How to lose weight with Proper Nutrition; 5 top tips.

1. QUANTITY: Portion size is the most important factor on this list. We all have a daily calorie or energy requirement, based on our sex, age, weight and activity levels. To maintain weight, 2000 and 2,500 calories is needed for an average woman and man respectively. Lowering this calorie intake would force your body to reconfigure its energy production method; now it will use more internal energy (fat stores) and less external energy (food). Portion control involves establishing how much you can have of certain foods (meat/fish, rice/pasta, fruit/vegetables, seeds/nuts, dairy, junk food, you can also add alcohol) and the application of these measured food quantities to your daily meals and snacks in order to create a negative calorie or energy balance to cause your body's fat to be used as fuel. Once your body alters its energy balance (more energy from fat and less energy from food ) through external energy restriction or food portion control you will slim down and lose weight.

2. QUALITY: Consuming low-quality nutrition or junk food such as processed foods (sausages, bacon, burgers, chips,) high sugar foods (sweets, chocolates, soft drinks, cakes) instead of high-quality nutrition such as lean meats, fish, vegetables, fruit, seeds and nuts will nourish your body sub-optimally. This will cause your body to crave the vitamins, minerals and nutritional needs it's not getting from the junk food which leads to overeating and weight gain. Not only is junk food "empty" nutrition it also contains tons of calories, meaning, it's extremely easy to eat too much.

3. COMPOSITION: This involves the macronutrient (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) structure of your food. A balance is important, there are many different ratio's promoted, but the key thing is to get all of these three components into your daily diet. Usually people eat too much carbohydrate and very little protein, carbohydrate based foods such as bread and pasta tend to have a lot of calories which doesn't help weight loss, protein on the other hand can help weight loss as it has been shown to give you a more stable, longer-lasting flow of energy compared to carbohydrate, helping to control hunger, protein also has potential positive effects on your metabolism by helping to maintain/develop muscle mass which is especially important with regular exercise.

4. HYDRATION: Drinking the correct amount of water is important to transport all the nutrition around your body effectively, also it's common for your body to confuse hunger with thirst, if you are dehydrated your body may be tempted to eat, staying hydrated will help keep your appetite regulated properly.

5. TIMING: There are many ways to time your meals, some recommend 6 meals, some recommend 1 meal. In terms of weight loss, a steady long lasting flow of energy throughout the day will help keep your hunger in check to prevent overeating so personally I recommend at least two meals per day this can be a big breakfast and dinner. Also with exercise you have a 6 hour window between meals in order to optimize results, meaning if you have breakfast at 6am exercise from 8 to 9am you have until 12pm (6 hours from last meal) in order to maximize recovery. A limited number of snacks (1 or 2) can help to maintain energy and control hunger, these would be small snacks, and the meals would have to be smaller to compensate for the extra calories. Eating late in the evening is no problem provided your calorie intake is correct. Breakfast is important as it allows you to optimally recover from sleep, during sleep your body uses a lot of energy as well as protein and calcium for growth and repair, this will allow you to start the day with energy rather than running on empty which may cause overeating when you do decide to eat. The previous four tips make the strong foundation of your weight loss and timing can help reinforce these principles.

These 5 top tips are the basis for weight loss, by correctly following these principles you cannot fail, happy weight loss guys!