How can I include grains in my diet without piling on weight?
I am working hard to lose weight. I have cut pasta out of my diet completely and eat bread very rarely. I don't enjoy cereal or muesli so never eat it. I now eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and feel much healthier but I know I should have more grains in my diet. I worry that eating pasta and bread will see the weight pile on again, what are my options?
Over the past seven months you’ve been losing more than 3 kilos’ a month. That’s more than 25,000 calories of fat you’ve burned off each month up until the last six weeks. Your body will let you crash diet for a while but most diets are starvation diets or have a distorted nutrient balance. Low calorie diets slow down your metabolism, making it progressively difficult to lose weight and keep it off. Anytime the body is fed less than the minimum amount of calories necessary to provide more than fifty nutrients we need daily, the body struggles to survive the ordeal and activates hormones and enzymes that encourage your metabolism to slow down and store fat. I am pretty sure that’s why you’re feeling so disillusioned right now.
The bottom line is this, you cannot cover your nutritional needs each day on a mere 1300 calories. Exercise on top of a nutrient poor diet and you are further depleting your body. Don’t give up. Based on your current weight you can easily lose a kilo of fat a week if you walk for an hour each day and keep your calories at 1700 daily. Rather than spend extra money on trainers or gyms, spend some time with a nutritionist to learn how to put a 1700-calorie plan into place that is balanced, complete and enjoyable. Get your body composition measured every two weeks to check that you are losing fat, not muscle.
A good nutritionist will adjust your plan based on your results and metabolism. Most importantly you will learn how to fill in the gaps in your diet. Fibre, iron, zinc, iodine, Vitamin D, B vitamins and essential fats all play an important role in weight loss, not just protein. We would also address sleep issues and stress, as they play a role in weight management too. Because you work a long day it would be best to divide your calories over 5 or 6 meals for better digestion and blood sugar control. Include lean red meat three times a week, red meat contains more iron and minerals than chicken and take a good professional multivitamin whenever you are dieting.