Are you eager to lose weight but find it hard to lose any extra fat by simply exercising? According to an article from The New York Times, to “lose weight, eating less is far more important than exercising more[1].”
Acknowledging that, it’s often hard for us to keep our diet healthy within a proper amount. Thus, questions popped out to us frequently: what should we eat? How many calories should we intake a day?
Facing these problems, I’ve found some solutions that are comparably healthy for you.
What should we eat?
Speaking about a healthy diet plan, it is always the cliché to mention: meat, egg, diaries, vegetables… But, did you know that there are a couple of types of healthy food that can help you to lose weight better than other food?
- Whole Grains
To lose weight without letting your body lacking minerals and phytonutrients, it’s also important to intake some carbohydrates. Such good news right? You can still eat bread, pasta, and rice as long as you pick the ones that are made of whole grains. Whole-grain foods provide energy to your brain and body, and also would reduce your cravings for sugar and more refined carbohydrates.
2. Nuts
Nuts must be mentioned when talking about healthy diet plans, as they offer healthy fat and taste wonderful, but be aware of the amount you eat per day. As 80% of a nut is fat, so even though the fat is comparably healthy, you will still intake a lot of calories while eating them. According to the Mayo Clinic, a handful or a tablespoon or two of nuts a day could be ideal to substitute for saturated fats. Also, study shows that eating nuts can be helpful for heart health[2]. Just make sure you do not pick the fried nuts, the dry-roasted nuts are better for your weight loss.
3. Hot Peppers such as Cayenne Pepper
There is a kind of molecule called Capsaicin that can be found in various types of chili peppers such as Cayenne pepper, Jalapeno, and Serrano, etc. Capsaicin contains no calories nor nutrients, it has no direct dietary influences, and it can increase your metabolism so you can burn fat and calories faster than you normally do.
4. Arugula
Did you know that 2 cups of arugula only contains 80 calories? The low calorie is not the only benefit of arugula, it also contains a lot of chlorophyll, which can help prevent the damage caused on your liver and DNA by the aflatoxins. Also, arugula contains various vitamins like vitamin K, which is needed for your bone health. The fiber contained in arugula can also help clean out your colon[3], so this is a veggie that is also good for detoxifies, unexpected right?
5. Apple
I know this one is well-known, but you have to admit that the benefits of apple to weight loss are worth mentioning. Apples contain rich vitamin C, which helps maintain a healthy immune system, and support skin health. Meanwhile, apples contain lavish fiber, according to an evidence-based health article, an apple can contain up to 5 grams of fiber, which would help to detox [4].
6. Kale
I have seen many vlogs of supermodels, and almost all of them love adding kale to their lunch and dinner menu. As a weight-friendly and diabetes-friendly vegetable, one cup of kale only contains 33 calories and 7 grams of carbs. Furthermore, kale contains various nutrients such as vitamins K, B6, A, and C, it also contains potassium, copper, and manganese that can help contribute to better body health[5].
7. Dark Chocolate
I know we all have that craving for a snack, especially when we are trying to cut weight by controlling our diet, good news is dark chocolate can be added to our diet plan and it would contribute to our weight loss. Dark chocolates contain less sugar than the regular chocolate bars and milk chocolates while can satisfy your cravings, it can help control your appetite so you will not eat more unnecessary snacks. So, when you feel like craving snacks and sugar, take a square of dark chocolate, it will help!
How much should I eat?
After knowing what kinds of food are better for weight loss, it is also very important to know how much a person should eat per day. To lose weight, the basic rule is to intake fewer calories than the number of calories that we consume a day, so you can have a calorie deficit, which would force your body to consume the glycogen and fat that your body stored when necessary, so a calorie deficit would help lose weight effectively.
How many calories one should eat a day depends on his/her BMR, which stands for Basal Metabolic Rate; a BMR is the number of calories that your body needs to keep it functional at rest. There are many BMR calculators online if you search for them, most of them can calculate your BMR with your height, weight, age, gender, and exercising level. Or, you can calculate your BMR using the following formula:
Men: BMR = 88.362 + (13.397 x weight in kg) + (4.799 x height in cm) – (5.677 x age in years)
Women: BMR = 447.593 + (9.247 x weight in kg) + (3.098 x height in cm) – (4.330 x age in years)
It’s worth mentioning that weight loss or fat loss does not happen within a day or a week, because you did not get those unwanted fats within a day or a week. Thus, the key point is to hang on to a healthy diet and combine it with some exercise, then soon you will see the results coming out --- your efforts would always pay off.
Reference:
[1]Aaron E. Carroll, To Lose Weight, Eating Less Is Far More Important Than Exercising More https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/upshot/to-lose-weight-eating-less-is-far-more-important-than-exercising-more.html
[2] Mayo Clinic, Nuts and your heart: Eating nuts for heart health, mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/nuts/art-20046635
[3] Nicole D’Alessandro, 2014, 9 Benefits of Arugula, ecowatch.com/9-benefits-of-arugula-1881929191.html
[4] Samantha Leffler, Gabrielle Kassel, 2021, The Best Weight Loss Foods to Add to Your Diet https://www.eatthis.caom/healthy-weight-loss-foods/
[5] Mayo Clinic, The many types and health benefits of kale, https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/the-many-types-and-health-benefits-of-kale