Eating "clean" pay off big at the scale!
 

In the last 3 weeks I have really been eating "Clean", as much organic and non-GMO as I can. My intake of calories is the same and I have not upped my exercise. Well as of this morning at my weight loss meeting I am down 10lbs from the beginning of the change in diet to whole foods! That is a over them 3 lbs a week lose just eating better.:love:

Contrats to you!

How about some examples/ typical meals and snacks? Also did you carbo/fat/protein mix change?

Congrats. When I changed to healthy eating the weight came off really fast. Even now when Im on a plateau the change in my eating
has given me huge health and mood benefits.

Charlie

Breatfast 304 cal
2 fried eggs cooked in bell pepper rings. I cut bell peppers into 1/2 inch rings removing seeds and veins, red is my fav. 190 cal
1 small avocado 114

snack 343
apple with 2 T peanut butter and 1 T honey raw

lunch 341 cal
stirfry with quinoa and brown rice (mushrooms, zucchinni, mung beans and bell pepers) make this up on sundays and frezze it to reheat when I want it.

snack 210
plain greek yogurt with fresh sliced strawberries with 1 T honey.

Dinner 405
Chili with beef steak and beans

late night sweet fix 120
I make my own pudding pops. They are rich and creamy and right around 120 cal.

Day total: 1723 cal

I am not sure of the brake down other then this. I am gluten intolerant so carbs are not a big deal to me. I change out meals all the time but I always keep right around these numbers. I always use full fat, and real sugar!

That looks pretty excellent - be aware that when you go off prepared foods your salt intake will plummet and your water retention / weight may similarly plummet. I might have to try your lunch idea, I'm getting burned out on my high-sodium lunch. :)

Losing weight is a pretty simple equation:

Calories in - Calories Out - Basal Metabolic Rate = Net Calories.

Eating clean/organic/Non-GMO/Paleo has very little impact on the equation.

if you could replace pudding dessert with a fruit cup, drop the yogurt and peanut butter, you'd be 100% paleo diet. It seems to be a lot easier to feel full when you drop all the processed foods, so your calorie consumption drops, and your body has to burn off some fat to keep up with your calorie deficit.

Anyway, congrats Shelly, that's awesome and amazing!

I started "juicing" my breakfast using fruits and vegetables and I find it sticks with me a lot longer than just about anything else and I tend to not eat as much. I average 1800/1900 a day but since juicing I've found I end up eating 200 to 300 calories less.

The type of food that you eat has a big impact on how how much you eat if you simply follow your appetite. You dropped weight because you are eating less calories and by eating the right things you are not feeling too hungry.

True, in a sense. However there are some differences, for example, grass fed beef as opposed to corn fed feedlot beef. Range (grass) fed beef are healthier, needing little or no antibiotics to stay healthy. Feeding the cattle corn, in addition to the health problems it creates for the cows, also skews the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fats to create beef that is higher in saturated fats than occurs in nature.

There are also the less directly tangible factors that are important to tree hugger types like me. Grass fed beef pollutes much less, in spite of the fact that is has a slightly larger carbon foot print from having to be trucked further,

That beef steak would be much cleaner if it were range fed. More expensive too, but eating less of it would not be a bad thing..

I have a year worth of of food logs that I have been keeping. I have been eating at the same cal level for the whole time. I have lost 50lbs slowly at this level. I have had no major dumps in weigh until I started eating whole organic foods.

There are studies out there showing that pesticides can cause weight gain/retention. Eat as you will. I am going organic.

It's not so simplistic for me. I can eat a double whooper combo meal at 1360 calories once per day. Or 2 huge plates of Romain lettuce, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cucumbers along with 4 servings of fruit to get to the same calories. If I could hang on I should get to the same place using the above equation. Problem is with the BK meal I'm starving most of the day, with choice #2 I'm happy. I think the second choice would rate further up the "clean" scale than the first.

What matters is what works for each of us. One of the great things about this forum is the number of people who have beat the dismal odds of successful weight loss. There's so many of us who've lost 50 or more lbs and kept it off for greater than 2 years. Almost unheard of in commercial diet circles despite what the marketers would have you believe. My take on the murky weight loss statistics is it appears to be less than 2% meet the above litmus test. It's sure nice to share experiences with you 2%ers.

The question is: will you see a difference between eating organic Romaine lettuce, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumbers versus non-organic versions of the same stuff? I know that I don't...

Yeah, good point and I don't know the answer.

I agree to the above with the exception that whole foods are easier for your body to process and processed foods have more additives, sodium, etc. Cutting back on carbs and processed flower has helped me lose 10 lbs with out even much excersize. Also, eating healthy clean veggies, meats, etc, you can actually eat more food (less empty calories) and feel more full and satisfied.

The calories in - calories out equation still applies. The BK meal is simply more calorie dense and occupies less space in your stomach than the places of veggies/fruits. Succumbing to the hunger you suffer from as a result and not loosing weight is an issue of will power and lack of self control.. I suffer from the latter. :)

The answer is that in the short term it makes little difference. In the long term that stuff builds up in your bodies. Pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, not to mention the deadly strain of E-Coli that appeared in the 1940's when cattle started being fed higher protean diets than their ruminant digestive systems evolved for.

Not really. If you eat a balanced diet of quality calories, will power is not an issue. When I am eating on plan, refraining from over eating is easy.

While I agree with bbeasley in not knowing if organic will be better for weight loss; I do know that if you eat Romaine lettuce, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumbers one will be (feel) fuller and feel fuller longer than with the BK or any other meal in the of the same kind. Why because the bulk factor is higher. If the only "clean" factor to Shelly's diet is eating less processed foods and it is working for the OP then hey who are we to knock the plan!

Yep we must be doing something right. Some of the right maybe that we as a group do not have the "diet" mindset; we instead have figured out that we need to change how we live our lives and change our eating; what some have deemed a change in lifestyle. I know for me the change has meant eating differently, more fruits and veggies (aka eating more healthy), it means getting my butt up off the couch and going biking or walking and it means eating less food. I lost 100 lbs. and have regained about 20-25 pounds of that lose but hey 210 beats 290! I figure I can get it back to about a 90-95 pound lose if I return to some better eating habits!