Cutting calories and losing weight quickly has never really been my thing; regardless, my double chin was becoming quite apparent and it was time to lose some weight. Have you been in a situation where you know you need to make a change in your lifestyle but you didn’t know where to start? I was able to lose 25 pounds in 2 months and keep it off by making three simple changes in my diet.
1. I started eating a big breakfast.
Ironic, I know. Having a big breakfast helps you stay full longer. If you are eating proper foods, a healthy breakfast might look something like,
- 5 Egg whites + 1 egg yolk on two pieces of whole wheat toast.
Or I might have,
- Half a cup of oatmeal with a protein shake and a scoop of peanut butter.
When having a large nutritious breakfast I found myself less likely to crash and binge eat later in the afternoon and evening.
2. Replacing simple carbohydrates with green carbohydrates.
A great green carbohydrate is spinach, not only is it high in vitamins and minerals, it is low in calories. One cup is just seven calories. Having two cups of pasta, the calories and carbohydrates add up quickly, however, having two cups of spinach is virtually nothing. Spinach salad makes for a fantastic lunch. Just chop up a boneless skinless chicken breast and toss it on top of a bed of spinach, add some low fat dressing and your done. A healthy meal that only takes 10 minutes to make.
3. Only protein after 8pm.
Since your body stores excess carbohydrates that it doesn’t use as fat, it’s best to have the bulk of your carbohydrates at breakfast and post workout. Towards the end of the night you want to taper off the carbohydrates and stick to high protein, low carbohydrate foods and drinks.
A high protein snack before bed may include a couple glasses of milk, protein shake, yogurt or cottage cheese.
Cottage cheese is an excellent source of protein, if you can stand the taste. If you can’t, try adding some flavored yogurt to it. Sounds weird doesn’t it? Try it.
With cottage cheese you are getting a casein based protein which is slower digesting than whey protein. Providing on average 16 grams of protein per half cup with a little over 100 calories, it is the perfect pre bed snack.
Often you tend to get hungry at night, that is when binge eating starts. You go for anything you can get your hands on and don’t stop until the bag is empty. If you know you are going to be up for a little longer have some peanut butter or some kind of healthy fat source. Healthy fats are great for you and they are the most filling compared to carbohydrates or protein. Fat is calorie dense, 9 calories per gram. Keep that in mind.
Controlling calories at night time had a major impact on my success as far as losing weight quickly goes.
These three small changes in my diet helped me drop from 205 pounds to a lean 180 pounds in just 2 months.
