulate%20blood%20sugar%20levels.
Yes! I have a relative who always makes “heathy” baked treats. Like sure, you used dates or agave as a sweetener, but you ate 5 of them because they were so “healthy.” How many would you have eaten if it was just a regular cookie?
Do you think people would benefit from not adjusting their current diet too much then? Like just cutting back instead of changing the type of food? I’m struggling with this too :(
The CICO approach to Weight loss means that you can eat anything that fits into your calorie goals and still lose weight. So if your TDEE is 2300 calories a day, for example, and you wanted to lose a pound a week, you'd aim for 1800 calories a day. I don't know what you normally eat so it'd be hard to intelligently talk about an appropriate meal plan for you. But in short, yes, eat foods you enjoy in moderation. For an 1800 calorie meal plan, you could eat 2 eggs (140 calories) 2 pieces of light bread (100 calories), 2 pieces of turkey sausage (100 calories) and some margin for your toast (50 calories) for 390 calories. Or maybe like Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches. Have one. Just keep breakfast around 400 calories. Try 600 calories for lunch. It could be a chick fil a sandwich or a salad or anything as long as it's 600 calories. A 200 calorie snack. It could be a full sugar, full fat full sized snickers bar or a protein bar or a fruit salad. As long as it's 200 calories. And then 600 calories for dinner. Or skip the snack and have 800 calories for dinner. Which could be a combo meal with a diet soda at In and Out. Or it could be grilled chicken, wild rice and steamed broccoli. It doesn't matter as long as you stick to your calorie goal, you'll lose weight. The most important thing is finding foods that you enjoy. If you don't like something, don't eat it just because you perceive it to be healthy. You can lose weight and never exercise or eat a vegetable.
I think people equate eating “healthy” to a lot of different things. I can eat a perfectly balanced calorie dense salad that is also full of the macros and micros I need - that is “healthy” - but that doesn’t mean it will deficit me enough to lose any weight. Some people think organic means it’s healthier for them. Some people think no carbs is healthier. Some people think no meat is healthier. None of those things equate, on their own, to weight loss.
I think they also don't even try to restrict amount. They might think eating two chocolate bars is horrible and will make them fat, but eating a heaping cup of cashews is a healthy snack.
Keep in mind if people are building muscle, in the first part of the journey, muscle weighs more than fat. They could be eating 1800 calories on a carb day and 1200 on a low carb day and doing weights. That is a perfect storm to drop massive body fat. They have done this for ages. They still do it because it's still effective. In the first part tho, you put on some weight, idk about 20 lbs. But you will put some on as you gain muscle. But your muscle Will burn the fat as your metabolism revs up and becomes and in the early stages you CaN do everything right and still put on weight. Diet is a HUGE part of losing weight, like 80% of it. The workout and weight training is 20% of it. There are also factors such as thyroid and other conditions to consider for weight gain. If you are taking a steroid you will hold weight. You could have come from a place where you weren't hydrating properly and when you fix that your body will hold water weight. Water is zero calories. It WILL even out and it takes your body like a month to get in the flow of all the changes. It does not mean the person is necessarily messing up their calorie intake. It could be their body is doing the transition and usually you add weight for a short time before you drop Waaay more. At least with the endomorph body type that I have.
This is pretty spot on in my experience
"All you have to do is eAt RiGht!"
The nuts thing is so real. When I was younger and had anorexia I ate a lot of nuts (not much else) and was always confused why I wasn’t smaller. That was a silver lining of not being educated on nutrition back then I guess because I only got slightly underweight according to BMI 😅
It's not only WHAT you eat but WHEN you eat. The timing of food intake is very important. Don't eat close to going to bed. Your heaviest meal should be at lunch time. Your lightest meal should be at dinner time. Hope this helps
i’m pretty sure there was a study that found most individuals who claim they “can’t lose weight and just gain it” underreported their calories by 50%, and over reported their exercise. super interesting. the researchers weighed all of their portions for a certain amount of time and guess what, they lost weight 😂 and some even argued with the researchers. just goes to show you a lot of people have no idea what a portion of something is, or the nutrition of it.