Top Ten Weight Loss Foods for Women

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Calories can add up quickly. So it matters which foods you select on a low calorie diet. Choose wisely and you will not only achieve a calorie deficit for weight loss but you can take care of your health and effectively manage your hunger at the same time. Not feeling hungry on a low calorie diet is a good deal! So, what are the best weight loss foods for women? Narrowing it down to just 10 was difficult. However, calorie for calorie, the foods I’ve chosen are nutritional powerhouses that show up often on the lists of so-called “superfoods.” Each of these foods is packed with healthy nutrients. The plant sources of food also include fiber and antioxidants. At the same time each of these foods is low fat and low calorie. Keep in mind that fat is not bad. There are certain essential fatty acids that we need in our diet. However, the calories from fat add up fast. A gram of protein or carbohydrates has 4 calories whereas a gram of fat has 9. There are some nutritious foods that I highly recommend for your health such as nuts, avocados, and olive oil. But I am not including them in the list of the top ten for weight loss because of their calorie count. Here’s my list. Include these foods in your diet often and you will dramatically increase your chances for weight loss success. Berries: Nutritious and delicious, you just can’t go wrong with berries. Some of nature’s very best foods, unsweetened berries are low fat, low calorie, a great source of antioxidants and most are a good source of fiber. Some berries such as blueberries are also low sugar. Even the strictest low-carb diets such as Atkins allows blueberries after the first two weeks or so. When purchasing berries look for organic whenever possible. Berries not organically grown may have significant and potentially harmful amounts of pesticides. For calorie and fiber counts see Low Calorie, High Fiber Summer Fruits and Vegetables. Salmon: Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids seem to play an important role in reducing inflammation and risk for heart disease. Recent research suggests that omega-3 fatty acids may also improve insulin sensitivity and decrease belly fat. Stabilizing blood sugar is important because it helps to reduce food cravings. Salmon can be low calorie, low carb, low sodium, low saturated fat, and heart healthy depending on how it is prepared. When you buy salmon look for wild salmon rather than farm-raised. Low-fat Plain Yogurt: Low-fat plain yogurt has a healthy mix of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. This kind of balance can help keep blood sugar steady, which reduces food cravings. Yogurt is an excellent source of calcium and protein, which makes it a great choice for women. Getting enough calcium on a low calorie diet can be quite a challenge. Although numerous studies have suggested that the calcium in milk products promotes weight loss, the evidence remains unclear. Yogurt is a good choice regardless. If new research confirms that there is indeed a relationship between the calcium in milk products and weight loss, so much the better. 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (8 oz container) – 154 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 448 mg of calcium Eggs: Eggs are an excellent choice for any meal, especially breakfast. Getting enough high quality protein is particularly important for your first meal of the day. To begin with, having a well-balanced nutritious breakfast can get you off to a good start. Balance matters for your health and satisfaction and sets a standard for eating healthy the rest of the day. Getting enough protein helps to kick-start your metabolism and keep you feeling full and satisfied longer than a high carb breakfast. If eating eggs often does not fit with your need to be on a low-saturated fat and low-cholesterol diet, then choose an egg substitute. You’ll come out ahead because the egg substitute products made with 99 percent egg whites are high protein and lower in calories than whole eggs. See Healthy Low Calorie Breakfast Ideas for breakfast menus that include eggs. Broccoli: Broccoli is loaded with vitamins and minerals and is an excellent source of dietary fiber. In addition, broccoli provides a source of naturally occurring plant chemicals that have been linked to reducing risk for cancer overall and specifically breast cancer. Broccoli also contains lutein, which is important for healthy eyes. 1 cup chopped broccoli = 31 calories, dietary fiber = 2.4 grams 1 stalk broccoli = 51 calories, 3.9 grams dietary fiber Beans (legumes): Loaded with fiber, protein, and other nutrients, beans can be fantastic. Beans provide soluble fiber, which helps to stabilize blood sugar. (Are you picking up on the theme of choosing foods that keep blood sugar in line? Think healthy food sources of omega-3 fatty acids, balanced nutrition, and soluble fiber.) Stabilizing blood sugar keeps you from overeating by managing your hunger. Preventing insulin spikes can also reduce your bodies attempt to store more calories as fat than you need especially in the abdomen. Add beans to salads, soups, stews, salsas, and sauces. Edamame beans can be eaten plain or with a low calorie dip. Look for edamame beans in the frozen foods section at your grocery store. For more on fiber and weight loss read: Dietary Fiber: Can it Help You with Weight Loss? Spinach: Spinach is very low calorie and an excellent source of many important nutrients such as Vitamin K, Vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, and iron. It is also a rich source of fiber and of healthy antioxidants, the benefits of which are still being uncovered. 1/2 cup cooked spinach = 21 calories, 4.3 grams of fiber Whole Grains: Oats, barley, whole wheat, and quinoa are just a few examples of the healthy grains to include in your diet. Whole grains have more fiber and a complete and balanced array of nutrients just as nature intended unlike processed and fortified grain products such as white bread. Look for the 100% whole grain stamp, a symbol of approval by the Whole Grains Council for packaged foods. Whole grain foods are a rich source of fiber both soluble and insoluble. The fiber in whole grain foods can fill you up and keep you feeling satisfied as well as stabilize blood sugar. Watch your portion sizes with whole grains. Calorie counts vary so read the nutrition label and be aware of how much you eat. Citrus Fruits: Citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit are a good source of soluble fiber and water as well as other nutrients such as vitamin C. Once again, the soluble fiber helps to stabilize blood sugar levels. Also, eating nutritious foods with a high water content can help you fill up while keeping your calorie count down. Picking just ten foods was difficult. Here are some of the many other excellent foods you will want to consider including in your diet: Apples Bell Peppers Carrots Pumpkin Sweet Potatoes Tea Turkey Vegetable Juice Soy Coffee Pomegranates Spicy foods (Spicy foods burn extra calories for a short time but more importantly these foods are difficult to eat fast. Eating slowly can give you more time to register that you are getting full and keep you from overeating.) See how often you can include the top ten weight loss foods for women in your diet. When eating these foods becomes a habit, it’s time to expand your repertoire. If you choose to eat healthy foods and follow the weight loss tips and strategies I’ve shared with you on this site, you have a formula for success! [Have you had a chance to explore some of the latest additions on this site? I’ve now created a page specifically for everything you need to know about going on a healthy 1200 calorie diet. I’ve also created a toolbar that you can download for free to stay informed about my latest posts and recommendations. Look for it on the 1200 calorie diet page.] Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy! calories Health weight loss calories, Health, weight lossweight loss calories low calorie fiber dietary fiber nutritious healthy diet

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Body Fat Scales

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Want to take off weight fast? I could tell you a dozen or more ways to do that but you wouldn’t be happy with the results! Why? Simply put, the weight you will have lost would be primarily water. On average the body of an adult woman is about 60% water. Body weight shifts from day to day with normal changes in water weight. In addition, there are times when your body may retain excess water or have too little water and be dehydrated. As a result of these shifts in body water the numbers on your bathroom weight scale can be misleading. Ideally what you want to track for healthy weight loss is body fat not total body weight. The typical bathroom scale was not designed to give you any indication of body fat. However, it is body fat more often than not that tips the scales higher than we would like. It is body fat that gives us the unwanted flab! It is body fat that can accumulate around internal organs and put us at higher risk for disease. Unless your body is retaining water unnecessarily you don’t want to lose water weight and become dehydrated. Nor do you want to lose muscle tissue, important for tone and fitness, or other lean tissue such as bone or vital organs. Unlike water, fat loss is difficult. How do you track fat loss? You could use a tape measure, photographs over a period of time, or simply assess how your clothes fit from week to week. However, none of these methods are ideal because they are not giving you enough feedback about fat loss. Body fat scales are a possible solution. These scales are designed to give you feedback not only with total weight but also percent body fat. At one time, the “gold” standard for accurate measurement of body fat was hydrostatic underwater weighing. However, this measure is inconvenient and expensive. It is a valuable research tool but not practical for the average person. There are other high tech methods of measuring body fat but most are complicated, impractical, or expensive also. Body weight scales look similar to traditional bathroom weight scales. They are user friendly and not too expensive. However, they require a little bit of simple programming before use. To get a measure of your body fat you step on metal footpads with bare feet. The scale then measures the resistance that a tiny electric current encounters as it travels through one leg, across your pelvis, and then down through the other leg. Don’t worry. The current is so slight you’re not likely to feel it. The measurement taken compares lean mass in your body, such as muscle, to fat and then calculates percent body fat. How does this work? Electric current will pass easily through water but not other body tissue. Fat tissue has less water than muscle and other body tissues. So body fat has more resistance. Are the results accurate? In 2003 when Consumer Reports tested the relatively new body fat scales, even the best among them was only 80 percent accurate for the volunteers being tested. Some of the scales underestimated body fat and others overestimated body fat. (There are no more recent evaluations of body weight scales that I have found.) Similar body fat scales in research facilities are much more accurate. For one thing, resistance is measured in a way that takes into account the whole body and not just the bottom half. Consideration is also given to the level of body hydration, which can influence body fat measurements. So how might you put a body weight scale to work for you? Look for a scale that will give you an accurate total body weight. Then choose one that is CONSISTENT with the measurement of body fat. Whether it underestimates or overestimates body fat isn’t terribly important. Why? Any fat loss is good. And given that fat loss is SLOW, if you see a gradual decrease in the percentage of body fat then you are clearly making progress. Do remember to weigh yourself under the same conditions and at the same time of the day for the best results. But don’t get overly attached to the actual body fat percentage because it is not likely to be accurate. There are many new features on body weight scales that I have not covered in this article. Because I am in the market to purchase a body fat scale, I will be doing more research and comparing products. I’ll let you know what I learn. On Tuesday I will be traveling back home from Georgia and my visit with my mother. I’m looking forward to making some big changes on this website. I think you’ll like what I do! Till then, watch those calories and eat healthy! Health weight loss Health, weight lossweight loss fat loss water weight water fat health

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1200 Calorie Diet Toolbar

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Last week I mentioned that I would have a new tool to share that would provide you with additional support for your weight loss efforts on a low calorie diet. The new tool is actually a toolbar and I’ve named it 1200 Calorie Diet. I created this toolbar for you to have easy access to many of the very best resources online for weight loss on 1200 calories. The toolbar can be added to Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Flock. Hopefully in the near future it will be available for more browsers. It is something you can download and install in just a few steps. With this toolbar, I’ve included links for an excellent free nutrition and calorie calculator online. I only discovered it recently and I’ve not mentioned this site anywhere else. It’s one that I use when I want to know how many calories are in a small quantity of food. For example: how many calories in 10 grapes or 1 oz. of yellow tomato? I still use MyFoodDiary.com when I create 1200 calorie diet sample menus and to keep track of the healthy foods in my diet as well as those I recommend for others. But there are times when the database at My Food Diary doesn’t have the information I need. Also included with the toolbar are links to calculators for determining BMI (body mass index), BMR (basal metabolic rate), and calories burned with exercise. I have links to my latest blog posts here at the Women and Weight Website so you won’t miss a thing. And I have links to the latest posts for my Weight Loss Motivation blog. I have been writing these posts for quite some time and will soon have completed a book that I plan on sharing with my subscribers. As I find more useful tools and sites, I’ll add it to the toolbar and you will know instantly. The updates are automatic! You can find the download link for the toolbar on a new page I created called 1200 calorie diet. On this page I will include all of the most helpful links for information on this website related to 1200 calorie diets. Go check it out. I’ve listed many of the best links and I will be adding more soon. Also, try the toolbar and let me know what you think! I’m heading to Georgia to visit my mother who is in a Nursing Home but I will do my best to post another article before I return in a week. (I’m leaving at 4:00 a.m. in the morning!) Please be patient with me. I sometimes have trouble with having access to the Internet on these trips but I will do what I can. (I have an interesting article for you. I’m in the market to buy a new bathroom scale and I’m thinking of buying one of the new weight scales that also measure body fat. I’ll let you know why I think it may be a good choice.) Till next time, watch those calories and have a great week! weight loss weight loss1200 calorie diet toolbar 1200 calories weight loss

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Losers or Maintainers?

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I have an excellent guest article to share with you today written by the highly respected fat loss expert, Tom Venuto. I’ve shared one or two of his articles previously as well as a review of his highly regarded fat loss book. This new article is as good or better than the others! In it he shares the latest research from a survey of individuals who have not only been successful in losing weight but who have succeeded in maintaining the loss. Tom discusses research results from a study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. This study confirms what we had learned from the National Weight Control Registry. Tom talks about the difference in lifestyle and behaviors of those who are successful with weight loss maintenance compared with those who regain weight. The concepts gained from this study are so important! If you understand why they matter and put them into practice you will not only move ahead more quickly with your weight loss efforts but you will also be well-prepared to maintain that loss. I plan on spending more time on topics related to fat loss, body weight, and body fat in future blog posts. However, I will continue to post sample low calorie diet menus and low calorie foods along with other weight loss tips! Next week (or sooner) I have a surprise for you. I hope to give you the opportunity to use a new tool (no cost) that will help you to quickly and easily access some of the websites I have found to be very helpful. My hope is that it will give you additional support and save you time with monitoring and assessing your weight loss efforts! Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy! Listen to Maintainers, Not to Losers: 5 secrets to keeping the weight off for good By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com I have very little interest these days in all the media-hyped stories of dramatic, rapid losses of body weight. “Big losers” don’t impress me, for numerous reasons. For example, weight is not fat. “Weight” could be composed of mostly lean tissue, or it could be mostly water weight. In fact, I would go a step further and point out that rapid loss of bodyweight correlates very highly with a greater chance of relapse, weight re-gain and long term failure. So what does impress me? What gets my attention? I pay attention to what the “long term maintainers” have to say - those are the people who have maintained an ideal weight for over a year… preferably even 2-5 years or more. The difference between losers and maintainers As I was researching the subject of long term weight maintenance recently, I was surprised at the huge amount of research that’s already been done in this area. One paper that caught my interest was published by Judy Kruger and colleagues in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, titled, “Dietary and physical activity behaviors among adults successful at weight loss maintenance.” This was not an experimental study, but a compilation of data from the “Styles Survey” which was representative of the U.S. population and asked respondants questions about strategies to aid with maintaining an ideal weight. In this particular survey, only one-third (30.96%) of the respondents said they were successful at keeping their weight off. The researchers wanted to know the difference between the small group that was successful and the majority that were not. Both groups reduced the amount of food they consumed, they ate smaller portions, more fruits and vegetables, fewer fatty foods and fewer sweetened beverages. Not really any surprises there, but what we want to know most is not what losers and maintainers have in common, but what the maintainers did that the losers didn’t. Some major differences emerged between losers and maintainers: First, a significantly higher proportion of successful maintainers reported exercising 30 minutes or more daily, and they also reported adding other physical activity to their daily schedules (recreation, sports, physical work, etc). In addition, more of the successful maintainers included weight training in their exercise regimens than did the losers. Reducing sedentary activities (TV watching, etc) was also a significant difference between those who successfully maintained and those who did not. The next big difference that separated the successful maintainers from the unsuccessful was in their “self-monitoring behaviors” including: * tracking calories * tracking body weight * planning meals * tracking fat * measuring the amount of food on their plate Unfortunately, these types of self-monitoring behaviors, especially weighing and measuring food and counting calories, are among the most avoided and even criticized weight control techniques. Some weight loss “experts” even claim that it’s detrimental to count calories, weigh yourself or measure and weigh your food. However, these self monitoring behaviors are being identified more and more frequently in the research as part of “the difference that makes the difference.” I agree, and they have always played a major role in my own Burn The Fat program. A final difference was that people who reported self-perceived “barriers” to their success were 48-76% less likely to be a successful maintainer. For example, they said they had no time to exercise, they were too tired to exercise or it was too hard to maintain an exercise routine. I interpret this as: the unsuccessful losers were excuse makers! THE TOP 5 STRATEGIES TO BE A SUCCESSFUL MAINTAINER So let’s recap and turn these research findings into some practical action steps you can apply today. 1. Increase your total daily activity level, including formal exercise as well as sports, physical work or recreational activity. Exercise improves weight loss, but more importantly, it is critical for weight maintenance. 2. Decrease sedentary recreational activities by cutting back on TV watching, computer games and web surfing. Take up physical recreation such as sports, boating, biking, walking, hiking, gardening, physical hobbies and playing with your kids, if you have them. 3. Include weight training as part of your formal exercise program, throughout the fat loss phase and even more seriously during maintenance. 4. Track and monitor everything! Count calories and nutrients, measure your portion sizes, weigh your food, plan your menus in writing and monitor your body weight and body fat percentage. 5. Avoid excuses and maintain positive beliefs and attitudes towards your environment and what you perceive as “barriers.” For example, say, “I can always make time for what is most important to me” instead of, “I don’t have time to exercise.” If you’re currently on a fat loss journey, and you want to know how good your odds are for being a successful maintainer, it’s pretty easy to predict using these 5 strategies. If you’re not using all 5 of them yet, then when would be a good time to start today? There are limitations to survey results such as these, including the fact that they are cross sectional, and therefore cannot prove causality. However, I believe these findings are important and significant. Not only do they confirm previous similar studies and agree with the findings of other groups of successful maintainers (such as the National Weight Control Registry), I found that these results match precisely what I’ve seen among my most successful “Burn The Fat” clients. THIS is the type of advice I’d suggest you listen to the most: Advice about how to lose body FAT, not body WEIGHT, and how to maintain an ideal bodyweight and body composition over the long haul, not how to lose weight as fast as possible. Your friend and coach, Tom Venuto Fat Loss Coach www.BurnTheFat.com P.S. There was one more “difference that made the difference,” in this study, and this one may surprise you (although it didn’t surprise me). Successful maintainers were LESS likely to take over the counter diet products (pills, etc). About the Author: Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com Fat Loss Plan Weight Loss Programs Fat Loss Plan, Weight Loss Programsweight loss success maintenance Tom Venuto fat loss

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Healthy Low Calorie Fast Food?

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Is it possible to eat low calorie healthy food at a Fast Food restaurant? The answer to that question may depend on your definition of low calorie and healthy. What is low calorie for one person may not be for someone else. What is healthy on the other hand may be a little more universal. The healthiest foods are rich with nutrients, fiber, and antioxidants. These foods are minimally processed and have no unnecessary added chemicals or dyes. The best way to get healthy food is to buy fresh, local, and organic whenever possible and to prepare the food yourself. However, that ideal situation is simply not a reality for most people. More likely than not you are busy. You work hard as a student or employee or business owner. In addition you may have a home or family to take care of. Often there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do what you might prefer to do if the circumstances were different. Fortunately, the average American consumer is more aware than ever of the importance of eating healthy and has a better understanding what is healthy food as opposed to what is not. As a result, nutrition conscious consumers have been speaking up when it comes to having healthy restaurant meals that can be prepared and served quickly yet don’t have an unreasonable number of calories. Fast food restaurants have been paying attention to this trend for healthier food and have come a long way in making improvements in what they offer. The restaurants that have made the most changes with providing healthier menu items along with smaller portions sizes are doing well while other restaurants that have been slow to change seem to be losing market share. I first wrote about healthy low calorie restaurant food items more than a year ago when a relatively small number of “healthier” menu items were available . Since then, there’s been an increase in the number of “healthier” menu items. The biggest spike, however, seems to have been in just the past few months. Maybe it has something to do with the changes in menu board calorie labeling in New York City. New Yorkers have been astonished by the actual calorie content in some of their favorite fast food choices. A new study discovered that when customers knew the calorie counts as a result of the prominent display on menu boards in New York, they ordered an average of 52 calories less. (American Journal of Public Health, August 2008) What may be even more revealing is another study in which customers ordered meals with fewer calories when the menu was labeled but ONLY on Mondays and Tuesdays! (The Economist, 2008) I’ll leave it up to you to decide if a menu item is healthy or not. I prefer to simply be thankful that Fast Food restaurants are making an effort and offering “healthier” choices. Just like everyone else I have times when I am away from home and need to eat quickly. Fast food is a necessity. What’s exciting is that we now have a bigger selection. I’m not advocating eating fast food often. However, when you do you’ll want to be armed with the knowledge to make your best choices. An informative article I came across recently may be of help “12 Rules of the Road for Your Favorite Fast-Food Restaurant”. Although the suggestions in this article are good they may not be enough if you are on a low calorie diet. What I prefer to do is keep a list in mind of the restaurants with better choices (healthier and low calorie) and know which menu items are the best bet. Image via Wikipedia One of the newest and least expected restaurants to join the ranks of those offering healthier fare is Dunkin Donuts. The Dunkin Donuts Company has listened to their customer’s recommendations for change and responded with new menu itmes! They now offer a Dunkin Donuts Smart menu called DDSMART. In addition to reduced calorie beverages and a healthier multigrain bagel (not low calorie), the highlights of the new menu are two Egg White Flatbread sandwiches. One of the sandwiches features turkey sausage with spinach and reduced-fat mozzarella. The other is a Veggie with peppers, onions, mushrooms, and reduced-fat cheddar cheese. Both sandwiches have less than 300 calories each, nine grams of fat or less, and are served on a toasted multigrain flatbread. The town I live in no longer has a Dunkin Donuts restaurant. So I guess I won’t be able to give these a try for a while. Someone let me know if they actually taste good. Starbucks has changed the standard or “default” milk added to drinks from whole milk to reduced-fat milk. That’s a significant reduction in calories but you can take that a step further. If you want milk with your coffee ask for the non-fat milk. Don’t make my mistake and ask for skim or the person you order from might misunderstand and give you “soy” milk instead of “skim” milk. Soy is a good choice but typically has more calories. (Healthy Low Calorie Beverages 100 Calories or Less) New menu items at other restaurants to look for include: Chicken Fajita Pita on Whole Grain (Jack in the Box, 307 calories) Tortilla Soup Trio (Vegetarian tortilla soup, soft taco, and diet beverage for 360 calories, Qdobe Mexican Grill) Naked Taco Salad (Choose chicken or grilled veggies for about 340 calories with the fat-free picante dressing for 45 calories at Qdobe Mexican Grill) Chargrilled and Fruit Salad with Reduced Fat Berry Balsamic Dressing (290 calories, Chick-Fil-A’s) Thin Crust Medium Cheese Pizza (2 slices for 280 calories from Domino’s Pizza) For more low calorie restaurant choices read my previous articles. Menu items do change but hopefully most of the recommendations are still available: 1. A Low Calorie Restaurant Food Guide 2. Low Calorie Sample Menu and More 3. Healthy Restaurant Food: Is it Low Calorie? calories Health Maintenance weight loss calories, Health, Maintenance, weight losshealthy restaurant food low calorie portion size menu menu labeling weight loss weight maintenance

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