Dietary Changes
Reducing calories and eating healthier are vital to overcoming obesity. Although you may lose weight quickly at first, slow and steady weight loss of 1 or 2 pounds (1/2 to 1 kilogram) a week over the long term is considered the safest way to lose weight and the best way to keep it off permanently. Avoid drastic and unrealistic diet changes, such as crash diets, because they’re unlikely to help you keep excess weight off for the long term. Dietary ways to overcome obesity include:
- A low-calorie diet: The key to weight loss is reducing how many calories you take in. You and your health care providers can review your typical eating and drinking habits to see how many calories you normally consume and where you can cut back. You and your doctor can decide how many calories you need to take in each day to lose weight, but a typical amount is 1,000 to 1,600 calories.
- Feeling full on less: The concept of energy density can help you satisfy your hunger with fewer calories. All foods have a certain number of calories within a given amount (volume). Some foods, such as desserts, candies, fats and processed foods, are high in energy density. This means that a small volume of that food has a large number of calories. In contrast, other foods, such as fruits and vegetables, have low energy density. These foods provide a larger portion size with a fewer number of calories. By eating larger portions of foods less packed with calories, you reduce hunger pangs, take in fewer calories and feel better about your meal, which contributes to how satisfied you feel overall.
- Adopting a healthy-eating plan: To make your overall diet healthier, eat more plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole-grain carbohydrates. Also emphasize lean sources of protein, such as beans, lentils and soy, and lean meats. Try to include fish twice a week. Limit salt and added sugar. Stick with low-fat dairy products. Eat small amounts of fats, and make sure they come from heart-healthy sources, such as nuts and olive, canola and nut oils.
- Meal replacements: These plans suggest that you replace one or two meals with their products — such as low-calorie shakes or meal bars — and eat healthy snacks and a healthy, balanced third meal that’s low in fat and calories. In the short term, this type of diet can help you lose weight. Keep in mind that these diets likely won’t teach you how to change your overall lifestyle, though, so you may have to keep this up if you want to keep your weight off.
- Be wary of quick fixes: You may be tempted by fad diets that promise fast and easy weight loss. The reality, however, is that there are no magic foods or quick fixes. Fad diets may help in the short term, but the long-term results don’t appear to be any better than other diets. Similarly, you may lose weight on a crash diet, but you’re likely to regain it when you stop the diet. To lose weight — and keep it off — you have to adopt healthy-eating habits that you can maintain over time.
