JohnBarban.com
Eat What You Want and Lose Weight
As some of you may know I’m in the process of cutting down and have lost almost 27 pounds in the past 9 weeks or so.
I’ve been getting a bunch of questions about what I’ve been eating, and the answer is: The same food I was eating before I started cutting down…but less of it.
I still eat chicken wings, pizza, nachos, donuts etc. I just don’t eat as much of any of them as I did before I started cutting down.
I still go out for dinner and eat the stuff I would normally eat, I just have less. (I hope you’re noticing the recurring theme here)
Here is a good trick for eating at restaurants while cutting down without looking like a calorie counting obsessive compulsive freak.
Order 1 big entree and split it with the person you are with (this works best when it is a guy and a girl eating together)
If you’re not actively trying to lose weight but still want to keep your total food consumption in check then you can also split an appetizer.
I’ve found that most restaurants portion sizes are so large that 1 entree including the side dishes it comes with is more than enough food for a couple for dinner.
Today I went out and split an 8 oz steak that had scallops and shrimp topping with a side of steamed veggies and a salad.
This was a dinner entree that we split between the two of us and it was more than enough food for both of us to feel completely satisfied and it easily fit under the range of calories I needed to continue my weight loss progress.
Now that I’ve been eating like this for over 2 months I find it hard to believe that I would have ordered that entree and eaten the entire thing myself.
Eating smaller portions becomes a habit if you do it for long enough.
Splitting 1 entree (and perhaps 1 appetizer) is a great way to go out for dinner and enjoy all the foods you really like and still maintain a weight loss program.
Give it a try if you like and let me know how it goes.
John
8 Responses to “Eat What You Want and Lose Weight”
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November 1st, 2009 at 11:27 pm
amen bruthah.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Hey John, really enjoy all your posts. Great idea on ordering just one entree at restaurants with someone else, as much as me and my wife eat out that will save us some serious money (and inches off the waist).
Just curious, I’ve been following your weight loss journey and was wondering how often are you working out since you’ve cut your caloric intake so drastically. Have you had to adjust your workouts due to lack of energy or feeling burnt out? Also, have you lost much strength/muscle mass?
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Javier,
I’ve been taking regular measurements of my shoulders and arms and I’m within a half inch of my starting shoulder measurement and within a quarter inch of my starting arm measurement so I’m doing fine (this type of change is easily due to fat and water volume)
Strength is consistent as well as endurance in the gym so I’d say nothing has really changed besides my fat mass.
I do eat a bit more on the weekends (as you might have picked up from following my blog) so I feel a bit stronger and fuller on monday/tues. By the end of the work week I feel a bit lighter and leaner and maybe about 1-2 reps weaker on a few lifts simply because I’m so low on calories…but this is clearly a minimal difference and I would say it is most likely just a side effect of very low calories and glycogen rather than anything to do with muscle wasting.
John
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:51 pm
John, how many meals are you fasting from each week? I’m going for 7 this week (one 3 meal fast and two 2 meal fasts M/W/F) I fasted from 6 meals (one 36 hour fast – all day on Tuesday – 1 meal fast on Wed or Th, and 2 meal fast on Friday) two weeks ago and lost 1 inch from my belly! I also did the 72 hour fast 1 or 2 weeks before that and lost 3 pounds after I normalized (9 @ the end of the fast
Are you trying to limit your caloric consumption to 1800 calories on “normal” days? In order to lose 3 lbs per week, you’d have to be cutting out @ 10,500 calories a week below your normal burn rate (or less w/exercise). Just curious (if you could email me your response that’d be greatly appreciated as I may forget to check back here 
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
The other Great thing about doing this is it saves money.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:05 am
That’s interesting. With as little calories as you are eating the fitness industry would have you believe that you should be withering away and soon you would end up looking like a skinny fat person. It’d be good if you could post some pics on your progress.
I just want to express my gratitude for this website. Your site, and a few others (Brad Pilon, Fitness black book, and fit rebel to name a few as well) have completely changed my thinking about nutrition, exercise, and overall health. All of you lead the way in providing clarity from the conflicting information out there regarding health and fitness.
I’m also reading a couple of really good books, The China Study by T Colin Campbell and Eat to Live by Dr Joel Fuhrman. The China Study in particular offers some very interesting research and information on the harsh effects of animal proteins on the human body (cancer, heart disease, etc). I’m not sure I’m ready to drop meat altogether from my diet, but I will definitely be cutting out a great deal of it and eat more plant-based foods.
Sorry, three random thoughts. Keep up the good work.
January 20th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
I have been following eat stop eat for a couple of months now and have been seeing results fast.
But I am now currently at a stand still with my weight. I weigh 110 pounds and my height is 5′9″. I want to loose the 10 extra pounds for my modeling job. My weight is not coming off and I’ve been eating one meal a day, with weight training and fasting twice a week also.
Any suggestions?
Thanks a lot John!
February 11th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
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