Many people find it difficult to control their weight. At one extreme, some people struggle to lose weight while at the other end are those who struggle with overeating.
Eating less of the foods that are high in calories, salt and sugar may help you lose weight. It’s also important to get enough sleep and exercise regularly.
Eat Smaller Portion Sizes
Eating smaller portions helps reduce your overall calorie intake, which is an important component of weight control. This can be achieved by measuring your food, using smaller dishes and by reading food labels to understand serving sizes.
In laboratory-based studies, systematically offering large portions of high-energy density (HED) foods promotes greater energy intake, which is likely to be due to the portion size effect (PSE). However, it’s less clear that large portion sizes directly cause increased weight gain in controlled studies. This is partly because the PSE may mask individual differences in susceptibility to weight change and in response to HED foods. Creative downsizing solutions may help moderate the PSE, particularly in children, as they learn about and establish eating norms.
Eat More Vegetables and Fruits
Fruits and vegetables are healthy, filling, low-calorie foods. They provide a variety of vitamins and minerals, especially folate, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.
Increasing vegetable and fruit intake reduces the risk of weight gain, according to several cohort studies. Choose whole vegetables and fruits. Avoid processed, fried, or salty snacks and meals.
Fill half your plate with vegetables, and add lean protein, low-fat dairy, and whole grains. Skip beverages with added sugars or empty calories, such as soda and candy. Instead, drink water or low-fat milk with meals and snack on a handful of nuts or a small piece of fruit. Choose unsweetened, frozen or canned fruits.
Eat Less Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are broken down into sugars in the body and provide energy. If your body has more energy from carbohydrates than you need, it will store the excess in fat cells to use later (39).
Limiting carbohydrate consumption is an important part of controlling weight. A healthy diet should include all three macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrates).
Some carbohydrates are “good” or “bad.” Good carbohydrate foods are whole, unprocessed foods that provide vitamins, minerals and fibre, such as vegetables, fruit, beans, lentils and whole grains.
Try to remove refined grain products, such as bread and flour, from your diet. Also reduce high-sugar beverages, like soda and sweet tea or juice.
Eat Less Added Sugars
Sugars are added to food and beverages when they are processed or prepared. These include soda, packaged cookies and even tea with added sugar. These added sugars provide calories but don’t offer healthy nutritional value.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting added sugars to 10% or less of your total daily calories. That translates to about 9 teaspoons of sugar per day for men and 6 teaspoons for women.
Use your 30-day challenge to discover which foods or beverages contribute most to your added sugar intake. Then focus on making healthy changes that you can follow long term. A registered dietitian can help with this process and provide education and support.
Avoid Weight Cycling
Losing and gaining weight several times over the course of your life can be quite frustrating. Thankfully, you can avoid this cycle of weight fluctuations by ditching the fad diets and following healthy, sustainable practices.
Studies show that yo-yo dieting, or weight cycling, can lead to some health risks, including higher cholesterol and high blood pressure. It can also increase feelings of depression.
It is important to know that regaining the weight you have lost may actually be worse for your health than never losing it at all. It can also cause you to internalize negative beliefs about yourself, which in turn leads to a cycle of emotional eating.