The rate at which you'll lose weight by cutting out bread depends at least partly on the amount of bread you eat each day. The more bread you eat, the more likely you are to shed pounds by eliminating it from your diet. But results are also affected by the food you use to replace bread. Just cutting bread products won't melt away the pounds, especially if you're eating other foods of similar caloric value in place of the bread.
Caloric Deficit
To lose weight, you need to reach a caloric deficit. It takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. of fat. Generating a shortage of 250 calories a day, for example, causes a weight loss of 1 lb. every two weeks, whereas a shortage of 500 calories a day brings about a weight loss of 1 lb. per week.
Cutting Bread
Let's say you eat a bagel each morning for breakfast. Your average bagel contains roughly 250 calories. By cutting it from your diet, there's the potential of reaching enough of a deficit to shed ½ lb. every week. If your lunch is a sandwich, cutting out the bread reduces your caloric intake another 160 calories or so. Now, you increase your potential weight loss to just over ¾ lb. every week. Let's say you have another bread product worth around 100 calories at dinner. Cutting it from your diet brings your grand total to a deficit of 510 calories a day, so you can expect to lose more than 1 lb. every week.
Replacing Bread
If you're like most people, you'll likely replace each of the bread products with some other food item. Substituting a banana for the bagel reduces your potential caloric deficit from 510 calories to around 400 calories -- a medium banana contains about 105 calories. Substituting your sandwich bread for a tortilla wrap reduces your potential caloric deficit by another 100 calories, so you're now looking at a deficit of only 300 calories a day. Now, your weight loss is about 1 lb. every 12 days. As you can probably see, replacing the bread with another food affects overall results.
Recommendation
Instead of eliminating bread from your diet, a better option is to count your calories at every meal and snack, which can give you a better idea of how many calories you eat each day and where calories can be eliminated. Sometimes, all you need to do to promote weight loss is cut down the size of your portions. In fact, most medical professionals will tell you to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains when you want to lose weight. Plus, if you cut bread products from your diet, you could be missing out on important vitamins, minerals and other nutrients vital to your health.
Member Comments