Foods to Help You Lose Weight

What is the role of diet in weight loss?

Diet is key! Yes, that is right, you cannot lose weight if you don’t change your diet. It is much easier to eat less than it is to move more. For example, a cheeseburger has about 350 calories, to burn this off you would need to strength train for 90 minutes, swim for an 1 hour, bike for 45 minutes, or jog for 90 minutes. And that isn’t even including the fries!

Calorie needs for weight loss

As you can see, reducing calories, along with increasing physical activity, is key for losing weight.

In general, we recommend females to eat about 1,200 calories a day and males to eat about 1,500 calories per day for weight loss. But this can vary greatly depending on your size, activity, and other factors.

The most important thing to do is to track what you are eating. Not only will this help to keep you mindful of what you are eating but it was also give you an idea of where you are for current calorie intake. It is recommended that you cut your calories by about 250-500 calories a day to start out.

For example, if you are eating 2,000 calories a day currently, cutting back to 1,500 to 1,750 calories is a good place to start for weight loss. This will also help to ensure that you don’t feel extremely hungry as you are cutting back on your calories.

It can also help to eat foods high in volume and low in calories. This means food that you can eat a lot of for few calories. A great example are fruits, vegetables and broth-based soups. This will help you feel full while eating fewer calories.

Do macronutrients matter?

First off, for those of you wondering macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates and fats. They make up the bulk of our diet.

Do they matter? The short answer is yes.

Studies have found that individuals that eat more protein have an easier time losing weight. For most healthy adults, we recommend them to consume 0.8g/kg protein each day. However, for weight loss we recommend 1.0g/kg of protein each day. Not a huge increase, but enough to make a difference.

Eating healthy fats, like avocado or nuts, can also help you feel full longer. Just watch the portion size of these, because they are high in fat it means that there are a lot of calories in a small serving size.

Lastly, a lower carbohydrate diet can help boost weight loss as well. Try to eat more complex carbohydrates like fruits and whole grains instead of simple carbohydrates like refined grains.

What foods help you lose weight?

High protein snacks:

-            Hard boiled eggs

-            Cottage cheese

-            Nuts

-            Cheese

-            Edamame

-            Peanut butter and apple slices

-            Yogurt

-            Smoothie

-            Hummus and carrots

Fruit and Veggie Snacks:

-            Cut up fruits and vegetables when you get them so they are ready to snack on!

-            Smoothie

-            Chopped veggies and hummus

-            Grapes and cheese

-            Berries and yogurt

-            Tomatoes and feta cheese

-            Kale chips

More weight loss recipes here!

Are you interested in a weight loss meal plan? Check out Dr. Maria’s meal plan here!