How to Lose Weight and Never Gain it Back

October 18, 2009  
Filed under How to lose weight

If you want to lose weight permanently, then you have to modify your eating behavior. Once you make the decision to alter the way you eat you can effect a healthy change with regards to losing weight and keeping it off.

Slim people are those individuals who are familiar with eating healthily. This is the best way to become thin and stay that way. Not only will you acquire a slimmer body, you will also avert future health problems, such as cancer, heart attack and stroke. Therefore, permanent weight loss doesn’t involve counting calories so much as it entails learning the fundamentals of balanced nutritious eating and sensible exercise. Therefore, let’s look at some of the ways you can design an eating plan that is nutritious and will help you lose weight permanently.

Recipe for a Healthy Diet

A healthy, slimming diet includes vegetables and fruits; whole grains; low-fat dairy; seafood, poultry and lean meat; beans, nuts, legumes and seeds, and unsaturated fats and oils.

What’s in a Serving

In the fruit and vegetable group, you should have about 8 servings per day. Usually a serving of vegetables is approximately ½ cup to a cup. For fruits, a serving on average would be one of the following: 1 medium fruit, ½ cup fruit juice. or ½ cup fresh fruit.

For grains, a slice of whole wheat bread would be considered a serving while ½ cup rice, pasta or dry cereal is equal in this regard. It’s usually recommended that a person consume 4 servings per day from this food group.

One low-fat dairy serving equals, for instance, 1 cup fat-free or skim milk or an ounce and a half of low-fat cheese. A total of two servings daily should be consumed.

Usually one ounce of broiled or roasted lean meat, poultry or fish will meet the requirements for one serving which is the daily allotted requirement in this food groups.

When it comes to nuts, seeds, beans or legumes, then you can typically consider ½ cup cooked beans a serving or the same amount of unsalted nuts. Typically one serving from this group is suggested per day.

With regards to unsaturated oils and fats, count about two tablespoons of a light oil and vinegar dressing as a serving under a healthy eating plan. Normally 4 such servings are required per day.

Good Fats

For healthy eating, a certain amount of fat is important in the diet as it helps keep the temperature of the body balanced and safeguard body organs and tissues. It’s essential to keep saturated fat to a minimum as it tends to raise cholesterol. It is mostly found in coconut and palm oils as well as butter and meat. Plants naturally contain polyunsaturated fat and lower cholesterol. This type of fat is found in sunflower, corn and soybeans. Monounsaturated fat which is good for lowering the bad LDL cholesterol can be found in peanut oil, olive oil, canola oil and avocados.

Get Rid of the Junk

If you want to lose weight and stay thin, you must also get rid of all the foods you now consume that are calorically dense but nutritionally deficient. Remember, if the majority of the calories are empty or the food is basically insufficient nutritionally, then you should make some revisions to your current way of eating.

Making Substitutions

For instance, if you’re in the habit of eating a candy bar in the afternoon for a snack, you’ll need to switch it out for something that is sweet yet nutritious such as, maybe, a banana and yogurt. You can still enjoy the sweet taste but this way your selection is far more nutritious and lower in calories too. Therefore, get rid of all the junk food you’ve been accustomed to eating and replace this food with sustenance that will aid you as far as losing weight with optimum nutrition in mind.

Eat your Fruits and Vegetables

You can never go wrong eating fruits and vegetables if you want to lose weight and keep it off. Fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients and low in calories. For example, it takes more calories to digest vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower than what they actually contain. Therefore, you simply can’t get fat by choosing these foods to eat.

A Slimming Food

Beans are another nutrient rich food that is slimming. In fact, one study showed that participants who ate 1 ½ cups of beans per day lost ten pounds in a month and were able to keep it the weight off.

Don’t Drink up your Calories

To lose weight and keep it off, it’s also essential to be aware of the calories you’re consuming in beverages as well. If you’re choosing to drink a calorie-laden cappuccino to start your day, it’s probably a good time to start making some diet modifications. Select beverages with low calories or no calories as the excessive calories found in some drinks can pack on the pounds. Therefore, choose water, flavored water or herbal tea when you’re reaching for something to drink or quench your thirst.

Slow Down

Another change you need to make as well is to slow down while you’re eating. People who eat fast tend to also gain weight easier than those people who take their time as they eat. Stop and savor your food. Don’t eat it so quickly you can’t even taste it.

Get Going

Eating healthy can make a vast improvement in how you look and feel. Combined with some type of exercise, you’re sure to make strides to a becoming a new slimmer you. In order to stay that way, make it a habit to do some type of exercise for at least thirty minutes a day. Walking is an excellent activity for anyone regardless of fitness level or age. Regardless, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, pick an exercise you know you can make a commitment to.

The Key to Successful Weight Loss

Fad diets come and go but losing weight permanently involves revising the way we eat by replacing the empty calories we consume with nutritionally rich, lower calorie foods. You don’t have to count calories when you eat healthily and in moderation. That’s the key on how to lose weight and keep it off.

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Comments

2 Comments on "How to Lose Weight and Never Gain it Back"

  1. Kathryn on Sun, 6th Dec 2009 8:59 pm 

    great info. I live that you are not only promoting weight loss, but ‘permanent’ weight loss. It’s not about fad diets, it’s about changing your lifestyle, one day at a time.

    Thanks!
    Kathryn

  2. Payton Butler on Fri, 30th Apr 2010 3:38 pm 

    Exercise and strict dieting can do magic if you are trying to lose weight. I did a lot of cardio just to lose weight.`,-

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