How to lose weight: Gymgoer shares food swaps that shrank her waist - 'Restriction is never beneficial'

“I know nobody wants to hear it, but [what you eat] really is 80% of it,” she said in a recent TikTok clip. “I was doing the same workouts, but was just eating differently.”

Showing her viewers before and after pictures, she continued: “I had to learn the basics of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, what they were, when to eat them, and how to build healthy meals out of them.

“It starts with eating enough protein. Protein is what’s going to build muscle, repair tissue, help you feel full for longer, and support healthy skin and nails.

“Let me tell you, my hair has never grown more than when I started eating healthy,” Savanna noted.

Everyone knows that protein is an essential dietary component, but its role in weight loss often gets overlooked.

Not only does the body feel fuller for longer on a high-protein diet, but it can also boost metabolism through its thermic effect.

“That was the first thing I focused on, and I know it may seem really hard at first to hit over 100 grams of protein, but you really get used to it, and it becomes a lot easier,” Savanna noted. “Just try to get at least 30 grams of protein in each meal and it will add up.”

Where hitting targets through meals might feel challenging, it’s worth considering protein-rich snacks to have throughout the day, like cottage cheese and Greek yoghurt, though whole sources are recommended over processed ones.

“The next thing I did was cut out anything really processed and found healthy swaps of my favourite snacks with healthier ingredients,” Savanna noted.

A recent body of research published in Nature Medicine in 2025 by scientists at University College found that cutting ultra-processed foods from the diet could double the speed of weight loss.

Participants on a minimally processed diet lost an average of 2.06 per cent of their body weight over eight weeks, while those on a nutritionally matched ultra-processed diet lost just 1.05 per cent.

For Savanna, replacing the ultra-processed meals with healthier alternatives helped her stick to the plan.

She said: “Something I do now, when I really want banana pudding, I look up a high-protein banana pudding recipe with yoghurt, for example.

“I started making all my meals at home, so that way I knew exactly what was in them, how much protein they had.”

She discourages restriction, which can backfire by lowering metabolic rate and triggering intense hunger.

“Restriction is never going to be beneficial,” Savanna noted. “Tell yourself you can have the candy when you want it, you can have the chips if you want, just try to have them a little more minimally.

“Everything is okay in moderation and restricting it is only going to make you want it more. But you do have to learn about self-discipline and self-control.

“I now have four big meals a day, that way I’m satisfied throughout the whole day and I don’t feel the need to snack. And when I do snack, I try to have balanced snacks, to keep me satiated and full.”