How to Use watermelon for weight loss

How to Use watermelon for weight loss

Eating a slice of watermelon every now and then isn't going to cause all your fat to melt away -- no food actually burns fat. But this low-calorie fruit is filled with nutrients, including vitamins A and C and lycopene, and it may also help limit weight gain or make it easier to lose weight when you eat it as part of a reduced-calorie diet.

Calorie in Watermelon
You can eat a cup of diced watermelon for just 46 calories. This makes it a good fruit to eat when you are trying to cut calories so you can lose weight. For example, eating watermelon instead of the same amount of vanilla ice cream saves you 228 calories, and choosing this fruit instead of canned peaches in heavy syrup saves you 148 calories.

Energy Density in Watermelon
Foods that are low in energy density, or calories per gram, may help you lose weight because you can eat a large portion for very few calories. This makes it easier for you to fill up without going over your recommended calories for the day, since it is the volume of food, rather than the calories consumed, that affects how full you feel after eating. Watermelon has a very low energy density of 0.3 calorie per gram.

Research Results of Watermelon
Eating watermelon increases the amount of an amino acid called arginine in your blood, according to a study published in "Nutrition" in March 2007. This amino acid may help promote fat loss and increased muscle mass, according to a review article published in "Amino Acids" in July 2010. These research results are still preliminary, however, and the amount of watermelon used was quite large. In the "Nutrition" study, people drank 780 or 1,560 grams of watermelon juice per day for three weeks to increase their arginine levels. In comparison, a 1-cup serving of watermelon only weighs 152 grams.

Weight Loss With Watermelon

Adding watermelon to your diet without making any other changes won't result in weight or fat loss. For this, you need to eat fewer calories than you use each day. Eat watermelon instead of another, less healthy food that is higher in calories and increase the amount of time you spend exercising for the best weight- and fat-loss results.