Losing body fat can be a long, drawn out, and arduous task that at times can make even the strongest of willed, pretty miserable and depressed. It can take weeks, even months to lose fat, especially if there isn’t that much left to lose, yet all it takes is one slip up, or one meal higher in calories than average, and you could have set yourself back a week, which can be very frustrating to say the least. One common mistake that people tend to make when losing weight, or attempting to lose weight, is to follow fad diets or to simply consume extremely low amounts of calories each day, in the form of the same quantities of the exact same foods and drinks, day in and day out. Eating the exact same meal at exactly the same time every day can take a real toll on your body, both physically and mentally, and in truth there is absolutely no need at all. People think that in order to lose body fat that they should be consuming mega-low calories and eating bland and tasteless meals each day. In reality however, there really is no need for this at all as you can still enjoy a variety of delicious meals each day, all of which can be packed full of nutrients, low in fat, and low enough in calories that you can still consistently burn body fat every single week. Here’s a look at a few simple changes you can make to your meals to make them healthier, yet just as delicious.
Use healthy substitutions
In order to lose weight you don’t need to be following an uber-complex diet and nutrition plan to get you to where you need to be as you can still enjoy many of the foods you enjoyed before you started your diet, or at least different variations of these foods. With mashed potato for example; in order to make it taste nicer and creamier, many people often load it up with cream and butter, which is not very healthy in the slightest. A great tip here is to use one organic egg yolk whipped into the mash, along with a splash of skim milk in place of the cream. Add plenty of salt and pepper, give a good mix and you now have a healthy and delicious complex carbohydrate source. If you enjoy bacon, use turkey bacon or bacon medallions instead of fatty cuts such as streaky. If you enjoy ribeye steak, go for a lean rump steak instead. There are so many different substitutions you can make to make your meals healthier, many of which will save you around 400 – 500 calories per meal. Even switching from whole milk to skim milk in your coffee or on your cereal is a start.
Low calorie cooking sprays
When cooking foods in pans or on baking trays, we add a tablespoon or two of cooking oil to help lubricate the food and prevent the food from sticking to the metal surface. The problem here is that these oils are full of calories, even the healthy oils such as olive oil or coconut oil, and it doesn’t matter where the calories come from, if you’re consuming more than you’re burning off, you simply won’t lose weight. A great alternative, and one which is now extremely popular is to use a low calorie cooking spray instead of oil. These sprays coat the pans with a very fine mist of oil, which prevents sticking but keeps the calorie content down to roughly less than 5 calories, which is nothing. There are now many natural cooking sprays such as olive oil, so not only is the calorie content much lower, you still get the health benefits as well.
Remove any visible fat
Another effective method of helping to make the foods you consume that little bit healthier is to remove any visible fat before cooking. If you do fancy bacon for breakfast, if you trim away as much visible fat as possible, you will be left with a very lean cut of meat that you can then grill to help reduce the fat content further. Even fattier cuts of meat such as lamb or pork can be made much healthier if you just spend a bit of time trimming away as much visible fat as possible.
Low-fat alternatives
Low-fat foods and drinks are now available pretty much everywhere because so many people are so often watching their weight or trying to lose weight. Because of this, you can use these ingredients in place of the full-fat variations, and enjoy a delicious, yet much lighter meal as a result. With sausages for example, instead of full fat pork sausages you can purchase sausages that are virtually fat free and naturally low in calories. Grill three of those up with a serving of light mashed potato, some mixed vegetables, and a splash of low calorie gravy and you have a healthy, balanced and low fat meal. If you enjoy cheese in your recipes, go with low-fat cheeses instead. If a recipe calls for four whole eggs, why not just use two whole eggs and two egg whites instead? You can use low calorie sauces and dressings, reduced fat yoghurts and snacks, you can even purchase low fat cuts of meat such as extra lean steak mince.
Grill, don’t fry!
Instead of deep frying, or shallow frying something, why not grill it instead? Grilling foods, either under a grill or outdoors on a barbeque is a much healthier way of cooking because not only are you don’t frying the foods in high calorie oils, any fat which is naturally contained within the foods is now able to run away and escape from the food, rather than sitting with it in the pan where it is then reabsorbed as the meat relaxes. Many grilling machines are now also built on an angle so that the fat drains away and is collected in a special tray at the bottom of the device. If you take a look at how much fat has ran away as you cooked the food, you’ll be amazed by just how much fat you’re saving yourself from eating.
