How Much Weight Will I Lose?

Have you ever wondered exactly how much weight you could lose if you stopped eating a certain junk food or drinking a particular high-calorie beverage?

For example, a 30-year-old woman, standing 5ft 5in tall and weighing in at 200lbs can lose up to 24lbs if she simply forgoes her five-weekly splash of Coke!

Junk Foods & Weight Loss

Can't I just eat junk food within my daily calories and still lose weight?

A restricted calorie diet will work regardless of what you eat, however, if you eat 1,200 calories worth of chocolate a day, you are going to get very hungry very quickly. Junk food generally has high calories, high fat content, high sugar content and/ or low nutritional value.

Having a high junk food diet will also decrease your health dramatically. Some common symptoms of a high junk food diet can include high cholesterol, increased insulin resistance, high blood pressure, bloating and damage to teeth and gums, to name a few.

Want to lose weight fast? Start by cutting out soda and substituting it with iced tea or water

Foods to Avoid

It's a well-known fact that the United States has one of the highest rate of obesity in the world, with around a third of the American population estimated to be clinically obese at any one time. Many of the problems stem from eating too much junk food, specifically sugar, processed carbohydrates and saturated fats.

Here are the worst offenders:

• Fried food has a reduced nutritional value due to the breakdown of fats during the frying process, as well as contributing to the clogging of arteries, and increased risk of high cholesterol, and type two diabetes
• Foods that are high in trans fats and saturated fats increase your risk of high cholesterol and heart disease
• Simple carbohydrates are low in fibre, high in sugar and offer little or no nutritional value
• Sodium causes an increase in the volume of blood in the body, and bloating, and can increase blood pressure and reduce kidney function
• Alcohol can have long term effects like liver disease, ulcers, gastritis and vitamin B1 deficiency
• A high sugar diet can cause a insulin resistance resulting in type two diabetes and metabolic syndrome

Examples

• Snacks: Any snacks that only contains carbs: crackers, dry cereal, bread, rice cakes, pretzels, bagels, pizza, pitas
• High in Sodium: Frozen meals; food manufacturers often load frozen meals with sodium, a natural preservative
• High in Fat (especially saturated and/or transfat): Mcdonald fries, butter, kfc, pork bacon, hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, donuts, cakes, cookies
• High in Refined Sugar: Candy, corn syrup, white sugar, fruit juice, Soda (soft drinks), sugary cereal