John KIRAGU
- Apr 11
- 6 min read

How to eat healthy for a sustainable weight loss

"To lose weight efficiently, you need to consume fewer calories than your body burns in a day." - John K.

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Weight loss can be achieved through various lifestyle habits such as stress management, regular exercise, consuming more proteins, cutting back on sugar, getting enough sleep, and eating a well-rounded diet like fruits and vegetables. The recommended steady weight loss is about 1-2 pounds a week. Weight loss can be tiring, but focusing on long-term weight loss, which includes healthy eating and choosing your carbs intake carefully, that aims to improve your metabolic health, produce consistent weight loss, and reduce your hunger and appetite levels while keeping you full, can incredibly help in your weight loss journey.

Healthy eating habits such as consuming more fiber, limiting your sugar intake, eating slowly, getting good quality sleep, and choosing weight-loss-friendly foods can incredibly impact your weight loss. Weight gain is not only a nuisance but also facilitates the accumulation of fat in your body, which contributes to various health conditions such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Here are some healthy eating habits to inculcate in your daily routine that will make your dream of weight loss a reality:

Balance your meal

Consuming proteins, vegetables and fruits, fats, and complex carbohydrates such as whole grains provides vital nutrients that promote healthy weight management. Incorporating proteins in your diet helps to maintain your muscle mass and health while losing weight. Proteins also help to improve your appetite, body weight, and cardiometabolic risk factors. Diet plans that include proteins such as beef, lamb, chicken, beans, legumes, tofu, salmon, and sardines help to reduce appetite, improve metabolism, and burn up to 80–100 calories per day, which promotes weight loss.

Taking proteins in your diet promotes the levels of the appetite-reducing hormones cholecystokinin, peptide YY, and GLP-1 while reducing the level of the hunger hormone ghrelin. By replacing fats and high-carb diets with proteins in your diet, you boost various satiety hormones, which cause a reduction in hunger, leading to a low calorie intake. This is the reason why incorporating proteins into your diet promotes weight loss.

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Vegetables and fruits are packed with essential nutrients, water, and fiber that allow you to take in large amounts without increasing your calorie intake. All vegetables are considered healthy and nutrient rich, but some, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, and winter squash, have a relatively high content of complex carbs with valuable fiber; therefore, you should be mindful of the serving size on your plate.

Adding healthy fat sources, proteins, complex carbs, and leafy vegetables is a great way to bulk up your diet with lots of nutrients and low calories, which contribute to weight loss. Note that consuming too few calories can be less effective and dangerous for losing weight; therefore, it is better to aim for a well-rounded diet with low carbs for weight loss.

Limit sugary drinks

Cutting back on sugar-laden drinks is linked with weight loss and has a greater impact on weight loss than solid foods. Sugar-sweetened diets are linked with obesity, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic liver disease, and other health issues. Diets high in sugar and fat increase the hunger-promoting hormones known as ghrelin while decreasing the appetite hormone peptide YY. Foods and beverages high in sugar contents also affect the hypothalamus part of the brain, which is essential for fat and carbohydrate metabolism, calories burned, and the regulation of appetite They promote the levels of hunger neuropeptides that influence brain activities while reducing fullness signals, thus facilitating weight gain.

Diets with sugar stimulate various parts of the brain that are essential for reward and pleasure, which facilitates cravings that may encourage overeating, which contributes to weight gain. You can limit your sugar intake by eating whole foods, avoiding desserts, cutting back on sugary drinks, and limiting the intake of sauces with sugar added. Consider taking water in place of sweetened beverages as it contains no calories, which helps you reduce your overall calorie intake, thus promoting weight loss.

Drinking a lot of water

Water intake helps to naturally suppress your appetite by taking up space in your stomach, leading to a reduction of hunger and a feeling of being satisfied. Water intake before consuming your meal can also help to curb unnecessary snacking, resulting in a reduction in weight gain, body mass index, and body fat. Water also promotes the metabolism of fat, as it interacts with triglycerides (fats) to create fatty acids and glycerol. Water intake is vital for burning fats from drinks and food and promoting lipolysis.

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Staying hydrated also helps to distinguish between thirst and hunger, as well as reduce stress and improve motivation, keeping the functions of the body working, from energy to exercise, metabolism, and improved digestion. It also contains zero calories, so replacing juices, sports drinks, soda, and other calorie-packed drinks with water will lower the number of daily calories consumed, creating a calorie deficit that will aid in weight loss. Consider drinking a glass of water about 30 minutes prior to mealtime to help you lose weight.

Mind your potion control

Potion control is the primary healthy-eating habit that allows you to take various kinds of foods while keeping your calories in check. Using your hands as a serving guide, using smaller dinnerware, asking for half a cup while eating, and using a small plate helps to determine the calorie and nutrient ratio for your meal. A rough guide for each meal's consumption includes about half a cup of vegetables and salads, about a quarter plate of high-protein foods such as meat, eggs, and dairy, a quarter plate of complex carbs like whole grains, and about half a tablespoon of high-fat foods such as cheese, butter, and oil. Minding your portion control facilitates a steady weight loss. Salads and vegetables have low calories and valuable nutrients such as fiber, which help to fill you up, helping you to avoid overeating high-calorie foods.

TIPS ON WEIGHT LOSS

Make plans to buy healthy meals that will fill you up

Foods that will keep you satisfied with high fiber and protein but low calories, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fresh milk, can help you with steady weight loss. You can make your belly happy while promoting steady weight loss by buying lots of vegetables.

Avoid consuming tempting foods at home

You should indulge in foods that make you work in order to consume them, such as nuts that you have to crack open or fruit such as oranges that you must first peel in order to take. Opting for low carbs and cutting back on sugar in your diet is the best and most sustainable way to lose weight. You should mind about your eating habits as it enables you to be more aware when you are full, therefore limiting the chances of overeating. The reduction in refined carbohydrates can influence your weight loss by reducing cravings, curbing your appetite, and lowering your insulin levels.

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Drink tea or coffee

Coffee and tea work together to achieve your weight loss goal. Tea contains catechins, which boost your metabolism and facilitate the burning of fat in your body. Caffeine, available in various teas and coffees, enhances your energy use, which in turn makes your body burn more calories, which promotes weight loss. Consider taking coffee and tea in amounts of about 400 milligrams per day, which equates to about five or four cups.

Indulge more fiber in your diet plan

Fiber foods with high viscosity help to reduce appetite, promote fullness, and aid in automatic weight loss. You should incorporate fiber-rich foods such as flaxseeds, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, and oats to promote effective weight loss.

Although there are various ways to lose weight, focusing on healthy eating habits and workout plans is the best way to achieve sustainable, long-term weight loss. Limiting your sugar intake, drinking more water, balancing your diet, and practicing mindful portion control help you attain wellness goals and healthy weight loss in a sustainable and safe way. Note that limiting carbs or replacing refined carbs with complex carbs helps reduce hunger levels. Hunger is a contributing factor in why it’s difficult to maintain a steady weight loss plan; therefore, it is crucial to focus on healthy eating habits that make you feel satisfied.