If your goal is to shed pounds quickly, smoothies can be a godsend. Unlike traditional calorie-restriction diets that essentially starve off the pounds, a diet based around healthy green smoothies allows you to fully nourish your body, with a proper balance of macronutrients, vitamins and minerals, while keeping your daily caloric intake low enough to begin losing weight. The best part about a smoothie-based weight loss diet is that there is nothing fad about it. By consuming a balanced amount of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fat, you won’t end up bouncing from one weight to another and you won’t experience the negative emotional, physical and physiological side effects of some of the more draconian diet plans out there. In fact, many people that we’ve spoken to have said that after a couple weeks of trying a smoothie-based diet, they were able to make smoothies a permanent part of their diet and have remained healthy and fit ever since.
CHOOSE YOUR GOALS
Losing weight through calorie restriction requires a custom approach based on factors such as your body type, metabolism rate, muscle mass, age, current weight and average daily exercise. Losing weight quickly on this diet is all about burning more calories in your everyday activities than you consume.
The average (sedentary) adult needs to consume 2,000–2,500 calories per day (with no additional exercise) in order to replenish the stored calories that are naturally burned off from everyday activities like breathing, thinking, sleeping and eating. If you exercise daily, you may end up burning 2,500–3,000 calories during the day.
Losing weight means creating a calorie deficit for your body—denying it enough calories to replenish those burned calories and forcing your body to turn to its natural fat reserves to power you physically.
CALCULATING A POUND OF FAT
The common calculation used by dieters is that a pound of body fat is equal to approximately 3,500 calories. Meaning that you would need to create a 3,500-calorie deficit to shed that extra pound of fat. In reality, the equation is not quite that easy. A pound of body fat is not uniform in its lipid makeup, and the ability to process and metabolize fat for energy use can differ from person to person.
Instead of abiding by a strict single number, you should estimate your own fat-burning potential by placing yourself on a sliding scale based on your own experience. On one end, individuals with faster metabolisms can expect a pound of fat to be equal to approximately 2,750 calories. If you find burning off body fat to be a bit more difficult, you should calculate your average pound of body fat to contain about 3,750 calories. That 1,000 calorie difference can seem like a big discrepancy, but properly estimating your body’s potential can make all the difference when it comes to achieving your weight loss goals.
ESTIMATING A CALORIE DEFICIT TO HELP ACHIEVE FAT LOSS
Now that you have a better estimate of how efficiently your body can burn fat, it’s time to figure out your goals and come up with a game plan.
Let’s say that you are a 5’9”, 35-year-old man who weighs 175 pounds and exercises about three times per week. Over the past few years you’ve noticed that burning off that extra winter weight has been tougher than when you were younger. Based on your daily habits, you should expect to burn an average of 2,350 calories per day. And based on your place on the fat-calorie content scale, you should expect a pound of your body fat to contain around 3,200 calories.
Creating a calorie restriction plan from that is pretty simple. Take your calculated average calorie burn (2,350 calories), chose a reasonable calorie-intake goal (1,600 calories) and you’ll achieve a daily calorie deficit of 750 calories. Based on your estimate of how many calories are in a pound of your body fat (3,200) sticking to a restrictive diet will help you burn a pound of fat of your body in just four to five days (3,200/750 = 4.27 days).
If you’re interested in calculating your own estimated daily calorie burn, you can find an excellent calorie calculator at www.mayoclinic.org, or by searching for “calorie calculator” online.
PLANNING YOUR DIET
Once you have your weight-loss goal set, you should calculate the length of the diet you’ll need to embark upon in order to accomplish it. For example, if you take our sample 175-pound man from the previous section and give him a goal of trimming down from 175 pounds to 170 pounds, he will need to stick to his calorie-restricting diet for 20–25 days to shed the weight. Depending on your weight-loss goals, you should plan to stick with your diet from anywhere from a quick three days to a full month.
The most effective way to lose weight and keep it off is to get regular exercise and follow a balanced diet rich in all your necessary macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) without restricting your calorie intake to the point that the diet becomes difficult to follow. Therefore, we suggest choosing a realistic calorie restriction target depending on your weight and gender that lands somewhere between 1,200 and 1,600 calories per day.
PLANNING A CALORIE-RESTRICTIVE MENU
From our experience, the easiest way to achieve a calorie-restrictive diet with smoothies is to use your blended drinks as meal replacements. Because smoothies can be made with a healthy balance of macronutrients, they will allow you to feel full, properly nourished and energetic, despite their low calorie content. In the recipe section of this book, your best selection for low-calorie meal replacements can be found in “20 under 200: Fat-Busting Smoothies” (page 86). Use these recipes, or experiments of your own, to build healthy, enjoyable smoothies that can stand in for your normal lunches or dinners.
Begin your diet by swapping out one of your main daily meals (either lunch or dinner) with a smoothie. Pay attention to how your body feels afterward and how it affects your following meal. Are you still hungry? By the time your next meal rolls around (either dinner or breakfast) do you find yourself eating more food or eating more quickly? If the answer is “yes” to either of those questions, there are simple adjustments you can make to ensure you stick to your diet plan.
The most effective change is to break your smoothie meal into two separate mini-meals spaced about two hours apart. For example, try drinking a smoothie at 12 p.m. and then another at 2 p.m. Spacing out your calorie intake will allow your body to better metabolize the macronutrients for energy use and will leave you feeling more sated as you approach dinner, preventing you from potentially overeating.
After a week with a one-meal smoothie substitution, try introducing another recipe into your daily routine. If you tend to eat quick breakfasts that contain sugar, swap it out for a robust, nutrient-rich smoothie. Or, if you have a sweet tooth, try swapping out that after-meal dessert with a small all-fruit smoothie.
Within a couple of weeks of daily smoothie consumption, you’ll begin to see significant changes in your energy level, dietary habits and overall well-being. Many people experience a profound dietary shift, where the benefits their fruit- and vegetable-rich smoothie meals leave them feeling better and more rewarded than heavy lunches or dinners—inspiring them to add more and more smoothies to their daily menus.
BREAKFAST: THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY
The one golden rule in starting your day off healthy is never skip breakfast. This is especially true if you are trying to lose weight. A well-balanced breakfast that contains carbs, proteins and fat can help boost your metabolism dramatically for the duration of the day and it will keep you from over-indulging on midmorning snacks. Skipping breakfast can actually shock your body into mini-survival mode, slowing your metabolism in order to store up calories. Eating a large breakfast may sound counterintuitive for weight loss, but in the research project behind Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz’s The Big Breakfast Diet, patients who consumed a well-balanced breakfast consisting of 600 or more calories lost over 15 percent more body fat than patients consuming limited-calorie breakfasts under 300 calories.
That being said, Americans tend to consume a lot of calories at breakfast. A bowl of Starbucks’ oatmeal can pack as many as 25 grams of fat; an Egg McMuffin has 300 calories. Even a single slice of bacon comes with 41 calories. And that’s before adding in drinks like lattes (120–210 calories) and cappuccinos (up to 120 calories). Without realizing it, you can consume a quick 800 empty calories before 10 a.m.
Green smoothies allow you to carefully control your calorie intake while getting all of the vital nutrients necessary to thrive through the day.
If you are trying to lose weight, you should start your day with a full 400–600 calories, which can either be consumed with a combination of a traditional breakfast items (like a bowl of oatmeal) and a smoothie or just a hearty smoothie alone. It all depends on your preference and what will make you feel the best as you start your day.
SPLITTING ONE MEAL A DAY
Because we live busy lives and you’re not always going to find yourself near your blender and produce supply, this diet allows for interchangeable lunches and dinners. If you have an important lunch meeting with a client, go for it! Feel free to order that club sandwich or turkey burger. You can always replace tonight’s dinner with fresh, healthy green smoothies and get all the benefits. And the same is true for fun dinner dates or parties; you don’t have to feel like you’re a slave to your green smoothies. Simply plan ahead by doubling up on green drinks for breakfast and lunch, and then have a great time at dinner.
If you’ve ever tried skimping on your calorie intake during lunch, you’ve probably had to face the consequences later in the afternoon or evening. By the time dinner rolls around, you’re ready to eat a cow. And unfortunately, that is often what ends up happening—a light lunch turns into a very heavy dinner.
To combat that tendency, we have found it remarkably effective to split the smoothie meal of the day into two—an early lunch or dinner (about an hour before you would normally eat lunch or dinner) and a late lunch or dinner (about two hours after you’d normally eat lunch or an hour after you’d normally eat dinner). Splitting your second
green smoothie meal into two allows you to keep your second-meal calorie consumption under 300 calories (total) and has a tremendous impact on how much you end up consuming during your final, normal meal.
PRE-BED DESSERT SMOOTHIES
A light, simple pre-bedtime or dessert smoothie can do wonders for helping you shed pounds during your diet. That’s because when you sleep, your metabolism tends to hit its slowest pace and relies on fat and protein stores to power your vital functions while you slumber. A small, protein-heavy smoothie can help keep your metabolism working overtime while protecting your muscles from being robbed of vital protein. In addition to keeping your metabolism’s pace raised, the smoothie will prevent you from feeling hungry in the middle of the night as well as overeating the next day.
You don’t want to overdo this after-dinner or late-night smoothie; stick to simple ingredients that don’t have a lot of sugar—like a smoothie made from strawberries, Greek yogurt and unsweetened almond milk. It’ll be enough to satisfy your sweet tooth while providing at least 5–10 grams of protein.