BEST FOODS FOR FAT LOSS

If you’re trying to lose weight and fat, it would be in your best interest to strive to select and eat foods that are lower in calories and higher in volume. This is yet another underrated aspect of fat and weight loss nutrition that somehow eludes mainstream media. Examples include vegetables, fibrous fruits, lean protein, healthy whole grains, and minimal healthy fats. By eating higher volume/lower calorie foods, you'll feel fuller sooner and longer by stretching stomach receptors, and your odds of overeating are reduced dramatically. Just ensure you’re not adopting this technique to an extreme, and starving and neglecting other important types of nutrition (e.g. healthy fats) like so many are guilty of when it comes to proper nutrition.

FOOD DENSITY IS KEY

Density is just another way of saying to keep your food volume high as much as possible when attempting to lose weight. The stretch that is placed on stomach receptors has been shown and observed for years by successful dieters. When this happens, you will receive fullness signals much sooner than if you eat something very low in food density and high in calorie density (i.e. sushi, fatty steaks, etc).

The Top Fat Loss Foods

So below is going to be a brief list of foods that you should and could eat to help your weight loss efforts, regardless of who you are. They are packed with all sorts of good nutrition and satisfy this very overlooked dieting principle. Please note that there is no such thing as a "negative" calorie food. I bring this up because it's garbage advice that I've seen advocated over the years. For one, why would we want less energy when we need it to sustain human life and drive performance in any fitness-related endeavor??? Secondly, the theory goes that some foods (i.e. vegetables) contain low calories and the energy required to process these foods via TEF causes us to burn more calories than we are consuming. Simply not true.

Category #1-Fruits

Grapefruit, apples, pears, and berries are top low-calorie options

Category #2-Vegetables

Note that all vegetables will work since they all carry solid volume and low calories by nature, along with a solid micro and phytonutrient profile

Category #3-Lean Proteins

Skinless chicken breast, lean ground turkey, lean ground beef and burgers, turkey bacon, bison, tuna, pork chops, egg whites, New York steak, and top sirloin

Category #4-Healthy Fats

Halibut, Tilapia, Cod, Salmon, Avocado, and Healthy Oils

Category #5-Starches

Brown and white rice, oatmeal, cream of wheat, pitas, corn tortillas, sweet potato, baked potato, sweet potato fries, and quality bread sources

Category #6-Snack Foods

Flavored rice cakes, Greek yogurt, Jello, popcorn, popsicles, chicken, tuna, lean ground turkey, bison, and green salad with vegetable variety (i.e. cucumbers, chopped onions, and tomatoes)

Category #7-Condiments

Salsa, hummus, fat-free or low-fat sour cream, all herbs and spices, and low-cal dressings

Category #8-Beverages

Crystal Light, Mio, Diet soda, Coffee, low-fat or skim milk, and lots of water

Key Takeaways

As I mentioned above, the foods in the list satisfy all your macronutrients and are proven go-to options for optimizing your food volume-to-calorie ratios. As a good rule of thumb when it comes to fruit, if it doesn't have a skin, then it's probably higher in calories. Red meat should be limited not for general health reasons necessarily, but because it is higher in calories and easy to overeat unless monitored very carefully. And lastly, fish is a great source of fat since the aforementioned types are lower in calories, and it's not natural to snack on this source of fat, unlike nuts and others, which can completely sabotage your fat loss efforts in no time. And speaking of snack foods. Rice cakes and popcorn possess flavor that can be more satisfying than bland vegetables or fruit. Greek yogurt is obviously great for your gut microbiome, and it has a strong nutrient profile as well. Lastly, I'm sure some people would probably opt to hang me for including an artificial sweetener and diet soda on the list. However, dieting is just temporary, and these two have been utilized by the leanest people I've ever seen. Just saying.