Keep off the weight while eating your favourite meals

Smart weight loss is not about starving yourself or restricting yourself to a few foods. It is about consistently making better food choices, and slowly changing bad eating and exercise habits into more healthful ones.
Purity Wako, a nutritionist and health and beauty coach, says food is not the problem but the unhealthy food taken at wrong times is what is problematic. “Yes, it is possible for one to lose weight while eating normal meals but they must watch the portions and the times the meals are consumed,” Wako advises.
Normal eating here refers to the way you would eat if you had only a rudimentary grasp of nutrition that; fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, milk, eggs, help your body to grow; that carbohydrates give you energy. Normal eating means three balanced meals a day with occasional snacks if necessary to stave off hunger or more regularly for those who are younger and or do extreme exercising.

Wako advises that meals should be eaten on a regular schedule because the time of day we are eating will affect health and digestion. “Breakfast should be taken between 7:30 to 8am, lunch between 12 to 2pm and supper between 5 to 8pm. Anything eaten beyond that time adds an extra inch to your waist,” she cautions. The easiest way to manage food portions on the other hand is to either eat half of every meal served or use a smaller plate. “At home, serve your meals on smaller plates. Your plate will look full, but you’ll be eating less” Wako says.

One of the most common pitfalls to weight loss is an all-or-nothing approach aimed at shedding weight fast. When you start an unrealistic diet plan, you quickly learn that such diets lead to nagging hunger and cravings for forbidden foods. After a few weeks of this, most people return to their old eating habits, complaining that “diets don’t work. People who successfully lose weight while maintaining a relaxed relationship with food are consistently the ones who actually learn to cook and make food that is both nourishing and tasty, as well as satisfying their taste for fat and sugar.

Dr Ismail Tamale, a Kampala based nutritionist, also confirms that one can lose and keep weight off while eating normally. However, he says that this is more effective if one is eating for their genotype. “If one eats foods compatible to their blood group it is very possible to lose weight when eating regular meals,” he says.
This diet popularised by an American naturopath and author of the best-selling books Eat Right for Your Type and Live Right for Your Type, among others, Dr Peter J D’Adamo, demonstrates that eating foods based on one’s blood type O, A, B, or AB will help them trim down and get healthier.
D’Adamo claims that the foods you eat react chemically with your blood type. If you follow a diet designed for your blood type, your body will digest food more efficiently.

Eat according to blood type

Type O: A high-protein diet heavy on lean meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables, and light on grains, beans, and dairy. D’Adamo also recommends various supplements to help with tummy troubles and other issues he says people with type O tend to have.
Type A: A meat-free diet based on fruits and vegetables, beans and legumes, and whole grains -- ideally, organic and fresh, because D’Adamo says people with type A blood have a sensitive immune system.
Type B: Avoid corn, wheat, buckwheat, lentils, tomatoes, peanuts, and sesame seeds. Chicken is also problematic, D’Adamo says. He encourages eating green vegetables, eggs, certain meats, and low-fat dairy.
Type AB: Foods to focus on include tofu, seafood, dairy, and green vegetables. He says people with type AB blood tend to have low stomach acid. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and smoked or cured meats

Best way to keep weight off

Exercise

One of the best ways to burn fats and calories in the body is exercising daily for a few hours. Exercise helps you stay fit and also keeps you from the diseases caused by excess fats.
Stay off carbonated beverages
Fizzy drinks, packed juices are packed with calories, so opt for natural fruit juices which are rich in nutrition and contain low calories which keep you fit.

Eating vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are high in fibre contents, proteins and vitamins that are present in the vegetables help you stay healthy.

Cut out sugar
Sugar produces an extra fatty substance in the body that makes you unfit and causes health problems. Reducing intake of sweet substances helps you maintain the body. Making a habit of taking fruit juice or tea without sugar keeps you fit and away from fats which causes weight gain.

Reduce salt intake

Salt contains large amounts of sodium that affect the body causing weight gain. Limiting the intake of salty substances in food that we take daily reduces water retention that makes you look fat. Many researches also proved that excess sodium causes weight gain, to lose weight care should be taken in eating salty substances.

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