Eat Whatever You Want And Lose Weight

[Chris Davis]

Hi - I'm new to this site and this is my first posting, so hello to everyone!


Here's a simple strategy that works for a friend of mine to lose weight, stay slim and eat the things you love.

My friend is VERY thin and I have observed her eating habits because I work with her (I actually sit in a cube right across from her). She eats healthy foods some of the time, but also eats a variety of very unhealthy foods. And, she eats the unhealthy foods, every day!

Bewildered, I asked her one day how she manages to stay so thin while eating all manner of cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, etc., EVERY DAY.
She told me, "Yeah - you know I used to have a real problem with emotional/stress eating, and I used to weigh a lot more. But I figured out something that really works for me. It's simple - I get to eat whatever I want as long as I stop eating when I feel not-hungry anymore." She said, "The trick is to learn what it feels like when you are full and commit to not eating past that point."

I thought that was a cool technique and thought I'd share it.

What do you think of this technique?

Do you have other techniques that have worked for you?


Chris Davis
The Healthy Snacks Blog

[VacMan]

I'm a firm believer that you can eat what you want and still lose weight.

If you can magically figure out how many calories you need in a day to maintain your current weight and subtract 500 or so from that then you will lose weight.

The trick is to magically figure that out intuitively.

It sounds like your friend was able to do that, but for most people they need help.

They need something to figure out how many calories they need in a day to lose weight.

That's the first step.

If you want to accelerate that even further, you can start optimizing your macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat.)

You can do that with virtually any foods.

Yes, this even means chocolate, candy, fatty foods, etc.

[Addict]

I think your general premise is true, but let me point out two things.

Even though it may help you lose weight (or most likely just maintain it), it's probably not going to be very healthy. Having an ideal weight and being healthy aren't necessarily correlated.

Also, I think it will be easier to lose weight if you eat healthier. I've been unhappy with my weight for years and I generally eat a good amount and get enough exercise, but my weight never dropped! However, I lost over 15 pounds rather quickly over the summer. I didn't really change how much I ate. I didn't change my activity level. I changed what I ate. And in a recent self-experiment, I went back on the foods that I had previously taken away. Guess what? I've gained back nearly 10 pounds in two months.

Like I said, I do agree with your idea, but I think the technique can be additionally powerful if you also try to eat healthier.

[VacMan]

Addict,

I agree, being "healthy" and how much you weigh are not necessarily the same thing.

But you can lose weight eating what most people would call "unhealthy foods."

Addict, you say that you changed your foods but not the amount and lost weight? May I ask if you were paying attention to your calories/macronutrients when you did this?

I ask because you can eat the same volume of foods and those foods may have very different calorie and macronutrient breakdowns.

For example, you can eat a stick of butter, or a carrot of the same size. One is going to have much less calories than the other

-Vacman

[Chris Davis]

Hey Addict,

You said that you changed what you ate. Just curious, what did you eat differently?

Chris Davis
The Healthy Snacks Blog

[quin]

Paul McKenna has books and tapes exactly about eating what you want as long as you stop when you're full! They're very useful.

[beautyscientist]

I met a woman on course once. Her job was testing cakes for one of the major UK retailers. This involved eating them regularly. She had an hourglass figure and an extremely good complexion. (If at this point you are starting to dislike her you have a very bad character, it is probably just as well you are on a personal development website.)

I asked her how she kept her figure and her reply was that she ate whatever she felt like BUT always had very small portions and waited at least twenty minutes between courses. This gave her body time to register if she was full.

It sort of makes sense when you think about it.

[mojoisland]

3 months ago I decided to try an experiment. I wanted to lose weight but didn't really like the idea of a strick diet per say. I have never really been one to follow a lot of rules. The idea of weighing each portion and following a chart to see calories and fat etc... seemed like to much work. So instead at each meal, Breakfast, Lunch and dinner i would make my usual plate, then I would take 2/3 of everything off my plate and pass it over to my wife. I also eliminated completly any mid day or late night snacking.
Not sure if this is a real diet system or just a lazy mans way of cutting back, but either way after about 2 weeks I started to realize that I was actually feeling full at the end of each meal. I had an increased amount of energy and I was also sleeping more soundly and feeling more refreashed in the morning. The weight started to peal off, not as dramatically as I thought it would be a couple of pounds a week started dropping.
Today 3 months later, I go for a 4 mile walk with my wife every evening after dinner. I play golf on Sundays, although I'm not sure if that's reall exercise. I have lost 24lbs and have never felt better. Not sure if this will work for others out there but the basic logic of it seems sound.
Good Luck to All!
Robert

[Addict]

Hey Addict,

You said that you changed what you ate. Just curious, what did you eat differently?

My ultimate goal is to be on a Paleo Diet, but I decided to transition into it one step at a time. Therefore, I began with cutting dairy out of my diet, then really trying to reduce the amount of sugar I ate, and in September cutting out grains completely. In general, I tried to eat less processed foods, but I didn't avoid them all together. This is well documented (more or less) on my blog.

I might have been eating less calories, but, if that was the case, it definitely wasn't difficult. The weight came off easily and before that I had been trying for a while to lose weight with no luck.

In another recent experiment, I've added all of those foods back into my diet in the last three months and a lot of that weight is coming back.

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Chris Davis

She told me, "Yeah - you know I used to have a real problem with emotional/stress eating, and I used to weigh a lot more. But I figured out something that really works for me. It's simple - I get to eat whatever I want as long as I stop eating when I feel not-hungry anymore." She said, "The trick is to learn what it feels like when you are full and commit to not eating past that point."

I think her strategy is a sound one.

I used to overeat quite a bit and would frequently get really sleepy after large meals.

Now I eat just enough to not feel hungry and I'm much more awake and active throughout the day.

In fact, Ben Franklin's number one moral virtue from his Autobiography is actually along these lines, "Temperance. Eat not to Dullness."

[Jim11]

If you can actually follow a diet strategy such as "only eat when you're hungry" or "eat small portions" you probably don't have a weight issue anyway.

Most of the overweight people I know KNOW all these things... they just don't follow through. Or they all of a sudden binge eat, stop their strategy if depressed, eat when bored, etc, etc.

[craigharper]

Just because someone's thin doesn't mean they're healthy. In fact research shows that overweight people that exercise regularly are 'healthier' than thin people who do not. There are also loads of thin people that smoke cigarettes but their lungs are full of crap. Do your body a favour and eat healthy foods. If you want to do one thing - Cut your meals by one third!

[escapee]

I thought that was a cool technique and thought I'd share it.

What do you think of this technique?

I think it's a disastrous technique that would end with the premature expression of Chronic degenerative disease regardless of how thin you're. Why ? It's not going to provide a person with the adequate daily macro/micro nutrients intake.

Please consider the following.
Thin people are fat inside - Google Search

I have seen enough thin people with heart disease and cancer. All the toxic fats and toxic non essential chemicals from processsed food/alcohol/cigarrate/junk food that aren't high in calories may actually end up causing inflammtion in your arteries ( resulting in plague ), disrupting the integrity of your cellular membrane, and depleting your body resources so that you are proned to infection due to weakened immune system.

[gettingskinny]

Originally Posted by escapee

I think it's a disastrous technique that would end with the premature expression of Chronic degenerative disease regardless of how thin you're. Why ? It's not going to provide a person with the adequate daily macro/micro nutrients intake.

Please consider the following.
Thin people are fat inside - Google Search

I have seen enough thin people with heart disease and cancer. All the toxic fats and toxic non essential chemicals from processsed food/alcohol/cigarrate/junk food that aren't high in calories may actually end up causing inflammtion in your arteries ( resulting in plague ), disrupting the integrity of your cellular membrane, and depleting your body resources so that you are proned to infection due to weakened immune system.

I totally agree!

[beautyscientist]

I think there is a lot of sense being talked on this thread. Can I offer a summary? "Eat to be healthy, not to achieve a particular size."

[Amandaaa]

i'm sure that would work if you have a special love for cupcakes... but it definitely wouldn't work for me, because i don't get any pleasure from eating stuff like that.
i guess i've just conditioned myself to love fresh foods, so i don't get any pleasure from consuming all that packaged/unhealthy gunk. ...it makes me feel sick and poisoned.


i think it all depends on the reasoning behind your eating habits though...
like, i try to choose my foods based on how it'll affect me mentally and physically...(not based on appetite, cravings, or emotions). so i think if i were to tell myself that i'm "allowed" to have certain foods (like ice cream and cookies)...then it would only reinforce the belief that i'm depriving myself of all the good stuff. (which isn't true, and isn't a healthy long-term mindset.)
you would still be letting yourself be ruled by unnatural cravings, so that kind of lifestyle would bother me. (and you would never fully kill the craving, because you would always be feeding it little amounts).
andddd it would definitely require more self-discipline to regulate your portions.... so it would never work for me. :b

"The trick is to learn what it feels like when you are full and commit to not eating past that point."

^that is definitely true though, regardless of what kind of food you're eating.

[escapee]

Well, if anyone is suffering from uncontrolled craving for sweet food, numerous health authors have suggested the link to EFAs (essential fatty acids ) deficiency and minerals ( such as Magnesium ) deficiency.

I have not tasted a sweet for more than a year.

Diet & Nutrition - Essential Fatty Acids

Once you reduce your intake of hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats and start supplementing with essential fats, you will be amazed at how your body will respond. Windows to your health will rush open as you fill the void your body has needed all this time. The omega-3 will help to keep your cells clear of plaque, helping to absorb nutrients. Clear cells will be able to complete their job of expelling dangerous toxins for removal from the body. Once you begin incorporating these good fats into your diet, you will find that your craving for empty carbohydrates is minimized.

[dan1529]

Our bodies were trained over millions of years to overeat and consume food wolvishly because this might be our last meal for a while. Who knows when the next woolly mammoth might stroll by our cave?

Unfortunately, in the modern world, food is practically everywhere around us. So we need to learn to NOT listen to our bodies in this one respect. Recognize that hunger (or better said, "fullness") is a lagging sensation for people. You don't actually feel full the moment you are full. Instead, you will feel full 10-20 minutes later. How remarkably unhelpful.

That's why if you actually eat until you're full, you feel awful 10-20 minutes later. (For my part, I usually have to go and lie down and close my eyes for a few minutes so I don't explode like Mr. Creosote in Monty Python's Meaning of Life).

So my two cents for this thread is this: stop eating when you are 70-80% full. Be mindful that your feelings of hunger will mislead you into eating more than you should, and that your sensations of fullness will lag to the point of uselessness. Make an active choice not to listen to these sensations.

Dan
Casual Kitchen

[Fullcrum]

The answer is simple: eat whatever delicious organic healthy foods you want until you get full. If you want to maintain your weight.

If you want to gain, eat delicious, organic and healthy food often and to a little over fullness. Exercise of course.

If you want to lose, eat often and to fullness or little below, and exercise.

Keep in mind that there is no magic pill. Everything is interrelated and connected. We can separate factors, but ultimately a complete and whole picture must be drawn if we are to be truly healthy and have the bodies we want.

[DrMartinRussell]

Chris Davis.

Good thread to kick off on. I am enjoying the banter on this one.

[DrMartinRussell]

Came back on this thread and realized one of my recent blog posts reviewed a book on exactly this topic...

Self Help, 101

[PianoManGidley]

There's a difference between eating until you're not hungry and eating until you're full. Eat until you're not hungry.

[Remiel]

Not to burst your bubble but... I have a friend who eats as much and he doesn't lose weight either. He's got a high metabolism and on top of that he has a heart condition that causes his heart to beat faster. I'm thinking twice as fast but I could be wrong there. Anyhow he works for mcdonalds, pigs out, and eats whatever the heck he wants and is very very skinny.

Different people have different needs. One size fits all does not necessarily apply.

Also I am a firm believer in there is a difference between not gaining weight and being healthy. If all I eat is candy bars and drink soda I may not lose weight by your method. I most certainly will not be healthy.