Eat to Lose Big — Drop 10, 20, 30 Pounds — Or More!

 (Photo by alleykeer on Flickr>/a>)

One big problem I think people have with losing weight is the negative connotation that’s automatically built into the word “losing”. When you have to lose weight, it automatically means you’re thinking of smaller, lesser, reduced, eliminated things.

The only thing going in an upward direction is your dread at having to exercise all the more, and fear of being hungry or not enjoying food.

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can eat to lose big, you just need to be a little smarter about it. Some little adjustments at the start can make things a whole lot easier.

Here’s how.

Eating Better, not Eating Less

You don’t have to eat nothing to lose a lot of weight. In fact, the more great stuff you eat, the better you’ll feel, the more energy you’ll have, and the better adapted your body will be to losing weight.

This doesn’t mean you can start bingeing on so-called “low-fat” or “diet” foods all you want. That’s the deadly trick that just makes people gain without letup. No — this is about eating big quantities of really good food as an active way to lose weight.

The main reason this works is because you’re replacing the opportunities to eat bad foods by already being full of great ones, and because eating lots of really healthy food has an unbelievable, cascading amount of benefits to your life.

Probably the easiest way to implement this strategy right now is by doing what I call the “replace and increase” strategy. Wanted to eat some over-salted french fries done in cheap oil for lunch? Replace them with some roasted potatoes. And olive oil. You still have to work on not eating too many carbs, but already you’ve mitigated the damage you were going to do by eating all those “fried in vegetable oil fries” from god knows where.

The strategy really works when you replace with something like spinach, or chickpeas, or broccoli — you can eat a ton more of those foods, and you can let yourself do that when you’re swapping out bad stuff for them.

More Meals Can Mean More Weight Loss

A lot of people think that weight loss comes with a missed meal or two, or severely reduced lunches and dinners. This kind of thinking usually leads to weight gain, if anything.

It’s a known fact that more meals, smaller ones, eaten at reasonable intervals throughout the day can not only prevent binge snacking but will keep your energy levels up, especially when you’re working out.

But that’s not the key part — it’s all about perception. If you have 6 meals a day, there’s no question you’re going to feel like you’re really eating. And that’s a wonderful feeling, especially when it comes along with losing weight.

3 Simple Things to Remember

1. Eat Slower. Remember that you’ve got all that food there, it’s good, nutritious, and you don’t need to wolf it down in order to enjoy it. Eating slower allows your body to kick in with the signals necessary to tell you when you’ve had enough.
2. Eat Plenty of the Best Stuff. Go overboard if you want — if you’re eating really phenomenal foods, it’s not nearly as bad. And the better food you eat, the more your methods of eating will naturally improve — so you’ll slow down with the overeating naturally, anyway.
3. Eat More Often. Smaller meals — a better psychological reward, and better and more consistent levels of energy that let you work out more often and with more pleasure. What’s not to love?

So get away from that idea of having to always reduce, diminish, or decrease your eating in order to lose weight. Loving great food and losing fat aren’t mutually exclusive!