Weight Loss Without Calorie Counting

Kari Collett, RDN, LDN, CLT with A to Zinc Nutrition, LLC

 

Dump the old way of thinking about weight loss and embrace a better way!

Countless clients of A to Zinc Nutrition have shared that they have done every weight loss program available. They’ve all worked to a degree – for a while. The cornerstone of many weight loss programs is calorie counting, point counting, or some other form of tracking. Tracking is good because it keeps people on target, but calorie and point counting focuses on the wrong approach to weight loss.

Calories are not created equal. Period. A big burger from a well-known fast food chain packs in 563 calories with little to no redeeming nutrition qualities. A home prepared meal with a burger, vegetables, and fruit comes out with fewer calories (430 calories total), a fuller gut, and far more nutrients:

  • 3 oz beef burger 213 kcal
  • 1 cup home prepared coleslaw 94 kcal
  • 1 cup steamed broccoli 30 kcal
  • 1 medium apple 93 kcal

Tracking calories is relatively easy these days but why do it if you don’t have to?

Eat Nutrient Rich Foods

Study after study shows the most effective way to lose weight is to eat nutrient dense foods. These are foods that provide the most nutrition for the fewest calories. In addition to the obvious advantage of more nutrients, eating whole healthful foods allows those who are trying to lose weight significantly more food freedom!

Food freedom is having a wide variety of things to eat all rich in flavors, textures, colors, and temperatures. When you’re eating whole, nutritious foods, you’ll eat more intuitively rather than having to count everything. You won’t feel deprived like so many do when following a restrictive pattern of eating rather than eating just until satisfied. Over time, whole foods will become the foods you crave and will shift your patterns and way of life away from processed, fast, or other poor-quality foods.

Multiple Benefits

Weight loss may be the primary goal with healthy eating, but there are many other advantages that people feel almost immediately upon implementing a whole food eating plan. Feeling vibrant and full of energy is one that many are thrilled to experience! Finally, they can make it through the day without the downer of complete exhaustion by late afternoon.

Glowing skin, clear eyes, strong nails, beautiful hair, and healthy teeth are all additional benefits to eating healthy. When we eat whole foods, we can receive the benefits of the protective qualities in foods designed by nature.

What should be tracked?

As we said, tracking is good because it keeps people on plan to reach certain targets. Instead of tracking calories, however, we encourage tracking other beneficial criteria.

Fiber is a great nutrient to track. It is highly instrumental in weight loss because it aids in the feeling of satisfaction when eating meals. It also supports regular bowel movements that remove toxins from the body that in turn, support weight loss. Strive to reach 30-40 g/day.

Color or food groups could be another element to track. See if you can eat something of every color of the rainbow every day. Or see if you can eat up to 10 servings of vegetables or 4 servings of fruit each day. There are a lot of ways to increase your healthy food intake without tracking calories.

Follow the guidelines described here and let your excess weight come off over time. To learn more about optimizing your diet plan, schedule a free Discovery Call:  https://atozincnutrition.com/schedule/

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