How old were you when you started your first diet? Did you buy Atkins bars to burn off the baby weight? Did you go low-fat after the infamous Freshman 15? Maybe your food-restriction started much younger.
One study found that 1 out of 4 children have dieted prior to turning 7. By age 10, 80% of girls have been on a diet. Those numbers are a bit shocking.
If you’re weary from worrying over what you eat, take a break from tracking. Here’s how to reach your weight loss goals without micromanaging your meals.
- Pair Your Food with Protein
Protein gives you a leg up on your weight loss journey. Of course, you’ve heard that protein keeps you feeling full and satisfied for longer, and it gives your body what it needs to preserve and build lean, toned muscle while you lose fat.Protein is essential for increasing your metabolism, helping you naturally and effortlessly burn more calories and fat every day. Several studies found that individuals who increased their protein intake had more fat loss and maintained muscle mass than those who didn’t increase protein.A less known perk of protein, however, is its benefit on our blood sugar. Spikes in blood sugar and insulin can lead to more fat storage. Protein slows the absorption of carbohydrates into our bloodstream, keeping our blood sugar levels balanced.
Studies have found that people with type 2 diabetes can benefit from eating more protein, but you can tap into these perks too.
When you eat foods that can spike blood sugar, like carbs, pair them with protein to minimize the spike and fat storage.
- Picture Your Plate
I’m a big fan of tracking macros. It creates nutritional awareness, opens your eyes to how macro and calorie dense different foods are, and can lead to informed, healthier choices.But macro tracking isn’t sustainable. A lifelong commitment to tracking every macro could make you hyper-focused on your diet, keep you from enjoying times like vacations and holidays, and make you fixated on perfection instead of focusing on progress.A simple trick is to picture your plate. Your perfect macro balance depends on your personal goals, activity level, age, health, gender, and genetics. In general, though, a moderate-fat (20%-30% of calories), moderate-carb (30% to 40% of calories), and adequate protein (30% to 40% of calories) diet tends to promote weight loss in most people.
When I don’t feel like counting macros, I think about dividing up my plate. You’ll be close to a macro-balanced meal if you pile up half your plate with veggies. Fill one-quarter with protein, then split the remaining between your carbs and fats.
- Fill Up on Real Food
Can you list a single whole food that’s bad for you? Real food is the kind that grows out of or walks on the earth. It’s the food you can pronounce and picture holding in your hand. A diet of whole foods or ones whose ingredient list only includes whole foods will eliminate most of the food that widens our waistlines.While balancing your macronutrients is important for weight loss, most of the foods that cause our bodies to store excess fat are the processed, packaged foods we mix into our day.Picture your routine week day. What would eating only real food look like?
I picture satiating, healing meals like scrambled eggs with tomatoes, green chilis, avocado, and cilantro. Banana and wild blueberry smoothies blended with organic yogurt. Honey glazed salmon with roasted veggies and fluffy quinoa. Homemade chicken rice soup with lemon and dill.
By simply focusing on eating real food, you’ll automatically cut the problem foods out. It’s a simple hack that brings many benefits beyond the shape of your body.
- Crack the Cravings Code
Let’s say you chase each dinner with a chocolate milkshake. After two months, your body would start to expect that sweet treat at the end of the day. If you tried to go without it, cravings would kick in hard. But sometimes cravings aren’t simply a sign of bad habits. They can be your body’s plea for certain nutrients.For example, the classic PMS chocolate cravings aren’t temptations to binge. Cocoa alleviates many symptoms we have during our periods, like cramping, headaches, fatigue, and mood swings. When we can crack the code of our cravings, we can provide our body with what it’s asking for, and those cravings will go away.Here’s the trick: Most of the time our body asks for the food that will solve the problem the fastest. Junk food has caused some confusion in our body’s conversation with us.
For example, have you ever been so hungry that you ate an entire bag of tortilla chips? I have. Our bodies remember that tortilla chips, made from refined flour, sodium, and oil, will give a much faster uptick in calories and immediate energy than broccoli. When we’re very hungry, our body remembers those chips and asks for them again desperately. However, if you sat down to a warm, whole-food, and balanced meal, your intense cravings for those chips would subside.
Here are some examples of a few classic cravings compared to the food or drink your body might actually need:
- If you’re craving a high-carb salty snack, try carrots and hummus
- If you’re craving sweets, try cooked root vegetables.
- If you’re craving ice cream, try drinking a big glass of water.
Rather than simply substituting a healthy food for an unhealthy food, when you’re trying to crack the code of your cravings, think about the nutrients that your body is asking for. As time goes on and you give your body what it really needs, it will start craving those foods instead.
Take a Break from Tracking
Keeping track of macros and calories can strategically help you reach your weight loss goals. But more importantly, creating a healthy lifestyle you can realistically stick with day after day is key to long term weight management and health. Try these tips whenever you need some time off from tracking.
If this all feels a bit daunting, come join LEAN. We’ll give you the guidance and support to evolve your eating habits into a sustainable lifestyle. We favor progress over perfection, so it’s a program for us real people to see results.
