Can you lose fat eating only take-out?

This was an interesting question.

Often I stay away from diet-related questions unless it's a client I'm working with. People get wacky about diet talk so I have a filter that I use to determine if it's worth pursuing the discussion.

Is the person open-minded?

Or do they just want you to confirm their preconceived ideas?

So back to the question at hand: can you lose fat eating only take-out? The topic intrigued me so I thought it would be interesting to dive into it here.

First off, before we start, let it be said that I don't care what you eat or don't eat. You have to find what works for you. It's a process of experimentation. If you are open to finding out, great. If not, you may not want to read any further.

The key to losing fat is to be in a calorie deficit.

There are many ways to achieve this.

Any diet or strategy of eating will allow for this condition to occur.

You can cut out a food group, count calories, eat in a small window of time or any other number of nutritional methods. The key to every one of them is that your body is in a calorie deficit. Not for one day or even one week. For an extended period of time. And even if you get everything "perfect" your body will not do what you expect every day. Progress is never linear. But over time you will lose fat if you are consistently in a calorie deficit.

With that being said, how about eating take-out every day?

While I wouldn't suggest it, if that's what you choose to do, there's always a way. No matter what you decide to do for your diet, there's a way.

You have to want it and be open to any idea you come across. Try it out and assess. Give it enough time to work.

If you eat take-out every day you can lose fat. You just have to know how to do it right.

The guy asking the question said he can't stick to a "healthy diet" if he buys food to cook at home. He was feeling hopeless and helpless. He was giving up.

He needed to lose weight. I'd guess he could lose 50 lbs. Losing the bodyfat would help him tremendously.

His next question was "if I lose weight without eating healthy, isn't that pointless?"

No.

If you're someone that needs to lose a significant amount of weight, there is nothing pointless about losing it even if you don't eat "healthy" all day, every day.

Reducing bodyfat is not just about appearance, of course. Reducing the amount of bodyfat around the organs can have a tremendous impact on your overall health and well-being.

So it is important if that's something you care about.

All this guy needed to do, was find a way to create a calorie deficit. Even with an all-take-out meal plan.

A few key points mentioned:

-aim for foods high in protein and foods that are satiating- (keep you full longer than a bag of chips.)
-shorten the eating window a bit (he wasn't hungry in the morning so he didn't eat until 11 am and stopped eating around 7 pm)
-use an app to track foods to get an idea how much to consume in a day

I always say you don't need to track food/calories. But it can be helpful to do it even for a few weeks just to get a better idea of how much you consume and how much your common meals contain.

You can always stop once you get a handle on it. It's not a big deal.

So this guy has been doing what I outlined for a few weeks and has lost some fat. 6 lbs so far. Simple process and it's doable for him.

He won't cook at home. He won't eat "healthy" but he will eat take-out (sneak some decent nutrition in there) and he can follow the simple guide to lose fat without feeling like he's starving or on a restricted diet.

There's always a way.

You just need the desire to find it, an open mind and a little consistency.

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