 So you're not just like eating and drinking nothing. You don't feel like you're dieting. You just feel like you have a healthier, more satiating diet that's much better for you. And then suddenly you see the numbers on the scale go down and you see your clothes fitting different and all those wonderful benefits that come with losing weight. Hey guys, my name is Boris. I'm a board certified physician assistant working in medically supervised weight loss. And I also recently had my own fitness transformation where I lost 47 pounds in six months. And one thing I found that helped me personally when it comes to diet is not to cut things out of my diet that I really enjoy, but better yet to try and find a way to replace it with a lower calorie, lower carb, lower glycemic healthier option. So today what I want to talk about is eight things that help me personally to lose weight. I call them my secret weapons because they're very satiating. They're cheap. They're available. And I personally really like them a lot. So if you can take any of these items and find a way to replace something that you're eating with one of them, I think that would be really helpful for your own fitness journey. So without further ado, let's go on to item number one, Parmesan cheese. I know what you're thinking. Cheese has a ton of fat. It's not really great for you. People with food sensitivities can't really have a lot of dairy. So this probably shouldn't be on the list, right? Wrong. If you have sensitivities, maybe this isn't something for you. But if you can handle dairy, if you can eat cheese, at least in small amounts, Parmesan cheese is actually really low in fat and very high in protein. And it's very satiating. Now it also has quite a bit of sodium, but that does give you that kick of the cheese, the saltiness, the kind of savoriness, and protein just by itself is very satiating. It's very filling. So I mean two tablespoons is 20 calories, two grams of protein and only one and a half grams of fat. So if you do what, like five servings, 10 tablespoons, that's only 100 calories, 20 grams of protein, 15 grams of fat and zero carbs, by the way. Now, yeah, you'll also have about 1000 milligrams of sodium, which isn't great, but it's not the end of the world unless you have severe blood pressure issues. So this is something that I really like to use to add flavor, to sprinkle on top of like burger patties or chicken burgers or turkey burgers, or just on top of a salad, instead of using any other kind of cheese, because it does give you that flavor and that saltiness and that savoriness, but it's much lower fat than most cheeses and it's very high in protein. Something also I can't believe I'm admitting this because it's so weird to do, but like when it was really at the end of my fitness journey, when I was trying to lose those last few pounds and you know they're like impossible, they just won't come off. This is something I ate just like by the tablespoon because like I said, two tablespoons is only 20 calories and if you've ever had a tablespoon full of Parmesan cheese or Romano cheese, you know, it takes you a while to like chew it, it's really chewy and it's like, it is just satiating when you're just hungry and you're just craving something really good and really savory, but you don't want to have a bunch of calories with it, just like a tablespoon of this stuff would kind of hold me over if I really had a food craving. So Parmesan cheese, definitely one of my secret weapons. Number two, yellow mustard. Just plain yellow mustard. This is obviously Wegmans brand because I live in upstate New York and Wegmans is the best, but we all know that every yellow mustard more or less tastes the same. You can get it anywhere. It's really cheap. It's probably like two bucks for a big bottle that'll last you, I don't know how long, several months unless you're just eating tons of it. Either way, very cheap, very available, doesn't really matter what brand you buy. And the best thing about it, look at that, zero calories, zero calories, no protein, no fat, no carbohydrates. So it doesn't really give you a great source of protein, but what this does is give you tons of flavor. Some people don't like mustard. I understand. And if you don't like it a whole lot, but you might kind of like it a little bit, what you could do is start to kind of like wean yourself off of other things like mayonnaise and start to kind of like get used to eating more mustard. So one thing you could do is just kind of like make a sauce where you mix maybe half mayo half mustard or three quarters mayo, one quarter mustard, and then kind of start moving that back until you have more mustard in that mix. And then eventually you're just used to having nothing but mustard. So for instance, one really high protein, very satiating, very low fat, low calorie snack I like to have is just egg whites. So just like boiled egg whites with some mustard. Now when I started eating that, I used to have the egg yolks in there. I used to have some mayo in there and maybe some spices. And then I would add some mustard. And then as time went on, and I did what I just told you, I kind of weaned myself off of everything that has high calories. So like the egg yolks, the mayonnaise and I ended up just really enjoying just egg whites and mustard, but doesn't have to be just egg whites. You can use this for anything tuna salad, for instance, just canned tuna with whatever you have in there. Really good way to flavor that. So I can't really tell you what else you might use it for, but if you could replace things like mayonnaise, honey, Dijon ranch, any of those high fat dressings with as much mustard as you can tolerate, that will really, really make a big difference in how many calories you're consuming and of course how much weight you're able to lose. And speaking of egg whites, number three, egg whites. So you can just separate the yolk from the white when you have a whole egg, or you can do what I do and just get them in the carton because it's so much easier. It's already separated for you. The price ends up being pretty comparable. So egg whites, they are very, very high in protein and it's probably one of the most complete proteins you can get. So if you're trying to do a high protein diet, which by the way research has shown is linked to better weight loss results and also lets you build muscle and maintain muscle much better. If you have a high protein diet, obviously don't go crazy with it. Talk to your doctor about exactly how much protein you should be having. And if you have kidney function issues and things like that, high protein diet definitely is not for you. And again, nothing I say here is medical advice. This is all just kind of like weight loss counseling kind of stuff. Not really giving you medical advice about any of that. This is just things that have worked for me personally and might work for you, but of course check with your doctor before doing anything like a high protein diet. That aside, egg whites, very good source of protein, very low calories. They essentially have nothing in there except for protein. If you look, 25 calories, five grams of protein, zero carbs, zero fat in three tablespoons. So what I end up doing, I usually measure it out in cups. I don't remember how much exactly it is for one cup of egg whites, but it's a ton of protein. And of course very little carbs, very little fat. So it ends up being very low calorie and it's very, very satiating. Now egg whites by themselves, probably not the most flavorful thing. They are satiating because they're so high in protein, but they're not very flavorful. So that's where things like sugar free ketchup, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, red pepper, a little bit of salt, any kind of flavor you can do to make you like them. I would eat egg whites that way. So me personally, I just kind of put a little bit of ketchup on them and that's really enough for me. Might have some pickles or something else that's very low in calories in there also just to add flavor, but egg whites are definitely a good thing. So if it's like late at night, you're craving something, satiating, you have those food cravings, just making yourself some egg whites and like a little bit of ketchup. I think it's a really good way to go and it's definitely saved me plenty of times when I was trying to lose weight and I really needed a snack late at night or I was like out of calories, out of my allowance for the day and I just needed something good and satiating. So egg whites, definitely a lifesaver. All right, number four, sparkling water. So some of you I know might be soda drinkers. You might love your coffee with a ton of sweetener in there. You might love orange juice. You might love all kinds of different things that have lots and lots of sugar and lots of lots of calories and we know that added sugar is the worst thing you could possibly do if you're trying to lose weight. So what we really want to do is try to replace it with something that's much better for you. Obviously ideally that would just be plain filtered clear water. That's the best for you, but I know not everybody likes drinking water and some people actually that I've talked to tell me they just really can't stand water by itself. They just can't drink it. It's gross to them and I can sympathize with that sometimes. So one thing that I found for me personally that I like to replace just plain water with is sparkling water or flavored sparkling water and again very cheap, very available. Every grocery store has its own brand. Again this is Wegmans and Wegmans for instance has a ton of different flavors like this is mango lime, they have like a dragon fruit, a passion fruit, strawberry lime like any flavor you can imagine and of course Lacroix is super popular people are drinking that kind of used to make fun of people for drinking that but now I drink it don't tell anybody. So it's just a really good alternative to soda and any sweetened beverages and it kind of does give you that little bit of something good to drink you know something refreshing and cool and maybe fruity or flavored in some way and it gives you that carbonation which some people really like. I'm one of those people and it's just a good way to go at least a much better way to go than soda and for another beverage number five, coffee. Coffee is great it's not perfect for everybody but I really love coffee and it has so many benefits when it comes to losing weight. Coffee has been shown to decrease your appetite, increase your mood and it has in some people at least even been found to be good for your heart. Now that doesn't mean you should just drink a pot of coffee every single day you should not do that but coffee like one cup in the morning is really good unless you have a really serious heart condition or for some reason cannot tolerate caffeine. Again talk to your doctor if you have any concerns about drinking coffee but for the vast majority of people coffee has a ton of benefits. Now what I mean by coffee is black coffee maybe a little half and half or skim milk or almond milk or oat milk. I do not mean like half coffee, half cream and a ton of sugar. I do not mean one of those 40 ounce starbucks drinks with whipped cream and chocolate like that's not coffee guys that's dessert. If you love those you don't love coffee you love dessert we all love dessert but that's not coffee. I'm talking about coffee with just a little bit of something else in it or black. Now like I just said coffee does help to curb your appetite puts you in a better mood gives you energy all the good stuff that we know this is why humans love coffee and we have for many many generations but what you probably didn't know is that it does lower your appetite. Also if you're doing intermittent fasting like I have done and I'm probably going to talk about in future videos black coffee technically does not break a fast. You can still stay in a very ketogenic state even if you have a cup of black coffee. So it's better than just plain water because it does have some flavor and if you have really good high quality coffee that you enjoy if you can teach yourself if you can learn and get used to having only black coffee or black coffee with just a little bit of something else like some creamer some non-dairy creamer even a little bit of half and half shouldn't really break your fast very much. So if you have something like that if you can get used to drinking mostly black coffee it can be a huge huge very powerful tool in your weight loss journey and now speaking of dessert who doesn't love dessert let's get on to number six plain no fat Greek yogurt I think I can hear some of you gagging from a mile away or from a 3,000 miles away I'm not sure where you guys are watching this video but hear me out I know not everybody loves non-fat Greek yogurt I love it so much now that I can eat it plain but again it wasn't always the case it took some time for me to get used to eating this stuff first off with no fat and second with no toppings now there are some toppings that I can put on this that are very low calorie and I'm actually going to get to that next in my next item but just by itself non-fat plain Greek yogurt is very low in calories has no fat because obviously non-fat very low in carbs and very high in protein do you see a pattern here what we're really trying to do is replace our high carb high sugar high fat snacks with high protein low carb low sugar low fat alternatives because protein is satiating and again is associated with more sustained weight loss better muscle growth and better muscle maintenance so check this out three quarters cup is 100 calories zero fat because again it's non-fat only six grams of carbs and 18 grams of protein that's a ton of protein and this is just one small serving I mean if you have like a cup and a half of this so two servings that's 36 grams of protein most people that we have on a low calorie diet we usually suggest somewhere around 100 grams of protein per day so you can get over a third of that just by eating a cup and a half of plain Greek yogurt that's a lot and then if you have like a chicken breast for dinner or something and a few meal replacement bars or other high protein snacks in between you just got your 100 grams of protein just like that very easy and I know a lot of people who struggle to lose weight and are on these kinds of diets they struggle to get enough protein into their diet so Greek yogurt is a secret weapon in fact one guy that I used to work with was a bodybuilder I think he actually won Mr. Rochester at least once like he was a really serious bodybuilder and literally all this guy would eat for lunch when he was training is just a ton of Greek yogurt it was just a bunch of those little like individual servings I like to get them in these bigger containers because I'm cheap and these are cheaper but Greek yogurt is a huge tool used by bodybuilders and there's no reason you shouldn't use it as somebody who's just trying to lose weight or maybe you're a bodybuilder too who knows so again very high protein low calories low carbs no fat Greek yogurt and last but not least this is probably my favorite thing on this list and I probably use it the most in fact at least once a day sometimes twice a day I save the best for last number seven frozen berries who would have thought frozen berries were going to be my best favorite and most effective tool in losing weight why are they so effective well one again I'm going to start out by saying they're super cheap this is from Aldi's this whole bag was like five bucks maybe in other parts of the country six seven dollars I don't know if prices are higher outside of upstate New York but the point is they're very cheap very affordable and for me someone who eats this stuff once maybe twice sometimes three times a day this bag will last me easily a week if not longer and also what it does for me is it replaces virtually every dessert that I'm going to eat if I'm craving ice cream and I'm trying to lose weight a little Greek yogurt and a little frozen berries super good if I'm making pancakes or like I do protein pancakes they are pretty high in carbs but they do have a lot of protein so it kind of balances out for me personally instead of using maple syrup which is just pure sugar and totally useless when it comes to a nutrition standpoint I'll actually put some frozen berries with just a little bit of water and a little bit of stevia in the microwave in a bowl kind of mash them up and what that creates is a really tasty really low sugar really healthy berry syrup that has all these vitamins and fiber and things that berries actually have they're super good for you but also doesn't have all that useless sugar they do have a little sugar you know they're sweet but they're much much less sugary than most fruit they're actually the least glycemic fruit where I guess berries aren't really fruit but you know what I mean sweet natural plant let's go with that you know they are very low glycemic when compared to things like apples bananas oranges kiwis mangoes all those things we love to eat they're just as sweet or at least they taste just as sweet and they're also really sour which I personally love but they have much less sugar and like I said they're lower glycemic and they also have a ton of fiber so check this out this serving size is actually massive it's one and a quarter cups one and a quarter cups is only 70 calories for a whole one and a quarter cup I never even eat that much it might be like a half a cup that I'll put with my Greek yogurt or even less so one and a quarter cups is actually huge and it's 70 calories a gram of protein kind of negligible six grams of fiber which is really good and total carbohydrates 18 of course added sugars is zero because it's natural but yeah they do have some sugar in them so they're not perfect they're not absolutely zero sugar but if you're craving something sweet this is by far by far by far the best thing you can use and like I said now I could just eat a couple of these plain and be totally satisfied feel like I just had dessert and I'm happy but it did take some time to get there so I started eating them with like some yogurt and before I got used to playing Greek yogurt I had like some vanilla sweet and Greek yogurt and I'd put berries in there so the whole bowl would be like 300 calories there would be some sugar in there not nearly as bad as ice cream because there would be a ton of protein and much less sugar and much less fat but still it wasn't the best but now I can just have like a couple of these berries barely 70 calories no fat much less sugar much better for you than a bowl of ice cream or anything else you would have that sweet and also they're frozen so you get that kind of cold sensation so for someone who's obsessed with ice cream like me this is the best thing possible I used to have a lot of that halo top but it started bothering my stomach I'll still have it once in a while but if I'm really reaching for something cold and sweet this is it frozen berries are by far my favorite and most commonly used secret weapon when it comes to losing weight and currently I'm not losing weight but maintaining weight just staying healthy super good for you super tasty try to find other ways to use them I only gave you a couple but by far my favorite so that's it guys that was seven of my secret weapons when it comes to losing weight and keeping weight off again the overall theme with these things is replacing your high sugar high fat high calorie snacks with things that are high in protein and much lower in sugar fat and calories altogether if you can do that you're not really feeling like you're missing out on anything you're eating the same amount of volume you're still chewing you're still enjoying your food especially once you train yourself to enjoy certain things so you're not just like eating and drinking nothing you don't feel like you're dieting you just feel like you have a healthier more satiating diet that's much better for you and then suddenly you see the numbers on the scale go down and you see your clothes fitting different and all those wonderful benefits that come with losing weight all right guys hopefully you enjoyed the video any questions feel free to write them below I'd love to hear from you and I'll see you in the next video