Weight-Loss Condiments

Weight-Loss
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LG_

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Of course the obvious NO's to condiments like Mayo, and creamy dressings, but what about mustard, ketchup, fat-free sour cream, etc.

What condiments are completely fine when losing weight. I like to add a tablespoon of fat-free sour cream, or mustard to my small chicken wraps at lunch, or with other meals. Am I hindering my weight loss by doing so?

What's your take on condiments.
 
Just calculate the calories into your meal. There are plenty of things that are fine. Nothing wrong with mayo, with any of that stuff just remember it adds to your total calories for the day.

Unless you are piling tons of stuff onto your meals (or overdoing things like salad dressing) then no, that's not very likely a source of lifestyle change failure.
 
My personally preferred are mustard, vinegar and soy sauce. Of course, soy sauce is less good if you're watching your sodium.

Ketchup is higher in calories and often includes HFCF - not necessarily the devil, but also not the sign of a low calorie condiment to eat in large quantities ;)

Mind you, a tbs of ketchup is still only 15 calories so it's chump changed compared to the 70 calories in a tbs of Hidden Valley Ranch. A tbs of mustard is 9 calories (depending on brand). Fat free sour cream is around 15calories a tbs.

'Completely fine' is all relative. If you can fit the extra calories in, then mayo is 'completely fine' ;) But definitely some condiments are much lower in calories than others.
 
I eat a serving of miracle whip on my sandwich nearly every day for lunch and I'm losing weight at a fairly steady rate. I'm just sure to measure the amount and add those calories to my list for the day. If you are really worried about it, there are brands of yellow mustard that are 0 fat, 0 calories.

The thing is, there is no "good" or "bad" foods. Nothing is always good or always bad. There are only ones that are more or less calorie dense. Obviously, the more calorie light foods (usually healthy stuff; fruits, lean meats, low-fat dairy, etc) you eat in a day, the more food you can eat and still lose weight.
 
I just don't "do" condiments anymore. The vast majority are various forms of refined sugar which just make me want to eat when I am not really hungry.

I do add apple cider vinegar to my meals though as I like the sharper taste. I sometimes add salt but not pepper. If I eat seafood I don't add any salt. On rare occasions (v.rare) I will add balsamic vinegar but its generally if I have salad leaves or chicken in my meal.

If I eat egg whites (in an omlette) I normally use a non stick pan but if I get desperate will use the 1kcal spray to release what I want from the pan.
 
Garden salsa with home grown tomatoes and hot peppers hardly has any calories, counts as a serving of vegetables per half cup, and spices up the bland food we often eat on a low calorie diet. Lacking that, hot pepper sauce.
 
Real Mustard. And by that I mean mustard like Colemans is pretty low in calories. It's also about impossible to have a large enough quantity to add significantly to your meals calorific value.
 
LG_ said:
Of course the obvious NO's to condiments like Mayo, and creamy dressings, .
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Um .. why?

Why is anything an "obvious no"?

There is nothing wrong with mayo - in fact real mayo is nothing more than eggs and oil. The healthy stuff, in fact.

I don't get this mindset that condiments = bad. I eat full fat mayo. I eat olive oil. I eat mustard. I eat creamy dressings (although not all that often because I'd rather spend those calories elsewhere).

Nothing should ever be an "obvious no", IMO. Sure you can't sit and eat spoonfuls of mayo, but there's nothing wrong with 1T of mayo on a sandwich or a drizzle of olive oil over a salad.
 
I am not a big fan of mayonnaise but have had a jar of it in refrigerator for years. My last one ran out and I did not buy another one because the calories in Mayonnaise are too high with too little enjoyment in its consumption. I would suggest eliminating mayonnaise. It is not worth the calories.

Also creamy dressings are huge calorie hit.

One tip that was passed along to me in eating salads, was to have a little cup of creamy dressings is to just dip your fork in the dressing before you put any salad on your fork. This way, you get the taste but not so many calories
 
I would suggest eliminating mayonnaise. It is not worth the calories.
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It's not worth the calories TO YOU. I wish people would quit making blanket statements about what others should do, based on their own preferences.

There is nothing wrong with mayo. If someone likes mayo and wants to eat it, calculating the value of the calories into their plan is perfectly reasonable. It's a healthy option (being made of eggs and healthy oils).

That's like saying one should eliminate peanut butter because the calorie hit isn't worth it. Or one should eliminate olive oil because the calorie hit isn't worth it.

Calories are NOT the be-all and end-all of the equation.

I like mayo. I can structure my plan so that I allow myself a sandwich with mayo maybe a couple of times a week. I account for the 160 calories and move on. For example, my lunch yesterday was a half a BLT with mayo (also extra lettuce and tomato) and a bowl of french onion soup. The whole thing came to about 480 calories - which is a perfectly reasonable lunch figure for me.

People need ot quit having knee-jerk reactions about foods. They also need to quit thinking of foods in terms of "evil" and "good".
 
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Hey Kara,

If someone is asking a very general question about condiments such as "What condiments are completely fine when losing weight?," then only a general answer is suitable. Mayonnaise is not "completely fine" if you want to lose weight.

Because if it is yes or no, then it better be "no," because losing weight is about being wise about the calories you consume. I do not know what you mean in your last statement. If one is not counting calories (as I am detecting from the original question) then you need to have some hard and fast rules.

Otherwise you WILL stay fat or get fat

Frank
 
Frank you're wrong.

I don't say that often. Usually there are shades of things, but saying that if you eat mayo you'll stay fat and mayo is not ok for weight loss .. that's flat out, pure-d WRONG.

Mayo is completely fine as a condiment if you want to lose weight WHEN EATEN IN REASONABLE QUANTITIES. You can't sit and eat spoonfuls of it, but eating mayo in a reasonable manner and accounting for the calories is FINE.

And by the way, I lost 90+ lbs while including mayo in my diet.
 
Yeah, I'm with Kara on this one. There are no foods that are always good or always bad. I love mayo, to the point where the calories and fat are worth it to me, so I just make sure I have room for it in my daily calorie intake. I eat a sandwich 4-5 days a week that includes ONE serving of full fat mayo and I've lost over 20 pounds so far. (one serving isn't much, by the way, it's about as thin of a layer you can get on two pieces of bread)

If you can take it or leave it, then go ahead and leave it if you want to save the calories for something else. But it's not the Ultimate Diet Killer that people like to think.

As far as foods that are "completely fine" while losing weight? There aren't any. Period.

You can eat nothing but vegetables every day and still gain weight if you are eating too many calories. On the flip side, you can eat nothing but cookies every day and still lose if you eat fewer calories than you burn. You won't be healthy, but you'd lose weight.

Sorry, there are no blanket answers to a question like this.
 
I agree with the opinion that there are no "always bad" foods, however there are things that you should try to limit

My analogyis to think of calories as Money. If you get $1000 dollars to spend, some people might find it worth it to blow it all on a new camera, or a vacation, some other might spend it buying groceries or paying down their mortgage. At the end of the day how you spend it is your decision, and only you can decide on the level of enjoyment you are going to get out of your "purchase". As long as you don't spend more than you have whats the harm.

For me I found that eliminating mayo from my sandwiches was an easy way FOR ME to remove 100 cal from my diet. I don't even notice it's gone. Generally speaking for myself, the more calorie dense the condiment is the more I try to avoid it because I don't feel that it adds enough "value" to my meal to be worth spending the calories on it. I tend to limit the following:

Mayo
Creamy Dressing
Processed Cheese
Hot Chocolate Mix
Full Fat Sour Cream/Yogurt
Dips
Full Fat Salad dressing (I try to use calorie wise, or make my own)

I have increased my usage of

Mustard
Saracha (not sure of the spelling, but it's a super hot vietnamese sauce)
franks red hot
balsamic Vinegar
White Vinegar
 
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