I covered the basics of nutrition in this post, where I already broke down the process of losing (or gaining) weight.

I know I don’t need to repeat myself, but I’ll write it again: your weight gain is determined solely by your calorie intake versus your calorie expenditure. Of course, there are factors like water retention due to your electrolyte intake, artificial sweetener consumption, and even the fiber in your day-to-day foods, but those are floating variables that do not make a substantial difference in the long run. At the end of the day, you need to focus on eating high quality (filling and nutritious) foods that satisfy your caloric requirement. And of course, your caloric requirement is determined by your weight manipulation goals.

Now that we’ve reaffirmed the importance of just the simple caloric equation, let’s drill down a bit on how not just to lose weight, but how to make it sustainable and as painless as possible.

I alluded to this earlier here and in other posts, but we need to make conscious choices that prioritize filling foods over not so filling ones. An easy example is picking brown rice over white bread. Another one is picking chicken breast over protein powder (this one may surprise you). Picking whole eggs or avocados over simple oils. Let’s break down each of these food choices and why I believe each of them will make losing weight for you much easier.

Rice over bread is an easy one to answer – rice simply takes longer to digest and has a lower GI score than bread. That means that it will keep you full for longer, so that you will be significantly less hungry an hour after eating 400 calories of brown rice when compared to how you feel after eating 400 calories of white bread. The brown rice simply has more fiber and vitamins, so in lay man’s terms, your body is simply taking more time to absorb it. This means that it not only keeps you full longer, but your body also burns more calories digesting the brown rice than it does digesting the white bread. This one is a no-brainer and makes the choice easy. Even white rice is better than eating white bread for the same reason, but it’s not quite as satiating as brown rice. The reason white rice is still a bodybuilding and fitness staple is that it goes down a little easier and causes less bloating for some people. Unfortunately, some of the fiber in the brown rice doesn’t sit well with some people, so if you are one of those people then don’t feel bad if you opt for some white rice instead. It’s still a much better choice than most breads, and certainly better than eating sweets. Fruits are great as well because they have lots of fiber and vitamins, but they should be used more selectively i.e. prior to or right after a workout to spike the blood sugar.

Why chicken or other meats over protein powder (if you’re vegan/vegetarian, the analogy would be beans or other legumes over vegan protein powder)? This is because the protein powder, while it does typically have great macronutrients on paper (nearly all protein with little carbs/fats), that is also its biggest downfall. We need to pair our protein intake with some healthy fats or carbs, both for digestion’s sake and also to work together to provide fuel for our bodies. Eating protein alone or a very low fat/carb diet is the fastest way to wreck your physical and mental health. There are people who can sustain a low carb diet by substituting high amounts of fat, but those ketogenic or “keto” diets can take weeks to get used to, can be very difficult to sustain, and are not for everyone. Trust me, you do not need to cut or eliminate carbs to lose weight and get in shape. That is probably the single biggest fitness myth of all time – but I digress. The point here is that the whole chicken breast (which has a surprising amount of fat) or the cut of steak, or the piece of salmon (I think you get the point here) is far superior to the protein powder (I don’t care what brand or blend it is) if you are trying to create the foundation for a sustainable diet. Of course, if you want to supplement a small percentage of your diet with some convenient protein, then go ahead. As long as you understand its inherent drawbacks, as we’ve discussed above.

So why whole eggs or avocados (for you vegans) over oils? Oil is kind of like protein powder but for fat… it doesn’t contain any other nutrients, and so it’s just an incomplete food. You could add it to other foods to make it a complete meal, but then you’re kind of just adding calories to the meal that you may not need. That’s why oiling up meat doesn’t make much sense to me – you are adding additional fat to a food that already has an abundance of its own natural fat, making it a complete meal. By consuming natural fat sources (like eggs, avocados, or any fatty meat/fish) that haven’t gone through a massive amount of human processing (such as is the case with almost any oil), you’re covering all your bases with one food and reducing the risk that you over oil your foods. It will also save you the time of weighing your oil, if you happen to be a competitive athlete who needs to know his/her exact intake. If you can’t live without your butter or olive oil, that’s fine, just be responsible with its use and recognize that it should not be relied on as a primary source of fat (let alone a primary source of nutrition).

So there you have it – I have broken down on a macronutrient level why I believe certain food choices are better when it comes to structuring a healthy and sustainable diet for losing weight. This doesn’t mean that sweets, protein powder, and oils don’t have their place in your diet. If you follow a flexible approach (like IIFYM, which is essentially how I do things), you can can confidentially prioritize the whole foods I discussed with the knowledge that they are not only “fitting your macros” but also keeping you healthy, satiated, and sane…

Feel free to comment below or shoot me a note at dan@danvaysburd.com if you want help implementing these approaches, or even if you respectfully disagree!