31 Foods Proven to Power Best Weight Loss Protein For Women

31 Foods Proven to Power Weight Loss

Google "best foods for weight loss" and you'll get 465 million different opinions. But here at Eat This, Not That!, we know that it's not about what you find online—it's about what actually makes it on your plate that will help you drop those pesky pounds.

That's why we've put together the essential list of foods scientifically
proven to power weight loss that you'll actually want to eat.

We call these best foods to lose weight "superfoods" because, as Clark Kent, they look unassuming but hide impressively powerful health benefits. That's right, the secret to losing weight by eating has been in front of you this whole time: simply shop at your local grocery store, grab the below and make sure they make the meal plan week after week.

congruent the 31 foods proven to power weight loss. And to accelerate your fat burn even further, try your hand a few of these 200 Best Weight Loss Tips.

1. Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is a breakfast option worthy of the spotlight thanks to its high-protein content. Per a study in the journal Appetite, researchers from the University of Missouri compared the satiety effects of high-, moderate-, and
low-protein yogurts on women aged 24-28. 
They found that Greek yogurt, with the highest protein content, had the greatest effect. What's more? Probiotics in items such as yogurt and fermented foods, like pickles and sauerkraut, help good bacteria in the gut process food more efficiently.

Hello, weight loss! If you want to get even more protein in your yogurt, check out Icelandic yogurts, which can have two to three more grams of protein per serving compared to Greek.

2. Spinach

The leafy green is jam-bale with energy-boosting nutrients such as iron, folate, and vitamin A.

It can help to curb your calorie intake and encourage your body to start burning fat also reduce your appetite thanks to natural compounds called thylakoids.

Swedish researchers found that women who consumed a five-gram thylakoid supplement from spinach reported a 25 percent reduction in hunger and cravings and significantly more weight over three months.

3. Oatmeal

On top of its 4 grams of belly-filling fiber, a cup of hearty oatmeal delivers as much protein as an egg. Popular breakfast food is an excellent weight-loss tool. In fact, according to a study in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, scientists found that having oatmeal for breakfast resulted in greater fullness, lower hunger ratings, and fewer calories eaten at the next meal compared with a serving of ready-to-eat sugared corn flakes, even though the calorie counts of the two breakfasts were identical. For ways to get more fiber, sprinkle some berries and chia seeds on top of your oatmeal, but be sure to stay away from fattening syrup and sugar.

4. Almonds

Think of each almond as a natural weight-loss pill. A study of overweight and obese adults found that combined with a calorie-restricted diet, consuming a little more than a quarter cup of the nuts can decrease weight more effectively than a snack comprised of complex carbohydrates and safflower oil—after just two weeks! (And after 24 weeks, those who ate the nuts experienced a 62% greater reduction in weight and BMI!) For optimal results, eat your daily serving before you hit the gym. A study printed in The Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that almonds, rich in the amino acid L-arginine, can actually help you burn more fat and carbs during workouts. Fill up, but don't fill out: Use these Eat This, Not That!-recommended 21 Surprising Foods That Melt Fat to drop even more pounds.

5. Green Tea

If you're not drinking green tea with your workouts, you might be wasting your time at that barre class. A study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that after just two weeks, exercisers who sipped four to five cups of green tea each day and logged 25-minutes at the gym lost more belly fat than their non-tea-drinking counterparts. What makes the drink so powerful? It contains catechins, an antioxidant that hinders the storage of belly fat and aids rapid weight loss.

6. Bonus: Water

Drinking water is sort of like the flossing of the dieting world: You don't really think about it until someone reminds you, but it's integral to your health—and weight loss plan. Just keeping a full water bottle at your desk to sip on throughout the day is enough to keep your metabolism humming; in fact, it's one of our favorite easy ways to lose weight. Feeling like an overachiever? Add some sliced lemons and oranges to your water for a cleansing boost straight out of our exclusive one day detox. A compound in the peel helps flush toxins from the body and give your sluggish bowels a kick.

7. Grapefruit

Each slice of grapefruit you add to your salad acts like a match to spark your body's fat-burning ability. A study published in the journal Metabolism found that those who ate grapefruit for six weeks lost a full inch off their waistlines. What's behind the belt-tightening effect? The fruit is rich in phytochemicals, bioactive compounds that recent research shows stimulate the production of a hormone called adiponectin, which is involved in the breakdown of body fat. Japanese research suggests the smell of the juicy fruit can "turn on" calorie-burning brown fat cells, promoting the breakdown of body fat while reducing appetite.

8. Cayenne Pepper

Who knew there was a connection between a spicy pepper scorching your mouth and powering weight loss? Scientists did! According to a study in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, daily consumption of one of the compounds found in pepper (capsaicin) speeds up abdominal fat loss by boosting the body's ability to convert food into energy. It also acts as a natural appetite suppressant: men who ate spicy appetizers consumed 200 fewer calories at later meals than those that did not, a study by Canadian researchers found.
All you have to do to reap the benefits is to use a pinch of cayenne pepper to season grilled fish, meats, and eggs.

9. Wild Salmon

The fat-burning equation is simple: Protein builds muscle. More muscle =
more fat burning. And fish is one of the healthiest sources of lean protein—especially wild salmon, says dietitian Lauren Minchen, MPH, RD, CDN.
It's also a rich source of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, which fuel fat burning, block fat storage and aid weight loss, she explains. But that's not all: "Getting enough protein and healthy fat also helps to reduce cravings and has been shown to help keep weight off for longer," adds Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CDN, CSCS.

10. Sweet Potatoes

The phrase "slow carb" is anything but sluggish when it comes to blasting fat. Slow carbs are digested slowly, which keeps you feeling fuller and energized longer—and sweet potatoes are one of them. Among the magic ingredients here are carotenoids, antioxidants which stabilize blood-sugar levels and lower insulin resistance, which helps your body efficiently convert calories to energy rather than stored as fat. And their high vitamin profile (including A, C, and B6) give you more energy to burn at the gym.

11. Berries

Berries are packed with polyphenol antioxidants that will help burn fat—and prevent it from forming—as well as boost your workout benefits by improving blood flow to your muscles. According to a Texas Woman's University study, mice that ate three daily servings of berries had 73 percent fewer fat cells.
Pop some of the blue guys into your next smoothie and boost the fat-burning potential: blueberries are a potent source of resveratrol, an antioxidant which an International Journal of Obesity study showed could convert excess harmful white fat in mice into calorie-burning beige fat, which correlated with a 40 percent decreased the risk for obesity. And when it comes to the sugar content in fruit, berries rank favorably on the list but are still a powerful way to curb cravings for sweets.

12. Eggs

Sunnyside up, scrambled, hard-boiled, or fried—it doesn't matter. A pan, spatula, and carton of eggs are all you need to fry some serious flab. Eggs are one of the best sources of choline, a major fat-burning nutrient that helps turn off the genes responsible for belly-fat storage. Bonus: eggs are a great source of lean protein, which can set the fat-burning pace for your entire day when eaten for breakfast. In a study of 21 men published in the journal Nutrition Research, half were fed a breakfast of bagels while half ate eggs.
The egg group was observed to have a lower response to ghrelin, were less
hungry three hours later and consumed fewer calories for the next 24 hours!
Eggs are also loaded with amino acids, antioxidants, and healthy fats, which is why they're on our list of the 40 Foods Nutrition Experts Told Us You Should Be Eating Every Day.

13. Black Beans

Research suggests these magical pulses are one of the closest things we have to a fat-burning pill. For starters, beans are a great source of resistant starch, a type of slow-digesting, insoluble fiber that feeds the healthy bacteria in your gut, triggering the production of the chemical butyrate, which encourages the body to burn fat as fuel and reduces fat-causing inflammation.
They're also one of the top sources of soluble fiber. A recent study by Wake
Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers found that for every additional 10
grams of soluble fiber eaten per day, a study subject's belly fat was reduced
by 3.7 percent over five years. Black beans? One cup boasts an impressive 4.8 grams of soluble fiber.

14. Pork Tenderloin

A longtime enemy of doctors and dieters, pork has been coming around as a healthier alternative of late–as long as you choose the right cut. Your best bet is pork tenderloin. A three-ounce serving of pork tenderloin has slightly less fat than a skinless chicken breast; It has 24 grams of protein per serving and 83 milligrams of choline. In a study published in the journal Nutrients, scientists asked 144 overweight people to eat a diet rich in fresh lean pork.
After three months, the group saw a significant reduction in waist size, BMI
and belly fat, with no reduction in muscle mass! They speculate that the amino acid profile of pork protein may contribute to greater fat burning.

15. Coconut Oil

It's a dietary miracle: A fat that makes you skinny. Dietary supplementation of coconut oil actually reduced abdominal obesity in a study published in the journal Lipids. Of the participants, half were given two tablespoons of coconut oil daily and the other half were given soybean oil, and although both groups experienced overall weight loss, only the coconut oil group saw smaller waistlines. And other researchers have also pointed to the waist-whittling effects of the tropical oil. In a separate studyof 30 men, those who ate 2 tablespoons of coconut oil a day shrank their waists by an average of 1.1 inches in one month. Thank C.O.'s medium-chain triglycerides, which are burned as energy instead of being stored as fat, and lauric acid, which has been shown to pinpoint belly fat and torch it.

16. Pistachios

Stephen Colbert may be on to something. UCLA Center for Human Nutrition researchers divided study participants into two groups, each of which were fed a nearly identical low-cal diet for 12-weeks. The only difference between the groups was what they were given to eat as an afternoon snack. One group ate 220-calories of pretzels while the other group munched on 240-calories worth of pistachios. Just four weeks into the study, the pistachio group had reduced their BMI by a point, while the pretzel-eating group stayed the same, and their cholesterol and triglyceride levels showed improvements as well.

17. Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar, in particular, is composed mostly of acetic acid, which has been shown to delay gastric emptying and slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream. Research published in the journal Bioscience, Biotechnology, Biochemistry found that a small pool of study participants given ACV over a 12-week period lost more weight, body fat and inches from their middle than participants that were given a placebo. How does it work? Besides maintaining stable blood sugar levels, ACV produces proteins inside the body that burn fat.

18. Chilled Potatoes

Not all white foods
are bad for weight-loss. In fact, plain boiled potatoes are the most filling food there is, according to the Satiety Index of Common Foods, an Australian study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. To maximize their flat-belly benefits, throw 'em in the refrigerator and make a potato salad. The cooling process will crystallize the tubers into resistant starch—a type of prebiotic fiber—which takes longer to break down in your intestine, producing fat-burning butyrate and delaying hunger pangs.

RELATED: Learn how to fire up your metabolism and lose weight the
smart way.

19. Pumpkin Seeds

One of the reasons your metabolism isn't burning away fat as efficiently as you'd like? Look at your magnesium levels. This essential micronutrient is required for the body to produce and store energy, and also helps boost lipolysis (a process by which your body releases fat from its stores to use as energy)—yet 75 percent of Americans do not get their RDA of this important metabolism-boosting mineral.
Just a half cup of pumpkin seeds provides nearly 100 percent of your daily magnesium needs.

20. Olive Oil

Surprised? Although olive oil contains fat, it actually contains a type of healthy fat that has been found to decrease levels of fat-storing inflammation. According to a review published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, a polyphenol only found in unrefined extra virgin olive oil—oleocanthal—reduces inflammation in a similar way that ibuprofen does: it prevents the production of two pro-inflammatory enzymes, COX-1 and COX-2. While olive oil is proven to power weight loss, the same can't be said for these 21 Foods to Toss Out of Your Kitchen For Good.

21. Garlic

Bad breath is but a small price to pay for reaching your body goals, right? According to a recent Japanese study, when rats were put on a high-fat diet, the animals that were also given a garlic compound gained less weight than their peers. Experts attribute the fat-fighting benefits to a powerful compound in garlic called allicin. (It also happens to be the same compound
that gives garlic its pungent taste and smell.)

22. Light Tuna

Top your salad with this lean protein and soon enough all your friends will be asking you to tuna-round so they can compliment your new slimmed-down look. As a primo source of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), canned light tuna is one of the best and most affordable sources of lean protein for fat loss, especially from your belly! One study in PLOS One showed that omega-3 fatty acid supplementation from fish oil was connected to a lower waist-hip ratio as well as lower levels of abdominal fat.

23. Whole Grain Bread

Carbs are not the enemy. Not whole-grain carbs, that is. People who ate three or more daily servings of whole grains (such as whole-grain bread) had 10 percent less belly fat than people who ate the same amount of calories from processed white carbs (bread, rice, pasta), according to a Tufts University study. It's theorized that this is due to whole grains' high fiber and slow-burn properties, which keep you satiated longer.

24. Legumes

It's time to focus on your lentil health. In one four-week Spanish study, researchers found that eating a calorie-restricted diet that includes four weekly servings of legumes aids weight loss more effectively than an equivalent diet that doesn't include beans. Those who consumed the legume-rich diet also saw improvements in their "bad" LDL cholesterol levels and systolic blood-pressure. To reap the benefits at home, work lentils, chickpeas, peas, and beans into your diet throughout the week.

25.Vitamin D-fortified Milk

How would you like to take all the great weight-loss results you've just read about—and double them? That's what happens when you supplement your diet with a ombination of vitamin D and calcium, according to a Nutrition Journal study. Just four weeks into the 12-week experiment, subjects who had taken these two nutrients— found in abundance in some yogurts—lost two times more fat than the other group! To get similar results at home, replace any of these 50 Unhealthiest Drinks on the Planetwith a glass of grass-fed, organic, vitamin D-fortified milk.

26. Dark Chocolate

Yes, you can eat dark chocolate to lose weight. A study among women with
normal weight obesity (or "skinny fat syndrome") who ate a Mediterranean diet that included two servings of dark chocolate per day showed a substantial reduction in waist size than when on a cocoa-free meal plan.
Researchers attribute dark chocolate's weight loss abilities to flavonoids, heart-healthy compounds in the sweet treat that the scientists at Harvard say
can reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and mortality. Like nuts, dark
chocolate has also been found to induce satiety. When reaching for chocolate, just make sure you choose a bar with at least 70 percent cacao. Anything less contains more belly-bloating sugar and a significantly reduced flavonoid content.

27. Tomato Juice

Want to power weight loss? Grab a bottle of V8! According to a study published in Nutrition Journal, tomato juice consumption can aid weight loss because it increases resting energy expenditure (REE)—the amount of energy expended by a person at rest. After eight weeks of drinking unsalted tomato juice twice daily, the 95 women in the study (who were each exhibiting some menopausal symptoms) increased their REE by an average of over 100 calories per day.

28. Kamut

Kamut is an ancient grain native to the Middle East that is an excellent source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and fiber, while simultaneously being low in calories. In fact, a half-cup serving of the stuff
has 30 percent more protein than regular wheat and just 140 calories. What's
more? A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating Kamut reduces cholesterol, blood sugar, and cytokines (which cause inflammation throughout the body). Kamut's ability to stabilize blood sugar and reduce inflammation make it a great weight loss staple, especially if it is used in place of nutritionally lacking refined grains.

29. Avocado

Like peanuts, avocados contain metabolism-enhancing monounsaturated fats that have been shown to reduce hunger. In fact, a study in Nutrition Journal found that participants who ate half a fresh avocado with lunch reported a 40 percent decreased desire to eat for hours afterward. What's more? The trendy toast topping is also loaded with unsaturated fats, which seem to prevent the storage of belly fat, as well as satiating fiber and free-radical-killing antioxidants.

30. Black Coffee

Coffee jumpstarts your metabolism, making the non-decaf stuff a worthy weight loss ally. According to a study published in the journal Physiology & Behavior, the average metabolic rate of people who drank caffeinated coffee was 16 percent higher than that of those who drank decaf. In addition to caffeinating your coffee, it's also crucial to keep it black and avoid adding any unhealthy creamers and artificial sweeteners, both of which are enemies of weight loss.

31. Lentils

Power weight loss with pulses (another word for legumes). In one four-week Spanish study, researchers found that eating a calorie-restricted diet that also included four weekly servings of legumes aided weight loss more effectively than an equivalent diet sans the pulses. Those who consumed the legume-rich diet also saw improvements in their "bad" LDL cholesterol levels and systolic blood pressure. Next time you're cooking something starchy for dinner, consider eating fiber and protein-packed lentils instead of any of these 100 Unhealthiest Foods On the Planet.