Are you eating all the wrong foods?

If you’re a skinny fat person eating mostly unhealthy foods, you may not be gaining weight, but you’re sabotaging your health.

Do you park closest to the store so you can avoid a long walk to the store? Are you out of breath from a couple of flights of stairs? It’s time to take control and live a healthier life.

When it comes to being healthy, it’s not just about how much you’re eating, it’s also about what you’re eating.

We present to you the 10 worst foods for weight loss. Read on to see if you have these foods in your fridge and pantry so you can go toss them out now after you finish reading this article.

Avoid These 10 Worst Foods for Weight Loss

1. Soda

Soda is the top contributor of calories in the average American’s diet. A can of sweetened soda has 150 calories. A 20-ounce bottle has 250 calories.

Drinking just one soda a day can raise your risk of type-2 diabetes by 25%.

Many Americans drink soda as a supplement to their meals. This can add hundreds of unnecessary calories and more than a dozen teaspoons of sugar to your daily diet.

Your best bet is to replace soda with water. Or, you can substitute with flavored water. Try adding lemons in your water. If you’re craving a sweet kick, infuse your water with sweet fruits such as strawberries and raspberries.

2. Fruit Juices

Another sugar-sweetened culprit is fruit juice. In fact, fruit juice is considered as unhealthy as soda. Fruit juice can have more sugar than soda has.

You may think that fruit juice is not so bad because it technically has fruit in it. However, fruit juice is heavily processed and does not have fiber in it like whole fruit does. Drinking a cup of orange juice is not the same as eating an orange.

The problem with sweet drinks like juice is that you can drink a lot, take in a lot of calories and sugar, and not feel full. You are consuming empty calories. Eat whole fruit instead which has plenty of fiber to help you feel full.

3. Red Meat and Processed Red Meat

A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found an association between eating red meat and processed red meat with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.

Red meat and processed red meat are foods to avoid for weight loss. The study also says that eating healthier proteins like low-fat yogurt, nuts, and whole grains can decrease your risk of type 2 diabetes.

4. Ready-Made or Frozen Meals

You’re coming home from work. It’s late. You’re tired. You grab a ready-made meal from the grocery store. Good idea..right? Unfortunately, these meals can be high in calories, sodium, and sugar. The same goes for frozen meals.

When it comes to losing weight, the best thing you can do for yourself is to prepare your own meals so that you know what ingredients go into your food.

Don’t have enough time to cook after work? Try meal-prepping. Make all your main meals, and even your snacks, on weekends so that you’ll always have something nutritious to eat.

5. French Fries

The humble potato. It gets a bad rep because of fries.

French fries are considered one of the worst foods to eat because they are deep fried and full of salt. In fact, seven out of nine experts recommended that we should not eat fries.

All is not lost for the mighty potato. Instead of fries, you can boil potatoes for a healthy, filling side for dinner. Make sure to eat the skin, which is the most nutrient-dense part of the potato.

6. Added Cream and Sugar in Coffee

Those coffee stops are costing you more than money. They are costing you your health and weight loss too.

Although a cup of black coffee only has 5 calories, the calories and sugar stack up when you add all the fancy extras.

Adding sugar to your coffee is 16 calories per teaspoon. Heavy whipping cream is 101 calories per 2 tablespoons. And half and half is an extra 37 calories for 2 tablespoons.

Try drinking your coffee plain to avoid all the extra calories.

7. Refined Flour Foods

Refined flour foods include any foods made with white flour such as white bread, pizza, waffles, and pastries.

Although tempting to eat, these are the worst foods to eat because they have little nutrients, too many calories, and are digested quickly. You can eat a lot and still end up hungry not long after. Opt for whole wheat or whole grain options instead.

8. White Rice

White rice has become a staple of dinner. However, the rice grains are stripped of fiber and nutrients.

Find yourself snacking in the middle of the night even after you’ve had a big dinner? It’s because white rice leaves you feeling hungry because of its low-nutrient content.

Switch to white rice’s older brother brown rice which is nutrient-rich.

9. Sweetened Yogurt

This food item may act like it’s healthy, but don’t be fooled! Some brands of yogurt can have more sugar than a Twinkie! The added sugar comes from sweetened fruit blends, granola, and sweetened nuts.

Eat plain greek yogurt instead, which has about 6 grams of sugar. You can sweeten it with a small amount of honey and fresh berries. You can even prepare your own yogurt parfaits and keep in the fridge as healthy, to-go snacks.

10. Dried Fruit

Dried fruit has a lot of added sugar. With the average American eating more than 66 pounds of added sugar every year, we need to limit the amount of added sugars in our diets. With dried fruit, it is easy to eat way too much at once because of their small size.

Pair Your Healthy Diet With Exercise

According to Doctors Best Weight Loss, you should maintain a healthy lifestyle through a healthy diet and exercise such as cardio. Exercising at least 30 minutes four days a week can help you lose the weight, promote muscle growth, and help you feel stronger and more fit.

Now that you know what are the top worst foods for weight loss and what to eat instead, you’re ready to live your healthiest life.

Want more tips and skinny fat solutions? Read our Diet and Nutrition blog.