8 Foods That Help You Lose Weight And Fill You Up, Too

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SEE MORE7 Foods That Help You Lose Weight and Satisfy Your StomachByBeth W. OrensteinUpdated on January 30, 2026Medically Reviewed byMelissa Sleight, RDN

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Eating healthy foods can fill you up for longer periods. While some weight loss diets can leave you feeling like you’re starving, that should not be the goal.

Eliminating processed foods is a great way to lose weight and improve your health (especially ones that are high in empty calories, sugar, and unhealthy fats), but what you replace them with is just as important.

Foods that are high in fiber and protein, for example, will keep you full and help you avoid making unhealthy choices.

Eating more than the recommended amount of any food — even if the food is good for you — won’t help you meet your weight-related goals. Here are seven healthy (and filling) foods to help you stay satisfied.

1

Beans

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There are lots of reasons to put beans on your shopping list. Beans are an excellent source of fiber, and any food that’s high in fiber will be filling, says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, a physician based in Bethesda, Maryland, and the author of Doctor’s Detox Diet: The Ultimate Weight Loss Prescription.

A 1/2-can serving of black beans has 8.3 grams (g) of fiber, or 30 percent of your daily value (DV).

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 Meanwhile, a 1/2 can of red kidney beans has 7.3 g of fiber, or 26 percent of your DV.

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A 1/2 can of garbanzo beans has 8.1 g of fiber, or 29 percent of your DV.

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Plus, fiber helps fill you up without adding any calories to food (since our bodies can’t digest fiber), explains Kelly Kennedy, RDN, staff registered dietitian-nutritionist formerly for Everyday Health. Fiber also takes longer to digest and adds bulk to food, she adds.

A veggie chili or a bean-based stew will fill you up without weighing you down, suggests Kennedy. She also loves the convenience of canned beans, which can be rinsed (to reduce the sodium content) and added to a rice dish or on top of a salad for more protein and fiber.

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2

Salmon

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Why put salmon on your list of foods for weight loss? Among its many health benefits, salmon is a great source of protein — 3 ounces (oz) of wild Atlantic salmon has about 16.9 g of protein.

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Protein-rich foods are filling because protein is metabolized more slowly than fats or carbohydrates, explains Dr. Gerbstadt. Salmon is also one of the best sources of heart-healthy fats known as omega-3 fatty acids, adds Kennedy.

Try baking or grilling salmon. You can have a 3-oz portion for dinner and flake the leftovers over salad greens for lunch the next day, says Kennedy.

3

Eggs

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Eggs can help with weight loss because they’re high in protein (two large eggs have 12.6 g).

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 It also requires more energy to break down a protein than it does a starch, which many breakfast foods, including bagels, cereals, and muffins, are made of.If you’re worried about high cholesterol, you may want to consider eating more egg whites than yolks, but odds are you don’t have to worry too much. Try to keep egg yolks to between four and seven per week to keep from getting too much saturated fat, which can raise LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

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Add hard-boiled eggs to your salad for a low-calorie protein, or try egg whites and cucumber with salt and pepper for a snack, says Kennedy.

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Editor’s note: Lose It! is owned by the Everyday Health Group. 

4

Nuts

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Nuts pack in protein and fiber, which makes them a filling food.

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But the calories from nuts and nut butters can add up quickly because they’re such a rich source of healthy fats, says Kennedy. While this fat is not a bad thing and is actually good for you, it’s important to keep an eye on portion size when eating nuts.

Kennedy recommends keeping your portion size to 1.5 oz, or a small handful of nuts, each day. The amount of fat differs from nut to nut. For example, 1.5 oz of whole almonds has about 21 g of fat.

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 It’s also important to choose nuts without any added fat, sugar, or salt, which can decrease the overall healthfulness of the nuts, Kennedy advises.

Kennedy suggests thinly spreading 1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter or almond butter on a piece of whole-wheat toast for breakfast and adding a sprinkle of slivered almonds on steamed green beans at dinner.

5

Popcorn

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Your brain lags behind your stomach — it takes about 20 minutes for digestive hormones to send the signal to your brain that you’re filling up, says Kennedy.

That’s one reason popcorn is high on Gerbstadt’s list of filling foods that can help you lose weight: It takes a long time to eat popcorn, and the more slowly you eat, the more likely you are to start feeling full before you overdo it.

Popcorn is also a good source of fiber, making it a filling food, too, says Kennedy. One cup of air-popped popcorn has 1.2 g of fiber, but since a serving of popcorn is usually considered to be more than 1 cup, the fiber adds up.

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To be considered a good source of fiber, a food has to contain just 2.5 g of fiber, which can be reached at just about 2 cups of popcorn (and just 62 calories plain).

Gerbstadt suggests using a hot-air popper to save on fat and calories. Or pop your corn on the stove with a minimal amount of oil, suggests Kennedy.

6

Greek Yogurt

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Greek yogurt is another chart topper on the list of smart foods for weight loss. It’s a great choice because it has more protein and less sugar than most other yogurts.

While the amount of protein can vary from brand to brand, one 7-oz container of plain, low-fat Greek yogurt has about 20 g of protein and 7 g of sugar.

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 And this sugar is naturally occurring from the lactose in the milk, not added sugar.

Greek yogurt is also a good source of calcium, with about 230 milligrams (mg) per 7-oz container (about 18 percent of your DV).

You can make a parfait of Greek yogurt and fresh fruit for breakfast or as a dessert, or use Greek yogurt as a base for thick and creamy smoothies, suggests Kennedy, who recommends using plain Greek yogurt without any added sugars.

7

Water

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Water should be a staple on your list of foods for weight loss (even though it’s not technically a “food”).

Some people overeat because they mistake thirst for hunger. The parts of the brain where the body assesses hunger and thirst are very close together, explains Kennedy. For this reason, it’s very common for someone to feel hungry when they’re really just dehydrated. Staying well hydrated is the best way to make sure any hunger pangs are actually hunger.

While the recommendation of at least eight 8-oz glasses is easy to remember, it’s not the most accurate. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends about 11.5 cups per day for women and about 15.5 cups per day for men. These estimates also include water consumed through both foods and beverages; the water you get from food makes up about 20 percent of the total.

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The Takeaway

• Certain healthy food choices will leave you feeling fuller for longer compared with processed foods.
• While this doesn’t mean you can eat more than the recommended amount, it can still help with maintaining a healthy weight.
• These choices include foods like beans, salmon, eggs, nuts, popcorn, and Greek yogurt.
• Drinking water and staying hydrated will also help you feel satisfied between meals.

Resources We Trust

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• Mayo Clinic: Nuts and Your Heart: Eating Nuts for Heart Health
• Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Protein
• MedlinePlus: Healthy Food Trends – Beans and Legumes
• Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: How Much Water Do You Need?
• Cleveland Clinic: 9 Best Tips for Healthier Popcorn

EDITORIAL SOURCESEveryday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.SourcesResources

1. Beans, Black, Mature Seeds, Canned, Low Sodium. MyFoodData.
2. Beans, Kidney, Red, Mature Seeds, Canned, Drained Solids. MyFoodData.
3. Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans, Bengal Gram), Mature Seeds, Canned, Drained Solids. MyFoodData.
4. Fish, Salmon, Atlantic, Wild, Raw. MyFoodData.
5. Egg, Whole, Raw, Fresh. MyFoodData.
6. LeWine H. How many eggs can I safely eat? Harvard Health Publishing. March 14, 2022.
7. Nuts and Your Heart: Eating Nuts for Heart Health. Mayo Clinic. November 15, 2023.
8. Nuts, Almonds. MyFoodData.
9. Snacks, Popcorn, Air-popped. MyFoodData.
10. Yogurt, Greek, Plain, Lowfat. MyFoodData.
11. Gordon B. How Much Water Do You Need? Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. June 23, 2022.

Meet Our ExpertsSee Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network

Melissa Sleight, RDN

Medical Reviewer

Member of American College of Lifestyle MedicineMelissa Sleight, RDN, is a board-certified lifestyle medicine dietitian with over 15 years of experience. She has a passion for educating her clients about improving their health through nutrition and lifestyle changes, and seeing them motivated to improve their health each day.Sleight earned her bachelor's in nutrition and food science from Utah State University. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition group for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She is involved at the local level as the president-elect of Magic Valley Dietitians and is a liaison for her community as a board member of the Idaho Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.She likes to cook and try new recipes, and loves water activities of all kinds — from paddleboards to hot tubs. She enjoys exploring the outdoors through hiking, on all-terrain vehicles, and camping.See full bio

Beth W. Orenstein

Author

Beth W. Orenstein is a freelance writer for HealthDay, Radiology Today, the Living Well section of The American Legion Magazine, St. Luke’s University Health Network, and others. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University (1978), where she majored in English and was editor of the student newspaper for three years.

No matter the weather around her eastern Pennsylvania home, Orenstein either bikes 25 to 30 miles or walks at least 6 miles every day. Her one indulgence is blueberry pancakes — but only after biking a long distance.

See full bioSee Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network

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