In this post, I want to teach you what I consider the “dark side of dieting”. As you know after reading my last post, calories are crucial for weight management and getting your calorie balance right will definitely bring you results in regards to weight loss.

 

The problem with this is that many people hat counting calories. This can be because of a variety of reasons:

 

– Maybe they don’t know how to do it correctly

– Maybe the had bad experiences with it in the past

– Maybe they are afraid that they will have to do it for the rest of their lives

 

Even though many of these things can be solved easily, I want to take a different approach in this post.

 

I want to teach you how to lose weight without counting calories. I call this the dark side of dieting because usually what happens when someone tells you that don’t have to watch your calories to lose weight, they are trying to sell you some fad diet that doesn’t work while capitalizing on human laziness.

 

This is not what we will do. I will teach you tricks that don’t directly involve calorie counting but will, if implemented correctly, lead to an indirect reduction of calories. So here are 4 simple strategies to help lower calories and increase your chances of weight loss success without actually tracking them.

 

 

 

This food category includes everything from veggies, fruits, lean meats, eggs, potatoes, rice and also minimally processed foods like whole grain bread or whole grain pasta. I will go into more detail of why proteins are great for weight loss but for now let’s focus on why unprocessed carbs like veggies, fruits and rice are a good choice.

 

First of all, they have tons of fiber and water. This makes them both low in calories and very voluminous. LArger volume means a food takes up more space in your GI tract, signaling your brain that you are full earlier.

 

Also eating more veggies and fruits provides you with more vitamins and minerals which brings with it another series of health benefits while also keeping hunger in check.

 

At this point, you might be wondering if all whole foods are a good option for weight loss. Unfortunately, the answer is no. High-fat whole foods like most nuts, olive oil or avocados should generally be limited. Not because they aren’t healthy, but simply because they are fairly calorie dense and therefore more likely to undo your calorie deficit. Remember: Even if you aren’t tracking calories, they still exist!

 

 

 

Protein does wonders to satiety. By consuming more of your daily calories in protein such as lean dairy products, eggs lean meats or high protein plant foods like beans and soy, your hunger levels will be reduced quite a bit.

 

Not only that but protein is also highly important for building and maintaining muscle mass when in a calorie deficit. This is the reason pretty much any fitness diet out there is high in protein. So if you haven’t yet make sure to increase your protein through the foods I outlined here.

 

 

 

Reducing trans fats as well as sugar is pretty straightforward. Simply eat less junk- and processed food. Junk food is high in trans fats and sugars pretty much only for taste or shelf life reasons. Humans are programmed to like sugar because it is a quick source of energy and fat because it is so energy dense.

 

But nature gave us these inclinations when we still had to fight for survival every day and food was scarce. Nowadays food companies take advantage of this fact and add sugar and fat to make food tastier.

 

So If you are on a weight loss plan and you are trying to cut calories, start by eliminating most processed foods from your diet like pizza, hot dogs and candy. Of course, a chocolate bar here and there isn’t going to kill you and often needed to stay sane, but don’t overdo it.

 

Note: At this point, I should mention that sugar isn’t bad per se and I’m not anti-sugar. The problem is that most modern foods high in sugar (e.g. candy or chocolate) are also high in calories but come with little of the nutrients and fiber responsible for keeping you satisfied. This makes them ideal candidates for overeating.

 

 

 

We all like chips to our Friday night movie. But if food is an important source of entertainment as the movie you have to change something. the problem is that if you eat out of boredom you lose sight of how much you eat and also forget to listen to your body’s hunger signal.

 

The consequence will be quite a bit of unwanted calories that will be hard to keep in check especially if you aren’t tracking them. So if you still want snacks for your movies, do a quick google search on healthy alternatives which are low in calories. They will benefit you a lot more in the long run.