When people start trying to lose weight, they immediately cut out certains foods that they enjoy. These will mostly be high-calorie, fatty or sugary foods. Cutting out and restricting yourself of food that you enjoy isn’t going to be sustainable for most people, and you’ll find yourself at the bottom of the Ben and Jerry’s tub within a couple of weeks.
It’s great to begin to make healthier choices as you progress further into your weight loss journey, but don’t try to bite of more than you can chew straight away. For example...
If you find yourself eating ice cream every day, try to limit this to 3 days a week. Alternatively, if you only pig-out on it once a week (a Friday night perhaps?!) then make sure that you can fit it into your calorie allowance.
This is an example of a small change that you can make with your diet that still allows you to eat food that you enjoy… but bear in mind that it’s not just ‘bad food’ that causes weight gain.
The Question: What Foods Make You Fat?
It’s easy to blame certain types of food as the problem for weight gain such as the ice cream that we’ve already mentioned, but the reality is that WE are the issue here. Portion sizes of foods will determine whether or not you spill over your daily or weekly calories!
Can Broccoli make you fat? YES. In theory, although it’d be tough, if you ate enough broccoli to bring you up and over your daily calorie allowance, this WILL result in weight gain.
Can fruit make you fat? YES. Again, it may be a so-called ‘healthy’ food but if you overeat then it can still illicit fat gain if you go over your calories.
The same goes for every food you can think of. Chicken, olive oil, vegetables, fish, beans. The whole lot.
The Answer: No One Type of Food Makes You Fat
You can eat a greater volume of healthy food compared to unhealthy food and still remain within your daily calorie budget, as they tend to be lower calorie and more satiating. However, you can still eat foods that you enjoy… if you control portion sizes or the frequency that you eat these types of foods.
Be smart and if you know you’ll be indulging a little, make the space for it in your calorie allowance and you won’t derail your fat loss.