Losing weight
Diet culture often revolves around the idea that you eat less and lose more weight. That’s the key. However, as we’ve touched on before, this kind of attitude can be extremely toxic and generally not helpful.
Losing weight is actually quite a scientific process, and we’ve been diving into research based on a press release by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF), to see if we can eat MORE to lose weight.
Here’s what we found.
Energy Density
To understand the research, we have to look into Energy Density.
This is basically the number of calories per gram of food. It’s profoundly affected by water content, but also the content of fat in food.
So, foods with lower energy density will have a higher water content – think soups and stews. Also, pasta and rice (as they absorb water during cooking) fall into this bracket.
On the other end of the spectrum, higher energy density foods include those that are higher in fat and have low water content – biscuits, fried snacks, and full-fat hard cheese.
Transform your diet
To lose weight, but not in a restrictive way, you should focus on having a lower energy density diet. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that you’ll have less energy throughout the day – in fact, it could also make you feel more energized and motivated.
By eating foods with a lower energy density, you’ll naturally feel fuller and less tempted to try out high energy density foods. It’s a win-win situation.
You can quickly transform your diet by swapping certain foods for other types of foods. This way, you’re not restricting yourself, you can eat more, and still achieve your weight loss goals. This type of diet is great for those that are slowly but surely trying to make positive, healthy changes to their diet.
Top swaps
The best ways to achieve a low energy density diet is by simply swapping certain things. Here are our top exchanges are:
- Fruit and cereal instead of pastries and fried food
- Soup and salad instead of chips and burgers
- Wholemeal pasta and tomato sauce instead of white pasta and full-fat cheese
- Vegetable sides instead of cheesy mash
- Fruit instead of crisps for snacks
How to avoid the weight loss pitfalls
The BNF also gives top advice on how to keep their weight loss journey productive.
You need to always consider other aspects of your lifestyle, to make sure that your efforts are noticed.
You should keep active, avoid any type of distractions while you’re eating, and resist certain temptations.
Of course, drinking, takeaways, and other lifestyle habits can also affect your weight loss journey.
So, if you were wondering if you could lose weight, without eating any less – the answer is a yes. You’ll find that, once you make the initial changes, it’s an easy way to change your diet.
With these simple changes, you’ll begin to feel healthier and may even notice differences with your weight.
Did you ever try to lose weight? What method did you used?
Here at Selfweightloss, we show you how to lose weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle with tips and articles on Weight Loss, Fitness, Diet, Nutrition and Food, updated daily by our community of authors and editors.
