Eating Healthy to Lose Weight - Help Losing Weight

By switching to a healthier diet permanently you can not only lose weight, but improve your overall health, cutting the risk of many common and serious illnesses.

Stay away from faddy diets and strange diet foods if you want to achieve lasting weight loss.

Even if you do lose some weight when you use them (and you might not), in the longterm you won't improve your diet - and that's what really matters.

To lose weight and keep it off, you need to establish new patterns of healthy eating that can last a lifetime.

Gradually switching to a diet that's rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins takes time and determination.

But once you've made the change you'll find you don't want to switch back to unhealthy foods.

Your Weight Loss Goal

• Start out with realistic expectations. If you start eating healthy to lose weight, then over time you will start to shed. But you may never be model-slender (and would you want to be?).
• If you switch to a healthy eating weight loss plan from a diet that's heavy on junk food and sweetened foods, then you'll probably find that you lose weight naturally over a period of months.
• Look for a slow, sustainable weight loss of no more than 8lb/3.6kg per month. These Easy Healthy Weight Loss Tips can help.
• If you're not sure what your correct weight should be, you can check yourself on the BMI Calculator.
• Another quick guide is to take your waist measurement. If it's more than 35 inches/88cm (women) or 40 inches/101cm (men) then you'd be well advised to try and reduce.
• Sorry, but losing weight fast isn't possible, or advisable, on a new healthy eating pattern. Be patient - a weight loss of one to two pounds a week is more likely to stay off.
• Give it time. See weight-loss as a long term project, and undertake to do it slowly, and make the weight loss permanent.
• Aim for lifelong changes. Eating healthy to lose weight is great, but be sure you only make shifts to your diet that you can sustain in the future.
• Start gradually if it helps. Some people like to plunge in with a new regime all at the same time, but others find it easier to introduce new eating habits slowly, and take a few days to get used to each one.
• Exercise is key. You can keep it simple - add a brisk 20-minute walk to your day, a weekly game of badminton, a cycle ride...little changes all add up.

Based on a program including plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean protein, legumes, wholegrains and low fat dairy products, the DASH diet is packed with delicious menus of lovely food you'll want to eat - and that can help you lose weight.

Healthy Eating Made Easy recommends this diet program because it shows you how to change your eating patterns in a way that's manageable and very good for your overall health, not just your waistline.

Eating Healthy to Lose Weight

• The basic truth is this: you can only lose weight if you burn more calories than you consume. To do this, you either have to eat less, exercise more or - ideally - do both. A good weight loss plan will help you do this.
• Rein in your consumption of refined carbohydrates - cakes, cookies, biscuits, sweets and candy. Healthy eating to lose weight in this way is especially important if you're wondering how to lose belly fat.
• Put the frying pan away. Steam, boil, bake, broil, grill - choose fat-free cooking methods every time. Remove visible fat from foods, pick lean cuts of meat (and serve red meat no more than twice a week), pre-fry ground/minced meat in a dry pan and pat with kitchen paper to soak up fat.
• Wise up on portion control - don't rely on guesswork, but weigh or measure your food.
• A better diet is one part of the equation, but it's equally important to add exercise to eating healthily. When you add more activity, and you change the way you eat, you set yourself up for success.

Healthy Eating Tips for Losing Weight

• If you can't avoid eating at junk food restaurants from time to time, make sure you know how to choose healthy fast foods.
• Cut down on fat. Try these Low Fat Dinner Recipes.
• Eat lots more fresh fruit and vegetables. Not only are they good for you and low in calories, but they help to bulk out meals by satisfying your appetite without adding many calories.
• Eat a mixed salad before your main meal to take the edge off your appetite. Drinking a glass of water half an hour before you eat can also help you eat less.
• Serve two types of vegetable with every meal and again, serve less meat.
• Add fruit to your breakfast, sliced on to cereal or served as it comes.
• Offer a plate of raw veg sticks and fruit pieces as a snack or pre-dinner appetiser.
• Eat plenty of salads - see our collection of 50 Healthy Salad Recipes.
• Use vegetables and pulses in pasta sauces, stews and casseroles and reduce the amount of meat you use.
• Homemade soup is delicious and very sustaining. Try these Healthy Soup Recipes For Weight Loss.
• Eat a healthy breakfast every morning. Research shows that eating breakfast is a characteristic of slender people, plus a sustaining meal first-thing can keep you going snack-free until lunch.
• No need to give up on snacks, if you use Healthy Snacks For Weight Loss
• Cut down on alcohol, or cut it out completely. It's stacked full of sugar - and calories - it's super-easy to drink it without even thinking about it. You'd need to jog for a mile to use up the calories from just one unit of alcohol - that's a small glass of wine, half a pint of beer or a measure of spirits.
• Don't buy wine boxes, which make it far too simple to drink a lot. Stick to one drink a day - choose the best time to have it and enjoy.
• Soft drinks are also bad news for slimmers, as they are laden with sugar and calories. You can switch to diet versions, but better, to avoid artificial sweeteners, is to take to drinking water instead.
• Fruit juice counts towards your daily intake of fruit and veg, but is also high in sugar, so limit yourself to one glass per day.
• Use skimmed milk in tea or coffee and cut out sugar.
• Eating healthy to lose weight is a great idea, and is good for your heart as well, but your weight loss plan will be far more effective if you add regular exercise to the agenda.

Eating healthy to lose weight isn't a short term strategy, it's a permanent change for the better. Make a start today - you'll never regret it.

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