Gathering at the dinner table brings families from all cultures together to celebrate and enjoy good, well-prepared food. Some of this food, however, has a less than desirable effect on your waistline.
When it comes to losing weight, saying goodbye to some of your favorite foods makes any diet unsustainable. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be that way. Read on for weight loss methods that not only keep all food groups included, but give you the results you’re looking for.
Weight Loss Products
Most weight loss pills, patches like the Thrive patch and fat burning cleanses are received with a great deal of skepticism. Putting all your faith in a weight loss product that may be too good to be true will likely stunt rather than support your weight loss efforts. Still, many of these products contain ingredients that have been shown to support the processes involved in fat burning.
When considering supplements, include them as one piece of a larger weight loss puzzle. You can still enjoy many of your favorite foods while using weight loss products, but letting your appetite get out of control will make any effects of these supplements negligible or nonexistent.
Calorie Counting
Most people thought they’d never use math after they graduated, but sometimes that’s just what a weight loss plan needs. When you consume more calories than you burn, it leads to weight gain. Unfortunately, many of our favorite foods are higher calorie, and when we indulge we pack on the pounds.
With calorie counting, you can keep your favorite meals stocked in the fridge. To create a calorie deficit, and to prevent excess hunger, calculate how many calories per day you are eating and find a way to fit some of your favorite high-calorie foods in with other fiber-filled and nutritious options, too. It may mean you’re eating fewer pints of ice cream during the week, but you don’t have to abandon them entirely while trying to lose weight.
Fiber Focus
If you’ve ever felt guilty after one too many bites of cake, swearing to yourself that you’ll do better tomorrow, then this diet may be for you. Diets don’t have to spell deprivation and restriction. Focusing more on the foods you should be eating, rather than the ones you feel you shouldn’t, can make a real difference with your weight.
When you fill up on nutrient-dense foods, it leaves less room for unhealthy options that follow. You can still cut yourself a slice of pie and put pizza on your plate, but eating lots of healthy, filling food before digging into that donut will leave your body nourished and satisfied.
Portion Control
While it may seem restrictive by nature, controlling your portions simply means shifting your focus from what you’re eating to how much. With this method, no foods are off-limits, but how much you eat of those foods is another story. Most of the time, this involves measuring out how much of certain foods you should eat and including those measurements as part of a bigger picture of your personal nutrition.
The easiest way to control portions is to use smaller sized dinnerware. Using a smaller plate for calorie-dense foods tricks your eye into thinking you’re eating more than you actually are, which can have markedly significant effects on the regulation of your hunger hormones.
Cheat Days
This doesn’t mean unbridled indulgence for 1-2 days per week. For 5-6 days per week, your focus should be on eating mostly nutritional, low-calorie foods and adequate portion sizes. Intentional “cheat days”, in which enjoy all the culinary delicacies that spell trouble for your pant size, allow you the option to incorporate your favorite meals in your weight loss plan.
On these indulgent days, your focus should still remain on nutrient-dense food, but you also add the desserts and comfort foods that are sorely missed during the week. Your favorite foods still have a seat at the table, but just not every day.
You’re more likely to stick to diets that aren’t restrictive. Weight loss doesn’t have to mean depriving yourself of the foods you cherish, and you can still achieve results while keeping your favorite foods on your plate.
