Foods That Help You Lose Weight

11 Foods That Help You Lose Weight

You don't need a starvation diet to help you shed those unwanted pounds. In fact, you have to eat to lose weight. And these slimming, satisfying foods are just the ticket.

You won't lose weight on a diet of celery sticks and dry toast. Your body will just think it's starving and hang onto those extra pounds! Rather, to lose weight effectively and permanently, you need to eat. And eat smart. Happily, there are a host of delicious edibles designed by nature to turn up your fat-burning furnace, flatten your belly, and take a big bite out of your appetite. Here are 11 of the get-slim food gems we're talking about:

Mushrooms

If you want to try an easy & tasty calorie-cutting trick, then substitute the meat in your favorite recipes for mushrooms. You'll automatically cut about 420 calories out of a meal, because you'll skip all the belly-padding saturated fat contained in meat. Recent study found mushrooms just as tasty & filling as meat.

Pistachios
Nuts may be high in fat, but it's the healthful unsaturated kind of fat found in pistachios. And like all nuts, pistachios offer lots of hunger-curbing protein and fiber. All of these qualities together explain why adding pistachios to the diet helped dieters in a study curb their appetites and lose more weight. Here's more on how pistachios and other nuts pull off this feeling-full feat.

Grapefruit
Of all the foods rumored to boost weight loss, grapefruit is likely the most famous. And research confirms that this fruit's get-slim celebrity status is for real. One study in particular revealed that eating half a grapefruit before each meal helped dieters shed more pounds than people who skipped the tart appetizer. Get hip to why most fad diets don't work and can actually be dangerous.

 

Rice with Veggies
Adding some high-fiber vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and kale to your rice will obviously help lower the calorie count. But not only that. Adding veggies to rice at lunchtime appears to slow stomach emptying, according to research. The end result? You feel full longer. In fact, people in a study ate much less at dinner when they added veggies to their rice at lunch. Here's more on how rice and vegetables work together to keep you full.

Yogurt
Mmmm. This creamy, tangy snack is loaded with calcium -- and studies show that calcium may curtail weight gain by hindering the absorption of fat in the small intestine. Check out these other good eats that are bursting with calcium.

Avocado
This green goddess of heavenly, creamy taste can help you whittle your waist. It's true! Researchers suspect that the unsaturated fat in avocados may ratchet up body levels of the hunger-halting hormone called leptin -- a hormone that lets your brain know that you're full, so you stop eating. Find out what fats make you hungrier and what ones can help curb the munchies.

Eggs
Turn breakfast into a fat-burning morning boost by skipping the stack of pancakes and feasting on a couple of eggs instead. According to a study, huevos beat out carbs when it came to helping folks feel full longer and helping them beat back snack attacks later in the day. Here's how eggs helped folks lose 65% more body weight in a recent study.

Red Pepper
Add some heat to your meals and you'll boost not only the taste but also the effectiveness of your weight loss diet. A dash of cayenne pepper or some diced jalapeno or red peppers will do the trick. They all contain capsaicin -- the heat-inducing compound in red peppers that, according to research, tamps down appetite and curbs food intake later in the day. A similar compound in sweet peppers may hinder fat storage, too.

Fava Beans
Creamy and hearty, fava beans are a lean protein source bursting with flavonoids. And in a 14-year study, these special antioxidants were shown to help hinder the accumulation of extra belly fat. Slim your belly and your body with this fat-blasting plan from the YOU Docs.

Whole Grains
Ready to trade your belly bulge for a flat tummy? Then toss your refined grains into the garbage, and eat more whole grains instead. Research shows this one move can help whittle your middle.We're talking brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut oats, whole-grain cereal, and 100% whole-wheat bread and pasta. Discover how whole grains helped flatten the bellies of 3,000 men and women in a recent study.

Olive Oil
This rich-tasting oil found in salad dressings and marinades contains a hunger-busting monounsaturated fat called oleic acid -- which triggers a complicated process in the gut that ultimately tells your brain you're full and makes you want to stop eating. Olive oil also plays a starring role in heart-healthy Mediterranean-style diets.

Healthy Chocolate Dessert Recipe

My NEW Healthy Chocolate Dessert Recipe -- High Protein, Low Sugar, and Full of Chocolately Goodness!

If you've been a subscriber of my Lean-Body Secrets Ezine for some time, you know I'm a nut about chocolate, but I ALWAYS find ways to make healthy versions of chocolate recipes that are low in sugar, higher in fiber, and higher in protein... so you can still enjoy chocolate, but stay lean at the same time! 

My chocolate recipes give you ways to actually NOURISH your body with high nutrient density instead of fattening your body with typical chocolate treats.

In fact, I've become well-known for some of my uniquely healthy chocolate recipes, including my famous healthy chocolate fudge recipe, and my more recent, healthy chocolate pudding recipe.

This new recipe of mine I don't really know what to call, but I guess you could say that it's similar to pudding also, but also similar to a chocolate cheesecake taste!   But instead of typical puddings and cheesecakes loaded with sugar and calories, this recipe is high in protein, has a decent dose of fiber, antioxidants, loads of vitamins, minerals, and more...

PLUS this recipe is lower in carbs and sugar than pretty much any other chocolate desserts out there!

Geary's High-Protein, Low-Sugar Healthy Chocolate Dessert

The quantities here will make about 4-6 servings, so adjust appropriately if you don't want leftovers. To make this healthy chocolate dessert, first mix together in a bowl:

• 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt (choose either the 2% or the full fat -- remember, don't be afraid of fats, as they help balance hormones and provide satiety which lowers appetite overall... Greek yogurt is MUCH higher in protein than normal style yogurt, and also tastes creamier!)
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese (I passed on the fat-free and chose the part skim... I also was able to find ricotta from grass-fed cows at Whole Foods)
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein -- I like to use this grass-fed raw whey protein, and sometimes I mix and match with chocolate hemp protein or this amazing new protein I found recently, Boku Super-Protein (this protein is from sprouted brown rice and has an incredible amount of naturally-occurring calcium, vitamin C, and vitamin A)
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 Tbsp raw cocao nibs -- these pieces of 100% pure cocao add tremendous nutrition to the recipe and also a great crunchy chocolate taste (nibs are harder to find than cocoa powder, but can be found at most health food stores or specialty food stores)
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup almond slivers
• 2 Tbsp each of chia seeds and hemp seeds (optional, but adds TONS of nutrition and a nice nutty taste)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 Minutes a Day for Sexy Abs

Slim 'n Sexy At Any Age

5 Minutes a Day for Sexy Abs

It's not too late to get sexy, defined abs this summer. All you need is 5 minutes a day to be on your way to that toned midsection you crave. She even shows you what to do with those 5 minutes!

"I just want sexy abs..." Well you can have them, but it takes a very special workout.

The fastest way to get the stomach of your dreams is by working your ABS six days a week, but -- and this is very key -- you need to be doing something different for your abs every time you work them!

My super-ab workout only takes about 5 minutes a day; in 3 short weeks you'll start seeing definition and hardness you never dreamed of. In 3 months, "Call security!" The guys will be drooling over your tight and toned tummy!

They used to call me the stomach pooch queen. No matter how thin I got, it seemed as if my stomach bulged out... especially that lower "pooch" part But look at me now at 64. The photo at right is me! No touch-up work here, folks. That's me and that's my belly!

What is the secret?

The stomach muscles get used to a workout rather quickly, since they are at the center of your body and are working all day anyway to balance the weight you carry around. They need extreme variety to tone up.

The answer? No matter what you are doing for the rest of your body, do ABS exercises six days a week BUT WITH A DIFFERENT ROUTINE EACH DAY.

Monday you could do giant sets with crunches, leg-raises and knee-ins, with no rests, doing 15 reps of each exercise. Go back and forth until you've done them three times.

Tuesday you could do the bicycle, the knee-raised crunch and the leg raised crunch, repeating it three times, doing 15 repetitions each.

Wednesday you could do two stomach exercises, only this time do them very slowly. In this case it would not matter if ... you repeated some of the exercises above as long as they were in a different order. For example, you could do the knee-in and the crunch -- 15 reps each, going back and forth three times, without resting, but very slowly –- on the count of 1, 2, 3, 4 on the up, and 1, 2, 3, 4 on the down.

Thursday do another group of two exercises. Only this time go faster and do different exercises... and so on. Until you've done six days a week with a different routine each day.

Here is a sample abs workout day.

Do one very slow set for both of them, 10 repetitions each, then without stopping do a much faster set for both of them this time doing 15 repetitions each. This will take you less than 5 minutes!

Side oblique reach.

Start: Lie on the floor with your knees bent and your arms straight at your sides.

Movement: Leaning toward your right extend your fingers toward your ankles -– or until you cannot go any further. Flex your side abdominals and return to start. Repeat for the other side. Do 10-15 reps and repeat for the other side.

Ceiling reach crunch.

Start: Lie flat on your back. Raise your legs to so that they are perpendicular to the floor.

Movement: Raise yourself off the floor using your stomach muscles as you extend your arms forward reaching towards your toes. Flex your entire abdominal area. Return to start. Repeat until you have done 10-15 reps.

If you really want great ABS for the new year, make sure you do abs six days a week and do a different routine each day!

BURN THE FAT Q & A WITH TOM VENUTO

BURN THE FAT Q & A WITH TOM VENUTO
http://www.BurnTheFat.com
http://www.BurnTheFat.Com/innercircle
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QUESTION:

Hi Tom, I'm 4 foot 11 and now weigh 46 kg with 22% Body fat. I am doing 4 weight training sessions and 6 cardio sessions/wk.

The cardio usually fasted, on a treadmill doing 4-5 degree incline walking at 6.8km/h for 40 min and 5-10 min cool down. It says for my weight I burn 362 cals. I'm not sure what i burn with weight training, it takes about 40 min to complete.

I have created my food plan for the week and I'm thinking of doing a 30% deficit which brings me to approx 1280 calories daily.

I wanted to change something (reduce calories) because I haven't had any results for 2 weeks now and I don't think I can fit in anymore cardio sessions. I'm also planning to use your carb cycling approach, using
the 3 low/ 1 high day rotation.

My question: Do I need to eat at or above my maintenance calories to make the refeed/high day effective or is ok if I'm about 150 cals short? I find it hard to eat all the food.

The fat is coming off really slow. Reading about other people's body fat loss in your Inner Circle success stories (I'm a member), is inspiring, but also a little discouraging as mine is so slow.

Also, with the bodyfat scales, why is the BF% reading always higher, in my case anyway, compared to the Accumeasure calipers, which i still havent mastered yet?

ANSWER:

One thing to keep in mind is that at 4' 11" and 46 kg, you have fairly low calorie needs.

You may have heard (or, heh, realized), that it's more difficult for women to lose fat than men. Immediately most people think it must be estrogen or hormonal issues. But perhaps the biggest factor is NOT hormones, but the simple fact that women are usually smaller and lighter than men.

When you have a smaller body, you have lower calorie needs. When you have lower calorie needs, your relative deficit (20%, 30% etc) gives you a smaller absolute deficit and therefore you lose fat more slowly than someone who is larger and can create a large deficit more easily.

For example, if my TDEE is 3300 calories a day (Im 5' 8" and moderately to very active), then a 20% deficit is 660 calories, which brings me to 2640 calories a day. On paper, that will give me about 1.3 lbs of wt loss per week, rather painlessly, I might add.

If I bumped my calorie burn up or decreased my intake by another 340 a day, that's enough to give me a 2 lbs per week wt loss.

That's hardly a starvation diet (Ahhh the joys of being a man). For smaller women, the math equation is very different.

If your total daily energy expenditure is only 1970 calories, even at a VERY high exercise level, then a 20% deficit for you is only 394 calories which would put you at 1576 calories a day for (on paper) only 8/10th of a lb of fat loss/wk.

If you pursued your plan to take a more aggressive calorie deficit of 30%, that puts you at a 591 calorie deficit which would now drop you down to only 1382 calories/day.

That's starting to get fairly low in calories. However, you would still have a fairly small calorie deficit. In fact, I
I would get to eat almost twice as many calories as you and I'd still get almost twice the weekly rate of fat loss!

What this all means is that women who are petite or have a small body size are going to lose fat more slowly than larger women and much more slowly than men, so you cannot compare yourself to them.

It's great to be inspired by our success stories, but if you're looking for someone to model yourself after, choose one of our success stories of someone your body size and wt, rather than the folks who started 100 lbs overweight and were therefore easily dropping 3 lbs a week.

ONE POUND a week of fat loss is much more in line with a realistic goal for someone your body size. Overweight people can lose it faster. You are already 22% body fat at only 46 kg. (so look on the bright side - you are NOT overweight - you are simply working on getting even leaner than you already are).

The numbers of your plan look to be in the ballpark and your strategy makes sense. You simply need to be extremely consistent with your nutrition over time.

Suggestion #1: Weigh and measure all your food any time you feel you are stuck at a plateau, just to be sure. When your calorie expenditure is on the low side, you don't have much margin for error.

Suggestion #2:  Take your body comp measurements with a grain of salt, esp if you are using Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) scales (they are a bit wonky) and remember that body comp testing is seldom perfect. Pay attention to your circumference measurements, how your clothes fit and how you look in the mirror and in photos as well.

Suggestion #3: You might actually want to take fewer refeeds -once a week instead of every 4th day, or even just once every 10-14 days, so you can get a larger weekly deficit. To answer your question, yes it is ok if your 150 cals short on high carb days if you are full (be happy that you are full - many people have to deal with constant hunger when the calories get low)

Suggestion #4: You may want to take 2 or 3 of your long cardios on the treadmill and switch them to intense intervals or ANY other type of activity that has potential to burn more than 362 calories for an hour's investment of time, or perhaps that equivalent calorie burn in less time. No need to add more days of cardio or more time - get the most out of the time you are already spending.

Suggestion #5: If you do intervals, don't make the workout too brief (ignore the advertisements for those "4 minute miracle" workouts, etc etc), or you may burn fewer calories than you were before! In fact, you might even try the method where you do HIIT for 15-20 min, then continue for another 30-40 at slow to medium
intensity. Increasing total calories burned should be your focus

Dropping only ONE pound per week (or less) may seem excruciatingly slow, but it's actually the same type of thing I do. As a bodybuilder, I go from lean to extremely lean when I diet and I don't expect more than a pound a week during contest cuts.

You are in a similar situation, even if not competing. Even if you get a half a pound a week fat loss, if you get that progress every week, that's what you're looking for - steady progress - even if slow.

It's entirely possible that you HAVE been making progress, only very slowly. With the way water weight and glycogen levels can fluctuate (and lean mass may increase), a half a pound or pound fat loss in a week could have been easily masked...and therefore, missed. That's one of the drawbacks of going by the scale alone.

Understand the calorie math I explained above and be patient, watching for slow and steady progress, paying special attention to the trend over time on your progress chart.

Keep after it - the persistence will pay, I promise!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
http://www.BurnTheFat.com

Founder & CEO,
Burn The Fat Inner Circle
http://www.BurnTheFat.Com/innercircle

PS. You can learn about more fat loss strategies (including the details about the carb cycling method) inside my ebook, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Learn more and see some of the inspiring before and after success stories at: http://www.BurnTheFat.com