Diet - Leah Sarago Fitness Forums

Hi Catherine! Sorry for my late response. There are a million diets out there and it's confusing which one to follow or the best one to follow. You can choose a diet that you think would be easy to adhere to, but make sure that you are still creating a caloric deficit (reducing intake/calories consumed or making sure to not consume more calories than your body burns every day). This number can be tricky to pin point and it's trial and error to see what number starts helping you lose. But an easier way to start at least without counting calories, is simply reduce portion sizes. Then you can further reduce higher calorie foods or limit those "bad" foods or whatever eating habit you know is contributing to weight gain. I'm a huge advocate of moderation and including a few favorite foods up to 150-200 calories a day. This way you do not feel deprived. For some people they enjoy cheat meals (eating whatever you want for a few hours) once a week, but I find this method to backfire or it just makes you feel very deprived on the other days and promotes binge eating. Many diets are not going to help anyone long term as they are too strict and eliminate a lot of foods that you may love. Being active, I would not recommend any diets that eliminate carbs. In fact, the KETO diet will make you gain weight if you are not achieving the right caloric balance. This is hard to achieve when your calories come from caloric dense foods like fat. Diets that include fasting or only eating during certain times of the day may work because they may help people eat less calories each day. If you look at the diets of bodybuilders and fitness competitors, they eat the same foods to gain weight (for greater muscle growth) as they eat to achieve low body fat levels by manipulating portions/calories. So, they can gain weight on egg whites, oatmeal, chicken, rice, and salads! Too much food no matter what type of food it is can make you gain weight. A great place to start is eating healthy, in moderation, reducing portion sizes, and not excluding small amounts of foods you like every day. When I want to lose a few pounds, the first thing I do is eat less but I don't starve myself or make drastic calorie changes. My body cues of feeling a little hungrier in between meals and at bedtime indicate to me that I'm eating less and I start to lose some weight. Every day is not going to be perfect. If you overeat or eat "bad", just adjust your eating choices later in the day or the next day. If you know you are going out to dinner, try to eat lower calorie foods the hours up to enjoying your dinner out. This will help keep the calorie balance in check. Same thing with days you are really hungry, just eat a little more that day and then back off the next day. In addition to the caloric deficit, watching your macro balance and protein intake can help too. Hope this helps!