Last Updated on September 4, 2019 by Femniqe
Safe and effective weight loss starts in the kitchen!
One of the best ways to lose weight is by eating a healthy diet that is loaded with fat burning foods.
What many people fail to realize is that, what you eat is way more important than how you exercise. So basically weight-loss is about 60% of what you eat and 40% exercise.
You can do the best workout routine in the world but if your diet is unhealthy you will never get the results you want.
Of course, exercise is important but food should be your main focus because what you put inside of your body is what dictates how you look on the outside.
That’s why in this guide we’re going to walk you through 4 steps that will help you to lose weight by eating and actually keeping it off permanently.
HOW TO Lose Weight By Eating THE RIGHT WAY
Action 1: you must remove all artificial sweeteners and processed foods from your diet
Now, in this guide we’re not going to tell you to avoid some of your favorite foods, for example, chocolate or pies. In fact, we’re going to encourage you to get rid of dangerous artificial foods and start eating clean.
But what is clean eating?
This buzz term has been thrown around a lot. But what is it exactly? Well it’s basically removing all processed, artificial foods from your current diet and refocusing on eating unprocessed, whole and healthy foods.
Look at it this way, your body is originated from nature, therefore, it should be fed by the produces of nature.
In other words, you want to focus your efforts on eating clean, organic earth produced foods as it will help you to live a much longer, healthier life, helps to keep off excessive weight and beautify your skin.
For example, let’s look at animals, they eat straight from nature. So why do we, as humans, have to process and denature foods that wreak havoc on our bodies?
We’re not saying you need to go back to the caveman style of eating, but at least try to adopt a more natural and organic lifestyle of eating.
How to eat clean
As mentioned earlier, you have to skip the pre-made foods, start picking up organic fruits and vegetables, and get your meats from the butcher.
When buying rice at the supermarket make sure that you only purchase brown rice.
You can still eat your chocolate but instead of the sugar-free chocolate treats that are packed with artificial sweeteners, buy the natural dark chocolate that is made from cocoa.
If you are a cheese lover you can go for cotton cheese that is low in fat.
Start eating more fat burning foods
To get good results on your weight-loss journey, you must incorporate fat burning foods in your diet, as they are the core of the plan.
Some of the top fat burning foods includes green tea, coffee, beans, lentils, berries, hot peppers, oats, whole wheat, apples, eggs, spinach, almond milk and broccoli.
All of these foods have excellent metabolism boosting properties that will help you to lose weight and keep it off.
One thing you should bear in mind is that raw foods have more nutrition as they are not processed or denatured.
So for example, when eating salads always use raw vegetables instead of cooking them as you do not want to destroy its health properties.
Action 2: plan out your meals and keep track of what you eat and drink
This may seem like a lot of work but with today’s technology food tracking apps are available that you can download on your phone and it becomes an easy task.
This is a big deal because by planning your meals and tracking what you drink and eat you will be memorizing how many calorie is actually in your favorite meals and ingredients.
It will help you to learn your own cravings and eating habits, so over time you will become better at planning healthy meals that will suit your cravings.
By doing this, you’ll be able to design your own healthy lifestyle and still enjoy some of your favorite foods. So try your best not to skip this step as it can be the difference between losing weight and putting it on.
The meal plan
Without making a meal plan for weight loss you are setting up yourself for failure.
Any effective weight-loss plan must include a diet plan. If you actually sit down and plan out your meals you are most likely to stick with the program because you took the time and effort to create it.
Plus, you’ll find it way more easier to stay on the plan because you know the delicious meal that is coming up the next day and you’ll be less likely to spend on unnecessary foods that will not help you on your weight-loss journey.
But what about calories?
So we’re on the topic of meal plan therefore, we must talk about how many calories you should consume.
So let’s say your dream goal weight is 130 pounds, to find out the amount of calories you must consume daily just add a zero to the end of the amount you weigh and if you’re done it correctly then you will get your daily calorie goal.
For this example it will be 1300 calories.
This will give you a good range to work with so that you don’t end up starving but not over eating.
Action 3: you need to start moving your body more
Just as earlier we mentioned how weight-loss is 60% of what you eat and 40% of exercise, many people think that exercise is the ultimate and main thing they should focus on and disregard following a healthy diet.
That’s the wrong approach to take and that’s why this step is absolutely important. You don’t have to train your body like Usain Bolt but you need exercise to help speed up the weight-loss process and tone your body.
One of the biggest issues people have is extra skin or loose skin which happens after weight loss. The best way to deal with this issue is with exercise.
Doing exercises will help to increase the skin’s elasticity and you don’t have to spend 1 hour exercising, you can spend 20 minutes doing some intense cardio or even yoga.
How to lose weight without exercise
So what about those who can’t exercise due to physical difficulties or health issues? Well in that case, your weight loss will mostly depend on your eating habits.
If you can’t exercise then you have to ensure that your diet plan is on par.
Even though you have issues with exercising, you can take the stairs instead of taking an elevator or walking instead of taking a taxi for short distances.
You want to be moving as much as possible. This will increase your metabolic rate.
Action 4: start drinking 1 gallon of water a day
Water is absolutely important for losing weight. Besides tasting great, studies have shown that it naturally boosts your metabolism along with many other additional health benefits.
How much water should I drink to lose weight?
1 gallon of water a day might seem like a lot but it’s actually a good weight loss goal to strive for. By having 40 ounces of water in the morning, noon and night it will help you to feel hydrated and stay full which means you will have less food cravings.
Drinking this amount of water will help to increase your metabolism, help to flush toxins from your body and help to aid in weight loss.
Some persons can drink a gallon of water and that’s completely fine. But start slow with 50 ounces of water per day then gradually increase it by adding an extra 10 ounces each day until you are consuming a gallon daily.
Commonly ask questions
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions pertaining to weight loss.
How much weight can I lose in a month?
Everyone’s metabolic rate is different, therefore, the best thing you can do is set reasonable goals. Studies have show that losing 1-3 pounds a week is an achievable and safe goal.
On the other hand, there are people who have lost 15 to 25 pounds in the first month but that depends on your metabolic rate, eating plan and exercise routine.
How to stay motivated to lose weight?
Anyone trying to stay motivated to lose weight will know that it’s a bit challenging, but it’s very important to weight loss.
If you skip a workout or overeat, that will slow down your results and this is where a lot of people go wrong.
When you choose a reasonable goal it will help you stay motivated, and setting unrealistic goals can be overwhelming. So for example, instead of saying you want to lose 20 pounds in one week, you can start off by saying you want to lose 3 pounds a week.
That is more achievable!
You must realize that it’s important to set goals that you can reach and always work to meet those goals and set higher ones as you go along, because that’s how you keep yourself challenged and stay motivated.
Another thing you can do to help stay motivated is to keep track or log your weight-loss results so that you can actually see your achievements.
One good way to do this is to take before and after pictures routinely, so that you can see your incredible changes.
Can I lose weight without eating vegetables?
This is a hard one because vegetables are critical in weight Loss. You might find this hard to swallow but you need to eat vegetables to help you lose weight.
When you eat veggies it helps to cut your calorie intake and at the same time keep your stomach filled and minimize your cravings.
I hate water, are there any alternatives?
If you don’t like the flat taste of water, you can try water infused recipes as it is a very good way to flavor your water and add antioxidants.
However, make sure that you stay away from flavored packets in squirt bottles as they are packed with a lot of sweeteners and sugar which will cause you to gain weight.
The Final take
Trying to lose weight doesn’t have to be hard. When you follow a good weight loss plan and stick with it, you will not only lose weight but also live a happier and healthy life.