Yes! You Can Eat Anything You Want And Still Lose Weight! Here’s How
emaan shah Emaan is a voracious and rather indiscriminate reader. She is also a writer, history buff, insomniac, amateur doodle artist, terrible poet and a self-professed philosopher (but only after 3 am). Currently, she is pursuing a degree in medicine.
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Are you guilty of yo-yo dieting?
If so, you’re not alone.
In this day and age, it feels as though almost every new week brings another brand new diet craze. Which, let’s face it, you’re ultimately going to fail at. (Oh, don’t you go around accusing me of being a Negative Nancy, I prefer the term ‘honest pragmatist’, thank you very much.)
From low-carb to low-fat to the ‘let’s all only eat carrots!’ diet (which coincidentally really can turn you orange, by the way), when it comes to losing weight, in our greed for quick results most of us have done it all. Some of which we should actually be embarrassed to confess, being the ‘educated adults’ we claim to be.
But each time we come across a new diet fad online, it’s uncannily like stumbling upon that leather-decked, motorcycle-driving bad-boy-in-aviators all over again. Your mom warned you about him. You know it’s going to end in a disaster. Yet, you still hop onto that backseat for the ride of your life.
Fast forward two weeks later and you’re shamefully stuffing your face with chocolate ice cream in the confines of your dark bedroom till you hate yourself. (Fun fact: Taylor Swift’s I Knew You Were Trouble is actually based on the cabbage soup diet. True story.)
But through all the mania of Atkins and Dukan and Keto, dieticians have continued to endorse the same advice: for sustainable weight loss, do not deprive yourself. It is possible to eat what you want, still lose weight and keep it off long-term.
Seems too good to be true? Boy, are you in for a surprise!
The following are four age-old weight loss tips that will keep you satisfied yet enviably fit in the long run:
1. Don’t Cross The 2000 kcal Limit
Dying for some hot, buttery garlic breadsticks? Or maybe a sumptuous, gooey chocolate chip cookie?
Then girl, go for it.
You truly can eat whatever you want. All you need to follow is some simple math, and yes, I’m talking about calories. As long as you don’t go above 2000 kcal every day, you’re not going to put on any weight.
So, no need to eliminate entire food groups like fats or sugars from your diet, this will only deprive your body of essential nutrients it requires for daily functioning, ultimately leading to a crash. In fact, in a study conducted by Tufts University, women on a low-carb diet performed worse on memory-testing tasks than women on a calorie restriction diet (1).
Hence, stop setting yourself up for failure anymore. Eat what you want but in moderation.
2. Remember To Hydrate
Yes, you’ve been told this a million times, but it’s time you actually listened. It is absolutely vital – VITAL people! – that you drink at least 1 liter, 4 cups or 3 oz. of water every day. Hydrating throughout the day and during the course of your meals helps promote optimum digestion, thereby preventing you from any water retention and bloating. There is also research that suggests guzzling 2 whole glasses of water right before meals can give you a feeling of satiation, hence preventing you from any unnecessary overeating (2).
3. Track Your Protein Intake For Faster Weight Loss
Regardless of what it is you exactly choose to consume, if you stick to eating below 2000kcal per day, you will definitely lose weight. However, if at least 30% of those calories come from protein, then you will lose weight even faster. Protein is a wonder food group when it comes to weight loss. Not only does eating protein boost your body’s levels of GLP-1, cholecystokinin, and peptide YY (read: appetite reducing hormones), it also causes your ghrelin (read: hunger hormone) levels to fall (3, 4, 5).
Additionally, once we eat, we also burn some calories while trying to digest and metabolize the ingested food. This phenomenon is referred to as TEF, or thermic effect of food. Compared to carbohydrates (~10%) and fats (~3%), proteins have a significantly higher TEF (20-30%) (6).
Like, damn.
4. And Finally, Exercise
It’s simple math, really. Subtract the number of calories you eat and – voila! You lose weight. Simply burning 700kcal per week can result in a 4.5kg weight loss at the end of the year. Bonus? Regular physical activity has also been shown to boost HDL, aka good cholesterol levels, release endorphins (read: happy hormones), help with satiation, boost metabolism, and improve your overall cardiovascular health.
The abovementioned tips aren’t actually a ‘diet’,but more of a lifestyle change. You truly can enjoy every food group and still lose weight; the only requirement is patience. You need to give your body time. Fad diets may give faster results, but they only end with you caving into pizza and a side of steaming self-hate. It’s time you broke out of this vicious cycle.
Best of luck!
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