How to Eat More Food and Lose Weight

Okay, sorry for the clickbait title, but I knew it would get some double takes.

Seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? When we think about losing weight, it’s always from the perspective of subtraction: removing certain foods, removing habits to try and form new ones.

While you must be in a caloric deficit to lose weight  this is a fact, and I’m not refuting it, but it doesn’t have to immediately come from just removing food after food until we force ourselves to grit through hunger.

This is the usual cycle for most of us, and it’s why 80% of diets fail. When I started my weight loss journey, I was a bit over 320 lbs. As I sit here writing this, I’m 190 lbs, and I’ve maintained this weight for almost two years.

I say that mainly for context. My journey with weight loss was anything but linear or easy. I made more mistakes than I can count, resulting in everything from rebounding in weight, to losing muscle mass, to developing a bad relationship with food.

When we look at losing weight from a subtraction perspective, more often than not, that’s where the negative patterns with food begin.

Don’t get me wrong, losing weight is not easy. It’s extremely hard, and keeping the weight off while fundamentally changing your relationship with food is even harder.

But being overweight, hurting to move, and feeling stuck in your own body is also hard. It’s about choosing your hard.

So with all of that said, let’s go back to the beginning. How can we actually lose weight while eating more food? And stop looking at weight loss as pure subtraction?

Here’s what I wish someone had told me when I first started trying to lose weight:

Losing weight is not about eating less and less food. It’s about eating more of the right foods.

So what are the right foods? One word: protein.

Here’s the thing about the “normal American diet,” it’s filled with foods that are designed to be eaten in super high quantities, meaning they are calorically dense, hyper-palatable, and not high in satiety — which is the feeling of being full.

That means it’s incredibly easy to overeat these foods. Here’s an example: how easy is it to sit down and eat an entire bag of Lay’s potato chips? Just absolutely house the bag without a second thought. Your hands seem to move from the bag to your mouth on autopilot.

In a typical bag of Lay’s, you’re eating the equivalent of 4–5 large potatoes.

So what would be easier: eating a bag of potato chips or eating 5 large cooked potatoes? Of course, it’s the chips.

That’s because these foods are designed to be incredibly easy to eat. At the end of the day, a business like Lay’s wants you to eat as many chips as possible because it means you’ll buy more chips.

If someone came to me today asking for the first thing they should do to lose weight, here’s what I would say:

Eat your body weight, or goal weight, in grams of protein every day. After you hit that number, you can eat whatever you want, no restrictions.

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Most people already aren’t getting nearly enough protein each day. So we have to start by eating more protein, but it needs to come from 80% whole, natural foods.

Think: chicken, fish, beef, steak, eggs, dairy.Focus on eating more of these whole, natural foods that are high in satiety.

You’d be surprised how hard it is to go out and make that late-night ice cream run when you’ve already eaten 180 grams of protein. You won’t be hungry, trust me.

If we can change our relationship with weight loss, we can start building the righthabits from day one. And it’s those habits that will finally break the cycle of dieting, losing some weight, rebounding, and starting all over again.

Your Homework:

If you’re serious about losing weight, start by understanding how much protein you eat on a normal day.

Once you have that number, commit to eating your ideal body weight or current body weight in grams of protein. The only rule: 80% of that protein must come from whole, natural foods.

After you hit that number, eat whatever you want.

I promise you, if you do this, you’ll beat those late-night cravings, feel stronger, and the scale will start moving in the direction you want it to.

If you ever have questions, DM us on Instagram. I’d be happy to help in any way I can.

Have a great week!

GTY