Happy New Year!
January offers us a chance to reset and chart a fresh course for the year ahead. Some people choose to do that in the form of a New Year’s resolution while others simply want to set some new goals. Perhaps you want to build on the success you had the previous year.
No matter how we approach a new year, a common theme is that people often want to eat better – that may mean eating more healthy, nutritious food and it may also mean eating less.
Losing weight is a common goal for the new year. For those of us who are carrying some extra pounds, losing weight pays dividends for our health. If you think you need to lose some weight, don’t feel bad about – you have a lot of company! In fact, more than 70% of American adults are overweight or obese, according to data from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Whether your goal is to lose weight or simply live a healthier lifestyle, Privia Medical Group North Texas has you covered with some helpful tips and ideas to get you off on the right foot for 2026.
Basics of Weight Loss
“Losing extra weight helps the body in many ways: the heart doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood, it helps lower your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels and eases strain on the knees and other joints,” says Dr. Christy Baze, a family medicine physician in Hurst. “In addition, people tend to feel happier, healthier and sleep better, so there are a lot of great health reasons to drop unwanted pounds if you can.”
“No matter what approach you take to losing weight, there is no great mystery to the process: weight loss requires burning more calories than we take in,” explains Dr. Baze. “That’s it – nothing more, nothing less.”
One pound of weight is equivalent to 3,500 calories – in other words, if you burn 3,500 calories more than you take in, you will lose one pound.
Our bodies naturally burn a lot of the calories we consume in the normal course of a day. That’s our metabolism in action! A natural byproduct of aging is that our metabolism slows down, so we don’t automatically burn as many calories. That’s one way the pounds begin to add up.
We can offset that slower metabolism by moving around more and ramping up our exercise routine. You can read more about that this month’s companion article. (link)
While exercise is very important, most people can’t do enough of it to also eat anything they want and not gain weight. That’s why watching what and how much you eat is so important for weight control and overall health.
Foundation of Healthy Eating
You don’t need to subscribe to an expensive meal service or diet plan to start dropping some weight. Follow these fundamentals and you may be surprised at the results:
- Eat breakfast! It’s often said breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and for good reason. Breakfast gives you energy to start your day. It also helps regulate your appetite by reducing the odds you will overeat later in the day.
- Center your meals around healthy foods. All of these are good choices:
- Whole grains
- Legumes
- Nuts
- Fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables
- Lean meat
- Fish
- Eat less:
- Fatty and processed meats, like bacon and hot dogs
- Sugar
- Foods with white flour and white rice
- Don’t eat in front of the TV – you tend to focus on what you’re watching, not how much you’re consuming.
- Don’t eat right before bedtime.
- Avoid sugary drinks like sodas and fruit punch. They are loaded with sugar and have zero nutritional value. Also, avoid fruit juices – while they have some vitamins, they are high in calories. Fresh fruit is a better choice.
- If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. This is important for a lot of health reasons. In terms of weight loss, alcoholic drinks are high in calories, so cutting back will also help your weight loss goals.
- Healthy snacks can help curb hunger and prevent overeating at lunch and dinner. Fresh fruits, raw nuts and lightly buttered popcorn are good choices.
One of the most important keys to success is to be realistic – you won’t lose 20 pounds in a month. In fact, it would be unhealthy and dangerous to even try to do that. It is realistic to aim to lose 1 – 1.5 pounds per week. That’s an attainable goal through improved food choices, combined with regular exercise.
Quick Reference Guide: Eat This, Not That
| Eat More: | Eat Less or none: |
| Lean meat and fish | Processed meats like hot dogs; fatty, greasy meats like hamburgers |
| Whole wheat pasta and bread | White flour pasta, white bread products |
| Whole beans and lentils, brown or whole-grain rice | White rice, refried beans, beans cooked in bacon fat |
| Water | Fruit juice, soft drinks, energy drinks, alcohol |
| Fresh or frozen vegetables | Canned vegetables |
| Unsalted raw nuts, lightly buttered popcorn | Sugary snacks or chips |
| Low- or non-fat Greek yogurt with fresh fruit | Sugary cereal and sweetened yogurt |
| Fresh fruit | Cookies, candy and other sweets |
Eating the Right Amount
It’s not just what you eat, but how much.
Control your portions by eating slowly. Don’t feel like you must clean your plate every time. If you still feel hungry when you are done eating, take a beat before going for more food. It takes a few minutes for the stomach to tell the brain it is full.
Even as you make good choices about what you are eating, portion size matters. You chose the grilled chicken breast instead of the cheeseburger – great choice! But if you’re out at a restaurant, there’s a good chance that chicken breast will come in a 10 or 12 oz portion – that’s up to three times the recommended 4 oz meat serving in one meal! Eat half of it and take the leftovers home for tomorrow.
Restaurants tend to serve up huge portions that contain way too many calories for one meal. Keep this in mind when ordering and deciding how much of your plate to empty. But we also have to mind our portion sizes at home, as well.
“When it comes to managing calories, two of your best friends in the kitchen are a measuring cup and a kitchen scale,” says Dr. Haley Banks, a family medicine physician in Stephenville. “For example, eating whole wheat pasta for dinner is a solid, healthy choice – just remember a serving size of pasta is 1 cup, dry. If you don’t measure it, you could easily eat too much.”
And for determining your serving size of meat, a scale is very helpful – it will help you cut your chicken breast or salmon into a 4-ounce portion. Wrap and freeze the rest for another day. These handy devices are small enough to fit in a kitchen drawer and can be purchased for around $20.
Lastly, a good way to avoid overeating at lunch or dinner is to not arrive at these meals famished. Eating a healthy snack or two throughout the day, like a handful of unsalted nuts or a piece of fruit is a great way to keep your appetite in check.
Specific Eating Plans
If you want to pursue weight loss with an even more focused approach, there are a variety of different eating plans you may consider. Here are some of the more popular ones:
Plant-based
Plant-based diets are a good option for healthy living and weight loss. Fruits and vegetables have lots of fiber, which helps promote healthy digestion. When vegetables are not prepared in excess amounts of sugar, butter or salt, they are also heart-friendly and promote healthy levels of blood cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. People on a plant-based diet get their protein through non-meat sources like beans, soy and nuts.
For people who like to eat meat, a plant-based diet may not be an option worth considering.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is exactly what it sounds like: you fast for certain periods of time. One of the most common forms of intermittent fasting is to eat only within an eight-hour period each day and fast during the other 16 hours. Water and other non-calorie drinks are OK during the fasting period.
This approach can help with weight loss, provided you eat healthy, balanced meals when your fast is over, as opposed to overcompensating by eating huge servings.
Low-Carb
The average American gets roughly half of their daily calories from carbs – too often, that means unhealthy foods like pastries and cookies. A low-carb diet forces the body to burn fat for energy, leading to weight loss.
Some low-carb plans call for a limit of 30% of all calories attributable to carbs. The ketogenic (keto) diet, an ultra-low carb program, requires carbs to be no more than 10% of total calorie intake. In low-carb programs, the reduction in carbs is offset by additional protein and fat intake. If you go this route, just make sure your additional protein intake is through lean meats or non-meat proteins; eating bunless cheeseburgers every day isn’t going to make you healthier!
Low-Fat
In some ways, a low-fat plan is the inverse of the low-carb approach. In this scenario, you avoid fatty meats and dairy products and limit overall fat consumption to 30% of your daily caloric intake. The reasoning behind this is that fat contains twice the calories per gram compared to protein and carbs.
Mediterranean
As the name suggests, this diet is based on the foods traditionally eaten in the Mediterranean region, such as Greece and Italy. Alas, this does not mean endless pizza and gelato. Instead, it calls for lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds, nuts, whole grains, fish, seafood and olive oil.
This is not intended to be a weight-loss program, but a heart-healthy one. Nonetheless, by sticking to traditional Mediterranean staples, you may also lose weight while you are taking care of your heart.
Paleo
This approach is based upon what our ancestors were thought to have eaten thousands of years ago: vegetables, fruits, lean meats, nuts and seeds. It bars the consumption of processed foods, sugars, grains and dairy products.
A paleo routine may help with weight loss and reduced inflammation, but it also takes several beneficial foods off the table, such as whole grains and legumes.
Meal-Tracking Apps
No matter what strategy you opt for, you may find it helpful to track how much and what types of food you are eating. There are dozens of phone apps available to help you eat better. You can use them to track meals, count calories and get meal suggestions. Most basic apps are free, with more advanced versions available for a price.
The top nutrition apps have vast databases of food items that allow you to easily log what you ate and automatically generate calorie counts and measurements of fat, carbohydrates, sodium, sugar and vitamin and minerals. With some apps, you can even use your phone’s camera to scan the barcode on the food item, sparing you the hassle of having to type it in.
These apps are a good tool to keep track of what you eat and can help you identify possible culprits if you find your weight creeping up. For patients with health conditions such as hypertension, high cholesterol or diabetes, food-tracking apps can be extremely beneficial tools by helping you track and manage sodium, sugar and fat intake.
Take it Slow and Steady
When we gain unwanted pounds, it doesn’t happen overnight – it happens over time, sometime years. And just like we don’t gain it all overnight, we can’t lose it all at once either. Effective weight loss – when the pounds come off and stay off – happens gradually over time. No matter what approach you choose, healthy weight loss is based on healthier eating, portion control and regular exercise. Focusing on those fundamentals and avoiding fad diets or ones that are built around depriving you of everything you like to eat, are the keys to long-term success.
Many people can’t – and should not be expected to – do it alone. Talk with your doctor about your weight loss goals and get his or her advice on what might work best for you. For people working to overcome obesity, prescription GLP-1 medications may be an option. Remember, it’s a journey – but one well worth taking to boost both your health and self-confidence.
This article has been reviewed and approved by a panel of Privia Medical Group North Texas physicians.
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