UNDERSTANDING NUTRITION & HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS PLANS
Healthy weight loss plans are guided by sound nutritional information. This page provides the nutrition information you need to lose weight the healthy way. Cheap Soup Recipes
Firstly, to establish how many calories you need to consume to lose weight please visit this page. ________________________________________
If you ate whatever you like (sweets and junk food etc) and stayed at, or around the calorie intake you figured out to lose weight, and then simply added exercise to your routine, you should quite easily lose weight. Let me tell you one thing though… to lose weight, look good and feel great, what you put in your mouth is of EXTREME importance. And therefore being able to include healthy weight loss plans in your life will ensure your success.
You may lose weight by sticking to the required daily calorie intake, but imagine how you would look and feel if those calories came from chocolate cake all day, every day! Not to mention the lack of vitamins and minerals, which in turn plays a huge role in how you look and feel! Do you understand what I am trying to say?
It is my goal with this page that you be armed with greater knowledge in relation to good nutrition and healthy weight loss plans, so you can provide yourself with greater opportunity to reach your weight loss goal and do it feeling on top of the world! You truly are what you eat. Read on to find out what role nutrition will play in your healthy weight loss plans. You may find that you are already be eating the right foods, and all you need to do is adjust your portions and therefore reduce the amount of calories you eat. If not, you’ll have the right information by the time you finish this page that will enable you to make the appropriate adjustments. Read on for tips on eating healthier.
More calorie talk...
To start with I am going to crunch some numbers. These numbers are very important, and they all link in together. It all moulds together in your fat burning journey.
We can break food down in to these categories: Macronutrients Protein Carbohydrates Fats
Micronutrients Vitamins Minerals
Water
This page will primarily talk about the macronutrients, so lets have a look at the calorie content of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
Macronutrient Calorie Content Protein – contains 4 calories per gram Carbohydrates – contains 4 calories per gram Fat – contains 9 calories per gram Can you see a discrepancy here! Yep, fat has more than double the amount of calories per gram than that found in protein and carbohydrates. This fact appears to be a major bummer considering that fat is the very thing we are trying to get rid of. Remember, we only have a limited number of calories per day that we can consume in a day in order to lose weight! This is why it is important to understand the role that fat, protein and carbohydrates play when designing your meal plans.
FAT Since we are on the topic of fat, let’s explore how the fat content is important to your healthy weight loss plans.
It obviously goes without saying that if you have too much fat in your diet, you are very easily going to put on… fat! Just as too much is not good though, so is not enough. Now let’s get it straight, this page is here to help you reach you goal in weight loss, so I am not going to give you a long winded scientific explanation or chemical breakdown of fat here and what it does for the body. Just keep in mind that it helps with absorption of important micronutrients, and plays an important role in our ability to function as healthy human beings. DO NOT deprive yourself of it! Healthy weight loss plans include the right fats, in the right portions.
In terms of helping you determine how to manage your fat intake and shed actual body fat you need to understand the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats.
Saturated fat is not included in healthy weight loss plans. These fats are found in foods from animals and some plants. Beef, veal, lard, poultry, butter, margarine, whole milk, cream, cheese and other dairy products all contain saturated fats. They are also found in specific plant foods like coconut oil, palm oil, cocoa butter etc. The primary reason saturated fat is deemed ‘bad’ is because it raises total blood cholesterol which will increase your risk of heart disease.
Unsaturated fat, often found in liquid form from vegetables, is the stuff you want to focus on. These fats are part of healthy weight loss plans! They can be broken down in to either mono-unsaturated or poly-unsaturated and contain essential fatty acids that our body needs, but cannot produce naturally. Hence, their importance in our daily eating plan. These fats are found in fish, nuts, seeds and oils from plants. Actual food examples include trout, salmon, avocado, olives, almonds, walnuts and liquid vegetable oils from soybeans, corn, safflower, canola, olive and sunflower. All these fats may help lower your blood cholesterol, in contrast to saturated fats.
Please be aware of trans fats which are actually unsaturated but are not the fat you want to include. This fat is used to extend the shelf life of processed foods. Keep an eye out for cakes, cookies, fries, and donuts.
So what does all this mean and how do I use it when deciding what foods to include in my healthy weight loss plans? Great question. Stick with unsaturated fats and aim to have it take up 20-30% of your daily calories consumed. So, as an example, if you calculated your total daily calorie requirement to be 1700 to lose weight, and you allocate 25% of this to be from fat, that leaves you with 425 calories a day that you would consume from fat (1700 x 0.25). Remember, each gram of fat is equal to 9 calories.
PROTEIN Commonly referred to as the ‘building blocks for muscle’, protein will play a key role in your in your healthy weight loss plans without it being a detriment to your lean body weight (your muscle!). After all, you want to lose fat and bring out the tone and definition in your body, so maintaining your muscle whilst losing the fat over the top of it is what will get you there.
Added to that, protein is harder to break down than fat or carbohydrates. The body will expend more energy (calories) to break down protein. In other words, if two people both consume 1700 calories per day, the person with a higher protein intake will have a higher metabolism.
Another key feature that protein plays in its role to help you lose fat is that it can help to suppress your appetite. This becomes a benefit when trying to stick to a strict calorie plan.
Healthy weight loss plans include protein from chicken/turkey breast, beef, fish, cottage cheese, eggs (whites). Remember to keep an eye out for the type (saturated or unsaturated) and amount of fat contained when choosing your foods.
So what does all this mean and how do I use it when deciding what foods to include in my healthy weight loss plans? We can see that protein plays its role in your fat burning plan to help maintain muscle, contribute to increasing your metabolism, and can also help you to stick to your calorie plan by suppressing your appetite. Your protein intake should account for somewhere between 20-30% of your daily calories consumed. So, as an example, if you calculated your total daily calorie requirement to be 1700 to lose weight, and you allocate 25% of this to be from protein, that leaves you with 425 calories a day that you would consume from protein (1700 x 0.25). Remember, each gram of protein is equal to 4 calories.
CARBOHYDRATES Healthy weight loss plans recognise that carbohydrates are the primary source of energy, and provider of many vitamins and minerals. They are broken up in to two categories… Simple and complex.
Simple carbohydrates are quickly converted by the body in to blood sugar. Sweets, fruit sugar (fructose), table sugar, white bread, pasta made with white flour, cake, fruit juice are all examples of simple carbohydrates.
Complex carbohydrates on the other hand, are slower to convert to blood sugar, and therefore help to stabilize it. Food examples are muesli, grain and dark breads, apples, potatoes, low fat yoghurt, lettuce, tomatoes, Cauliflower.
The rate at which your body converts carbohydrates in to blood sugar is an indication of its Glycaemic Index (GI) and is very important from a fat loss perspective. In its simplest terms, you increase the likelihood of putting on fat if you eat too many calories that have a high GI. So stick with foods that have a low GI.
Choosing the right carbohydrates with relation to their GI is of extreme importance for healthy weight loss plans. It will do wonders in helping you to control your appetite and delay hunger. This is very useful when on a limited calorie eating plan.
So what does all this mean and how do I use it for healthy weight loss plans? Basically, eat less carbohydrates of the simple kind (which generally have a high GI), and stick with more complex carbohydrates and low GI foods.
Have carbohydrates make up approximately 50-60% of your daily intake of calories. So, as an example, if you calculated your total daily calorie requirement to be 1700 to lose weight, and you allocate 55% of this to be from carbohydrates, that leaves you with 935 calories a day that you would consume from carbs (1700 x 0.55). Remember, each gram of carbs is equal to 4 calories.
Alcohol Of course it is possible to consume alcohol in healthy weight loss plans. Moderation is the key. It is also worth noting too that alcohol contains 7 calories per gram. If you include it in your regular meal plan, try not to sacrifice some of the better meal choices to keep your calories at your required amount to lose weight.
Where to from here? Now you know you should be sticking to a specific amount of calories per day to lose weight. We worked this out by establishing how many calories you should be consuming each day in order to lose body fat. Once you know this, it’s just a matter of allocating 20-30% from fat, 20-30% from protein, and 50-60% from carbohydrates. If you are unsure at exactly what amounts to start with, try 25% Fat, 20% Protein, 55% Carbohydrates. You may find that you have to experiment around with the ratio a little, in order to determine what works best for you. Just remember to stick with the right types of fat, protein, and carbohydrates to ensure your success.
Creating a list of foods to include in healthy weight loss plans This will take some work! However, creating a meal plan will give you the benefit of having a set schedule of what you eat in a day, rather than constantly adding up calories every time you eat. Having the right help will also make this process much easier... check out FAT LOSS TOOLS.
Here are some quick tips on creating healthy weight loss plans: • Try to spread your calories out during the day. Have six smaller meals rather than 3 large ones • Keep the bulk of your carbohydrates in the beginning and middle of the day so you provide energy to get you through the day, and also to limit the possibility that any excess carbohydrates get stored as fat later in the day when you metabolism is a little slower due to less activity • You can have the same meal plan that you can use every day of the week, or if you prefer variety, come up with two or three days. Perhaps you may even like to have a separate meal plan for each day. Just make sure that at the end of the week your calorie deficit matches that required for the desired body fat loss. • Similarly, don’t be afraid to alternate daily calorie intake. Some days can be higher/lower than others, as long as at the end of the week your calorie deficit matches that required for the desired body fat loss
The best way to approach designing your meal plan as part of your healthy weight loss plans is to work out what foods you want to eat daily, keeping it healthy of course, and keeping in mind what you have just learned with regard to fat, protein and carbohydrates. You know what foods are bad for you… Fast food, fried food, potato chips, sweets etc. It’s time to create good habits. You don’t want to jeopardize your results, or your good health. Healthy weight loss plans do not include foods of this variety!
Look, if you can’t resist chocolates, or certain foods that aren’t really deemed ‘healthy’ then by all means put it in your meal plan. Just make a start and stick to your calories. Baby steps are the way. You are more likely to succeed if you progress slowly and make progressive changes rather than trying to move mountains on your first day! Remember though, if you do what you’ve always done, you get what you’ve always gotten! Keep in mind that if you add a little bit of food you know is not nutritionally the best option, there may very well be trade off’s in other areas. For example, if you include a favorite high fat fried food, even if you stay within your daily calorie requirement, the trade off is that you will limit the amount of other foods you can have (remember, each gram of fat contains 9 calories, as opposed to 4 calories in each gram of protein or carbs. If you waste too many calories on foods containing ‘bad’ fat, that limits the actual amount of good fat you can fit in to your daily percentage. And if you put a limit on good fat then you may be missing out on vital nutrients which help you to look and feel good. Do you see where I am going with this? You are what you eat!
Ok. So how do you find out the actual calories in food? That is a great question. Here’s how to do it:
1. Start by writing out a list of foods you think you would like to eat each day
2. Look up the calorie, fat, protein, and carbohydrate content of the foods you have listed by using the country specific links below:
Calorie King (Australia) Calorie King (U.S)
From there you will have all the information necessary to determine how many calories that diet provides you with, and also in what ratios of fat, protein, and carbs. Hey, I told you it will take some work!!
Obviously, if your calories and ratios are out of whack, you are going to need to adjust accordingly.
Phew!! It’s not easy getting that ideal body is it!! Well, think about it… If obtaining that ideal body and keeping to healthy weight loss plans was that easy, we’d all be walking around looking great! This is the very reason most people are unfit and healthy. If you want success in anything in life, there will be a price. Just as it takes a degree of work to get your ideal body, it takes work to build a great business, or a great relationship. If you put if off now you will never get closer to getting what you want! Just do something NOW, then do something again tomorrow. In a month, 30 days worth of ‘doing something’ adds up to a giant step forward. If you keep putting it off until tomorrow, your life passes you by and nothing gets done!
The tools are right here in this site. The very thing that I can’t control is your ability to pick those tools up and actually use them. It’s all YOU. You are the creator of your world!
It’s time to become an achiever. Stick to your healthy weight loss plans. Don’t get bogged down by the work ahead, just make a start. You’ll be amazed at the progress you can make.
Now that you are well versed with tips on eating healthier, maximize your nutrition and fitness health diet plans by clicking here to get started on making exercise as part of your healthy weight loss plans.
Here are some general tips and tricks for daily living that will help you with your healthy weight loss plans