If you are like most people who are overweight, you’ll have tried lots of different diets and methods to try to lose body fat in your quest to lose weight, yet you are still out there looking for another method. This tells you that a lot of the programs out there are not working for many people. Sure they do work for some, but not the majority.
However, there are some things you can do to help you lose body fat, some of which you are probably using already. For example, we all know we should drink plenty of water, about 8 glasses, the 8 ounce size, so in other words, some 64 ounces of water is a good thing to drink each day, and if you make it cold water, then your body uses up some calories warming it to the same temperature as the rest of your body.
Now this doesn’t use up a lot of calories, but every few will add up and help overall.
You need to eat regularly, starting with a good breakfast. By eating 5 times a day, you never give yourself the chance to get hungry, so you will eat fewer calories, and so lose some of that body fat. Some people eat more often, by reducing the size of their main meals, so that they can have mid-morning, mid-afternoon and evening snacks, and they find that that works really well. Obviously with this approach to fat loss, you have to make sure that your meals are much smaller, and that you don’t eat too many calories over the period of the day.
It is easier to lose body fat if you eat a diet high in fibre. This means eating plenty of plant foods, as this is where fibre is found. The fibre cannot be digested by our bodies, so it just passes through the body, but on its way to being eliminated from the body, it does pick up some of the protein and fat and that is eliminated too. Fibrous foods are generally lower calories, and they are usually more filling too, so they really are a good food to eat. What foods are high fibre? Broccoli, apples, figs, bran, chickpeas, beans, and nuts are good foods to eat for their fibre, and also oatmeal, which contains soluble fibre.
The next thing you need to eat may sound rather odd. You need to make sure that you have good fats in your diet. So you need to eat fat to get rid of fat. Oily fish like salmon, mackerel, herrings and sardines are good for you because they have in them essential fatty acids which actually help you burn body fat more efficiently, as well as protect you from disease. Animal fats are not good for you, and you should reduce these as much as possible, and that means reducing the amount of butter you eat, as well as changing from 2% or whole milk to 1% milk or even skim milk whcih has even less animal fat in it.
Your body needs protein to help build strong muscles, and it also helps you to feel full for longer. Protein is also used to balance meals to reduce the effect of insulin spikes that cause the sugar cravings, and there are many diets that recommend eating some protein, some carbohydrates, and some fats at each meal, with all foods being as healthy as possible. Meats, poultry and fish provide us with protein, and of these, fish is better for us. You can also get your protein from cottage cheese, or eggs (the egg whites are better for you than the yolks which are high in cholesterol).
Next we move onto carbohydrates where there are some that are very good for you, and others that are not. Fruits and vegetables are carbohydrates, and are definitely good for you, but sugar, or flour products are still carbohydrates, but are not good foods to be eating, they are refined products, and as such are not good for you.
By eating the healthy foods mentioned above, you will be eatng a diet that will help you lose body fat, but you do of course have to limit your intake. You cannot lose fat if you are eating way too many calories, so cut down your meal sizes, think about adding small healthy snacks in between your meals, and by eating less you will start to lose that body fat, and some exercising will help too!
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