is it okay to eat whenever you want, whatever you want as long as it's healthy? (i.e., fruit and veggies) i just started today and i've never been a big eater, it's just i eat a lot of junk, and i mean nothing but junk, i never eat veggies or fruit! but i've been hungry quite a bit today and have been nibbling on fruits and veggies
when did you notice your first weight lost??
how much weight was it?
i notice a lot of people eat dark chocolate a couple of times a day. how are you eating and is it really okay to eat as much chocolate as you want as long as it's dark??
i also notice a lot of people drink tea all day long, what kind of tea is it?? de-caf or caf? does it have sugar in it??
all you ladies are wonderful and thanks to all that respond!!!
Personally I wouldn't go overboard with "whenever you want, whatever you want". I still make sure that I'm eating a healthy amount of the healthy food. For example, at dinner I'll have 3-4 ounces of chicken or fish, 1/2 cup of brown rice and about 2-3 cups of steamed vegetables. When I have a snack of nuts, I limit it to 1/4 cup. I usually only have dark chocolate once every few days and limit it to an ounce. I don't usually measure veggies or fruit but I do keep an eye on the more calorie laden foods I consume. I strive to keep my calories around 1200 per day (although it is frequently more these days LOL!). I try to keep the fat at less than 20% of my daily intake also. You will find that omitting the junk and filling up on whole foods (especially veggies) you'll consume far fewer calories and you'll be fuller faster. I don't think that your snacking on veggies all day long will be a detriment in the long run. And as for tea, I like black teas but many others like green teas or herbal teas. The black have more caffeine, so I don't drink a lot of it (and I don't sweeten it).
I eat mostly whole grain, whole foods and the thing is that since it has such complex carbs it fills you up a lot more than all of the refined stuff. Still one does need to watch their portion. I have the problem of eating even when I'm not hungry so for me the biggest challenge is listening to my body when it says "full."
I usually eat a couple of squares of chocolate whenever I went the fix but only when the chocolate is 70% dark or more.
Also... you don't have to do everything at once ... ease into it.
I definitly don't eat whenever I want, whatever I want as long as it's healthy, because I love food and healthy food can make you fat too.
For me, the only "free" foods are green vegies. No one can eat enough green vegies to get fat again! Everything else is measured and portion controlled. I don't eat dark chocolate because it just reminds me that I really like milk chocolate a whole lot more...I know I may be in the minority on that one, here!
If you are just starting out, try to cut out the junk and see where that leads.
I have to limit dark chocolate to 100 calories or less a day. It is a nice treat, and while it has some healthy properties, it is not a staple food. I usually have a square of Dove Dark, or a couple of Hershey's dark chocolate kisses.
When I started losing weight I worried more about calorie content than nutritional content. Today I try to get as much nutrition as I can from every calorie. I just feel better. I still make compromises, because I'm a snacker and love junk food, but I try to limit that. I've also managed to get myself off a 25 year diet Coke habit which had gotten out of hand. I drink a lot more coffee and tea now, but at least they have lots of antioxidants, and limit the diet Coke to the occasional treat when I eat out.
I feel a lot better, usually. I think it is the addition of food with real nutrients and phytochemicals.
I combined eating whole foods with calorie counting and exercise and it was very successful. There are a lot of healthy foods that are high calorie (olive oil, avocado, fruit, peanut butter, nuts) so there does have to be some awareness of portion size/calories, even if the food is "healthy."
I started in July 2004 at around 200 lbs. I weighed 165 by October and 155 by December. In Feb, 2005 I plateaued at 140 for a looong time. I was 138 by June and 135 by September 2005. I ended up around 128 lbs by February 2006. It only took me 7 months to lose the first 55 lbs, but it took another 9 months to lose the last 15. Weight loss DEFINITELY slowed down as I got closer to my goal weight.
I rarely eat dark chocolate, but if I do, it is measured. I don't really have a lot of sweet cravings anymore. I drink a lot of tea and drink both regular tea and herbal tea, I like it plain. Sugar isn't necessarily evil, it's only 16 calories a teaspoon, but I found that eliminating sugar eliminated my cravings and regular food started to taste BETTER. It's like sugar numbed my tongue. Once I started eating less sugar, I started to really appreciate fresh rasberries and baked sweet potatoes and natural peanut butter.
If I ate all I wanted, even if it's healthy whole food I would gain weight. I count calories (1800/day) which has let me lose 25 pounds over six months. Not exactly lightning speed. I do eat dark chocolate everyday, exactly one Ghiradelli dark square (72% cocoa). As for the tea, caffeine appears to be my drug of choice. I drink coffee until lunch, then drink tea the rest of the day. I would not recommend that to anyone. I will cut back eventually, I just need to be motivated. You might give yourself an all you can eat pass on what I think of as 'watery' vegetable (cukes, peppers, greens, tomatoes) but even too many starchy vegetables will add up calories fast. I hope I'm not raining on your parade. On the bright side anything is better than an all junk food diet.
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