How To Lose Weight While Still Enjoying The Foods You Love

Can you still enjoy the foods you love while still losing weight?

?

There’s a misconception by most that says in order to lose weight, you must go on a diet that does not include certain food such as burgers, pizza, pasta, bread or even a wine or beer.

?

I have many Men give me the excuse that they can’t lose weight because they “love their food too much”.

?

I’m here to tell you that it’s not true. I love my food and have been enjoying it for over 20 years, while still maintaining a healthy weight. Including burgers, BBQ smoked meat, chocolate biscuits and scotch.?

You’re probably wondering, how??

I use the 80/20 formula. This means 80% of the time I'm eating well, I'm eating and drinking healthy and lean choices, which allows me to have choices that are not as healthy, but I find more enjoyable and that I can indulge in 20% of the time. This allows me to maintain my healthy weight.

?

Now if you need to lose weight, then the formula is 90/10.?

So 90% of the time, you should be eating and drinking healthy, eating the right foods and the right amounts, the 10% you can enjoy.?

You can enjoy what I consider a Reward Meal, I don't like calling it a cheat meal. It's not cheating, it should be a reward. Because if you've been eating well, you're rewarding yourself for the good work you’ve done.

?

So let's take a week for an example. What would that mean for you in the 90/10 rule??

It would mean you can treat yourself with one to two meals a week, as long as you have made healthy food and drink choices and portions.?

For example, on Saturday night, have an indulgent meal with guests or at a social event, take the Family out to a restaurant. This includes the beverages and dessert you have with the meal, it’s fine to have but approach it wisely, you don’t want to undo the good work you’ve done all week.?

By eating clean all week, low to moderate calorie meals throughout the week, you can enjoy these meals together with others and give yourself some freedom with your food and drink choices. If you can stick to one Reward Meal per week, even better, you’ll have quicker progress with your weight loss, the choice is yours.

?

Let's look at this from the perspective of a whole year. You can apply the 90/10 rule for the 52 weeks in the year. Think about the times when it's really hard for you to eat clean and be good with your diet. I can think of three times throughout the year. Easter, Christmas, and Family holiday time.?

Those three times I believe you're allowed to indulge yourself. It is quite difficult to participate in an Easter or Christmas meal with family and say I can't have that, I can't have this. You can still enjoy the beautiful meals and desserts being offered to you.?

As long as you're not eating like that all the time, because you should ?always fall back to your ‘default way’ of eating and drinking.?

When it comes to Family holidays, you want to relax and enjoy the time with your Family and not feel restricted, plus you probably don’t want to cook and will be eating out, so you can factor in one week a year for this, just keep in mind you don’t want to completely undo the progress you’ve made so far.

?

So if you follow this principle and you're disciplined and consistent for the rest of the year, then you get away with it. Some of you may experience this when you go on a strict diet and it's worked. You've lost a lot of weight, and you've got great results, but it wasn't sustainable. You default back to your old ways, which are poor eating habits and poor health habits. This is the same thing, but reversing it. So we need to instill those healthy habits in our life.

?

Not many people teach this. Most people are all about eating clean and restricted all the time. Some do preach about having a cheat meal. I teach this model because I believe we should have a balance of progress with our weight loss but to enjoy our food at the same time.?

This means the result won’t be as fast, but it means it will be more sustainable and achievable. I speak with overweight Dads every day and they tell me they were on a diet, but they're not happy with the way they are now because they couldn't sustain that diet.?

?

Once you reach your desired healthy weight using the 90/10 rule, you can then switch to the 80/20 rule where you get to enjoy 20% of your time indulging in foods.?

How would that be??

Rather than having the struggle of fighting cravings for sweets and crisps and your favourite alcoholic drink, you know that you can have at a certain time you’ve designated.

Andrew Jax

Weight Loss Coach for Dads

"Look after yourself, so you can look after your Family"

?

PS - If what I said resonated with you and you need to lose that Dad gut and take control of your health, because your life has been so busy up until now and you haven't had time to think about your health and weight or do anything about it, and you need help, particularly with knowing what the right food choices and portions you need to make, as well as fixing some other unhealthy habits that may be causing the gut, then you can go to DitchTheDadFat.com to learn more on how you could lose 5-15kg in the next 6 weeks without exercise or strict diets.