Real Food versus Granola Bars

I eat like 5-6 meals a day, all "real" food like oatmeal, egg whites, fresh vegetables and fruit, cheese, chicken breast, etc. etc. Sometimes I eat come kind of processed food, not going to lie :) Although the volume of the food is a lot (sometimes its hard to eat all of it) i still make sure i eat enough to get to 2400 cals a day so that I am maintaining (and i am).

Well, everytime I make something, my stupid roomate is like "you're eating another full meal? isn't this like your fifth one for today?" He thinks I eat too much, even though it's all low calorie dense food, so I have to eat a lot of it to get the cals needed. Well, in his opinion, he thinks it's okay to eat like two meals and then fill up the rest of his cals with granola and butterfinger bars. No joke, he eats two king size butterfingers and five-ten granola bars a day, usually around 2800cals. Well, I always tell him that my huge quantities of fruits, veggies, and other real foods still are less than all the cals from what he is eating, and that it's not like im gaining weight anyways. Plus I say that I;d rather have hearty meals than tiny little bars all day. He argues that granola is super healthy (Even though it's probably one of the worst things to eat due to the high sugar content).

I'm getting all the vitamins, minerals, and at least 30g fiber and 150g protein a day. He gets like all carbs, no fiber, probly 40g protein, and very few vitamins and minerals (he eats NO fruits and veggies ever). So if we are both maintaining, isn't my way much better and shouldn't he stop acting like Im a fatty?

Yep real actual food is much better than granola bars which are usually loaded with sugar and processed stuff.  Real foods is definitely the healthier option.  They fill you up better and give you much more nutrients and vitamins.  Try not to let it bother you.  You know that your eating is healthy and beneficial to you.  So keep it up.

Granola bars for the win.

Granola bars are really just glorified cookies/biscuits.  They're not unhealthy as such.  Your friend is getting starch, fats, sugar and plenty of calories.  It's fuel in the tank and it's getting him from A to B.   Plus he has the advantage of being a young man with a (presumably) healthy body and vigorous metabolism.   It's tough to damage a body like that, even if you load it full of rubbishy food 24/7

Where you're winning is that your eating habits will serve you well in the long-term.  The world is full of middle-aged men that never left behind their teenage eating habits and then wonder why they've gained 50lbs...   Middle-aged men usually with a few niggling health problems and a doctor suggesting they might like to cut out a few things to avoid the onset of Type II Diabetes, heart-disease or blood pressure problems...  

So you may have to wait 20 years before you can say 'I told you so'.  In the meantime, let him enjoy his cookies.

Whatever you do, don`t let other people get you down, and always celebrate your very sensible choices in your mind. It`s hard to get used to all that smugness, but eventually you can train yourself to be immune to it, just like you trained yourself to develop a healthy lifestyle.

Some people are in denial, others are envious, and the rest just don`t know any better, and can incidentally be helped out with kind advice.

I suspect your roommate is a little bit of all. If the two of you are good friends, don`t let the topic of food ruin it; just openly suggest that neither of you brings the subject up any longer, as I`m sure you have plenty other things to talk about. However, if you couldn`t care less about what he has to say, simply pay no more attention.

I deal with this all the time. My mom is the "diet-food-health expert". She knows it all...after all she has been on a diet her whole life!! Still over weight but she is the expert and she is always right. I used to argue with her and try to get my point across. It was extremely frustrating. Now I just let her talk and ignore her. A whole lot less frustrating!! Luckly, I don't live with her anymore.

Let your room mates opinion go and do what it is best for your body!!

The culture you're raised in has a lot to do with what habits you have.  I am still aghast at my sister's family & their dietary habits - heavy to sweets for breakfast, skipping lunch, etc. - even though they're active and healthy.   I remember though that I was raised the same way, and hanging on to most of those old habits got me into trouble in middle age.  You can stand eating monumental amounts of pizza and cookies when you're young and not see ill effects, if you're active.  But the habits you form catch up with you later on, and it's really hard to break them after 50 years.  

I think that the whole foods thing is better, but for me in the office, I find that the 90 calorie granola bars really help stave any hunger I may encounter, and they are a good way to hold me over for an hour or so in the event that I can't get to my fruits, veggies, etc. I always have two with me in my food kit (lol... I almost called it a lunch box) "just in case."

I'm 41 and I've lost 16.5 lbs in the past 30 days with granola bars in my diet. I could have lost more had I not gone with too few calories for two of those weeks. I don't think they are "bad," but they definitely are no equal to fruits, veggies, and meals made from scratch.

When I go back to work at home, I will always make decent meals from scratch again. Being in an office 78 miles from home, I dont' have that option.