Eat More, Lose More: Settling The Fresh vs. Fast Food Debate

By far one of the most frequently asked Transform app questions we receive is, “How will I lose any weight if I’m eating this much food? It’s so much more than I’m used to!” Guys, I am so excited to finally be addressing this common misconception because it is something I battled with for so many years myself.

I get it, I was raised in the calorie deprivation era! BUT, the myth that less food = more weight loss is officially debunked. The days of 1300, 1400, and 1500 calorie diets are over—you don’t have to starve yourself to see the results you want! You know exactly the kind of diets I’m talking about—the ones that have you on poverty calories, cutting out more things than you care to remember. The extreme diets that have you begging for more. The diets that leave you tired, “hangry,” and, well—just plain depressed.

These diets are not only excruciating, but they are so unrealistic to sustain long-term. The second you finish a super low calorie diet, you’re ready to dive back into old habits because your body is craving that food for fuel. This is what leads to the infamous yo-yo dieting, and yo-yo dieting is a direct result of unrealistic, impractical starvation diets. If you have a track record for being a yo-yo dieter, have you ever considered that your “failure” might not be so much your lack of self-discipline but that unrealistic diet in the first place? It’s true!

Ladies and gentleman, I am here to tell you that the days of poverty calorie diets are officially over. It’s time to stop that nasty cycle right in its tracks! The Transform app uses a very specific formula based on your weight, height, age, activity level, and goals to calculate a calorie range that puts you in a slight calorie deficit. This deficit is realistic AND sustainable, and it gives you the fuel you need to live your life AND simultaneously help you achieve your goals. A win-win! It sustains not only a healthy physical change, but it also fuels a healthy mentality as you continue on your journey to a lifetime of good habits.

Still worried it’s too much food? How about a quick visual to see for yourself? You’re eating what you need to fuel your body and reach your goals, but you actually aren’t eating as much as you might think, so let’s break it down. In the graphics below, you’ll see what a day full of eating looks like in the Transform app compared to a day of eating out, and I think you’ll be surprised how quickly those eating out calories add up! You might FEEL like you’re eating a lot of food with the Transform menu, but in reality, you’re not. You’re simply eating more nutrient-dense, colorful, filling foods. More bang for your calorie buck!

High Carb Day (1800 calories, 5 meals):

Breakfast: Cinnamon French Toast (350 calories; 24g protein; 37g carbs; 12g fat)

Snack: Protein Shake & Banana (350 calories; 41g protein; 52g carbs; 1g fat)

Lunch: BBQ Chicken Salad (350 calories; 37g protein; 43g carbs; 4g fat)

Snack: Greek Yogurt Parfait (350 calories; 38g protein; 47g carbs; 1g fat)

Dinner: Cheesy Chicken & Green Beans (400 calories; 41g protein; 12g carbs; 20g fat)


Eating Out (2400 calories, 3 meals):

Breakfast: 1 cup Nature Valley’s Granola Cereal, 1 cup 2% milk, 1 banana (650 calories; 30g protein; 107g carbs; 14g fat)

Lunch: Chick-Fil-A Chicken Salad Sandwich with Small Waffle Fry (800 calories; 31g protein; 90g carbs; 36g fat)

Dinner: Chili’s Santa Fe Chicken Crispers Salad (950 calories; 33g protein; 50g carbs; 69g fat)

This comparison is crazy, right?! And now are you convinced that you can eat more healthy food than you think AND still achieve your transformation goals? I hope so!

Happy healthy eating,

Heidi

Related reading:

Our Top 4 Transformation-Friendly Food Faves
Macro Tracking For the Win! All of Your Questions Answered
Can I Carb Cycle as a Vegetarian?
10 Tips to Crush those Cravings—For Good!
Transform App FAQ: HELP!!! I’ve been working my butt off, following my meal plan, and the scale’s not moving! What do I do?
Meal Prep Tips and Tricks You Need to Know
Junk Food Triggers: How to Wipe These Bad Boys Out for Good!

49 Responses

  1. Hi, I just subscribed and am going to start carb cycling, but using your method of a REWARD DAY, and hopefully get better success! My question is you state ONLY 5 meals per day, however, every morning I have a coffee with 1 TBSP Brain Octane Oil, 1 tsp Ghee Butter in my coffee, 1 Tbsp Nutpod creamer, like a Bulletproof coffee and I want to know if that counts as my Breakfast? Also, where do you fit in a protein recovery shake in the meal plan?

    In essence, I have 6-7 meals per day. Do you suggest I lump meals together and eat more in one sitting then? Not break the coffee and breakfast up?

    1. Hi Marisol: Welcome to carb cycling! Every breakfast is made up with a protein, carb, and fat, so you can fit your coffee (which would count as your fat) into your breakfast by adding a protein and a carb. And protein shakes can be the protein portion of any meal. For protein shakes, we recommend low fat (less than 3g), low carb (less than 5g), with around 20-25g of protein per serving. If your protein shakes have more fat and/or carbs, then those would go towards the fats and/or carb portions recommended for that meal. And we do recommend 5 meals a day if at all possible. Hope that helps! 🙂

  2. Hi I have just joined your program and I have high hopes. I am battling Hypothyroidism / Hashimoto’s disease and I have also developed osteoarthritis, thanks Hashimoto’s. I am looking forward to amazing progress. I really want to get back into my size 10 pants I have in my closet. My thyroid made me gain about 30 pounds before being diagnosed I finally had to force my Dr to do testing because I gained the weight between March and December of the same year. So frustrating!! Anyway, I am also allergic to bananas and avocado. What can I use to replace banana on protein shakes and other recipes that call for banana?

    1. Hi Kristi: Welcome to the app! 🙂 You can sub other fruits into shakes, just make sure that the macros for that fruit are about the same. As far as bananas in other recipes, that can be trickier since other fruits don’t quite work the same in a recipe. You might just choose an different recipe and go from there. We have so many recipes in the app that hopefully this will be easy! 🙂

    1. Hi Kymberlee: We recommend low fat (less than 3g), low carb (less than 5g), with around 20-25g of protein per serving. Other than that, go with what you like best! 🙂

  3. I am wondering about the eating within 30 minutes of waking up. I wake up at 4:30. Start my 30 minute workout by 5am. Protein shake at 5:45, wake my dog & get ready for work. I start working at 7am & eat my breakfast at 7:15. Not sure how to have breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up, then workout without upsetting my stomach. Thoughts!

  4. Hi Heidi,
    I have been using the transform app since June 5th, and so far I have only lost 1 pound. I am feeling discouraged and was hoping for advice of what I could possibly be doing wrong… I’ll tell you a little background on me first. I had a baby almost 3 months ago, i went from being 145 pounds to 220 pounds. I suffer from hypothyroidism and PCOS, but other than that I am pretty healthy. Currently I am working out twice a day, I lift at the gym in the am and do a beach body workout at night. I follow the carbs, proteins, and fat with mostly healthy foods. I drink about 100 ounces of water every day. I am not sure why I’m not losing the weight, I am hoping that you have some suggestions.
    Thanks!

    1. Hi Megan: This can be so frustrating, and you’re doing awesome! A couple of things: Are you doing a weekly progress update? If not, please do so, and if the app ever prompts you to adjust your program for faster weight loss, please click on this option and allow the app to work its magic. Have you checked with your doctor to see if your health issues could be affecting your weight loss? With both of these conditions, this can happen. Have you noticed that your clothes are feeling looser? If so, this means you’re building lean muscle, so even if the scale isn’t moving, you are making progress towards your goals. And here’s a post that can help too: https://heidipowell.net/12026. And be sure you’re matching the macros in each meal in your app program to what you’re eating if you’re not eating the meals in the app. Please reply, and we’ll go from there! We’ll figure this out! 🙂

  5. Hi Team Powell ,
    Could explain what u mean by change ur goal? Do u mean goal weight? I weigh 188 and have my goal @ 160. Should I lower that no?

    Thanjs

    1. Hi Teresa: So sorry for the confusion! I meant to change the goal within your program, for example (and the wording can be different within each program), change from “Losebody fat, and sculpt muscle” to “Lose bodyfat and build muscle,” or something like that. Your goal weight stays the same, but the method of getting there will change a bit, which might be just enough to jump-start your weight loss. Does that make sense?

  6. Hi. Just down loaded the app and getting ready to start on Monday. I filled in the meal plans so I could shop. I noticed that the veggies seem to be light in the meal plans. Can I add additional steamed veggies to the meals like the BBQ rice bowl and other salad and bowl meals, or would that throw off the plan? I like the fiber for digestive reasons 😉

    1. Hi Mary: Yes! You can totally add up to two fistfuls of veggies to any meal, and in fact, we encourage this! We hope you love the app! 🙂

  7. I just started the transformation app, I started with the extreme cycle. I am making sure to drink enough water and am doing the workouts daily. I am on Day 4 and I have gained 2 pounds. Is this typical? Should I keep doing the program or switch to the turbo cycle? I am 7 weeks postpartum and have been on a steady weight loss, but am worried about gaining.

    1. Hi Kimberly: Welcome to Transform! This can happen as your body adjusts to this new way of doing things, but it?s really nothing to worry about. Here?s a post that gives some reasons why this can happen as well as some awesome troubleshooting tips: https://heidipowell.net/12026. And if this keeps happening, when you update your progress in the app, you should have an option automatically pop up asking if you want the program to auto-adjust for faster results. Please click YES, and let the program do its work! You can do this! 🙂

  8. Hi ,
    I’m starting to get very discouraged. I’ve been on program for 10 weeks. I initially had 1.5 lb loss but none since. The app has adjusted me 3 times. I’m beginning to wonder if this is going to work for me. I’m 54. Weigh 188. My clothes are starting to get a little loose but my measurements have not changed at all. Is this unusual ? How long before my body will let go of the u wanted weight?

    1. Hi Teresa: Thank you so much for your comment! Looser clothes is a great way to show you’re making progress, even if the scale isn’t moving as you’d hoped. And we know that stuck scale can be so frustrating! Each person will lose weight at a different rate, and as we age, it can be harder to drop pounds, which is also very frustrating. Here’s a post that can give you some tips: https://heidipowell.net/12026. You might also change your goal within your program, and that could give you a bit of a jump start too. Please keep us updated on your progress – you can do this!

  9. Hi Heidi,
    I am an American living in the UK for the past 14 1/2 years (married a wonderful British guy 14 years ago). Over the years I have been here, contending with being a former Graves’ patient (did radioactive iodine 3 x’s then finally ‘flat-lined’ my thyroid) .Commonly thereafter, going into ‘hypo’ I gained a ton of weight. In short – I tried to eat better, get exercise, but my appetite was still really huge (I could eat *anything and everything* under the sun whilst my Graves’ was rampant). I was eating enough for about 3-4 people a day. After getting on maintenance meds (also working around a spinal injury in my 20’s – I’m now 47), I started to really push myself with very limited financial means. Home work outs, cheap DVD’s, walks. I really tried to follow plans – I just never could. I’m one of those people who has to eat ‘what they feel’ for the moment (which I now call nutritional/need-feeding -> what our bodies crave, our bodies need, just need to make healthier choices! Retrain the palette!). That said – I began a journey and wound up losing about 14 stone (28 lbs). But then fell back again. The common yo-yo diet, fitness regimes failed. — Then I started to be more committed, I hated/despised/loathed ‘regular workouts’ (I was convinced I was allergic to exercise!) I started to lose weight but it was really a slog (and hated my workouts). But I lost ‘some weight’. Then one day (After I’d eliminated all soy products –> against thyroid meds and issues) – I found that my meds needed to ‘come down’ and I was Feeling better! I was losing weight more consistently! It was a new lease on life. So I said, let’s do something *daring* try… YOGA! I went for the most passive form an fell in love. But I also saw that I could DO it though it was very hard (my legs have never fully recovered from the ‘losses’ endured from the Graves’). Today at 47 – I have (over 3, 4 years?) have come down from a size 24/26 to a size 12/14. Something just *clicked* I suppose one might say I found a path to my own method of ‘transformation’ (food choices, how I looked at ‘workout sessions,staying committed and making it a priority). I quit smoking, lost weight and it changed my life! But now I am trying to work on *more* – I am still in land-o-flab. Maybe it’s age/weight/thyroid related. I do not have the means to see a specialist (nor can I seem to be referred to one unless it bears ‘medical need’ – which it doesn’t it is more a personal choice/request/interest). So I study a great deal about nutrition, I try to vary my workouts and eat well (though I do splurge!) – but right now I think my greatest question – is how do people stick with food plans? Honestly! I don’t get it! (I am also one of those people who cannot follow recipes, I know how to cook *Bad foods* lol!! But *know* how to make healthier ones!) just?? I can’t seem to EVER stick to a food plan. I understand that your guys’ app is very flexible (Filters, etc.) but I also have gastritis, Gall Bladder issues (have to watch fat content more than calories – in fact, I can’t tell you how many calories are in ‘things’ but I can usually for the fat content!) — I have only been watching you guys on EW for about a year (off and on, as the British TV channels will ‘update’) – but nowadays I record the repeats even! I try to watch one episode every night! The SHOW is inspiring – You and Chris are inspiring! So it’s like recharging a battery – just wish I could have THAT much energy and OOMPH and be able to follow a FOOD PLAN (and have a great husband who would expand his very picky palette.. LOL very picky!) If you saw what I ate, you’d probably wonder how on earth I’ve lost weight. Honestly – it’s not great, but it could be much worse (it’s the choices I can make on our budget) and do my best. I wish there was a magic trick to make it so I could follow a plan? and also recipes >.=) *determined* If you have any suggestions – maybe insofar as a response: I am akin to a ‘child’ learning to to follow food plans but ‘won’t’ – and as much as anyone ‘tries’ – it’s time for someone to raise a finger and say now listen you – naughty step! sit put and this is what you’re going to do! (or at least a ‘doorway’ perhaps.. for ideas, a different path to try – follow, etc.) Thank you.

    1. P.S.
      I love the charts on this page – though I can’t eat most of that – it’s a good clear idea as to some ideas. I just need to work on this. Find a way to mentally slap myself (positively!) to try harder. But – I just don’t know how (I do – but.. I don’t.. I’m not quite sure how to explain that). I Also rarely if ever eat out. But still – is a very good thing for me (and others) to see the photos (visuals are SO helpful to me! lol) I also need to relinquish the thoughts of : there’s one thing I’ve perfected: EATING, I eat REALLY WELL (AND LOTS OF IT) – so why Should I lose this body! (at over 230 lbs) It’s taken me YEARS to get this! Now – it’s (another ‘positive slap’) and the answer is – because ‘you’ were unhealthy, hurting, in a lot of physical and emotional pain. Because you had no energy and abused the food and didn’t regard it as vital fuel (put good fuel into a car, it will run more efficiently!) but in finding my ‘niche’ – what works for me – as with anyone – if we find our niche – I looked more and more forward to my workout sessions – therefore more inclined to do them *Very regularly* and started seeing the dress sizes go down, portions dropped, *Choices* changed – became more healthy! Total overhaul on my priorities. Though I still do bear ‘residual’ damage from the Graves (legs, stamina, tremors) – I am trying very hard and want to figure a better path for my nutrition (on a budget). (Sorry I am adding to my previous comment!) I appreciate and value – what you guys do SO SO SO very much. (I’m not kidding! I watch you guys every night.. it charges me for the next day –> hopefully! But nobody else was able to do that!)
      =Though it comes from ‘me’ in the end.. my brain sometimes needs a ‘flick to the head’ (it’s the good kind – GET UP AND DO IT! KNOCK off the excuses!) you are NOT Allergic to exercise! *bangs head on wall*

    2. Hi Heidi: Thank you so much for your comments and for sharing your story with us. As far as what you should do, I’d suggest you discuss any nutrition and exercise program with your healthcare team and then follow their recommendations. They are the best ones to help you since they understand your health history and can work with you personally. You could even discuss Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program with them (https://heidipowell.net/9060) or the app! As far as sticking to a program, here’s a post that outlines Chris and Heidi’s #1 transformation tool, and it’s a key to achieving any goal: https://heidipowell.net/8679. What will your first promise be today? Make and keep that one, and then another one, and you’ll be shocked at the results! This is also the first thing Chris and Heidi do with every person they work with – it works! You can totally do this! 🙂

    3. Thank you so much for your reply! I am saving those to re-read again and again. All I know is this past week has been a great struggle.And every night, as mentioned – I try to watch an episode of Extreme Weight loss. Truly inspiring, motivating and makes me wake up with the ‘eye of the tiger’ lol But now I want very much to find a ‘plan’ (POA – plan of action or plan of attack!) even though I study nutritional sciences, as I’ve explained to some, that doesn’t necessarily mean I eat well, myself! I am all over the place and know that it’s time to buckle down, *Get focused* and *learn* – I don’t believe we are EVER too old to learn (I learn every day, and learned a LOT just by looking the two links you shared!!) I hope to fully digest those – and see what I can do. Otherwise, I want to ask the Powell’s PLEASE do not *Ever* stop. I am so grateful that you guys are out there and ‘spreading the word’ making the differences in people’s lives that you are. It has been an incredibly difficult and challenging week. I can’t get the medical help I should, but I try to do a lot on my own.And after last night’s (repeat episode with Sara) – I found myself getting up again this morning to work out and *hard!* Now if I can just ~absorb~ and implement a good eating regime (sort of like here’s a good list of foods – as on that chart!!) Pick from those! (I don’t do that!! Despite any successes in my weight loss/transformation journey) I’m still exhibiting ‘bad choices’ and I think what you shared will really be helpful. I have to say, though, too – the Powell’s are probably the first real.. and I mean *very real* spark of motivation I have seen or felt – in a very long time. I hope if others read this – they might feel the same. I’m not out to impress! Just want to carry on with my own tranformation. And TOTALLY inspired.. to do so. (Thank you again SO Much for your help and like I said, I’ve saved those and will read..and re-read until it’s ‘assimilated’ 🙂 ) Thank you from across the pond, to my ‘home land’ 🙂 you all are very much appreciated!!

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