Losing weight, lowering your body mass index and fighting obesity improve your health. However, not all low-calorie diets deliver proper nutrition. Some packaged and prepared diet foods contain high amounts of sugar or sodium to give them more flavor without added nutrients. Eating healthy to lose weight helps you establish permanent habits that will help you maintain your weight loss and feel your best.
Caloric Intake
Calories are a form of energy that you consume and burn. When you follow a reduced-calorie diet, strike a balance between eating enough calories to keep you feeling strong throughout your day but not so many that you gain weight. The American Heart Association recommends that adult women of average height who want to maintain a healthy weight consume between 1,600 and 2,400 calories daily. Older women and sedentary women should consume fewer calories than younger or more active women. Adult men of average stature can consume between 2,000 and 3,000 calories per day depending upon their level of activity and their age. Trimming too many calories from your diet can make you feel fatigued and unfocused and lead to binging and other eating disorders.
Dietary Components
You can eat a diet packed with unhealthy and even high-calorie foods and still lose weight. However, you will not be able eat enough food to feel satisfied and energetic. The key to successful and healthy weight loss is to eat foods with low energy density but high nutritive value. For example, a cup of red grapes contains antioxidants and fiber and only has 100 calories. A cup of raisins has four times as many calories. Cover those raisins in chocolate or a sugary yogurt coating and you will consume more than 25 percent of your daily calories in a single snack. Eating low-calorie whole foods, such as carrots, leafy greens, celery, apples, citrus fruit and mangoes provides disease-fighting antioxidants, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and water content, keeping you healthy and making you feel more full.
Lifestyle Changes
Eating a healthy diet is part of a long-term lifestyle change you can make to increase your longevity, improve your cardiovascular health, fight disease, improve your energy and maintain a healthy weight. Achieve all these goals when you follow a food plan that allows for diverse low-calorie foods, including unsweetened whole grains, fresh produce, legumes, nonfat Greek yogurt and light preparations of skinless poultry or fatty fish. Lower bad cholesterol levels by eliminating foods containing trans fat and saturated fat and improve good cholesterol levels by eating olive oil, flaxseed oil, canola oil, nuts and seeds.
Portion Control
Healthy diets also include a behavioral component that can help you overcome eating problems that lead to weight gain. Learning to control your portion sizes, even with lower-calorie foods, improves your chance of maintaining weight loss. Eat several small, nutritious meals throughout your day to stave off hunger and stay energized. Focus on portion sizes and calorie counts so that you recognize when you stack your plate too high with food. Use smaller plates or fill half your dinner plate with a lightly dressed salad.
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