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Eat Meat and Lose Weight

By Louis Jeffries

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Published: 16Apr2009
Word count: 727
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You Can Eat Meat

Many people do not understand. You can eat meat and lose weight. As a matter of fact we should eat some lean meat for health purposes. A healthy diet should include some lean meat for iron, protein and other nutritious reasons. The problem is in our society most meat is not lean and most people overeat. Too much of a good thing is not good at all. So the question is how much is too much? Better yet, how much lean meat can I eat and still lose weight?

Today we consider a healthy diet should be include at least 1500 calories for women and 1800 calories for men. At these levels most people would lose weight because the average woman consumes more that 2000 calories per day, while the average man is over 2500. To lose weight we simply need to burn more calories than we consume. The nutritional information on food packages assume the average diet is 2000 calories per day. If we are burning and or eliminating 2000 calories per day then we we should lose weight reduce our eating to 1500 to 1800 daily. That seems logical but is not always true.

What You Eat Counts

The question still remains, how much lean meat can I eat and still lose weight? When we decide to lose weight we do not just count calories. We need to evaluate content. The content of a healthy diet would include a balance of a variety of necessary food groups including protein, carbohydrates and fat. We need all three groups. Sure there is good and bad of each but, lean meat constitutes necessary protein without excess fat. A balanced diet would be 60% to 70% fresh fruit and vegetables; 20% to 30% whole grains, nuts and beans. That leaves no more than 10% of our daily calories as lean meat. Now if we are trying to lose weight that means on a daily basis we should not have more than 180 to 200 calories of lean meat. The average cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant is between 400 and 800 calories. That means no Big Mac's, Whoppers or Quarter Pounders with Cheese.

But there are a few reasons to avoid the fast foods while attempting to lose weight. First the meat is not lean. The meat typically comes from specially bred animals that are fattened and plumped up just for the fast food chain. The truth is few people prefer the meat of a lean cow versus a nice juicy plump one if they are looking at a picture or some form of advertisement. We have been brain washed to believe the fatter the better. The second reason to avoid fast foods is the bread and the secret sauce. They are so filled additives, sugar, corn syrup and corn starch as they add as many calories as the meat itself with no nutritional value. So not only is the meat not lean and the bread and sauces are so full of additives but the entire fast food, commercially processed, meals are detrimental to full of sugars, sodium and starches that causes numerous health problems.

If you noticed you can eat 150 to 200 calories of lean meat a day and still be able to lose weight. It is highly unlikely to get that from a fast food restaurant. You could get that at home. A small fresh cut of lean beef could be about 200 calories. Chicken and turkey could provide the same protein with far less calories. There is another important factor to consider, metabolism and muscle mass.

Increase Your Metabolism to Lose Weight

The reason men can have more and actually require more calories daily is they have more muscles. The greater your muscle mass the greater your metabolism is. The greater your metabolism the more calories you burn. In other words if you exercise regularly you increase your metabolism and burn calories. If you do resistance training you turn fat into muscles, burning the fat and burning calories. Muscles burn calories even when you are not exercising. But to maintain muscles you must continue to use them or they convert to fat. This is a long way of saying if you exercise daily burning more calories you can eat a little more meat and still lose weight. Keep in mind, you lose weight when you burn more calories than you consume.

Eat Less, Eat Healthy, Burn Calories, Exercise Regularly, LOSE WEIGHT!

Louis Jeffries, a healthy diet, fitness and weight loss professional who shares information to encourage us to live a healthy lifestyle. For Free healthy diet, weight loss and fitness tips go to Weight Loss

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