I get a call the other day from a friend, whose husband is trying to lose weight.

He’s struggling to figure out just why he’s not losing anything.

Typical breakfast is oatmeal with some dried fruit and milk.

Lunch is usually out with co workers — they’re in NYC, so the restaurants vary all the time.  Sometimes a quick on the go type meal. Sometimes a salad bar somewhere.  And occasionally fast food, like McDonald’s or Burger King, but overall that’s pretty minimal from what I was told.

He rarely snacks during the day at the office, but when he does he only eats Clif Bars, because he says they’re healthy.

For dinner my friend makes dinner most nights of the week — so that varies — but they’re almost always great choices.

And then at night he sometimes snacks.  Maybe another Clif Bar — again, a "health" food, maybe some popcorn, or something along those lines.

So where is he going wrong?  When I heard this information, my first question was "how much?"  How much is he eating at his meals and snacks?

Well, turns out that it’s usually a "few packets of oats," 2-3 Clif Bars for snacks, just a few sushi rolls, or a  "large" salad when he gets that out for lunch.

Well, at the end of the day, even healthy foods can cause weight gain.

Oats, for example, are a great meal.  But "a few packets" is a lot of added sugar and extra calories, particularly because more packets likely means more dried fruit and more milk.  What starts off as a "healthy" breakfast is now tipping the scales at around 800+ calories.

Salads?  Salads can literally make or break your physique.  They are like smoothies — everyone associations salads as a great food for fat loss, but at the end of the day, they can pack more calories than a couple Big Macs!  A Chef’s salad with creamy dressing, egg, cheese, and bacon, for example, could weigh in at over 1000 calories and 80+ grams of fat!  So "salad" isn’t always the best choice … but it can be!

And the beloved Clif Bars.  We’ll admit it, we like them too when choosing energy bars.  But when you’re sitting behind a computer for 8-10 hours a day and minimally active, the nearly 300 calorie, higher carb bars, aren’t quite the health bar of choice … particularly when you eat a "couple of them."  

BOTTOM LINE: Calories, no matter how healthy, still add up!

Have you found yourself falling for the "health food" trick like my friend’s husband?

I'm working with this client recently.  She was struggling to lose body weight.  She was around 220 lbs, 5'6" and in her mid 30's.

Weight was a constant battle throughout her life and now even more so after having a couple kids.

After getting to  know this woman overtime and learning some of her patterns, I pinpointed a single factor that allowed her to lose weight FAST…

…she didn't starve herself, take any pills or potions, or do some crazy "detox" plan that could all ultimately hurt her.

But I DID recommend she STOP eating…

…salads.

Yes, arguably the healthiest meal in the world — and I told her to stop. 

Here's the deal.  Salad is only a great option when it looks like this…

This woman, Lauren, was instead packing in 100's (sometimes 1000's) of unnecessary calories each day through what she thought was healthy.

Weird, there is probably no other single food that can be as powerful OR as harmful as THIS…

…weird, right?