Swapping your favourite candy bar or bag of potato chips for a more nutritious snack such as almonds or fruit may seem like the healthier option. But if you're looking to lose weight [2], picking the right foods is just half the battle. If you're eating clean and the scale still isn't budging, it may be time to look at your portions. As nutritionist Leanne Ward (@the_fitness_dietitian [3]) proved on Instagram, it is possible to go overboard on healthy snacks.
Leanne shared a photo of 415 calories worth of almonds (about 3/4 of a cup) versus a Twix candy bar at 275 calories. The nuts on the left may not seem like a lot, but since almonds are fatty and calorie-dense, it's easy to go overboard in one sitting.
"This picture is to demonstrate why I think it's important to understand portions & serving sizes. So many of my clients can't understand why they can't meet their weight loss goals despite #cleaneating or eating #healthyfood but this picture demonstrates that even healthy foods can be over eaten," Leanne wrote in her caption. "I'm not by any means saying that a chocolate [bar] is healthier than nuts or to go out & buy a chocolate bar over almonds. I'm simply demonstrating a common mistake [5] a lot of my clients make. You can still overeat healthy foods."
She goes on to explain that eating a cup of almonds, four bananas, or a few homemade protein balls will still make you gain weight if they cause you to go over your daily calorie allotment. If you are struggling to lose weight but still eating healthy, she says to measure out your portions [6] and weigh your food for a couple days to see how much you are really eating. You can still eat almonds and lose weight; just stick to a serving size of 1/4 of a cup for about 135 calories and 11.5 grams of fat.