The key to long term weight loss

Reduce calories, not your nutrients:

To lose weight we cut calories, start eating lesser, maybe even skip your dinner. The first two weeks go great, we see weight loss, but soon after we stop seeing results. What happened?

Losing weight by simply cutting calories causes you to lose water, lean tissues, as well as fat. Over the first few weeks, your metabolism will slow down and to continue losing weight, the only option is to cut calories even further.

Reducing our calories while keeping a balance of Protein, Fats, Carbs & Fiber and a steady supply of essential vitamins and minerals is what will ensure a healthy weight loss journey.

We all know how Carbs and Fats impact our body, but did you know that a rich Protein and Fiber based diet is what will help you achieve long term weight loss?

Increase Fiber in your diet:

Dietary Fiber ( Soluble & Insoluble ) in our food includes those parts of plants which your body cannot absorb. This fiber will pass through our digestive system almost intact. 

Here's how soluble fiber benefits weight loss and your body:

• Feel satiated / full for longer periods of time after a meal
• Makes you feel full faster, making you eat lesser in each meal
• Reduces the amount of fat absorbed into your body
• Reduces your cholesterol
• Slows the rate at which glucose (sugar) is absorbed into your blood
• Reduces the risk of Heart disease and Diabetes
• Allows your gut bacteria to flourish, improve your digestion routine

Fiber rich foods keep you full for longer, help you reduce weight faster, make maintaining weight easier, make you feel lighter, slimmer, improve your digestion and reduce the risk of lifestyle diseases like Type 2 Diabetes.

But, if you really want to reduce weight fast, adding Fiber is just not enough, you must also manage your Daily Protein intake.

Increase Protein in your diet:

Protein feels heavy in your stomach and takes longer to dgest - This helps you feel full faster and keeps you satiated for a long time. For weight loss, we want to focus on a diet heavy on Protein and Fiber with moderate amounts Healthy fats and Carbs mixed in.

Protein helps us build and maintain muscle in our body - Muscle requires energy to maintain, and the same size density of muscle is heavier and costlier to maintain than fat. This helps you permanently increase your metabolism, thus leading to weight loss.

• Helps improve quality of Hair, Skin, Muscles, and Bones
• Required by our body to repair and function adequately
• Necessary to develop essential hormones in our body
• Provides amino acids - Nine of which cannot be produced by our own body and are required through a diet

Reducing just Carbs has the potential to cause harm to our health. A lack of sufficient carb intake can leave you feeling lethargic throughout the day. Instead of cutting down on Carbs - Balance it with a dose of healthy Proteins & Fats.

To summarise - Protein & Fiber provide long term weight loss through means of:

• You stay full for longer, which allows for mindful eating
• You eat lesser because you feel full faster
• More muscle means higher metabolism

A combination of Protein and Fiber heavy diet can not only help us lose weight faster, but also provide a sea of other health benefits. Losing weight and keeping it off is just a matter of maintaning and following a nutrionally balanced diet with a touch of mindful eating.