Losing weight—and keeping the pounds off—isn't a quick or easy process, but a few simple diet tricks can be a big help along the way. Our favorites? Eating lots of protein, fiber, and healthy carbs, which boost your metabolism and keep you feeling full all day long.
If you're not sure how to work these calorie-burning ingredients into your daily menu, start with these recipes. They all include at least one weight-loss superfood, and, best of all, they can be made in 30 minutes or less!
Short on time but want to make tasty food that slims you? Lucky for you, these dishes come together in five minutes or less. Plus, each is loaded with Resistant Starch (RS), a carb that's the cornerstone of The CarbLovers Diet and helps you drop pounds by revving your metabolism.
Eat these meals to stay svelte, or mix and match 'em, and shed up to 11 pounds in 30 days (just be sure to work in 45 minutes of vigorous cardio four times a week). Now get ready for your reveal!
The Active Calorie Diet is a new weight loss plan based on recent research which found that eating certain types of foods can increase your body's calorie-burning potential and help you stay satisfied longer. Some foods-such as lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains—take more work to eat so you burn more calories during digestion. Adding garlic, spices, peppers, and vinegar will keep your fat-burning furnace running after you're done eating.
You're eating right and working out; pretty much doing all the right things to achieve your weight-loss goal. But, did you know that there are foods that actually help burn fat? Added bonus is that they're tasty, healthy, and easy to add in just about every meal. From breakfast to dessert and everything in between, here are six recipes that combine a medley of fat-burning foods!
High-fiber oatmeal is slow to digest, which helps regulate blood sugar and keeps you feeling full for a longer period of time. To make your bowl of oats an even better fat blaster, add cinnamon and some nuts, like raw nuts, especially almonds. High in alpha-linolenic acid, almonds help the body metabolize faster. Don't forget to grate some cinnamon over your oatmeal — cinnamon helps keep blood sugar levels down, meaning you won't need to indulge in a midmorning muffin or pastry.
Before lunch, snack on some citrus like an orange or grapefruit. Both low-cal fruits are full of fiber and have a low glycemic index rating, which, according to a small study, may help reduce insulin levels, causing you to feel full and eat fewer calories. An additional study from Arizona State University at Mesa suggests that when coupled with exercise, the vitamin C found in citrus fruit can help burn more fat
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Packed with nutrients, spinach is already a superfood in our book, especially if you are looking to lose weight. High in fiber with very few calories, load up on it over lunch to keep you full until dinner.
When thinking about salad toppings, choose lean proteins, fiber-filled veggies, tomatoes, and avocado. Multiple studies in the Journal of Nutrition say that lean protein has more staying power than carbs or fat; lean protein also contains the amino acid leucine, which helps to keep metabolism going throughout the day. Avocados, on the other hand, are rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, which are known to decrease belly fat. Last but not least, tomatoes! Besides being high in vitamin C and lycopene, tomatoes are also rich in L-carnitine — an amino acid that helps the body metabolize fat.
Like so many other foods that help ward off hunger, sweet potatoes are high in fiber — and a host of other good-for-you nutrients! Given how filling sweet potatoes are, they're pretty low in calories: approximately 100 calories in a three-and-a-half-ounce serving. Baked, smashed, or roasted, spice up your sweet potato with turmeric. The spice that gives mustard and curry its yellow color, may slow down the growth of fat tissue.
Cannellini beans are brimming with resistant starch, a unique fiber that resists digestion, which is good news for weight loss. Slower digestion means the body has to work harder, and in the process, burn more calories, which helps to keep hunger at bay.
Make a big pot of this white bean and black cabbage soup; it contains a bit of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, which has been shown to increase the body's fat-burning abilities.
If you need a little sweet treat at the end of your day, go for a bowl of low- or nonfat yogurt topped with fresh blueberries. A Harvard study revealed that yogurt is the best food for preventing weight gain. Meanwhile, a separate study indicated that a diet rich in blueberries may get rid of belly fat!
Most people think they can just starve themselves to lose weight but you can't do that because your body will go into something called starvation mode. What happens is your body will slowly eat itself. If you want to know why you can't starve yourself to lose weight, this article gives a great explanation on it.
The Concept
The right combination of foods and exercise burns off stubborn body fat.
Distinguishing Features
You drink many of your meals (and we're not talking about the three-martini lunch)
A big emphasis on lean protein (egg whites, chicken breasts, skim milk, protein powder)
Vegetables fill the plate (and, hopefully, your stomach)
Grains and starches are few and far between
This Is Your Diet If…
You're looking for a low-fat diet
You think of food as fuel, not fun
You're very disciplined about your exercise routine
You've got a beach trip planned
Probably Not for You If…
You like meals that you can chew
You're a snacker
You have an allergy to sit-ups
You're looking for something you can sustain long-term
The Details
There's really no magic here. A low-calorie, low-fat diet coupled with a rigorous exercise routine will help you reduce body fat and reveal those washboard abs. Pumping up the protein (to about twice the standard amount) helps you recover from your workouts and also helps quell hunger pangs.
Replacing one or two meals a day with high-protein smoothies simplifies meal planning and preparation. For dinner, it's old-school diet fare: a serving of steamed fish or grilled chicken, salad with low-fat salad dressing, and steamed vegetables. Alcohol is off the menu.
Hey, we didn't say it would be fun. It's all about getting that bikini bod.
The Women's Health Diet isn't about eating less; it's about eating more—more nutrient-dense food, to crowd out the empty calories and keep you full all day. That's important, because restricting food will kill your metabolism. It sends a signal to your body that says, "I'm starving here!" And your body responds by slowing your metabolic rate to hold on to existing energy stores.What's worse, if the food shortage (meaning, your crash diet) continues, you'll begin burning muscle tissue, which just gives your enemy, visceral fat, a greater advantage. Your metabolism slows further, and fat goes on to claim even more territory.
Have you ever tried to eat healthy and found it boring, bland, expensive and complicated? We have a solution for you! How to Lose Belly Fat: 100 Recipes with Fat Burning Foods is a recipe guide for fitness conscious people who want to lose weight AND eat great, while spending less time in the kitchen.
This brainchild of fitness experts and award winning fitness competitors, Ana Plenter and Ivan Kalinin, contains 100 recipes including high-protein, low-calorie, low carb and gluten free recipes that taste great and are made out of fat burning ingredients.
With more than 15 years of personal training experience, Ana and Ivan have learned that real fitness is not JUST about spending numerous hours working out at the gym. It’s more about eating the right foods—NOT starving yourself to death! One of the biggest misconceptions the authors discovered while researching the book, was the idea that eating healthy requires “sacrifice,” or eating foods that just aren’t quite as tasty as you’d like.
One of the aims of the How to Lose Belly Fat: 100 Recipes with Fat Burning Foods is to dispel this myth once and for all. In it, you’ll discover the REAL dietary science that paints a much rosier picture than the grim ‘deprivation’ philosophy of mainstream dietetics, along dozens of great-tasting, healthy recipes. You can now enjoy:
- Delicious, energizing breakfasts, high protein lunch choices and healthy, hearty dinners. - Tasty AND nutritious snacks. - Recipes that suit low carb/low fat/gluten free diet requirements. - Recipes that will burn belly fat, get rid of love handles and reduce cellulite. - Foods like pizzas, pastas, muffins, frozen yogurts, cakes and more in their healthier versions ABSOLUTELY GUILT FREE!
All the recipes and dietary advice in this guide is aimed at busy individuals who have a life outside of the gym. However, it can also help fitness competitors who are tired of boring foods. You can now stop using calorie tracking tools, such as weight loss calculator; for your convenience, each recipe has a calorie count and a nutritional breakdown of grams of fat, carbohydrates and protein.
If you’re sick of fad diets and deprivation, pick up the How to Lose Belly Fat: 100 Recipes with Fat Burning Foods. It will change the way you look at food for good.
