Is Your Diet Packing Pounds to Your Midsection?

Most people don’t want to gain weight.  However, you may be eating foods that are causing you to gain weight you don’t need in the form of fat.  Here are some tricks to help stop packing on the pounds.

Tip #1: Understand How Your Body Adds Weight

Most people ignore learning about nutrition and instead follow fad diets only to become frustrated.  This is the number reason people on diets gain weight.  In order to lose weight, you have to understand how your body puts on the pounds.

Really, it’s a matter of math.  You need to eat less calories than your body uses and you will lose weight automatically!  3500 calories is equivalent to one pound of fat.  So, if you can restrict 500 calories every day from your diet, you will lose 1 pound every week.  Add in a little bit of exercise at the park or gym, and you’ll be shedding pounds like Paris Hilton on Laxatives! (Which I highly discourage – both laxatives and Paris Hilton in general).  So, kick in your high school algebra skills and start adding up your daily caloric intake.

Tip #2: Gain Weight Through Carbs

Carbs have less calories than fats, but it’s easy to eat a lot of them without feeling full.  Some major culprits are breakfast cereals, especially the sugary ones, pastries, bagels, and pastas.  Try lowering your intake of simple carbs, instead opting for whole grain sources like whole wheat pasta or whole grain cereals like Museil. 

Complex carbs found in brown rice, quinoa, pelt, lentils, and all those other grains will keep your energy levels high throughout the day while keeping your stomach feeling full.  So, the best way to lose the weight through lowering your carbs is to stay away from the simple sugars found in processed foods and candy store treats.

Tip #3: Gain Weight With an Unbalanced Diet.

Fats are good for you!  I can’t stress this enough.  It seems more and more, people are avoiding all types of fat and are surprised when they gain weight.  Fat doesn’t equal fat.  Extra calories equal fat.  However, you should try to avoid the bad fats while consuming the good ones.  The bad ones are saturated and trans fats, the good ones are the unsaturated fats.  A diet high in fat will make you gain weight only when your calories consumed are more than your calories used.

Good fats are found in fish, nuts, olive oil, and flax seeds.  Bad fats are found in other oils, anything hydrogenated, and animals.  So know the difference, and start popping those fish-oil supplements!

Tip #4: Gain Weight With Liquid

Stop drinking your weight.  Liquid calories are so bad because they are silent.  You don’t realize that you can drink 500 calories with one milkshake.  You’d have to run 5 miles to burn off that many calories.  No wonder it’s so easy to gain weight when you are on a diet if you don’t restrict your drinks.

Water is the way to go when trying to burn fat.  Moderation with sodas and juices are key.  Remember, each liter of soda you drink is about 2 miles you need to run to burn it off.  Let’s not even mention milk shakes and sugary coffee drinks!  A surefire way to gain weight and fall off the wagon is to drink your weight in calories.

Tip #5: Gain Weight Without Cheating

Cheating feels good.  Well, in terms of diets.  When you are trying to reduce your body fat, restricting yourself too much will probably make you gain weight. 

There are two reasons for this.  First, if you starve yourself, your body goes into survival mode and can mess up your hormones, which makes your body panic, thinking you’re in a time of famine.  When this happens, even if you are eating fewer calories your body can gain weight by storing excess amounts of fat.

Second, when you don’t cheat on your diet, you will become depressed and gain weight!  I cheat once a week, usually on Sunday’s when I can rest.  Use your cheat day as a reward for all the hard work you’ve done.  

-KW