How to Lose Weight and Still Eat Your Favorite Foods

Do you feel like in order to lose weight you can’t eat any sweets, pasta, or other carbs? A lot of people think in order to lose weight they have to go on a ‘diet’ where they can only eat protein, fruits, and veggies. This is definitely NOT the case and can actually making losing weight so much harder. If you’re not eating any of your favorite foods, it’s not likely that your diet is going to last more than a few weeks. Then you get into that ‘screw it’ mindset and binge all of your favorite foods. Sound familiar?

The most important thing when it comes to losing weight is making sure you’re in a calorie deficit. This means that you are consuming less calories than your body is burning in a day. And no, you don’t need to eat 1200 calories a day in order to lose weight. Cutting your calories that much is another thing that will back fire and you’ll want to give up after a few days.

You can lose weight eating only candy bars as long as you are in a calorie deficit. Obviously that would be very healthy, but you get my point ;)

In order to be successful with weight loss, I think it’s important to include some of your favorite foods daily. You might need to eat less of those foods than you’re used to, but you can still include them. It really helps mentally to be able to eat foods that you enjoy when you’re in a calorie deficit.

When creating a meal plan for someone, the first thing I do after figuring out their calories to be in a deficit is plan three solid, high protein meals a day. This helps keep you satiated and full for hours after eating your meal. This way I can leave 200-300 extra calories for you to have fun with, meaning have a candy bar, a scoop of ice cream, or some chips that you love. It’s all about balance. It’s definitely NOT all or nothing.

If we prioritize protein, fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc and keep your calories below a certain point to keep you in a deficit, then including some fun foods is healthy mentally and will help you continue on.

The foods you eat while losing weight should be the same foods you eat at maintenance, we’re just changing the quantities. DON’T think of it as a diet, think of it as a lifestyle change.

Falling into that black and white, all or nothing thinking really hurts people when trying to lose weight. If they eat one ‘bad’ food then they feel like they’ve ruined their diet and want to give up or decide they’ll get back on it tomorrow. What if you could still have that chocolate chip cookie, move on with your day and continue to prioritize protein, veggies, fruits, and other healthy foods? You’ll be so much more successful, I promise!

If you want help setting up a meal plan or figuring out your calories and protein, send an inquiry HERE and we’ll get back to you to set up an appointment with one of our dietitians! We’d love to help you successfully create healthy habits around food, learn how to be less black and white with your thinking about nutrition, and/or lose weight!