As we age it gets more and more difficult for us to maintain our weight. That is why it is important to learn how to eat more and weigh less.
The reason we tend to put on weight more easily as you get older is mainly due to the fact that the older we get, the more muscle mass we start to lose. As we lose muscle mass our metabolism slows down, and thus we actually need to eat less than what we used to do when we were younger.
I am sure that you are thinking that the title of this post is more deceiving information that won’t work for you, just like all the other diets and eating plans that you have tried to lose weight. This is because our common sense tells us the in order to lose (or maintain) a certain body weight, eating more food is entirely counterproductive.
There is some truth to this assumption, because any time you consume more calories than your body burns, the excess must be stored somewhere, and in most cases it is in the form of surplus fat somewhere on our bodies.
However, there are actually a few gimmick-free ways that technically allow you to consume “more” food without experiencing any weight gain.
Throughout the remainder of this discussion, we will look at 5 tricks that allow you to consume more food without gaining fat in the process. Quite literally, having your cake and eating it too!
How To Eat More And Weigh Less
Here are five tips and tricks that will help you to maintain your weight a bit better. How to eat more and weigh less has a very logical answer and it is about the quality of the nutrients that you are putting into your body.
Same Portion Size Does Not Mean Equal Calories
When it comes to different food options, the same serving size of two different items in no way means they contain the same amount of calories. As you are (hopefully) aware, a fist-sized portion of lean chicken has nowhere close to the caloric content of an equal amount of chocolate cake.
So what you need to do is to pick out foods that are relatively low in calories in relation to their serving size.
Technically this allows you to eat more food while at the same time keeping your calorie count to a minimum
Here are just some smart and delicious food swaps you need to try if you want to start eating healthier or losing some weight effortlessly.
- Instead of butter, spread your bread with Avo (save almost 100 calories per tablespoon).
- Rather eat whole fruit than juice or smoothies. (think about it, normally you eat one banana, but in a smoothy you can quickly drink up to three).
- Oats instead of granola or other sweetened breakfast cereals.
- Baked potatoes instead of fries.
- Swap your cows milk for almond milk. (a glass of almond milk contains about half the calories of a glass of cows milk)
- Use fruit and cinnamon instead of sugar.
- Roasted chickpeas instead of salted nuts.
- Applesauce instead of oil or butter. This works well in baking.
- Hummus instead of Mayonaise.
- Chilli made with beans instead of meat.
Another great tip is to make a mixed fresh salad to eat as a starter before your main meal. This will fill you up and you won’t be tempted to eat so much of the calorie-dense foods which we tend to load our plates with.
The wonderful thing about a fresh garden salad is you can eat a lot of this and fill yourself up without putting on the weight.
Whole Foods Versus Their Processed Alternatives
There are many reasons why whole foods are vastly superior to the processed excuses for nutrition readily available all around us. The fact that they almost always contain fewer calories is one of them. How to eat more and weigh less is key here, because if you only had to eat whole foods and no processed ones, you probably wouldn’t have a weight problem in the first place. Think about it, as this is how all our ancestors ate.
When food is consumed in its natural form, it is spared the refinement process, which usually involves the addition of high-calorie sweeteners and preservatives.
Simply put, as far as calories go, you get much more bang for your buck by eating whole foods. While stuffing your face with fresh produce may not be quite as enticing as a pint of ice cream, at least you can eat more of it!
Experiment With Different Eating Windows
While this trick may seem like a technicality, eating all of your daily calories within a relatively short window is another way to feel like you are stuffing your face guilt-free. Though this is often cited as intermittent fasting, you are not required to follow any specific protocol.
This approach may be rather difficult at first. Over time, however, your body will most likely make a smooth adjustment. If you can maintain the willpower and self-control to avoid eating outside of whatever “window” you set for yourself, you can all but go crazy during feeding time, while still not maxing out your caloric budget.
Don’t Spend Your Calories On Liquids
One of the quickest and easiest ways to go overboard on calories is through sugary drinks such as soda and frozen beverages. Without even realizing it, you can easily consume half a days worth of recommended calories in only a few of these items! In your noble quest to eat more food without gaining weight, this obviously leaves you much less room to work with.
Instead of spending your daily calories on sugary drinks, try consuming water or another low-calorie alternative. By doing so, you are able to eat more food without going overboard on calories.
Lastly, You Guessed It, Exercise
This one is pretty simple and probably the first thing that comes to mind when posing the question of how to eat more food without gaining weight. Exercise causes the body to need more calories to burn as fuel.
This approach is quite the opposite of the other choices we have discussed in that instead of being mindful of your total caloric intake, you can actually decrease your bottom line.
To be fair, the amount of exercise required to burn a significant number of calories is pretty high. Eating until you are stuffed and trying to undo the situation on a treadmill is not very efficient. However, getting enough exercise on a consistent basis will allow you to eat more while reducing the number of calories your body stores.
As one ages, it is more important to focus on weight-bearing exercise and stretching. The more muscle mass you have the quicker your body will burn those calories. And if you stay subtle and flexible well into your old age, you will have a much easier time of it as you will be able to stay active for longer.
If you have any other ideas for how to eat more and weigh less, please post your comment below.