"I can eat anything I want" -- the TRUTH

[Whitewater]

You've seen them, I'm sure. Advertisements for diets that have skinny women proudly proclaiming that they've lost a lot of weight and yet "I could eat anything I wanted!" is their battle cry.

Well, I finally figured out the truth behind that phrase. Because I have discovered that I am saying it too, loudly and proudly -- but the secret behind it is simple.

My wants, when it comes to food, have changed. Or rather, I am deliberately seeking to change them. I am forcing myself to prefer fruit over candy, real salads over chips, and if I eat a cookie, I eat ONE cookie, or (even better) a bite of cookie, or a mini cookie. I choose food that is processed as little as possible. I choose skinless chicken, pork and fish over beef.

My choices are changing. Sure, I can eat anything I want and it's not a lie. I can stuff as many veggies into my body as it will hold -- so long as they're steamed or broiled or roasted and not fried! I can eat fruit until I get sick of it. I can watch my portions and have meat for lunch AND dinner. I can have peanut butter -- so long as I keep the portions managable.

"I can eat anything I want and still loose weight" -- so long as that anything is truly healthy, and the correct proportion! That's the truth behind that statement.

You can't *really* eat ANYTHING you want and lose weight. If you lived entirely on Ho-Ho's, Oreos, Mac and Cheese, and hamburgers with buttered buns and french fries, you wouldn't lose weight at all!

You can only lose weight by eating anything you want if you choose healthy things to want to eat.


Whitewater (sharing my revelations with the world!)

[Ninedays9]

I agree with that. I've got a couple friends who both lost quite a bit of weight, and they're now roommates. For snacks, they have things like wheat thins. They eat junk food, but they keep it to a bare minimum. Proportion control is very important, and it's something FH and I both have a problem with.

I think you definitely can adapt your wants and habits though because I've seen it a little in myself. I decided I wanted to drink more water, so I've been choosing that over Mountain Dew, especially at work when I used to always drink a 20oz every night; now it's water. Even little decisions like that can help, I think. I think if I cut out Mountain Dew all together, I'd lose weight.

Good post.

[Scrwballsgrl]

YAY! I am so glad someone else pointed this out! I see those commercials and think, yea right!?

I know it can be done with portion control and exercise... but it steers me away from those "food programs" because they are very misleading.

Thanks for pointing out the facts Whitewater, I try to watch my portion control while making sure to EAT; Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, & dinner, but healthy foods and well proportioned servings.

Good luck to all the ladies that are trying to meet weightloss goals, and keep up the good work!

[sweetvenus]

I agree. I do pretty much eat anything I want; it's just all about portions. We have a candy bowl at work, filled with miniature candy bars, and I always get 2 or 3 after lunch. People always ask how I can eat that stuff and not gain weight. But I always know how many calories I am consuming so that I'm always in the 1200-1500 a day range, which is really all that matters. I found that denying myself stuff like chocolate or anything else I really like only made me eventually gorge on it.

[Whitewater]

It seriously is all about portion control. I mean, two Godiva carmels a week is no big deal -- but say, a half dozen a day? Um, no. Sadly, I know people who are really truly depressed about their weight, crying about how frustrated they are that they can't lose, while simultaneously eating a whole bag of Fritos.

I have a friend who really wants to lose weight -- or so she says. She thinks she eats in a healthy manner because she is on the organic bandwagon. But her proportions are totally out of control and she doesn't seem to realize that she takes in a lot of empty calories through soda and chips and salad dressing. Just because it's organic doesn't mean it's healthy! And she cries to me that she can't lose weight.

I have given up trying to help her.


Whitewater (Portion Control! It's not a diet and it has little to do with willpower -- that's why I like it)

[WebLady]

The funny thing about all those diet commercials is that the people are often models. My cousin is a model and once did a print ad for some diet pill. The ad had a line like it was from her saying something like "I lost weight", but in fact she has always been fairly lean. AND she has 3 kids and works out alot!

A friend of DH's and his wife went on that Nutri-System and said the portions were much smaller than the commercials make them out to be. They didn't last long on the diet. Sure, if you eat these small portions of food, you will loose weight!

Now I am not putting down portion control, just saying that most of these diet plans lie to you or don't give you all the facts and make it out like it is easy.

Plus prepackaged diet food is often high in sodium which is not good for you.

I have gotten to where I try to eat normal things and cook more at home. We watch our salt/sodium intake and don't eat fried or overly fatty (especially bad fat) foods. And of course I try to exercise more; granted I am not where I'd like to be and I do need to exercise more. But I have noticed slight changes in my weight and I feel better; loosing weight the healthy way is not a fast process though. It takes us time to put on the weight, why should we think it should come off any faster?!

[acidcookie]

Very very true. Also though, the ingredients in your food are important. Eating fruits and veggies is great of course! And when you cook from scratch you know what's going in your food even if you're making something higher in fat or sugar. But watch out for ingredients in packaged food. Things like high fructose corn syrup are completely unnatural--a manipulated form of sugar that leaves your body confused and hungry for more of the same. In short, it encourages over-eating. As so trans fats. So keep your eyes open for what's actually in the food you buy as well.

[Whitewater]

I'm also starting to think that 'portion control' is kind of a misnomer. What it is really is getting back to the kind of eating that's healthy (there's that word again!) and not buying into what restaurants and so on are trying to tell us.

A muffin today is about 3x as big as a muffin 20 years ago, for example. Pancakes too, have gotten about 2x as big. Steaks, pasta dishes, everything is bigger -- if you don't make it yourself -- than it needs to be. And we don't even realise it -- just yesterday we were celebrating my birthday and Fiance was cutting the cake into HUGE slices. I pointed out to him that the slices he was cutting were about 2-3x as big as they needed to be and he cut them smaller after that, but the point is, he didn't even know he was doing it. He was just following along what he's been told a 'serving' of cake is!

Monday evening we had baked salmon for dinner. A serving is supposed to be about the size of a pack of playing cards, which is MORE than generous. I had two servings of salmon because I hadn't eaten much of anything else that day (bad me) and was hoping to have a serving left over for lunch the next day.

Fiance swooped in and ate the rest of it. *grrrrrrr* He has no concept of portion size. The reason HE'S lost 55 pounds over the last year is because *I* have been cooking 99% of what he eats and I've been cooking non-processed, reasonably healthy foods that are portion-correct. I make enough for him and myself, unless I want extras for leftovers, in which case I'll make extras. But then he goes and eats what I'd planned for leftovers, which always annoys me.

My point? The 'portion control' I do is nothing more than getting back to what a portion size originally was. No more 2lb baked potatoes, 20oz bowls of soup, no more Mega-Muffins (or mega cupcakes!), no more pancakes that are 10" in diameter, no more pasta plates where the plates are 18" in diameter. If that happens I'll eat up to half and then take the rest home.

And (to make this on topic, because it's about *wedding* weight loss) I'm going to register for some plates at Target so we can get some that match -- and they're going to be small, the dinner plates will be no more than 9" diameter. That's the size plate that I was told I ought to be eating off of.


Whitewater (no more Mega-portions for me!)

[KMS]

Yeah, I have a few friends who try to "tempt" me with foods when the fact is that I just don't want them. If I'm in the mood then I'll have fries or something, but most of the time I don't want it. I do eat what I want...most of the time!

Yeah, that whole portion control thing has gotten out of hand. Even most apples that you get now are actually two servings of fruit. Sure it's healthy, but it's still twice the calories.

[r_beau]

Completely agree!!

Yes, the healthy eating does greatly help but it really is all about portions (how much you eat and how often you eat).

I was going to make a comment about the Nutri-system thing too! I guess I have never actually seen the food in person (just on the commercials) but you KNOW they are going to be small portions if you are eating pizza, chocolate cake, and everything else they show.

You really could eat anything you want and lose weight at long as you kept it under your personal calorie intake needed to lose weight. Granted it wouldn't be as effective if you're taking in a lot of fat and sugar, but technically it would work.

I've been kind of fluttering back and forth to months where I'll do really good and eat mostly just protein, fruits, and veggies (and a little carbs too -- need them to live!!) and then there are months where I think who cares and proceed to eat pizza, chocolate, PB and J's, and the like.

(as of right now, I'm back on the right track again!)

But the one thing I have truly noticed is how amazingly BETTER I FEEL when I am eating healthy. Even if I'm not shedding pounds left and right, I just feel trimmer when I eat my 5 small meals a day of healthy food. And I have to prepare a food journal the night before so I know exactly what to eat to stay in my calorie range. Then if I get tempted the next day by something, I won't do it because I know it will put me over my calories for the day. But if I'm not, then I think "oh I'm doing okay today, I can eat that" when really I'm probably over.

But yea, I just shake my head when I see all those commercials b/c they are so misleading. And you KNOW the phone lines are just swamped with people calling in or running to the store to get it.

[BarceloMayaPalaceBride]

I couldn't agree more chica!!! Good for you for changing your eating habbits!!! I joined a website www.myfitnesspal.com (http://www.myfitnesspal.com) and it keeps track of what you eat, and how many calories you are "allowed" per day. When you excercise you "earn" extra calories for the day. I LOVE IT AND, I still eat everything I want, just in much smaller portions. I've lost 10 lbs in 2 months!!!! It's funny because once you start watching what you eat, the healthier you want to eat!!!! It's like a chain reaction!!!!!

[LovingLife]

I joined myfitnesspal too!!

Although no weight loss yet. But I did just start today. haha.

And already today I am eating better than yesterday.