Do you eat healthy, but just can’t seem to lose weight? There could be two factors at play that I’d like to cover in this blog. Portion control and, is what you are actually defining as “healthy” going to help you lose weight.
Let’s be clear on how weight-loss physiologically happens as a process in your body. If you expend more energy than you consume, you will lose weight. If you expend less energy than what you consume, you will gain weight. This means, that if you are eat more vegetables, brown rice and lean meats than your body can expend, you will gain weight. This is why portion control is so important.
On the back on any packet of food there will be the recommended serving size. Do you ever adhere to that? I know that I myself never used to stick to the recommended serving size, and lo and behold, I used to struggle with weight-loss. The human body can be extremely efficient and we actually do not need as much food as we think we do. It’s a common problem in the western world to have portion sizes that are way too big. Just think about the last meal you had at a restaurant for example. So if you think you are eating healthy, but can’t seem to get anywhere, trying reducing your portion size.
On the other hand, is what you define as “healthy” actually healthy? Here’s a couple of nice rule of thumbs I like to go by;
The less ingredients your food has, the better.
If it is advertised on a bus or billboard, you probably shouldn’t be eating it.
How many ingredients are there in a packet of chips versus a carrot? How many ingredients are there is a “healthy” muffin versus a banana? You get the idea, the less ingredients, the better the food is likely to be for you. And think about how many shakes, processed food and fast food varieties you see advertised on buses or signs at the train station. If a certain food is being marketed to you, you probably don’t need it (obviously whole foods such as fruit and vegetables are an exception).
Every food company is capitalizing on the obesity epidemic in Australia offering you low fat this and gluten free that. However, just because a food is vegan, paleo, low sugar, natural sugar only or has some other ‘healthy’ badge, doesn’t mean that you can blindly eat away to your heart’s content. At the end of the day you should always look at the ingredients of what you are eating to check the total calorie content and nutritional information. If you’re unsure what to look for when comparing nutrition labels, click the link below to read my blog on understanding nutrition labels.
https://behuman.fitness/blog/2017/5/12/impacts-of-standing-tall-bjp9w-baky7
Eating healthy does work! Just make sure you know what is in your food and mind your portion size.