How You Should Eat for Weight Loss: Advice from a Nutritionist

Losing weight can be a daunting task, especially with so many fad diets and quick-fix solutions bombarding us on the internet and social media platforms. It can be difficult to know where to start. While the idea of losing weight faster can be tempting, it’s far more important—and ultimately more effective for the long term—to focus on sustainable, healthy habits. If you're aiming for weight loss, your diet plays a key role, and finding an approach that suits you as an individual can lead to lasting success.

In this article, we’ll explore how diet impacts weight loss, what to eat, and healthier timelines and goals you should aim for. Plus, we’ll share practical tips you can implement right away to support you on your personal journey.

How Important Is Your Diet for Weight Loss?

While exercise is essential for overall health and fitness, what you eat largely determines how much weight you lose and how quickly. If you’re consuming more calories than your body burns, weight gain is inevitable—even if you exercise regularly. To lose weight, we should aim for a slight calorie deficit, typically within the range of 10-20%.

Many people may start tracking their daily calories using apps and weighing their food. While this can be effective for some, it also has downsides, such as becoming overly focused on numbers. Plus, calorie tracking can be surprisingly inaccurate! For some, it can be useful for a few days or weeks to gain awareness of macronutrients in different foods, but it’s not necessary to achieve your goals. Moving away from the mindset of constantly tracking can help you shift toward simply fuelling your body adequately for what it needs each day.

Is It Good to Lose Weight Fast Through Dieting?

The idea of losing weight quickly is tempting, especially when social media promotes dramatic transformations. However, rapid weight loss—particularly through extreme dieting—often leads to muscle loss, nutrient deficiencies, and metabolic changes that can be hard to reverse. It also makes weight regain more likely, as these methods are often unsustainable.

A safe and sustainable weight loss rate is typically 0.5 to 1 kg per week. Losing weight faster than that can leave you feeling fatigued, drained of energy, and prone to regaining the weight just as quickly. Fad diets that promise more than 2 kg in a week should be avoided—they are unlikely to prioritize your long-term health.

A Healthy Timeline for Weight Loss

Instead of rushing for quick results, it's better to focus on gradual and consistent progress. "Slow and steady wins the race" rings especially true here. A slow approach allows both your body and mind to adjust to changes, making long-term success more likely. Short-term diets like a 7-day cleanse or a 3-day detox may seem appealing, but they're often unrealistic and unsustainable.

It’s important to remember that beyond weight, other factors like energy levels, strength, and body fat percentage are far better indicators of health. Focusing on these measurements rather than the scale can help you develop lasting, healthy habits that make you feel great over time.

What to Consider When Adjusting Your Diet for Weight Loss

When considering weight loss, it's important to take several factors into account beyond just cutting calories. Let’s break down some key elements to help you achieve your goals effectively and sustainably.

1. Calories

The basic principle of weight loss is simple: burn more calories than you consume. To do this effectively, it can help to determine your caloric needs. While online calculators can provide estimates, at UFIT we offer the ability to test your resting metabolic rate (RMR), giving you a more accurate number of calories to aim for, based on your lifestyle and activity levels. This is primarily helpful if you choose to track, or during a nutrition consult to help determine if you are meeting your nutritional needs. 

Cutting calories doesn’t mean drastically reducing your intake to unsustainable levels like 800 calories per day. Instead, aim for a small, manageable deficit. For example, if you normally consume 2,000 calories a day, start by reducing your intake by 300 kcal. Adjust from there, treating it as an experiment to see what works best for you.

2. Macronutrients: Protein, Fats, and Carbs

Your macronutrient balance is crucial for losing fat while maintaining muscle. High-protein meals are particularly beneficial because protein helps keep you full and supports muscle repair and maintenance. Incorporating lean meats (chicken or fish), tofu, beans, and eggs into your meals can boost your protein intake.

While fats are a calorie dense macronutrient, they serve a purpose in our diets. Healthy fats—like those found in avocados, nuts, and olive oil—can aid in satiety. Finally, carbohydrates are often vilified in current diet trends. They are your body's preferred source of energy and should not be removed from the diet. We should include carbohydrates in well portioned qualities to provide our bodies with energy to get through the day. Rather than avoiding carbs entirely, focus on nutrient-dense, fibre-rich options that give you sustained energy such as brown rice, whole grain bread, quinoa, legumes such as beans, chickpeas and lentils. 

3. Hydration: Drink Water 

It’s common knowledge that staying hydrated is vital for overall health, but did you know that drinking water can help with maintaining a healthy weight? Staying hydrated can help with hunger and helps to replace sugary drinks that are high in calories. A quick trick with water is tagging a glass of water to your meals and finishing it before you start your meal as this can help reduce appetite and make it easier to avoid overeating at meal times. 

Foods to Eat for Weight Loss

Now that you understand the basics of calorie management and macronutrients, let’s dive into some practical food choices that support weight loss. To clarify, there is not one food that you should or shouldn’t eat when it comes to weight loss, it is all about variety, balance, and moderation. 

1. Protein-Rich Foods

• Chicken breast
• Tofu & Tempeh
• Greek yogurt
• Eggs
• Fish (Salmon, tuna, and white fish such as cod or haddock)

2. Fibre-Rich Fruits and Vegetables

• Leafy greens (spinach, kale)
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Carrots 
• Dragon fruits
• Kiwis 
• Apples 
• And so much more… variety is key here! 

Fruits and vegetables are low in calories and high in volume, which means they fill you up without adding many calories. Try to diversify this food group as much as possible as this will also promote a healthy gut! 

3. Whole Grains

• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Oats 
• Barley, Spelt, and millet 

These are types of carbohydrates that are rich in fibre and nutrients, helping to keep energy levels stable and preventing blood sugar spikes.

4. Healthy Fats 

• Avocado 
• Nuts and seeds
• Salmon and mackerel 

Practical tips for a healthier weight Loss journey

While quick weight loss is not always advisable, there are some steps you can take to accelerate the process safely:

1. Measure things other than your weight - body fat percentage to muscle, energy levels, sleep, and mood. 
2. Meal Prep: Planning your meals ahead of time ensures you make healthier choices and stick to your calorie goals. Batch-cooking meals can make a world of difference when you’re busy, or buying them ready-made. 
3. Focus on Whole Foods: Eat real, whole foods rather than processed items. This reduces hidden sugars and unhealthy fats that often sneak into pre-packaged meals.
4. Avoid Liquid Calories: Swap sugary drinks, such as sodas and juices, for water or unsweetened beverages.
5. Eat Smaller Portions More Often: Instead of three large meals, try having smaller, balanced meals throughout the day to avoid huge dips in energy levels and manage hunger pangs. 

Should we measure weight at all? 

Weight alone is not the best measurement for reaching health and wellness goals. While it provides a basic indication of changes, it doesn't account for key factors like body composition, muscle mass, or fat distribution. For example, as you build muscle and lose fat, your weight may remain the same or even increase, but your body fat percentage decreases—a much healthier indicator. Mood, energy levels, and overall vitality also reflect progress better than the number on the scale. Additionally, bone density and strength are crucial for long-term health, particularly as we age, and these don't always correlate with weight changes. It's important to take the fixation off the scale and focus on how you feel and function, weight loss is more likely to come as a side effect to feeling great and eating well. 

Losing weight is a journey, and it’s important to do it in a way that protects your health and leads to long-term success. While rapid weight loss might be tempting, the key is to adopt sustainable habits that last. Make small changes, focus on your diet, and most importantly, be patient with the process.

At UFIT, we provide customised dietary advice by our in-house dietitian, that suits your individual needs and lifestyle. If you’re looking for guidance on what to eat to lose weight or improve your body composition, we’re here to help. We provide practical, evidence-based advice that works for your body, ensuring that you achieve your goals in a sustainable, healthy way.

If you’re ready to take control of your health and create an exercise and diet plan that works for you, UFIT can help guide you every step of the way.

Article References

• World Health Organization: Obesity and Overweight 
• British Dietetic Association (BDA): Detox Diets 
• Dennis, E. A., Dengo, A. L., Comber, D. L., Flack, K. D., Savla, J., Davy, K. P., & Davy, B. M. (2010). Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults. Obesity, 18(2), 300-307.
• https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2009.235 
• Leidy, H. J., Clifton, P. M., Astrup, A., Wycherley, T. P., Westerterp-Plantenga, M. S., Luscombe-Marsh, N. D., & Mattes, R. D. (2015). The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 101(6), 1320S–1329S.
  https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.114.084038