What do you need to eat in order to lose weight? I’ve got you covered with five healthy staple foods for weight loss you need in your kitchen.

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One of the most common questions I get from people trying to drop a few unwanted pounds is: “What should I eat for fat loss?”

It’s a noble question from the masses that have been conditioned to think that dieting is all about what you eat and not about how much you consume.

The bottom line is that as long as the calorie deficit is established and then maintained for a consistent amount of time, it doesn’t really matter from a scientific point of view as to what it is that you’re eating to lose the weight.

But the nutrition coach in me needs to point out that what you consume does play a role in you body’s ability to perform better. Performing better helps guide the journey to looking better.

Prioritizing more nutrient-dense foods can help make the body more efficient in the fat loss process.

So today, we’re going to talk about some of my favorite healthy staple foods for weight loss that should stock your kitchen during your fat loss dieting phase.

These foods won’t guarantee weight loss, because again … that’s all about the calorie deficit … but if you add these to your repertoire, you’ll do yourself some good along the way.

Let’s get into it.

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Think about what you can add to your diet, not takeaway

Going on a diet does not have to mean punishing yourself. Too often, it’s easy to develop the mindset that you need to restrict yourself and generally hate life while trying to shed a few excess pounds of fluff.

It’s why so many people dread the idea of “eating healthy” to begin with. They focus on all of the things that they can’t do, instead of the things that they can.

So, let’s turn our attention away from the negative. Accentuate the positive, baby!

Kidding aside, let’s spend a few minutes thinking about all of the foods that you can add to your diet when you go on a diet.

Think of it as subtraction by addition.

You want to add some healthy food staples to help make this easier.

Being in a calorie deficit is already difficult. You are eating fewer calories than your body wants to consume. Which means hunger is an issue.

You can find a few simple methods to help reduce those hunger pangs, but at the end of the day, hunger will still happen.

But by really thinking ahead to create your own kind of fat loss meal plan, it can go a long way towards making the calorie deficit a little easier to manage and help curb some of those hunger issues.

The key is to thinking of a rotation of foods that work best for you. Not for the Instagram celebrity or because some celebrity told you to eat a specific food in some random magazine article.

Instead, find a few foods that work for you and stick to them.

Take these rules into consideration:

• Have a few lean protein sources handy
• Play around with 2-3 sources of leafy greens and vegetables that you enjoy (or at least can stomach)
• Be sure to toss in 1-2 different fruits that you can use as snack option

Here’s one of the most crucial points that so many people skip over. In turn, it leads to poor adherence and eventual failure:

Avoid total restriction from foods or food groups, if you have a particular “unhealthy” food that would make you absolutely miserable not to have around, then make a plan to include it.

For instance, one of my online coaching clients really loves her Swedish Fish candy. In fact, before we even started, she said it was a nonnegotiable that it had to be included.

To which, I said, absolutely cool. Because I don’t do meal plans. And I don’t tell you to restrict foods that you love.

So, we made a plan to hit the calorie deficit, get adequate protein and crush more vegetables. After those needs were met, she could enjoy her Swedish Fish.

The result? She lost 10 pounds. And has kept it off years later.

Here are a few of my favorite healthy staple foods for weight loss:

Pre-Made Chicken

Chicken is the undisputed king of the protein realm.

Pound for pound, there are few other food options that can stack up for the low amount of calories with high dosage of protein like the standard chicken breast.

If you have issues stomaching another dry piece of chicken, you need to up your cooking game and find some new ways to play around with it.

Likewise, if you find yourself behind the 8-ball in terms of schedule because of work or kids, or because of both work and kids, you might need to skip cooking chicken altogether and let the store do the work for you.

Look to your local grocery store for the solution:

• Grab a rotisserie chicken
• Look for a package of pre-made grilled chicken
• Order chicken from your favorite restaurant, but ask for multiple servings of it

Simply get creative to have more chicken around the house. Why? Because once it’s already made, you have no excuses as to grabbing a handful and tossing it on top of a bed of greens for a big ass salad.

Boom. Done.

Is this perfect? No.

Will the macros be 100-percent on point since you aren’t the one cooking it? Nope.

But, will you be able to have a convenient protein source available at almost all times? Yep.

And that’s all that counts.

Liquid Egg Whites

These are a protein cheat code.

Each little serving of this super convenient food is nothing but pure protein. No fat. Very trace amount of carbs (not really anything to track here).

Nothing but pure unadulterated protein for your gainz.

The liquid egg white is already pasteurized, which means you can actually dump it into your breakfast smoothie. Yes. Seriously. And you won’t taste it as long as you’ve got some other awesome sauce ingredients in the mix.

You can conveniently add a ton of the liquid stuff to your next omelette to plus up the protein.

I like to make my omelettes with 1-2 whole eggs and then pour in about a cup of the liquid egg whites to take things to the next level. We’re talking about 30-35 grams of protein when it’s all said and done.

Nutrition per 1/4 cup (56g) serving:
Calories: 30
Total fat: 0g
Saturated fat : 0g
Trans fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 1g
Sugars: 0g
Dietary Fiber: 0g
Protein: 6g

Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges

Cream cheese is incredibly fatty and packs on calories. Enter these little low-cal wedges of creamy, cheesy awesomeness.

Opt for the reduced fat version and they come in at about 30 calories per wedge of cheese.

You can toss them in a salad or rice bowl dishes for a little creamy texture. Mix it up with grilled chicken for some added cheesiness to your next chicken dish.

Or, one of my favorite methods is to spread on top of the next healthy staple foods for weight loss, the Wasa Cracker.

Wasa Crackers

There’s nothing wrong with snacking. But there is something wrong with how you’re approaching snacking.

You’ve been conditioned to think that a “snack” is only related to the various ends of a healthy food spectrum.

You must be firmly in the junk snack food discussion, or it’s solely about munching on some raw carrots.

No in between.

Instead, I’m here to show you that getting a little creative can add a nice bridge between meals, without sacrificing taste. Or even crunch.

Check out the Wasa cracker. It’s like a thicker and heartier Matza cracker.

Each Wasa cracker contains whole grains and tons of fiber and only 40 calories for two slices that are about the size of the palm of your hand each.

Slather those Wasa crackers with the Laughing Cow cheese.

Sprinkle some Everything But the Bagel season on top.

Boom.

Cheese and crackers for only 70 calories, and actually kind of filling.

Pre-Packed Tuna

There’s nothing fun about those canned tuna options that start spitting out smelly ass tuna juice when you twist open the can with your can opener (if you have a good enough can opener that doesn’t slice your fingers while mangling the tuna can).

Skip that shit.

Go pick up the ready-made pre-flavored tuna packages in the pouch.

They come in at about 15-16 grams of protein for a packet that costs only about $1.29 each.

Toss it on top of salads.

Spread it over a Wasa Cracker.

Mix it up with a little avocado or greek yogurt and make a healthier tuna salad.

Or just enjoy it straight out of the pouch since they are already flavored and seasoned pretty well. Your options are virtually endless.

Just watch out for the added sodium if that’s an issue you need to manage.

Broccoli Slaw

Your salads suck. And that’s why you don’t like eating salad. So let’s change that today.

One of my tricks for staving off hunger during a deficit phase is to make sure you’re eating enough protein and veggies. And one of the best ways to do just that is through a daily big ass salad.

This is where the usual pushback comes in the form of, “Well, I hate salads because they are so boring.”

And to that, I usually respond with something like, “Stop making your salads so boring.”

Broccoli slaw will help you do just that. It adds a ton of crunch to your salad without adding a ton of calories.

My usual daily big ass salad consists of the following:

• 6-7 ounces of protein (chicken, tuna, ground meat, etc.)
• 3-4 handfuls of leafy greens (spinach, arugula, spring mix)
• 1-2 handfuls of broccoli slaw
• 1 handful of roasted veggies (warmed up)

And then I toss in a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar along with another tablespoon of greek yogurt; and I add in a squeeze of sriracha sauce for some heat.

As a result, I get an array of textures and temperatures and flavors in my salad and it becomes an adventurous process to get my daily dose of nutrients.

Find the healthy staple foods for weight loss you need in your own kitchen

Maybe you’re getting tired of the meal prep game and ready to expand your tastes beyond the boring ass chicken and broccoli.

Or perhaps time is crazy and you can’t commit to meal prepping like you originally planned.

Maybe you’re just looking for some more inspiration on lower calorie options that don’t taste like crap.

Either way, these foods should be in the rotation of your fat loss meal plan and will help you stay on point.

Let me help you learn how to add the right healthy staple foods for weight loss to your daily diet … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Healthy staple foods for weight loss” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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