5 Tricks That Let You Eat MORE but Weigh Less!

Eating more and weighing less – Is it possible?

Although this topic seems to resemble one of those outrageous infomercials you stumble across at 2 a.m. when you can’t sleep, it isn’t so.

In this article, you’ll find 5 cool and tricky ways of how to weigh less while eating more!

Most of us believe that to lose weight or maintain a certain body weight we need to eat less. Sure, eating more food works against you when it comes to weight management. But is this always true?

You get calories from the food you eat and the beverages you drink.

When the number of calories consumed exceeds the amount burned, where does the excess go? You guessed it. It’s stored as body fat.

However, there are some tried and true ways to consume more food without gaining weight. If you stick to this plan, you can have your cake and eat it too, technically.

• Different foods of the same portion size aren’t always equal in calories

The same portion size of two different food items doesn’t always contain the same number of calories.

For example, a serving size of lean meat has fewer calories than a serving of sugar-laden chocolate cake (wait…didn’t we just say you can have your cake and eat it too? Hold on…).

If you want to eat more food, choose foods with fewer calories such as lean meat, salad greens, mushrooms, strawberries, fruit, broth, vegetable soup, cod, eggs, 100% whole grains, low-fat cottage cheese, and vegetables.

You can eat much more food if you choose low-calorie, nutritious foods. Bonus points if they’re high in fiber.

The trick is to pick foods that are relatively low in calories in relation to their portion size and are high in fiber. Your tummy will be full, but you won’t gain weight because although you’re eating more, you’re consuming fewer calories.

Guess what this does? Since you’re eating fewer calories overall, you’ll have room for that piece of cake every now and then.

• Set up a ‘Window’ for food consumption

This trick is similar to intermittent fasting, but you don’t need a specific protocol.

Choose a time window within which you’ll eat your meals. For example, it could be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., noon to 6 p.m., or 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.,

Consume all your daily calories within that window.

Let yourself off the leash and eat as much healthy food as you like during your “feeding window.” Just don’t crazy because this doesn’t mean you can eat all the cake, cookies, brownies or chips you want. We’re talking healthy eating here.

The idea is that you’ll feel full if you’re eating healthy foods, and because they’re healthy foods you’ll be eating fewer calories. However, refraining from eating outside of your feeding window takes self-control.

When using this “trick,” make sure you don’t exceed your daily calorie budget.

This trick can seem quite difficult at first because of the hours you won’t be eating…but this approach to eating works well for many people who are trying to lose weight and keep it off.

• Whole foods instead of processed foods

Whole foods are far more superior to processed foods when it comes to nutrition because they usually contain fewer calories compared to their processed counterparts. Plus, they’re far more nutritious.

Processed foods go through a refinement process that involves adding preservatives and high-calorie sweeteners.

Obviously, foods in their natural form don’t have any additives or preservatives.

When it comes to calories, you can eat a LOT more whole foods while getting fewer calories than eating the same serving size of processed foods.

Although whole foods aren’t always as enticing as that bowl of ice cream (depending on how you look at it), at least you get the benefit of eating more. Eating whole foods keeps your energy levels stable, too; you’ll feel better, stronger, and more alert.

• Avoid getting your calories from drinks

You can easily burn through your calorie budget by drinking sugary drinks like sodas, frozen beverages, and fruit juice.

You can consume half a day’s worth of recommended calories without even realizing it in just minutes!

Please don’t waste your daily calorie budget on sugary, unhealthy, calorie-packed beverages. You’ll suffer from energy spikes, weight gain, and won’t feel full.

Avoid sugary drinks because they pile on the calories and the pounds.

Drink water or low-calorie alternatives like coconut water, green tea, or iced tea.

This trick allows you to eat more food without piling on extra calories and pounds by consuming sugary drinks.

• Exercise

This trick is easy to understand when it comes eating more and weighing less.

Exercise burns the calories you consume as fuel.

So, the more you exercise, the more you can eat.

This approach is quite different than the other tricks we’ve discussed because instead of decreasing your calories, you can actually increase them.

If you burn 800 calories through exercise, you can afford to eat a few more calories, depending on your weight management goals.

Burning a significant number of calories requires the right kind of exercise like high-intensity interval training or resistance training. These forms of training burn calories for several hours after your exercise session has ended in a process called post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), also known as the “afterburn effect.”

But here’s what to remember, you can’t stuff yourself with sugary, fat-laden, high-calorie foods thinking that a stroll on the treadmill will work it off. It won’t.

This trick has to do with the intensity of the workout. One unhealthy meal can wipe out ALL your hard work and the awesome progress gained from a high-intensity interval workout. So don’t sabotage your efforts.

The number of calories your body stores can be efficiently reduced by engaging in regular cardio and resistance exercise. You’ll lose inches and pounds and have an easier time maintaining your goal weight, allowing you to eat MORE while weighing less!

Exercise combined with high nutrient and lower-calorie foods, setting an eating window, choosing whole foods instead of processed foods, and avoiding drinking your calories, are five great tricks for eating more but weighing less!

Photo by Jamie Brown on Unsplash