Weight Loss is Not a Starvation Diet
When you think about losing weight, or even maintaining your weight, what do you envision when it comes to what you eat?
Do you see a life living off of salads, a diet full of restrictions, or yourself eating what you think may very well be cardboard?
Here is why I ask: Work colleagues have watched me lose 75 pounds in the last year. However, some people think I got there based on not eating. I get asked this question in slightly different variations, including, “When are you going to start eating again?”
Come close; I have a bit of information for you. Are you listening? I have never stopped eating or done anything close to what would resemble starvation. I most certainly did not eat cardboard-like food. Salads are not a staple in my diet; I eat them, but not that much, and as hard as it is for people to believe, my diet is not super restrictive.
If you too are under the presumption that your weight loss must be aided by darn near starving yourself, let this post strike that thought out of the forefront of your mind for good.
Healthy Weight Loss Involves Eating, Not Starving?
I can tell you for certain what I am not doing is not eating. Shockingly to some of you, I aim for six small meals per day. Yes, six. Try as I might to eat six meals, I typically eat five small meals by the end of the day.
In addition to the number of meals, did you notice that I used the word small? Perhaps the biggest meal I have each day is breakfast. But what you will not see me eat are Thanksgiving-sized portions at any point of the day.
Why do I eat 5-6 small meals a day? That is what works for me to help me control the amount of calories I take in a day, without running the risk of eating too much at each meal if I were to only eat three times a day. In a addition I drink a lot of water. With the combination of the frequent meals and the water, overeating and taking in too many calories is really hard to accomplish.
What Does Five to Six Small Meals Look Like?
What, then, does a typical day of eating look like for me? Below is an image taken from myfitnesspal. Displayed in the image is a breakdown for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner.
I mention above that my portion sizes are small. So why do the snacks look pretty hefty? Yes, on this day, it looks like I had a pretty hefty helping of snacks. That is not at all the case. That is a result of how the application works.
In reality, I had two snacks on this day. Between breakfast and lunch I had a snack consisting of an orange and yogurt. Between lunch and dinner I had a protein smoothie. What you see listed in the image are the ingredients for the smoothie.
Here is what the five meals were on this particular day:
- Meal 1 – Breakfast: Boiled egg whites and a Dunkin Donuts medium latte with skim milk
- Meal 2 – Snack: Orange and Nonfat Greek Yogurt
- Meal 3 – Lunch: Light tuna fish and mixed greens
- Meal 4 – Snack: Smoothie with Raw Organic Protein
- Meal 5 – Dinner: Grilled salmon and steamed broccoli
What Does Each Meal Offer
Above I mentioned that salads are not a staple in my diet. If I am not living off of salads, then what are the staples? I am glad you asked.
- Each meal must have three parts: Every meal that I have consists of a protein, carbohydrate, and fat. I am not too strict about the percentage of each, but now especially that I am working on defining my muscles and I am on what I call “Operation Get Cut” my diet leans heavily on the protein side. Before this most recent goal, I still tried to be mindful of my carb intake. It may all be in my head, but I swear I gain five pounds just thinking about eating bread.
- Snacks are snacks: Even though I am calling them meals, my snacks are pretty light. That simply means they consist of fewer calories than breakfast, lunch, and dinner. How many calories? Oh heck, I do not know. I do not aim for a number. If I did I would probably drive myself nuts and would not have made it this far. Luckily, with myfitnesspal, calories can be monitored, but I most certainly am not a slave to calorie counting. If, however, that is what you need to succeed, by all means, knock yourself out and count those calories. Here are some things I will have for a snack?
- Hummus and celery and/or carrots
- Apple or pear with 10-20 raw almonds
- Banana with almond butter and maybe a slice of 100% whole wheat bread
- Orange or strawberries or blackberries with yogurt
- Single part-skim mozzarella cheese stick and an apple or pear
- Baked, steamed, grilled, or raw: Those are the methods of cooking, or not, of my meals. Did you notice what type of preparation is excluded? That’s right: fried. Now, every once in a very blue moon, if I want some fried chicken, I will cook up a batch using Rocco Dispirito’s Flash-Fried Finger-Lickin' Chicken Recipe.
- Real food: Isn't all food real food? In a word, no. I do my best to avoid processed food in favor of real food. Below is an image from 100 Days of Real Food, that easily defines real food. She shares very helpful information on her site.
Start the discussion: What are you eating or what will you start eating to help with your weight loss or maintenance? Share in the comments on the post, on Facebook, or Twitter.