New Year's Resolution: Lose Weight with Soup

It’s the beginning of the year again and everybody is talking about New Year’s resolutions. Chief among them is the resolution to finally shed those extra pounds. You can expect to see advertisements popping up for lose-weight-quick diets. They may promise to help you shed pounds in no time flat with evidence in the form of convincing before-and-after pictures.

The problem with fad diets, though, is that they’re not easily sustainable, so the weight usually comes right back. For a more practical approach that promises lasting results, try losing weight with healthy soups.

The average person gains about a pound of weight during the cold season. If you don’t lose it, those winter pounds can add up over the years. Since those pounds didn’t accrue over night, we shouldn’t expect to lose them that way. Weight loss requires patience for a long haul. A smart pace is to shed one or two pounds per week. At that rate, you can plan to lose 20 pounds in about five months.

To be able to lose around a pound per week, a person has to create a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories per week. To lose two pounds, you would need to double that deficit to 7,000 calories per week. If your daily intake is about 2,500 calories, you need to reduce that to 2,000 or 1,500 calories to keep up with your goal. Including nutritious soup in your diet can greatly help with calorie reduction.

Soup for Weight Loss
Soup is often served as an appetizer, and many people turn it down to avoid calories. Researchers have shown, however, that low-calorie soup before a meal can actually help in the weight loss effort. Soup is filling and can reduce your appetite for less healthy foods later in the meal. Soup can also cause you to eat slower, helping you realize when you’re full.

Consider eating a modest serving of warm, filling, low-calorie soup before meals, then significantly limiting your portions of the regular meal. You might follow the soup with a small salad or lean protein. You’ll need to remember that not all soups are created equal, though. For the soup diet to work, the soup must be low in calories and contain plenty of vegetables. Cream-based soups or those loaded with pasta and cheese will not complement your weight loss regimen.