Foods to avoid when you want to lose weight the healthy way

July 25, 2009 by health1  
Filed under Diet Tips to lose weight

When you’re working on your weight loss, there are certain foods that you need to avoid, that you’d otherwise be eating in normal circumstances.

The main category of foods to avoid is consisting of fatty, greasy food. If certain foods have too much oil or fat in them, best is you set them aside. For example, fried snacks, too many carbohydrates. Also avoid eating a too big variety of foods, because this can increase your calorie intake.

Junk food, fad items that are resulting of the latest trend made by the latest star. Avoid those, you don’t need to be a follower of fad, it’s shine will go down fast, taking your health along the way. Latest types of sugary juices and sweet soda drink are all things best to be avoided not only while losing weight, but at all times. They are just not good for you. Not to mention cakes, icecream, pies, frostings, they all increase your risk of heart disease.

Processed food, like hot dogs, canned food, cheese, tomato sauce, dry food, all these have too much high-sodium which increases  your risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and stroke.

Another thing to watch for, too much food eaten in one go is not good for you. Try to eat smaller portions more often and eat carefully, chew your food good and eat slowly. Just focus on the food, how it tastes in your mouth and enjoy it.
I found that if I want eat smaller portions, the best way for me is to put the food on smaller size plates. It will make your portion look bigger than it is and our stomach will be sooner satisfied than usual.

While you want to lose weight healthy, try to keep the foods above away from you. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have a glass of red wine during your weekend lunch, or a few nuts one a week while having folks over, but don’t overdo it. If you were used to eat all these things before, just by cutting most of them from your diet, you will see a big change in your weight, for the better!

Lose weight healthy the fast way

Yes, there is also such a thing, losing weight the healthy way in a fast way. Now don’t think this is the route to take every time, are true little lifestyle changes one at a time are the best way to go about it, but if you really want to fit in that skinny dress for that wedding two weeks down the road, there are a few things you can do starting now.

  • Drink lots of water – You need to drink 8-10 glasses of water every day. But it has to be water, not juice. Sure, you can drink some nice sugar free juice, but that is in additional your ratio of water. You need to be hydrated at all time, and allow your kidneys to flush down the toxins that your body produces. For example, have 1 glass of water 15 minutes before your next meal. You will get full and eat less. How’s that for a nice trade-off and start to lose weight healthy the fast way?
  • Eat 5 meals a day – What you do here is eat 3 regular meals and 2 or 3 small in between snacks. The most important meal of the day is breakfast. If you eat well (and healthy) for breakfast, you’ll be less hungry throughout the day. Also by eating regularly 5 times a day, you will not feel hungry in between meals and won’t have the urge to go down to the nearest shop and buy chips to keep you busy. Make sure your fridge is stacked full with healthy food, have plenty of salads, make soups instead of buying chips and burgers. This way your metabolism will increase and you will have more energy. If you go on a regular diet, your metabolism decreases and you will store the fat on your body.
  • Eat salads and vegetables with every single meal and make fruits, such as apples part of your snack time – Salads and vegetables have no calories or hardly any, they make for good and yiummie side-dish, and you will get faster full, thus requiring to eat less calorie-full food. Two of your 5 meals can be fruit-snack time: eat an apple or two, eat a banana or an orange. You will not crave for any sweets until your next regular meal.
  • Exercise - join a gym or workout at home. You need 30 minutes cardio exercises every day. Any of these is good for you to get started with:walking, jogging, swimming,running, biking, etc. But don’t just sit at home as a couch potato, as that will only make you more depressed when you go on that scale and  you see you haven’t actually lost a gram!
  • Keep a food journal – Food journals are important because you can track your progress at any time. And if you are working with a dietitian, they can always review it and suggest improvements to your food intake. Also when you skip dinner, make a habit to measure your waist the next morning. You will what a motivator it is to see that your waist becomes just a bit smaller! You’ll be that much more eager to skip the next dinner, and the next…There is a reason why they say that while breakfast is the most important meal of the day, dinner is the least and most of the times it’s best to be skipped entirely.

Follow these simple steps to lose weight healthy the fast way. If you’re a bit overweight, in just two weeks you might be able to fit in your new wedding dress. But you need to have a willingness to try it and keep at it.

3 Tips on how to lose weight the healthy way

There are two ways on how to lose weight: the fast way, or the healthy way. There is no middle road. Both take you the same place, but you will find a difference along the way, or even in the outcome.

If you want to lose weight the fast way, you can do it. There are a lot of products out there that teach you just how to go about it and in upcoming articles we will discuss that. But now, let’s focus on how to lose weight the healthy way.

No matter how you put it, there is no magic pill in losing weight in a healthy way without making the following three changes in your life:

  1. Make changes gradually. You are used with a particular lifestyle, and your body is used to that rhythm too. If you make a sudden change in your life, if you don’t give you body time to adjust, the body will react sooner or later, and that will not be in a good way. Best is to give your body time to adjust. Make the changes gradually. For example, cut the sugar, and replace it with healthy honey instead. Or instead of 2 spoons of sugar in your coffee, use only one. You like that snack in the afternoon? Replace it with a bowl of fruits, or a plate of fresh carrots and other fresh vegetables that you can munch on while watching the latest rerun of Lost.
    If you’re not one to make exercises, don’t worry, you don’t have to go to the gym right away and start making aerobics, but it does help to take a walk in the park, or around the block a couple of times a week.
    Introducing these gradual changes in your life, changes that your body will have time to adjust, are a great way on how to lose weight the healthy way.
  2. Reduce your calorie intake. Obviously this involves eating less calories than before. If you’re not used to what it takes to watch your calories, there are several aids available online. You can find many calorie calculators available for free online. These calculators take into account your weight, your body fat percentage and an estimate of your daily activity, to figure out your daily burned calories. This tool is great because it will tell you exactly how the calorie intake you need to maintain on a daily basis to successfully lose weight.
  3. Be patient grasshopper. If you want to lose weight the healthy way, it will not happen overnight. You need to have some patience, so don’t keep going up and down that scale every few hours. If you really start working on these little changes in your lifestyle, you will start noticing gradual changes after about 2 weeks. So you really need to remember that this works and keep yourself motivated and not give up. Of course, we are all humans, and we have all human needs and cravings. So you needn’t feel very guilty if you do take a bite from that Belgium dark chocolate or drink a glass of red wine, now and then. But you have to get back on track and simply keep on doing it. You will see, once you notice the first pounds lost on that scale, you will feel that much more determined to go through with it!

If you’ve wondered how to lose weight the healthy way, now is your chance to actually do it. Just remember, small, gradual, baby steps, it’s all it takes. Take it easier on your sweets and calories, and gradually introduce exercise, the light way. Lifting weights is not yet on the table for you, well, not unless you like doing it, of course.