Nutrition Tips for Fat Loss
Nutritional Consultant | Long Beach, California
Here is a basic nutrition plan that will help you safely lose weight and burn fat
While everyone is unique and should customize his or her nutrition to match his or her personal goals and lifestyle, it is also important to remind you that you should always consult a doctor before beginning this or any other dietary change.
Most people have grown up eating three meals a day, but are not sure what they should be eating for each meal, and for their snacks between meals. Personally, I consume between 1500-1800 calories per day divided between 3 meals and 2-3 snacks. Your caloric needs may be greater or less based on your current weight and activity level. There are several websites and apps available to help you determine how many calories you should be eating per day.
In the morning your sugar levels are most likely depleted from the fasting period while you have slept. Because of this, you need to make sure a portion of your breakfast contains carbohydrates. A piece of toast or some oatmeal combined with a piece of fruit makes for a great breakfast since you will be giving your body simple sugars from the fruit for immediate energy and complex carbohydrates for a slower digesting energy source. Portion size is the trick here since if you eat too many carbohydrates without using them your body will just convert them to store as fats.
From this point on, your body really doesn't need many carbohydrates for the rest of the day unless you are working out. Post-workout your body will be depleted of sugar again so it's alright to add them to your after-workout shake. But snacking on carbohydrates during the day will throw a wrench in your fat loss plan.
Your body will use them for energy and never have to burn your body fat as an energy source. So as a rule of thumb, carbohydrates should be only consumed in quantity for breakfast and post-workout.
So if you are not eating carbohydrates for the rest of the day, where are you getting your calories from for your other meals. For lunch and dinner, lean protein and high fiber vegetables make a great choice. A big tossed salad with chicken breast and a small amount of dressing is a good choice. Fish or lean meat paired with seasonal vegetables makes another great meal. If you are consuming around 300-400 calories for both lunch and dinner, you should be close to this number with only 2 items on your plate.
"Never hungry and never full" is important to keep your body burning calories throughout the day. To make sure you are doing this you need to be eating every 2-3 hours by adding snacks to your routine. If you work out mid-morning or mid-afternoon a protein shake post-workout can double as a great snack. Nuts like almonds make another great snack that you can eat on the go.
However, be careful with nuts not to eat too many since they are very dense in calories. When I am at home my personal favorite snack is a homemade ranch dressing made from Greek yogurt and a seasoning packet to dip carrots, broccoli, or snap peas into. This makes a great snack that is high in protein and fiber while being low in fat and calories.
Weight Loss Tips
Are you looking to lose weight to improve your appearance, your health, or even both? If you are, you may be looking for advice. The good news is that there are a number of tips that you can use to help you successfully lose weight and hopefully achieve your weight loss goal.
When it comes to losing weight, the best thing that you can do is eat healthily. Eating healthy involves watching the foods that you eat, not necessarily how much food you eat. Of course, you may want to restrict the number of foods that you eat, when on a diet, but it is more important to focus on the foods that you do eat. For instance, if you were to eat fruit instead of chips, you could have more fruit snacks with your meals than you would be able to if you were just to eat junk food.
Since eating healthy is an important component of losing weight, you may be wondering how you can go about doing so. One of the first things that you should do is find and familiarize yourself with healthy meals. You can do this by way of a standard internet search or by buying a collection of healthy eating recipe books. To reduce the boredom often associated with healthy eating, especially if you are not used to it, it is important that you “spice,” up your foods, and try to not eat the same meals over and over again each week.
In connection with healthy eating, regular exercise is also important to weight loss. If you are looking to lose weight, you should start an exercise plan for yourself. Exercise is important as it burns off calories. When you burn calories, the number of calories that your body absorbs decreases. This is, essentially, what makes it possible for you to lose weight. If you haven’t been exercising regularly in the past, it is important that you take it slow. Exercise is a great way to lose weight, but you do not want to overdo it, especially at first.
If you don’t currently have an exercise plan or program in place, you may be wondering more about what you can do. One of the many ways that you can go about finding exercises or workouts to do is by buying a collection of fitness magazines. Many fitness magazines have detailed exercises outlined in them, often accompanied by pictures. You may also be able to find free instructional workout videos or exercise moves online. As a reminder, it is important to start out slow or at least start with exercises that would be easy for you too.
Eating healthy and regular exercise are both important components of losing weight, but there are additional tips that you can use to help you lose weight. One of those tips involves finding a workout partner or a workout buddy. This is a person who can exercise with you, whether your exercise involves visiting a local gym or just going for a walk at a local shopping center. Having a workout partner may help to keep you motivated and it may help to keep exercising and losing weight fun and exciting for you.
Another way that you can go about successfully achieving your weight loss goal is by “spicing,” up your exercises. As previously mentioned, you can use the internet or fitness magazines to find workouts for you to do at home. To help reduce the boredom often associated with exercising you will want to change up your exercises, often on a daily basis. For instance, one day you may want to use a treadmill, the next day you may want to lift weights, and the next day you may want to do an exercise DVD, and so forth.
You should also consider making exercise and healthy eating logs or journals for yourself. These items can be used to track your progress. If you have a good week, like one where you completed all of your exercises, you may want to think about rewarding yourself. Your reward doesn’t have to include food; it can be something as simple as a sticker or treating yourself to a movie. Journals and logs have been known to help many individuals looking to lose weight and they may be able to do the same for you.