Can you still lose weight and eat junk food?

One fear that haunts every newbie looking to lose fat and get in shape is, 'how will I enjoy my beloved junk food'. And this fear is completely justified. If you want to lose 10 kgs of fat and improve your body composition, it will take you a minimum of 3-4 months to achieve that feat. And not eating your favorite foods for such an extended period of time is quite hard, unless you have an extraordinary level of commitment and dedication, which most people don't. Here is where people generally mess up- they try to diet too hard, like pro-bodybuilders and after 2 weeks they burnout and binge on junk food. Before I offer you a solution, let's take a look at how you can actually lose fat.

The Truth: Every Diet Works, Given You're in a Caloric Deficit Diet & Able To Sustain It!

In 1964, a group from the Institute for Medical Research in Oakland, California, studied the effect of different macronutrient compositions on weight loss in 8 obese patients. They were fed with a caloric deficit diet and every three or four weeks, the investigators modified the diet to vary its content of protein (from 14 %to 36% of calories), fat (from 12% to 83%of calories), and carbohydrates (3% to 64% of calories). But the calories were always kept below the patient's maintenance levels. All the obese patients lost fat at a constant rate, irrespective of the nutrient composition of the diet; whether fat or carbohydrate intake was high or low – what mattered was the total calorie deficit.

Hence proved!

All right then, you decide to cut out excess sugar, cola, and samosas from your diet. Add some grilled chicken, nuts and fruits all while creating a 300 caloric deficit diet and march on your journey to lose fat. Let's assume your maintenance calories are around 2300/2400 Kcal, so, to create a daily deficit of 200-300, you'd need to consume no more than 2000 Kcals a day. This will put you at a weekly deficit of 2100 Kcals.

Ideal World Situation

You read some motivational quotes and decide to consume 2,000 Kcal every day, diligently. Can you see the gap between the red and blue line? It is your weekly caloric deficit, make sure to maintain it! Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. And inevitably we all will be tempted to eat those savory foods. 

Real World Situation 

You survive Monday to Saturday on your 2,000 Kcal diet. But then comes the mighty Sunday, and you go out for a movie with your friends. You pig out on pizza slices, some fries, a medium shake, a beer pint and of course, popcorn. Your caloric intake shoots up to 3500 Kcal and the weekly deficit becomes negligible. Remember what I talked about in the points above? Maintain your calorie deficit! Now, your weight loss stalls, and you blame your trainer, your metabolism, god, and carbohydrates. The reason you gained unwanted weight is because of an increased average caloric intake. That's it!

Smart World Solution

First of all, if you are not stepping on stage, stop eating like a bodybuilder, period. Stop eating boiled tasteless food and don't try to calculate calories in your vegetables & the sodium in your food. 

Practical Advice: Continue your 2,000 Kcal diet from Monday-Thursday. On Friday, reduce it by 200 Kcals. Simply cut out 2 egg yolks (90 Kcals) and a serving of fruit (100 Kcals). On Saturday, reduce it even further by 500/600 Kcals and you should be able to cut some major carbs and fat sources from your diet. Now, on Sunday, even if you binge on your favorite foods, you will be able to maintain a considerable amount of weekly deficit and still drop weight.

The Take Away

This was a quite dramatic illustration for people who've got no control over themselves once they start eating outside. If you wish to enjoy a moderately sized junk food meal once a week, cutting out 400-500 extra calories in a span of two days is sufficient. I hope this article made you a little wiser and helps you in your fat loss journey.

• People swear by these miraculous one-food junk food diets.
• Some say they've lost weight eating only pizza, ice cream, or cookies.
• However, one nutritionist says that these people are actually losing weight from eating fewer calories, and that the diets themselves are not nutritionally sound. 

What if you could eat all of the junk food your heart desires and still lose weight? It sounds like a scam, but over the years, so-called junk food fad diets have popped up over and over with people claiming real results.

From the guy who lost nearly 100 pounds by only eating pizza to the famous cookie diet that's been kicking around for years, there is no shortage of people claiming miraculous weight loss from eating foods that are high in sugar and fat content. How is this even possible?

"What happens with these same-food diets is that people tend to consume fewer calories overall," said Dr. Joan Blake, a nutritionist and clinical associate professor at Boston University.

"You get tired quickly of eating the same foods over and over," she continued. "The issue with these diets is that you may be losing weight from eating less, but they're not nutritionally sound over the long term. Once you go back to your old eating habits, all of that weight will come back."

Here are 8 unhealthy diets people swear by:

The cookie diet

Dr. Siegal's cookie diet has been around since the early aughts and pairs hunger-suppressing cookies (sorry, no Oreos!) with one meal a day.

Then there's Sol Owell, a man who lost 50 pounds in a year by sticking to the #cookielife diet. He ate every single homemade cookie that friends and family from around the world sent him. For Owell, it was a simple "calories in, calories out" mentality, in which he supplemented his cookie monster lifestyle with tons of exercise. 

Our nutritionist says: "He has a reasonable approach to adding a little treat, in this case a cookie or two, in his diet daily along with a healthy diet, and activity level. A daily treat can be factored into a healthy diet as long as you stay active and factor the calories in that “treat” into your daily caloric intake."

The "Gilmore Girls" diet 

How do the Gilmore girls stay so skinny with their diets? TV magic. Netflix

Where you lead, I will follow ... with copious amounts of junk food in hand. The fictional Lorelai and Rory Gilmore are well-known for staying skinny while sticking to a high-salt, carb, and fat diet. When Netflix revived the series last fall, there were numerous claims of women trying a "Gilmore Girls "diet of pizza, popcorn, candy, and other junk food and actually losing weight.

Our nutritonist says: "This is not a healthy eating plan for weight loss." 

The ice cream diet

One of the most recent junk food diet success stories follows Anthony Howard-Crow, the miracle man who lost 32 pounds and improved his blood pressure by eating 2,000 calories of ice cream and some protein supplements every day earlier this year.

Sounds like a dream come true, right? He later admitted that it was the "most miserable dieting adventure" he had ever embarked upon because it made him irritable and lackluster.

Our nutritionist says: "This is a classic example of chronically eating a diet that is lower in calories than you need so you will lose weight. Unfortunately, it isn't a balanced, satisfying diet so he lost weight but also muscle mass."

The junk food diet

Sometimes you can't decide which junk food to "cleanse" with so you decide to eat anything you want for a month and end up losing 11 pounds.

That's exactly what Jeff Wilser did. He limited his caloric intake to under 2,000 calories daily and ate only suggested serving sizes of junk food. He stuffed his face with Oreos, M&M's, doughnuts and more every day. 30 days later, he lost 11 pounds and his bad cholesterol went down. 

Our nutritionist says: "He ate less calories daily for 30 days and lost weight. Unfortunately, his diet wasn't 2,000 calories of healthy foods. If he continued eating only these foods daily, he will likely end up deficient in many nutrients."

The McDonald's diet

John Cisna made national headlines in 2014 after he lost 56 pounds in six months eating only McDonald's. He even published a book called "My McDonald's Diet" about his incredible weight loss journey.

But nutritionists called his diet "unrealistic" for the long haul, and claimed that while his weight may be down, most likely his sodium intake was high, and his body was lacking in essential vitamins. 

The pizza diet

New York City pizza maker Pasquale Cozzolino swears by his pizza-centric diet that helped him lose 94 pounds. His secret? Stay away from the pepperoni and stick to thin-crust margherita pizzas made with simple ingredients. The pizzas helped him curb cravings so he could shed the extra pounds. 

Our nutritionist says: "It appears that he enjoyed his pizza (which has only a little bit of cheese) at lunch but factor in those calories as part of his entire day. His made sure that his overall calorie intake remained less than he needed daily to maintain his weight."

The taco cleanse

This "detox" replaces kale smoothies with tortillas. The recipes for the taco cleanse, created by "taco scientists," promise a whole host of health benefits like virility and beard-growing abilities (though that may be a joke). The only catch is, all of the recipes are vegan, so put down that package of carnitas. 

Our nutritionist says: "There isn't any science to back these claims up."

The Twinkie diet

Most of the foods on this list have at least some nutritional value, but Twinkies do not. But ever since Kansas State University nutrition professor Mark Haub lost 27 pounds in 2010 by replacing all meals with Twinkies for 10 weeks, the Twinkie diet has popped up periodically, usually with disastrous results: Eating nothing but Twinkies for several days straight tends to result in massive stomach and headaches. 

Our nutritionist says: "All this proves is what we already know: If you chronically eat less calories than you need daily, you will lose weight. However, in the long term, a diet like this will not be satisfying, healthy, or sustainable."