Healthylicious: Eating for Weight Loss

There is a bit of a misnomer out there about eating and losing weight. I come across so many people who are constantly cut calories, trying to exercise more, and yet are struggling to shed pounds. The truth is, your body needs a certain number of calories (discussed below) to function, and eating anything less than that will slow your metabolism and make weight loss a huge struggle in the long term. Sure you may very quickly shed a few pounds while your body adjusts, but once it hits "starvation mode" the pounds will come off less quickly and you will struggle to build muscle and maintain energy to focus on fitness and workouts.

Think of your body like a car. If you refuse to put oil, windshield washer fluid and gas in it, it certainly won't go very far. Now thing of oil, windshield washer fluid and gas as the nutrients, gas and minerals that your body needs. Sure you can survive a bit without vitamins, it will take your body a little while to notice that you are leeching calcium out of your bones to make sure your heart keeps beating (and this might take months, but its true), and as for the gas, your body will start to use up fat reserves, but the truth is, after about 3 days of extreme calorie deprivation your body will turn to your muscle tissue as an energy source. The reason being that per kilogram of muscle there is a lot more energy and nutrients than a kilogram of fat. Lastly we come to the windshield washer fluid, or that extra our bodies don't need every single day, but are certainly nice to have when there is a storm, or something abnormal. These are the extras we get from foods, like minerals, omega-3's and so on. These are not quite as critical as essential vitamins, but are substantial contributors to muscle and cartilage building, brain development, and maintenance of systems like our eye sight and hearing. Now imagine for a minute that you never put oil, gas or windshield washer fluid in your beloved car. How would it look? Dirty? Stalled on the side of a road? Engine seized up? Now our bodies are a heck of a lot better at adapting to adverse situations than a car, but that doesn't mean that they don't suffer.

When trying to lose weight you need to fuel your body so that your metabolism can be working at 100%, and also so that your energy level is high enough to make a difference when you are being active. No matter your size the body needs nutrients on a continual basis in order to provide enough energy to survive. In terms of what to eat and how to eat, here are a few guidelines:

You need to eat 1200 calories a day PLUS exercise. 1200 calories is already a diminished amount, and for the majority of people, 1200 calories a day as a bare minimum. If you are exercising you need to make up those calories as well to ensure you have enough energy to function. Operating on less than 1200 calories a day will result in a slowed metabolism and slower overall weight loss.
Eat foods low in sodium: the majority of people have diets high in salt. Anything processed already has salt in it, and since salt is a staple table condiment in North America incredibly high levels make it into our systems. Limit your salt intake (unless you eat only organic, you get more than enough salt from normal foods, even when exercising)
Limit foods that come in a package. Even if you know little about nutrition, or food value, this is a simple rule to follow: The Less Packaging The Better. Think about processed cookies, they come in a bag in a package in a box, compare that with a head of lettuce, it comes inside of nothing. Think of each layer of packaging as a step away from healthy foods. The less packaging the better.
Add more variety to your life. Try to mix up the foods that you eat. Incorporate fruits and vegetables of many colours into your diet, and make sure they encompass at least half your plate at every meal.
Don't obsess. This doesn't mean eat a bag of chips a day, it just means don't restrict yourself so much that when you cheat you eat a whole cake (and a pie, and 17 donuts). It means eat healthy, eat clean, but don't kill yourself. We're only human, and even the very best of us can only have SO MUCH will power. Treat yourself every now and then, and let yourself enjoy your food. There are tons of recipes for foods that have full flavour and are still healthy.
Train your taste buds. You might be surprised to find that if you stop eating chips for a while, you no longer crave them; the same is true with many so called "bad" foods. If you eat healthy for long enough, you will stop craving the bad things. For me at this point bad food includes cinnamon-raisin bagels, flavoured rice cakes and a small slice of homemade cake. I don't crave store-bought cookies or treats; I crave homemade banana bread and a medium-rare steak. The cleaner you eat, the less your body wants the bad foods, since it is no longer used to them.

In terms of eating for weight loss, I don't recommend completely cutting out any single legitimate food group (fats and sugars don't make my list of "food groups"). Eat 1200 calories a day PLUS exercise,and make those calories good foods. Add multicoloured vegetables to your diet (the simple explanation is that different coloured vegetables contain different and essential nutrients). Make sure you are getting enough protein in your diet every day (about 1g for ever 1kg of body weight - this means for a 150lb person you should be eating about 65g of protein per day), especially if you are trying to build muscle. Try to think of your diet as what you eat, not what you restrict. Your diet should be everything that you consume (including water, which should be at a bare minimum 8 cups a day - more is better), and what you consume is important. I can easily stay on a 1200 calorie a day diet by eat only 6 Oreo cookies and drinking two glasses of wine, but I doubt that anyone would be able to maintain that diet because of the severe lack of nutrients, so eat real food, your body needs (and deserves) that to keep yourself in shape. Remember that losing weight should be about health and not pounds, the healthier you are, the easier it will be to both shed pounds and keep it off.