Three Foods to Avoid If You Want to Lose Weight (and be healthy too!)

Losing weight has a lot to do with avoiding unhealthy foods. You can work out as hard as you want, but if you’re replacing those burnt calories with unhealthy foods, chemicals and extra fats, you’re probably not going to see much in terms of results.

Here are three foods to avoid if you want to lose weight.

==> Anything Microwavable

Anything that’s frozen or designed to be microwaved should be avoided.

Frozen foods are packed full of all kinds of unhealthy chemicals. Just take a look at the back of the box. How many of the ingredients can you actually read? How many of them sound like whole foods?

Also, the level of fats, sodium and sugars are extremely high. Many TV dinners that people eat in one meal on their own are actually three or more servings – meaning you’re getting much, much more fat than you think if you just skimmed the ingredients.

==> High Calorie Drinks

Drinks are one of the biggest sources of sugar and extraneous sugars in the standard American diet. A lot of people just don’t realize how much fat is in these various beverages.

Coca-Cola, Pepsi and 7 Up, for example, all contain large amounts of both sugar and calories. People who drink Coke instead of water almost always end up overweight.

Another common offender is caffeine. Coffee itself has very few calories. However, once you add in the milk or cream plus the sugar, it suddenly becomes a high calorie drink.

Even worse are drinks like lattes, Americanos, cappuccinos and Frappuchinos. These extremely high calorie drinks don’t “feel” like eating a meal, but can often contain just as many calories.

==> Processed Meats

Finally, processed meats are also poor choices if you want to lose weight.

It’s no mystery if you look at what really goes into processed meats. It’s often the fattiest parts, blended skin, various body parts that couldn’t be sold separately, all mixed with copious amounts of fat.

In addition, these processed meats are usually full of preservatives, chemicals and sodium.

Stick to lean, whole meats and avoid processed meats. You’ll consume fewer calories and you’ll be eating healthier overall as well.

These are three foods to avoid, although it won’t be easy at first, but it will help your overall health.

Small Steps Can Lead to Big Weight Loss

People often think of weight loss in very big steps. For example, committing to making a huge diet change, or committing to exercise four times a week.

While these kinds of huge proclamations can be effective for some, for most people this just doesn’t work in reality. People like to think they have the willpower to just completely turn their life upside down on a whim, but more often than not, the changes don’t stick.

If you want to really create a lasting change, the best way to go about it is to do it in small steps.

==> Small Steps to a Better Diet

Changing your diet isn’t something you should try to do overnight. In fact, people who do try to change their diet overnight rarely manage to stick with their dietary goals.

Instead, try to change your diet one food at a time, one week at a time.

For example, make it your goal for this week to eat a salad with two of your meals each day. That’s your only goal. You don’t need to count calories, you don’t need to reduce your food intake, you don’t need to quit fast food. All you need to do is eat a salad.

Then the next week, you might make it your goal to stop eating fried foods. Again, if that’s your goal, it should be your only goal for the week. Don’t try to overdo it by implementing too many changes at once.

Taking your dietary changes slowly gives your brain time to adjust and get used to your new habits. It also gives your biochemistry time to adjust to the shifting hormones, calorie levels and nutrition.

==> Small Steps to a Fat Burning Workout

Much like changing your diet, your workout habits should also be taken slowly. If you try to take on a workout schedule that’s too ambitious for you, there’s a very good chance you’ll experience some backlash. Your subconscious mind will start making up excuses for not exercising.

Instead of trying to take on a huge exercise routine, start with just one or two days a week. Work out enough that you feel like you’re accomplishing your goals, but not so much that your whole body feels like it has gone through a washing machine.

Once you’re in the habit of working out regularly, you can turn up the dial on the intensity. In the beginning, however, it makes sense to take things a little bit slower.

The most important thing to internalize is the mindset shift. Instead of thinking “today is the day when I’m going to make a huge change in my life,” start thinking in terms of “I’m going to make a slow and lasting change.” That’s how real change is done.