Eat Well and Still Lose Weight
You want to eat well and still lose weight? Then you’re off to a great start in your bid to shed pounds. Faddy diet menus and outlandish diet foods are not your friends if you’re aiming for permanent weight loss. Even if you lose some weight through some new diet craze (then again, you might not), it won’t improve your daily diet habits in the long run — and that’s what actually matters. To lose weight AND keep it off, you’ll need to establish a new pattern of healthy eating that will last for a lifetime.
Switch to Healthier Foods
Adopt a diet plan that’s rich in fresh produce (fruits and vegetables), whole-grain foods, and lean proteins. Now, this takes determination — but once you’ve made the switch, you’ll find that you won’t want to go back! When you drop the sweets and junk food and change to a healthy diet, you’ll find yourself losing weight consistently over a period of months.
Put the Frying Pan Away
Broil, grill, boil, steam, bake — these are the fat-free cooking methods that you should choose every time. When preparing food, eliminate visible fat from the foods you cook, and pick lean meats and meat cuts (in fact, have red meat no more than once or twice a week). Make sure to pre-fry minced or ground meat in an oil-free pan, and pat the meat with paper towels to soak up any remaining fat.
No More Refined Carbs
Rein in your intake of cakes, pies, cookies, candies, and sweets. If you want to lose belly fat in particular, foods like these are definite no-no’s. And if you can’t avoid eating at fast-food places from time to time, make sure you make healthy choices even there — pick salads and low-fat dishes, and steer away from French fries, onion rings, or other greasy stuff.
Complement with Exercise
The plain truth is this: You lose weight if you burn more calories than you take in. And to do this, you either have to eat less or exercise more — or, ideally, do both! Any good weight-loss plan will combine a more healthful diet with a healthy dose of physical activity.