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What to eat to lose weight?

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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In constant pursuit of the ideal, which especially concerns women, they can make a lot of efforts to lose weight and reach the weight that is seen as optimal. Many, choosing for themselves the method by which it becomes possible to achieve the desired result, opt for all sorts of diets. Thus, it becomes relevant to determine which of the dietary prescriptions and recommendations are the most acceptable and are distinguished by the highest efficiency, in other words - what to eat to lose weight?

Gherelin, also known as the hunger hormone, is responsible for the feeling of hunger. Its discovery occurred relatively recently, and it is present in the body to an extremely high degree in such a psychosomatic disease as anorexia.

You can overcome hunger and the resulting need to constantly “eat away” food, which leads to the accumulation of excess body weight, by following these principles.

Protein foods are the first to help you achieve satiety and maintain this feeling for a long time.

It is also important to avoid overeating and to eat only at that stage of hunger which is in the interval closer to the middle of an imaginary scale, on one end of which is acute hunger, and on the other side is absolute satiety.

A wonderful way to bring your diet to the optimum is the fractional nutrition system. Its essence is that the total daily amount of food is divided into 5 meals, between which there should be no more than 3 hours. It is necessary that the body receives 400 kcal three times a day, each time, and 200 kcal during two snacks, respectively.

Thus, it can be argued that what is of particular importance is not so much what to eat in order to lose weight, but the organization of a proper diet and the choice of dishes and products that are well balanced in terms of satisfying hunger without having excess calories.

How many calories should you eat to lose weight?

So, let's consider how many calories to eat to lose weight, and at the same time provide sufficient nutrition necessary for the normal functioning of the body. For women, it is required that the total caloric content of the entire amount of food consumed throughout the day is from 2000 to 2500 kcal. For men, the corresponding values u200bu200bare somewhat higher. Based on this, the conclusion suggests itself that weight loss can be achieved if the maximum daily amount of calories received by the body is shifted below the lower limit of the given norms.

Today, calculations are often carried out using the Harris-Benedict formula. However, the greatest reliability and accuracy is ensured by using the Maffin-Jeor formula known since 1990.

In this formula, one of the indicators is the number of calories expended in a state of complete rest, which is called the basal metabolic rate. In this case, energy is spent on the processes of respiration and blood circulation, hair growth, nails, etc. Further, there are coefficients depending on what kind of lifestyle a person predominantly leads: sedentary; with little activity - playing sports from 1 to 3 days a week; average activity (3-5 days of sports per week); highly active - playing sports almost every day of the week; or with very high activity, when heavy physical exertion in work activities is combined with daily sports training. The corresponding coefficient is multiplied by the basal metabolic rate.

In order for the weight loss process not to be accompanied by the emergence of any complications and negative health phenomena, it is recommended to reduce the total caloric content of food within 20 percent. That is, to calculate it, the daily norm is multiplied by 0.8. You can lose weight in a shorter time if you reduce your individual daily calorie intake by 40%. However, in this case, it is necessary to take into account that it is not recommended to reduce the total caloric content of foods consumed during the day below 1200 kcal for women, and 1600 kcal for men, respectively.

How many calories to eat to lose weight is calculated individually, and at the same time, height and weight, age and the characteristics of the lifestyle that a person leads who wants to lose extra pounds are taken into account.

What can you eat to lose weight?

For those who have embarked on the path of fighting their own body, in order to successfully achieve the perfect figure, it is necessary to gain an understanding of what you can eat to lose weight?

High-calorie dishes and products that can be harmful to the figure are best eaten early in the morning. This is due to the fact that in the morning, metabolic processes occur with a much greater degree of intensity than at other times of the day, which ensures better absorption of food. Do not run away from home to work without having breakfast. Breakfast helps the body recover from sleep, activates its functioning, and helps regulate the pancreas.

For dinner, low-fat protein foods are the most acceptable. Protein digestion takes longer than carbohydrates, and this process requires only slightly less than half the calories received from protein food. In addition, protein reduces the activity of the hunger hormone.

Sometimes there is an irresistible desire to send the diet away and eat something completely unhealthy. In this case, if you are unable to give up this idea, you should at least try to ensure that the right combinations of products are observed in the dishes. For example, spaghetti or any other pasta should not be with grated cheese or with a sauce made of fatty meat, but with stewed or raw vegetables. When you want chocolate, before breaking off a piece of chocolate from the bar, a few minutes earlier it is recommended to eat a slice of black bread or whole grain bread.

What can you eat to lose weight? The answers to the question can be very diverse and depend on the individual characteristics of each specific person. In all of the above, general principles and recommendations are given, following which can help to some extent to get closer to the optimal body mass index.

What should you eat to lose weight?

What should you eat to lose weight? The way in which calories should be distributed in each meal throughout the day plays an important role in this issue. This factor is of great importance in the system of losing weight by fractional nutrition - grazing. It is important to compose the menu so that the caloric content of dishes in it is distributed evenly. Eating small portions at equal intervals helps the body develop a certain rhythm of the digestive system, as a result of which the feeling of hunger and, accordingly, the need for unauthorized snacks will arise less often and less acutely.

In combinations of products it is necessary to adhere to certain ratios. Thus meat should certainly be combined with green vegetables, in a ratio of one to three in favor of the latter. Green vegetables are low-calorie, have a long digestion time, and help remove excess fluid from the body.

Calcium, which is rich in dairy products, helps remove excess fat from the body. Fermented milk products are preferable, as well as those with low fat content. In addition, mineral waters are a source of calcium.

A positive aspect that will help you strictly adhere to proper nutrition is that the refrigerator contains only those products that are useful during the fight against excess weight. The absence of any harmful and "wrong" food there will protect you from the temptation to grab something completely unnecessary between main meals.

When considering the question of what to eat to lose weight, we come to the conclusion that the fundamental factor in achieving and maintaining optimal body weight is achieving a balanced state between the amount of calories entering the body with food and energy expenditure in the following three directions. More than half of the total amount is required to ensure life in a state of complete rest; about a third of it is taken away by physical activity; and the remaining part is necessary for the actual processes of digestion and assimilation of food.

If more calories enter the body than are required to perform the above functions, everything that is in excess of what is necessary accumulates in the tissues, which is why excess body weight appears. Therefore, in order to get rid of excess weight, it is necessary to eat foods that, despite their low calorie content, take a lot of energy to digest them.

What to eat in the morning to lose weight?

In order to successfully get rid of excess weight and subsequently maintain such an achievement for a long period, it is very important to understand that breakfast is practically decisive in the diet, both during a diet and in everyday life in general. Based on this, you should figure out what to eat in the morning to lose weight?

The best time for a morning meal, according to dietetics experts, is immediately after washing, brushing teeth and other hygiene procedures. Calories that enter the body during breakfast fill you with energy, activate your metabolism, and help the body transition from sleep to wakefulness. The morning menu should be composed taking into account that it includes the necessary content of proteins, vitamins and minerals, and in addition, there should be some healthy fats. Breakfast dishes should not be overly complicated and require a lot of time to prepare. And you need to make sure that all the necessary components and ingredients are always available in the refrigerator.

As an example, we will give some breakfast options that can be considered appropriate and correct during a weight loss diet.

So, a couple of soft-boiled eggs, one piece of any citrus fruit, and one or two crisps.

Next, oatmeal or buckwheat, millet or barley porridge in water, one fruit, and yogurt without sugar.

For breakfast, you can also have an omelette of four eggs without yolks, and one egg with mushrooms, herbs or spinach.

In addition, a yogurt smoothie with half a banana and 200 grams of berries or fruits to taste is recommended as a morning meal.

Or, for breakfast, you can have 30 g of whole grain bread plus one teaspoon of jam with yogurt.

By following these, essentially uncomplicated, rules regarding what to eat in the morning to lose weight, you can achieve excellent results. And if you approach the issue of morning food correctly, the body will receive sufficient saturation from the very beginning of the day and the resulting acute feeling of hunger will not distract from work and important matters during the day. In addition, thanks to a good breakfast, the likelihood of gastritis is reduced.

What to eat in the evening to lose weight?

There is a common belief, which is held by a fairly large number of people, that the most dangerous calories for the figure are those that enter the body with food in the second half of the day, and especially closer to nightfall. This thesis, however, has long been refuted, since the results of scientific research indicate that the primary importance is, first of all, the total daily amount of calories, rather than the time of eating. That is, during the day you can have breakfast and lunch low-calorie dishes, and for dinner you can have a real "feast of the stomach", without the risk of gaining excess weight.

However, there are a number of specific dietary rules and practical recommendations on what to eat in the evening to lose weight, which we will consider below.

Due to the peculiarities of digestion of different types of food, these processes occur at different rates. For example, the digestive system needs 4 to 6 hours to digest fatty red meat and pork. If you eat such food shortly before going to bed, the meat will remain in the stomach all night, and due to the activation of digestive processes, this can significantly complicate the process of falling asleep and prevent a normal night's rest.

In order to effectively deal with extra pounds, after six o'clock in the evening it is recommended to abstain from food containing large amounts of fats and carbohydrates. This is due to the fact that it is at night that the bulk of fats present in the body are burned. The energy released in this case is directed to maintaining the functioning of the muscular system and internal organs. And, since at night there is no source of this energy from the outside in the form of food, the body's own fat reserves are subject to breakdown. Therefore, if you introduce fatty or carbohydrate foods into the body before going to bed, they will be processed first, and not the fats already present.

It is recommended to choose protein foods for dinner based on the rate of their absorption in the digestive system. These processes should not take more than an hour and a half. This category also includes kefir, yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, eggs, lean white meat, chicken fillet or rabbit, and white fish.

Green vegetables, tomatoes and herbs are allowed without any restrictions.

In addition, taking into account calories, you can have boiled potatoes, boiled beets and carrots.

It is also possible to diversify the evening menu with beans and mushrooms.

The list of permitted products also includes unsweetened fruits and berries.

So, what to eat in the evening to lose weight? When dealing with this issue, it is necessary to remember that heavy and fatty foods should be avoided, and the daily menu should be composed in such a way that calories are distributed as evenly as possible within the general daily norm necessary to bring body weight to the desired parameters.

What to eat to lose weight quickly?

What to eat to lose weight quickly? In the context of the problem associated with the ability to say goodbye to excess body weight and bring the figure to an ideal state, a more accurate formulation of the question seems, in fact, not so much "what", but rather - "how much". How much (or little) you need to eat to achieve weight loss in a short time to a state that seems optimal.

It is obvious that as a result of eating, the amount of calories contained in the body increases, and this fact is indisputable, because not eating at all is impossible. Hence the conclusion that in order to reduce body weight and lose weight, it is necessary to burn more calories than they come with food. Therefore, the determining factor here is the total caloric content of all food eaten during the day.

There is also a risk that in a desperate pursuit of the ideal, you can go to extremes and completely give up food for some time. Such a decision can cause significant harm to the body. In addition, often the result of fasting for the sake of losing weight is only a significant increase in the feeling of hunger, and the kilograms lost in this way return in the shortest possible time and even increase as a result of subsequent uncontrolled gastronomic excesses. In addition, the deliberate extremely low calorie content of dishes and products consumed in food carries the threat of all kinds of health problems, both physical and mental, which manifests itself, for example, in the development of anorexia.

It is necessary to calculate the caloric content of foods and dishes during a diet for rapid weight loss, taking into account that the food ration formed in this way in terms of the number of calories was not reduced by more than a quarter of the required daily norm.

Thus, what to eat to lose weight quickly is determined based on the amount of calories that can be brought by eating certain foods. For effective weight loss, it is required that the caloric content of food be lower than the values that are the norm of daily consumption. However, one should not cross the dangerous line of the existing lower permissible limit of the minimum energy required for the normal functioning of the body.

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