Diet Is More Than Eating the Right Things! Eat the Right Amount!

Is this the right amount of salmon for you?

When trying to lose weight, you need to eat the right amount of food. You can eat too much but you can also eat too little!

It takes time to find a balance at first, even when on a healthy eating plan like Weight Watchers, and you need to make changes as you lose weight. So, how do you know what the right amount of food is for you? How much can you really eat when trying to lose weight?

Don’t Lower Your Calories Too Much

If you’ve come here, you’re looking for ways to lose weight and keep it off. That means a slow and healthy weight loss. If you lose weight too quickly, you’ll find that keeping it off afterwards is going to be difficult.

That means you need to decrease the amount of calories you eat but not by too much. The aim is to lose between one and two pounds per week, which is only 500 calories! It’s not that much when you think about it!

At the same time, focus on a healthy and balanced diet. On the Weight Watchers plan I am allowed to eat 27 pro points per day and 49 per week but they are not just used on chocolate, crisps and other high fat options. They are for the proteins, carbohydrates and fibre that I also need to eat.

Eating to Feel Satisfied

The best thing to do when determining your portion sizes is to eat until you are satisfied. That doesn’t mean full though!

You want to feel like there could be enough room for dessert but you don’t need to eat it. If you don’t eat enough, you will only end up wishing you could have more and it will affect your motivation.

Satisfaction is essential but you will still need to watch the type of food you eat. Fill up on the vegetables or fruit that you have on your plate and drink a glass of water before eating. You will soon find that you don’t need to eat all that food you have done in the past.

The Importance of Eating the Right Amount to Lose Weight

Remember when I said you can eat too little?

You may think that I’m crazy for saying that but I can say that it is true – and I have tested this. If I don’t eat enough during the week, I don’t lose as much weight as I do when I eat my full pro points allowance.

When you eat too little, your body doesn’t know when you will get food again. It goes into starvation mode as a way to have enough energy. Your metabolism slows down so you feel like you don’t need as much food. It holds onto as many calories as possible in case it needs to use them in the future.

Do it for long enough and eventually you do lose weight. Crash dieting does lead to losing 20 or 30 pounds per month but that isn’t healthy!

When it comes to going back to eating normally, you just put all the weight back on. Eating so little just isn’t sustainable and you can’t keep the weight off.

So, the lesson for this week is to keep track of your portions and make sure you eat the right amount. It takes some trial and error. Try eating a little more and see how your weight loss goes for a week – you may be pleasantly surprised. If you are still putting on weight because you are eating too much, reduce your portion sizes slowly to help find that perfect amount.

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