The Word on Weightloss

It’s been a few years since fat-free foods flooded the markets. Many of them helped individuals on a specific weight loss plan lose weight without sacrificing much of the flavor that they loved. These foods, balanced with an improved physical training regimen have helped many people kick their excess pounds to the curb even quicker.

But, eating fat-free or reduced-fat foods isn't always the answer to weight loss. What a lot of individuals don’t realize is that just because something is fat-free doesn’t mean that you can or should eat more of the reduced-fat food.

Seems counter intuitive, doesn’t it? Well, many people forget about the calories that are consumed when eating your favorite “guilt-free” fat-free delight.

When I was dieting, I used to focus specifically on fat. I wouldn’t allow myself to eat anything that was over 10 grams of fat in one serving. To me, it just wasn’t worth it. And while I did end up losing a few pounds, after a while I hit a plateau and wasn’t losing any more weight. I played around with my fat again, promising myself that I wouldn’t eat anything above 5 grams of fat. This didn’t show much success. I became frustrated and wondered what I was doing wrong!?

The problem was that I wasn’t considering anything besides fat, and I didn’t realize how important calories were to the mix.

• The biggest problem is that in most cases, fat-free foods don’t have any fat, but their calorie count isn’t usually that much less significant than the non-fat-free version.
• Additionally, there is a lot more to weight-loss than fat counting.
• Fat, in some cases, is actually very good for you. Consider the omega-3 fats in avocados and salmon – these foods are an important part of any healthy diet.

Still not convinced? The following list of foods and their reduced-fat varieties will show you that just because a product is fat-free, doesn't mean that it is "calorie-free."

• Peanut Butter (2Tbsp)
  
  • Reduced-fat: 187 calories
  • Regular: 191 calories
• Chocolate chip cookies (3 cookies)
  • Reduced-fat: 118 calories
  • Regular: 142 calories
• Fig cookies (2 cookies)
  • Fat-free: 102 calories
  • Regular: 111 calories
• Caramel topping (2Tbsp) 
  
  • Fat-free: 103 calories
  • Regular: 103 calories
• Cereal bar (1 bar)
  
  • Low-fat: 130 calories
  • Regular: 140 calories