It is difficult to overestimate the importance of proper nutrition for losing weight.It is necessary to get used to healthy eating without torturing yourself with endless diets and hunger strikes.It is enough to know the principles of nutrition and understand which foods should be eaten and which are better to forget about forever.In this article we will talk about the basics of losing weight through proper nutrition and food preparation methods.
Diet rules for weight loss.
The weight loss menu must be varied;then the body will receive the necessary nutrients, vitamins and microelements in sufficient quantities.But it must also be tasty, because constant stress caused by hunger and boredom from monotonous and tasteless food are not good for either the psyche or the body.
Basic principles
Before you start creating a menu, you need to understand the principles of healthy eating.
- Eat little and often
It is best to divide the entire daily diet into 5 meals and eat at the same time.The last time you should eat is 2-3 hours before bedtime.This system does not allow the body to starve, meaning it will not overeat.Fractional meals to lose weight are irreplaceable.
- Give up fast food
Ready-made food is extremely high in calories, contains a large amount of preservatives, artificial colors and flavors that give it an appetizing smell and taste, as well as fatty or spicy sauces.In fast food establishments, hundreds of servings are prepared with the same burnt oil that contains carcinogens.If you still have doubts, think about this: a standard set of hamburger, a glass of cola and a bag of chips has 1200-1400 calories, that is, almost the daily requirement, but at the same time there are no vitamins, healthy fiber and almost no protein in such a lunch.
But in excess there are saturated fats and simple carbohydrates. - Chew your food well
Experiments have shown that if you chew your food about 40 times, you can lose some weight without changing your eating habits.And when combined with a healthy diet, this simple technique gives truly amazing results.Well-chewed foods are easier to digest.In this case, we eat much more slowly and the brain receives a signal of satiety in time, which eliminates the risk of overeating.
- drink water
Water is a catalyst for all life processes.Two liters of clean drinking water per day will help speed up metabolism, eliminate toxins in a timely manner and prevent fluid retention, that is, edema.The concept of "water" does not include tea, coffee, juices and other drinks: for example, black tea and coffee, on the contrary, dehydrate the body, and fruit juices and drinks contain sugar.This doesn't mean you shouldn't drink juice, but juice is more of a food than a liquid to the body.
What can you eat while losing weight?
protein products
Foods that contain a lot of protein require more energy to break down.These foods quickly relieve hunger and help maintain muscle mass.
Whey protein, beef, fish and chicken are rich in protein.Eat 0.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight if you want to burn fat and build muscle.
Table with protein food options that are acceptable during weight loss:
| lean meat | Beef and its offal, broth.Rabbit, lean pork ham without rind |
| poultry meat | Turkey, chicken, giblets, natural poultry ham |
| fish | Low or medium fat content: mullet, halibut, mackerel, haddock, cod, tuna, hake. |
| seafood | Squid, crabs, shrimp, mussels and more |
| egg | Any |
Fermented dairy products
This food contains calcium, proteins, vitamins A, D and the entire line of group B. These elements will charge you with the energy necessary for the entire day and will help you develop muscle mass.Sour milk also helps to improve the functioning of the digestive tract.
Make it a rule to drink 100 ml of fresh biokefir in the evening, about an hour before bedtime.
Introduce dairy products such as kefir, cottage cheese, natural yogurt without additives or sugar, low-fat cheese,
curdled milk.
Vegetables and fruits
Did you know that water helps you lose a couple of extra kilos?When you eat foods with high water content, glucose digestion slows down and keeps you full for a long time.
When you are hungry, eat raw vegetables.These are the best low calorie foods.One cup of raw vegetables or green salad contains less sugars than 1 piece of fruit.This is not a complete list of such wonderful products.
complex carbohydrates
The best porridges for losing weight are oats, buckwheat and barley.Oats contain soluble fiber, which requires a lot of energy to break down.This burns a lot of calories and increases your metabolism.A bowl of oatmeal topped with fruit or almonds is a good way to start the day off right.
Fats and polyunsaturated acids.
Polyunsaturated fats have long been shown to promote weight loss.These substances normalize blood sugar levels, reduce cholesterol and accelerate metabolism.To lose extra kilos, it is necessary to introduce foods rich in these essential fats into your diet.
Nuts are rich in fatty acids.Therefore, before leaving the store, buy 100 or 200 grams.
Avocado, an exotic fruit, is also rich in fatty acids.It can be consumed both in the morning and at night.This product contains an important element: the natural amino acid L-carnitine.It also accelerates metabolic processes, promotes fat burning and protects the cardiovascular system from dysfunctions.
What should you not eat when losing weight?
Very often you can hear of a woman who has a very poor diet, but that something prevents her from losing weight successfully.Often, the diet of these women contains foods that are enemies of weight loss.
Sugar
Sugar is at the top of the enemies list due to its rapid conversion into fat.By consuming sugar you can say goodbye to your thin waist.Therefore, you should avoid drinks that have added sugar.
Sweet carbonated drinks and juices.
You should not consume excess calories along with liquids.Considering that, on average, these drinks contain fifty calories per one hundred milliliters, drinking one glass will add an average of one hundred and fifty kilocalories to your daily diet.Instead, you can eat a big portion of salad.
High-fat dairy products
It makes no difference whether you replace kefir with standard fat content, one percent, or completely low fat.
Similarly, it is advisable to replace whole milk with milk in which the mass fraction of fat does not exceed one and a half percent.And the calorie content of cottage cheese, cheese and yogurt should be minimal.
fatty meats
Meat must be present in the diet, as it is an essential source of protein.However, it is better to choose chicken breast instead of leg, and lean beef instead of the usual, but very fatty, pork.It is necessary to eat only lean meats.
Sweets consumed with tea.
Most women are used to drinking tea along with sweets.On average, waffles, cookies, sweets or snacks have between three hundred fifty and four hundred fifty calories, which significantly interferes with the success of the weight loss process.
Sauces
Even if you eat a small amount of food, but combine it with mayonnaise, ketchup and other high-calorie sauces, the fat and calorie content of such a dish will increase several times.
It is necessary to completely eliminate sauces from the daily diet.
fast food
A hamburger can contain up to six hundred and fifty calories, which is more than half of the diet of a girl who has decided to lose weight.
walnuts
The benefits of nuts cannot be denied.However, they contain a lot of fat and if consumed daily, the weight loss process may slow down or stop.
dried fruits
One of the healthy but high-calorie foods are nuts, whose consumption should be limited when following a diet.
flour products
Pancakes, dumplings, cakes, bread and other flour products contain a large amount of simple carbohydrates, which very quickly turn into fat cells.It is necessary to exclude all flour products from your diet.
Calculation of the daily calorie content of consumed foods.
Daily calorie intake is the optimal amount of calories consumed per day to maintain figure and health.So if the foods consumed are too high in calories, there is a higher risk of gaining extra pounds, but if there are not enough calories in the daily diet, then it can harm your body.
There are many different formulas for the individual calculation of daily calorie intake.For example, according to one of these formulas, your weight in kilograms must be multiplied by 14 (for women) or 15 (for men) and then divided by 0.453.The result obtained will be the optimal amount of calories to maintain this weight.
Another formula for calculating daily calorie intake takes into account a person's weight, age, and height.To find out your daily calorie intake using this formula, you must add your weight in kilograms, multiplied by a factor of 9.6 with your height in centimeters, multiplied by a factor of 1.8, add the number 655 and then subtract your age in years, multiplied by a factor of 4.7:
655 + 9.6*(weight in kg) + 1.8*(height in cm) - 4.7*(age in years).
The result obtained is the daily caloric requirement at rest.If you need to calculate the daily calorie intake required to maintain your current weight with different loads, then you should make a slight adjustment to the result.For example, you should multiply the result by a factor of 1.38 if a person exercises at least once a week or does morning exercises every day.
The result of calculating daily calorie intake should be increased by a factor of 1.55 if the number of sports activities is 3 to 5 times per week.If training is performed more frequently, 5-6 times a week, a coefficient of 1.73 should be applied.If you need to lose weight, the results obtained in each case should be reduced by 20%.
Proper nutrition menu for weight loss.
Make a shopping list.Must include:
- whole wheat bread;
- lean meats (beef, rabbit, chicken, turkey);
- shellfish and lean fish;
- fungus;
- eggs;
- low-fat fermented dairy products;
- fruits and vegetables;
- cereals and hard pastas;
- nuts, seeds and dried fruits (in limited quantities).
Water in proper nutrition.
Fluid leaves the body constantly.Every day we lose more than half a liter of water through breathing.The total loss of fluids through sweating and natural excretion is about two and a half liters.
For this reason, nutritionists recommend consuming at least one and a half liters of liquid per day, regardless of diet (a certain amount is compensated for by other sources: food, air, etc.).It is better to drink plain water than tea, coffee, juice and any other drinks.
You should drink water according to these rules:
- Daily water consumption should be increased gradually to the normal level, half a glass per day.
- It is better to drink filtered water rather than boiled water.Mineral water and other carbonated drinks are not considered substitutes.It is also better to replace compotes and juices with eating fruit.
- Contrary to popular belief, strong tea and coffee contribute to dehydration.Proper nutrition implies complete abstinence from them.It is better to drink unsweetened green tea or weak herbal infusions.
- It is easy to identify the body's need for water: you have to pay attention to the liquid that is excreted naturally.Proper nutrition ensures its transparency.Dark urine with a pungent odor will indicate that it is necessary to increase the amount of clean water in the diet.
- It is best to drink water at room temperature.Water that is too cold or hot causes stomach cramps and slows down the digestive processes.
Cooking methods
Cooking food so that it retains its beneficial properties and also reveals interesting flavor notes is a whole science.
Cooking
The most classic option for preparing dietary dishes is cooking.To keep food healthy with this cooking method, it is important not to overcook the dish.
Cooking has been proven to reduce the calorie content of food.The exception is starchy vegetables, which are best baked with a dietary diet (potatoes, corn).
While cooking, make sure the vegetables get a little crispy.If they are cooked too much they will lose all their beneficial components.
extinction
The main thing is not to use additional fats when stewing.If you can't do without it, use low-fat sour cream.
The ideal stewing process occurs over low heat;It is also important that the heat is evenly distributed across the bottom of the saucepan (or other utensils).
Bake (roast)
Again, the main rule is not to use additional fats, otherwise the food will be high in calories.
Let's keep in mind that food from the oven is never fresh.The main thing is to let the products brown.Remember, if you bake, for example, meat, don't forget to open the aluminum foil or the cover 15 minutes before cooking it.This will give the dish an appetizing crust.
fry
In dietary nutrition, it is allowed to eat fried foods.The main thing is that it is prepared without oil.After all, what is dangerous for the figure is precisely the fact that oil increases the calorie content of certain foods.
The best option for fried food is grilled.This is especially true for cooking meat or fish.
Conclusions, recommendations from nutritionists.
Proper nutrition is the main basis for successful weight loss.Follow a few simple tips, abandon foods that are harmful to weight loss, introduce more healthy foods into your diet, create your own weekly menu and stick to it, and the result will not be long in coming!