Weight loss can be a game of numbers. The National Institutes of Health notes, for example, that a pound of fat equates to about 3,500 calories, so losing a pound a week can be done by reducing your regular calorie consumption by an average of 500 calories per day. The NIH also suggests that a weight-loss plan of losing one to two pounds per week is optimal. However, if you want to lose weight at a faster rate, reduce your calories even more, but keep in mind the daily minimum levels recommended by the NIH: 1,200 calories for woman and 1,500 for men.
Vegetable Soup
Although soup, especially the canned variety, can have high sodium levels, homemade vegetable soup can be a tasty and nutritious way to get important nutrients and fiber, while helping you with your weight-loss goals without all that sodium. In an MSNBC.com article on foods for weight loss, writer Joy Bauer notes that studies have shown how eating a fiber-filled and broth-based soup before your main meal can help fill you up so you eat less during the meal and reduce your overall calorie consumption significantly.
Steak
That's right, steak. That doesn't mean a 16-ounce, marbled slab of beef, but rather a 3- to 4-oz., lean cut of steak. As writer Camille Noe Pagan notes in the August 2008 issue of Self magazine, steak is high in protein, which helps you retain muscle mass while you're losing weight. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more efficiently your body will process calories.
Oatmeal
The Self article reports that oats have the highest satiety ranking of any food, so starting your day with a bowl of oatmeal will keep you full for a long time. And because oats digest slowly, you won't experience a spike in your blood sugar levels. Just be sure not to add sugar to your oatmeal; instead, add some berries to sweeten up your oatmeal.
Frozen Fruits
As a refreshing snack, frozen blueberries, grapes, bananas or strawberries offer far fewer calories than a frozen yogurt, according to advice in the June 2002 issue of Runner's World magazine. You can either buy them frozen or freeze the items you want in the serving sizes you want. The magazine adds that because of their texture and taste, frozen fruit snacks will signal your body to stop eating before you eat too much.
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