Eating For Weight Loss
Clean eating is essential for weight loss and overall health & wellness. Clean eating helped me achieve a 75-pound weight loss!!! The two main components of clean eating, in connection with weight loss, is knowing what to eat and how much of it to eat. I will cover these components with a brief overview in this post. But first a little about my story…
After my 2nd child was born, I started to be more conscious about what and how much food I was putting into my body. Studying various resources raised my awareness about healthier, whole foods. I realized I could have larger quantities of food at each meal if I chose healthy whole food options, versus processed food options.
But it wasn’t until 2018 that I really started to learn not only about whole food options and appropriate portion sizes, but about how each food group fuels your body in a different way. And it all started to make so much sense!!! Transforming your body is a result of 80% clean eating and 20% movement (the exercise). Eating whole foods in the right amount at the right time is how I optimized my weight loss and health!!
Once you know what to do it’s so easy!!
What to Eat:
At 80%, clean eating (eating whole foods) is the biggest piece to the puzzle! Although for many of us that 80% is the most overwhelming piece when we are just starting out. Put in the simplest terms, whole foods are foods that are grown, harvested from nature, food that comes from plants or animals.
The basic categories of whole foods include proteins, carbohydrates, healthy fats, veggies, and fruits along with some fun extras like seeds/dressings, and oils/nut butters. Most whole foods are located around the perimeter of the grocery store because, unlike processed foods that have a shelf life of months, or even years; whole foods require some form of refrigeration and/or expire after 1-2 weeks. There is the exception of whole foods such as rice, lentils, nuts of any kind, quinoa, whole grain pastas and oatmeal that do not require refrigeration and have a longer shelf life. Your job is to eat a variety of foods from each category every day.
Organic whole foods are the cleanest way to eat because they have been grown or harvested without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides or other artificial agents. When buying foods to lose weight, whole foods that don’t have an organic label will work just as well and are typically less expensive. Organic whole foods just eliminate as much processed elements from foods as possible.
I have tried many new things since starting to eat clean, incorporating healthier substitutes when possible. I also like experimenting with foods/snacks that allow me to feel like I’m “cheating” when really, I’m not.
Once I got the hang of what I should be eating, I started to practice meal prep for the week. I realized that I will always gravitate towards whatever is convenient (typically unhealthy processed foods), so prepping food to be available was key to staying consistent with my clean eating throughout the week. Please click the link to see more details around meal prep.
How Much of it to Eat:
How much food you should be consuming each day depends on your weight, height, age, and activity level. There are also national serving size suggestions for each food group. Once you’ve determined how much you should be eating to reach your daily goals, there are a couple ways to monitor what you are eating . Two common methods would be to count calories or track macros (food groups) . When I first started my weight loss journey I found that counting calories was the easiest method for me.
When I started to eat only whole foods the weight came off consistently. I hit plateaus and had days or weeks that were harder for me to stay consistent and motivated, but I never stopped. I kept researching and trialing various strategies that would help me reach my weight loss goals. By 2022 I had finally reached that goal weight and size for me!!!
Click to join my course: Nutrition For Weight Loss and Overall Health & Wellness (4-week live course held for an hour 1 time per week) where you will learn exactly what to do to reach your weight loss goals and feel great!!
The following are additional courses that are available to help you reach your goals!!!
Weight Loss: Essentials For Success (Online Course)
Nutrition For Weight Loss and Overall Health & Wellness (Online Course)
If you struggle with emotional eating…I share my own journey with emotional eating in my blog post How I Overcame Emotional Eating and Transformed My Body.
