Dealing with hunger is likely one of the greatest obstacles faced by people who are trying to lose weight by dieting. It's common knowledge that to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you eat. You don't want to struggle with hunger all day long, but you don't want to overeat, either.
These are all low-calorie filling foods, and they should help you through the day without hunger pangs or overeating.
1. Fish - 150 to 200 Calories / Serving
Fish will fill you up nicely and should keep you full until the next meal, and it's also very low in calories. Of all the meats available to you during a diet (or anytime!), fish is the most filling. Ounce for ounce, fish has far fewer calories than beef, chicken or pork.
You still have to eat responsibly, of course. Fish and ships, for example, is not a healthy option when you're on a weight loss diet. The breading and batters that are used when frying fish add appreciably to the calorie count of fish, and should be avoided. Try baked, broiled or grilled fish for a hot meal, or for a delicious alternative, a nice light salad with bits of cooked tuna or salmon sprinkled throughout. Added flavor is easily obtained from the judicious use of spices and seasonings.
2. Oranges and Apples - About 40 Calories / Serving
This may seem like a surprising choice - fruits aren't generally thought of as low-calorie, filling foods. Fruit isn't usually a dieter's first choice when they feel hungry. In addition to natural sugars and a host of vitamins and nutrients, these particular fruits are full of dietary fiber, which helps you feel full.
The round fruits are generally superior to non-round fruits like bananas, because while both will make you feel full, the round fruits have about half the calories.
3. Grapes - 50 Calories / Serving
Grapes are excellent snacks in a weight loss diet for the same reasons as apples and oranges. Highly convenient, these bite-sized snacks concentrate a high level of dietary fiber into a very small space, helping to keep you feeling full. You can snack on grapes all day long. It's easy to control portions, and they'll do a much better job of keeping you feeling full than any over-the-counter confection of processed sweeteners and other ingredients.
4. Whole Wheat Pasta - 300 Calories / Serving
Pasta is a filling comfort food - yet believe it or not, it's an ideal weight loss food! Don't misunderstand - this isn't an invitation to binge out on mac and cheese or stuffed shells. For one thing, I'm talking about whole wheat pasta, which will leave you feeling much more satisfied than the processed white pasta most commonly available.
Whole wheat pasta fills you up better because it contains much more dietary fiber than white pasta, which has also had most of its nutrients processed out. Pasta is one of those foods that you've got to maintain a strict control on serving size, though, because it's so easy to overeat. If you eat a portion of pasta about the size of your fist, that should be sufficient to fill you comfortably until your next regular meal.
5. Steak - 300 Calories / Serving
No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. There's nothing wrong with steak as an occasional component of a nutritious weight-loss diet. What is wrong is the habit some people have of smothering a steak in sauces that are high in calories. Many high-protein dieters, such as those who follow the Atkins Diet, have been aware of this for a long time. In fact, in terms of their efficiency in weight loss, steak is actually second only to fish in the meat category. Of course, the leaner the beef, the better, because your fat intake will be reduced.
These low-calorie but delicious foods can backfire on you if you don't watch your serving sizes carefully! Don't go overboard on these delicious foods just because they're low-calorie and metabolism boosting foods. And of course, from time to time it's alright to eat other foods as well. You should always keep control over your portion sizes, though. Soon, instead of always wearing the shape-concealing clothing, you'll be looking for excuses to strip down and let people see the slim, trim new you!
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