When stuck in a weight gridlock, the issue may not be how much you’re eating or working out, but about what works best for your body. Unraveling this mystery is key to shedding pounds.
The things people eat are often what society has placed before them. Hot dogs or hamburgers on white buns and served with soda pop is standard fare at a public barbecue for instance. Almost every fast food you can purchase today is something wrapped in a wheat-based bread product. French fries, which are loaded with starch and fat are on every menu. These are popular choices today, but they might just be the problem with your inability to lose weight.
Processed food does make mealtimes easier for the family feeding many mouths, and yes, it is easier to pop a frozen dinner into the oven than to cook from scratch. The exchange for the convenience, though, may be those very unwanted pounds you hate.
Strategic Eating Plan: Start to Eliminate
If you want to put food to the test to see what might be causing your weight gain, why not try a strategic eating plan? The plan includes eliminating suspected culprits from your diet and adding specific healthy choices back in on a scheduled plan.
To start your strategic eating plan, begin by ruling out these items totally for a few weeks:
1. Products containing gluten and wheat: most breads, bagels, donuts, cakes, cookies, chips, pretzels, tortillas, pasta, etc. Of course, many of these are high calorie, low nutrient foods anyways.
2. Sugars and most artificial sweeteners including honey, maple syrup, molasses, corn syrup, fructose, etc. You may have to check package labels. Also, eliminate soda pop including diet soda and fruit juices.
3. Margarine and products made with lard or shortening.
4. Starches such as potatoes, bananas, corn, and grains.
5. Dairy. Temporarily eliminate cheese, milk, yogurt, etc. and reintroduce them later to see if your body reacts.
Strategic Eating Plan: What to Eat?
Once you’ve eliminated all these items where does that leave you? What do you eat?
Well, what you can say yes to is the following:
1. All vegetables, proteins, and good fats. A little butter is okay as are fats such as extra virgin olive oil, olives, guacamole, and nut oils. Healthy fats will help you feel satiated.
2. Eat nuts and seeds, raw vegetables and drink water. Fresh fruit is okay and a great source of fiber, but has natural sugars which can spike a person’s blood sugar level. Eat more berries than other fruits.
3. Eat lean cuts of meat—whites such as pork, turkey, chicken, and fish. Eat other meats in moderation.
Eat as much of the above-mentioned foods as you feel you need to. Try this elimination diet for two to three weeks while also increasing your activity level. An activity can include simple things like heavy gardening, brisk housecleaning, walking the mall corridors, or walking the dog at a fast pace. Add in more gym or exercise video workouts if you’re so inclined.
Strategic Eating Plan: What Comes Next?
Once you’ve been on this plan for a few weeks, see if your weight has dropped and if your inches have lessened. When you choose to start your day with a healthy breakfast, cravings for unhealthy carbohydrates will be drastically reduced.
Once you’ve stuck to the healthy list above for several weeks, begin adding in a few other foods such as healthy grains or rice. Add new foods one at a time so that you can see how your body reacts to them. Reactions may include bloating, water retention, headaches or stomach aches and weight gain. If you have a reaction, chances are you should eliminate the connected food from your diet completely.
Strategic Eating Plan: What about Treats?
Do you have trigger foods that you’ll need to avoid? Say, for instance, one cookie leads to five, one peanut butter sandwich leads to two, or one bowl of ice cream leads to a week of ice-cream eating. It’s important you know your trigger foods and decide in advance what you’ll do about them.
Strategic Eating Plan: What if You Fail?
Trying this strategic eating plan is not about succeeding or failing. Changes often occur with one-step forward and one step-back. If you’ve decided to try the plan and find yourself taking a step back, or falling off the horse, so to speak, consider the slip temporary, and get back up on the horse. Falling back doesn’t have to ruin the work you’ve put into the plan.
Strategic Eating Plan: Plan for Gaps
It will be hard to stay on the plan if you don’t have sufficient groceries in the house or have not done meal planning in advance. Ensure you have a variety of vegetables, nuts, seeds, and healthy meats on hand. Have a rotisserie chicken, precooked and chopped chicken, or a bit of turkey meat on hand to give you the protein you need quickly. While fresh vegetables are preferred, it can be very helpful to have a variety of frozen vegetables on hand too. They can be tossed into salads or eaten warm for a meal as well.
Everyone is looking for the magic weight-loss plan. There is none, and calorie-reducing diets can do more harm than good. Instead, try eating strategically with this food elimination and reintroduction approach. See what happens in your body when you combine healthy eating with increased activity. You might just be amazed and discover the key to weight loss you’ve been searching for.
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