Has anyone lost weight going UPF free?

[inky1991]

Just that really.

I've read the ultra processed people book and I'm now on a mission to only eat, real whole foods where I can. Aiming for 80/90% UPF free, as I think it's far too hard to aim for the 100%

Has anyone else tried this and lost weight? Would really like to hear everyone stories

I've been doing it for just over a week, and I'm feeling so much better in myself and don't feel the need to snack anymore. I don't want to weigh myself just yet as im only 8 weeks post partum. I've probably got a good 2/3 stone to lose.

I think lots of people will have done this unwittingly, over the last 30 years or so, by eating more 'natural' foods. It's not new advice, it's just that 'give up eating crap' involves more, and more extreme forms, of crap, as time goes on.

Agree, but I'm sure there's many people like me who didn't/don't actually realise how much UPF there is in what's believed to be healthy or normal foods. Things like muesli, yoghurts, all supermarket breads, all dressing and condiments etc. It's everywhere

I already knew "low fat" stuff was bad for you, but didn't grasp the extent of the situation.

I've been following a low carb, high fat diet for a good few years now, as described on the low carb bootcamp threads.

Turns out their 'rules' which is to eat loads of fresh veg with fat and protein naturally eliminate UPF. I've dropped from BMI over 40 to 25.

The low carb element helps keep my blood sugar stable so that it's much less struggle to eat less. I only tend to overeat processed foods which combine fatty and sugary elements like ice creme. Fat without sugar satiates in smaller quantities.

Hope you find what you need.

I cut out dairy, caffeine, grains, processed foods, sugar, potatoes, rice, and UPFs and lost 3 stone in 3 months.

Yes I've been drastically cutting out UPFs for a month after reading the book and have lost half a stone so far. I had one night when I was at a party and ate a vegan pizza and some churros - gained 3lbs overnight and took over a week to shift again! (Not to mention feeling really ill - it's amazing how quickly you develop a sensitivity to all of those chemicals once you eliminate them)

So what did you actually eat? I am very interested in this, especially the cutting out of all sugars...or did you still eat fruit? 3 stone is amazing! No processed foods, or just no UPF?

I don't need to lose weight OP but I am currently trying not to eat any UPF, so far so good. I am interested to see how I feel after a month or so. Good luck!

I don’t eat meat either. I do eat fish.

I eat a ton of vegetables with high quality protein, basically. Usually twice a day. That would be salads, stir fries, prawns, tuna, white fish, eggs in various forms. There are loads of ways to jazz those up. I make my own mayo (easier than you’d think!).

I’m not a huge fan of fruit but will have some berries when I fancy them. And if I’m eating out I’ll have some cheese. I can eat anything I want but I prefer to avoid the things that make me tired, lethargic etc.

It’s the glycogen causing you to hold onto more water.

That's an amazing weight loss, well done!

Although I'm sure that won't be sustainable, I find thats usually the problem with cutting out so much from my diet.

Says the person who has literally tried every diet under the sun! Low carb/Keto is good for weight loss but I've never know anyone to sustain the diet long term.

That's brilliant - well done!

I really don’t think it leads to automatic weight loss or perfect health. It will probably lead you to have better health that you would have done but genetics also plays a huge part. Hormones also, for those of us peri/post menopausal are important.

It is very easy to read everything about cutting down on UPF and think it leads to automatic weight loss, no depression, no serious/chronic illness. It’s a nudge in the right direction but it’s not the only factor.

I've lost half a stone in 6 weeks, moved our meals at home to no more than 10% UPF about 6 months ago and it's been very successful (DH is no longer diabetic now) but I still struggled with snacking which was largely UPF (chocolate, biscuits, ice cream - healthy snacks just didn't satiate the need). Since starting HRT I have so much more energy, and that combined with increasing protein and avoiding UPF means I no longer feel like snacking between meals or late in the evening - weightloss was inevitable.
What's great about the change to avoiding UPF is the kids don't see us 'dieting' and no food is 'bad' as such, just a better balance away from UPF. We weren't eating ready meals, take aways etc before, but we did eat non-sugary cereal every breakfast, and ate supermarket bread for lunch. Now it's home made bread, home made fruit yoghurt and porridge for breakfast for the kids - it's made a huge difference to us and I truly feel it's sustainable in the long term.

But Natural yoghurt isn’t a UPF. It’s processed. Same for muesli. Processed just means it’s been changed from natural start, and isn’t necessarily unhealthy. UPFs willl have ingredients in that you wouldn’t have in your kitchen.

I’ve sustained it for 2 years in August……. I’m not always as strict about it - I travel a lot for work now and it isn’t always possible to find completely unprocessed stuff.

It's what I'm.currently doing and it seems to be working.

What Ive discovered from these types of threads is that people dont know the difference between a processed food and a UPF and they dont understand that some processing of food, such as tea leaves into a tea bag is completely ok.

What's the difference?

I know this, but basically any yoghurt that isn't full fat Greek or natural contain UPF ingredients.

This is the nova classification I find it useful. Not all processed food is bad. Humans have processed foods forever.

Yeah, basically most of our food is processed unless it's like an apple from a tree or an oyster. I think lots of people just assume UPF means junk food

How long is 'forever'? In terms of human evolution, the agricultural revolution was very very recent. What were we processing before that?

How long is 'forever'? In terms of human evolution, the agricultural revolution was very very recent. What were we processing before that?

Well cooking, chopping, grinding, smoking, salting etc are all processing. So we have been doing it for millennia

Why are oven chips UPF but ham is cheap water-filled ham is not UPF?
Fruit canned in syrup = not UPF, sausages = UPF.
"bread" ( all possible bread??) = UPF?
Why?

I'm all for lots of fruit & veg and simple foods but the UPF thing, NOVA system, people saying that huge portions of sugar & salt are not UPF: is ultra-confusing.

I've lost 21lb in 9 weeks doing low carb, omad, very little ufp. You lose the taste for it after about 2 weeks and it stops being hard.

It's the same reason why a lot of people drop weight quickly after going vegan. If you eliminate entire food groups from your diet then you just eat less without really noticing.