You're interested in eating healthy to lose weight? Then you're off to a flying start in your bid to shed some excess fat.
Faddy diets and strange diet foods are not your friends because 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.
If you switch to healthy eating 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. Be patient - a weight loss of one to two pounds a week is more likely to stay off.
If you're not sure whether you need to lose weight, you can check yourself on the BMI Calculator. If you already have a reasonably healthy diet, but still need to shift some stubborn poundage, then try these tips.
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.
Rein in your consumption of refined carbohydrates - cakes, cookies, biscuits, sweets and candy.
If you find it hard to organise healthy meals that can help you lose weight, check out my favourite book of Healthy Eating Plans.
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.
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.
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.
Use vegetables and pulses in pasta sauces, stews and casseroles and reduce the amount of meat you use.
Serve two types of vegetable with every meal and again, serve less meat.
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.
Cut down on alcohol, or cut it out completely. It's stacked full of sugar - that is, 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.
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?).
Look for a slow, sustainable weight loss of no more than 8lb/3.6kg per month.
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.
So, look at eating healthy to lose weight as a permanent change for the better. Make a start today - you'll never regret it.
Here is a free Internet resource that I highly recommend. The website is packed with information about
Lasting Natural Weight Loss
, weight loss diets, tips, techniques, emotional eating, healthy eating to speed up metabolism, and
Weight Loss Exercise Programs
