As the temperature rises day by day, the anxiety about weight rises a little bit in everyone’s mind. Men and women alike are looking forward to getting a little slimmer before summer officially arrives.
However, today’s society as a whole is not as accurate in its judgment of “slimness” as it should be. Too many young people, especially young women, are constantly striving to be thin, thinner, and the thinnest. Under this aesthetic point of view, many people have started the road of blind weight loss. Therefore, before we talk about weight loss diets, it is necessary for us to chat about how to scientifically determine whether the weight is overweight.
Don’t blindly pursue light weight, but to develop a good body shape
To determine whether you are overweight, one of the most familiar indicators is BMI, which is simple to calculate and quite intuitive to determine.
BMI=Weight (kg)/Height (m²)
Perhaps most of the friends who feel that they are “a little fat”, after calculating the BMI are within the normal range, neither overweight, more not obese.
However, BMI value has its own defects: on the one hand, for those who work out all year round, body fat is very low and muscle mass is large, resulting in large body weight, only calculate BMI may appear “(false) obese” judgment; on the other hand, for those who lack of exercise, body fat is high, but the weight of the friends is not too large, only calculate the BMI and may be considered to be On the other hand, for those who lack exercise and have high body fat but do not weigh much, only calculating BMI may be considered as “slim”, but in fact, this group of people may already have the problem of central obesity.
To solve this problem, we can use the “body fat percentage” to determine. A normal adult male should have a body fat percentage of less than 25% and a normal adult female should have a body fat percentage of less than 35%. However, body fat percentage often requires professional equipment to accurately determine, which is not friendly to our ordinary consumers.
There is another indicator of body fat percentage – waist circumference. Indeed, waist circumference can reflect the degree of central obesity and the risk of cardiovascular disease. In order to reduce the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, it is recommended that the waist circumference of adult males in China should not exceed 85cm, and that of females should not exceed 80cm, but for many beauty lovers, it may be a bit too much “indulgence” for their own body shape if they take this as a standard.
Taken together, for our non-high-intensity exercise ordinary people, it may be worthwhile to combine BMI and waist circumference (such as conditions can also measure the body fat percentage), coupled with the continuous attention to the body’s other circumferences, such as the neck circumference, thigh circumference, arm circumference, etc., you can be relatively objective and comprehensive evaluation of their own situation.
If you ultimately conclude that you are overweight or obese, it is important to consider a scientific and healthy weight loss program.
In fact, rapid weight loss is not recommended for the average person without the help of a team of professional dietitians or physicians.
For a truly sustainable, non-rebounding, and non-health-damaging rate of weight loss, you can refer to the World Health Organization’s recommendation of losing 0.5-1kg per week and 1-3kg per month, or the advice given in the newly released Adult Obesity Dietary Guidelines of the Health Commission of China, which states that you should lose 5%-10% of your current body weight in 6 months, or 2-4kg per month. Although there are slight differences, the core of both is to avoid damage to the human body caused by too rapid a rate of weight loss.
Understanding the principles of the EatSlim diet
If you want to lose weight through dietary intervention, do not go on a blind diet. This is not only detrimental to health, but also affects the sustainability of weight loss, and is very easy to rebound.
Healthy weight loss diet, the most central point is twelve words: reasonable structure + rhythm regular + quantity out for in.
1
Well-structured
A well-structured diet means eating food types that can satisfy nutritional requirements, but are also conducive to calorie control and promotion of fat metabolism. Specifically, the choice of various types of food in the weight loss period is ranked as follows:
High-quality protein foods → dietary fiber-rich foods → water-rich foods → high-quality starchy foods → high-quality fats.
- High-quality protein foods mainly include: eggs, milk, beans, fish, shrimp and aquatic products, poultry and livestock (in order of preference).
High-quality protein can meet the body to maintain normal physiological functions, enhance immunity and repair trauma and other needs. At the same time, because the body needs to consume more calories than starch and fat when digesting protein, an appropriate increase in high-quality protein foods during the period of weight loss will also help increase metabolism.
- Dietary fiber-rich foods mainly include: all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, coarse grains and so on.
Dietary fiber-rich foods often have a strong sense of satiety, chewing and other characteristics, not only to help control the amount of food, but also through the maintenance of stable postprandial blood glucose levels, regulating insulin levels. Coupled with the fact that dietary fiber can promote intestinal peristalsis, it can also improve the problem of poor bowel movements that tend to occur during weight loss.
- Moisture-rich foods mainly include: fresh fruits and vegetables with high water content, various kinds of light soups and porridges, soy milk, milk, etc..
This kind of food can not only occupy a certain stomach capacity, to help control the amount of food, water can also promote the body’s material energy metabolism.
- High-quality starchy foods mainly include: whole grains, coarse grains, and low-processed starchy staple foods.
Whole grains, coarse cereals can provide more B vitamins and dietary fiber, minerals, etc. than refined rice and white flour, and these characteristics are beneficial for promoting material energy metabolism and controlling the amount of food eaten. At the same time, appropriate intake of starchy foods can avoid the body to use protein and fat to provide energy, and the resulting protein depletion, ketonemia and other adverse consequences. As an additional note, a ketogenic diet (no or very little carbohydrates such as starch) without professional guidance is not recommended for the average person to try.
- Food sources of good fats include, among others, cooking oils and deep-sea fish rich in unsaturated fats, as well as raw nuts.
Quality fats are not only necessary for the body to maintain normal function and metabolism, but also improve fat metabolism to some extent. But after all, they are fats, still need to pay attention to control the intake.
On the basis of reasonable combination, but also pay attention to two key points:
- must not forget to keep the taste light. Heavy oil and salt will not only increase the risk of various chronic diseases, but also easy to promote appetite and increase the amount of food.
- Give preference to natural foods. Natural food usually retains more comprehensive nutrients, and is lower in calories, oil, salt and sugar than processed food, which is conducive to weight loss.
2
Rhythmic regularity
Regular rhythm means that the total amount of food and the frequency of eating should be both regular and moderated.
During the period of weight loss, some friends may eat one meal less than three meals, and some people may adopt light fasting methods such as 16+8 (eating for 8 hours a day and fasting for the remaining 16 hours) or 5+2 (eating normally for 5 days a week and reducing the amount of food for 2 days). However, if such light fasting is not practiced properly, it is prone to various types of discomfort, and studies have shown that it may increase health risks and is not easy to adhere to in the long term.
If you want to lose weight in a healthy way without rebounding, it is best to have three regular meals and just reduce the energy of each meal appropriately. If you are hungry between meals, you can eat some low-calorie healthy snacks, such as low-sugar, high-water fruits, or sugar-free yogurt. This will allow for gradual weight loss and also avoid drastic fluctuations in blood sugar.
3
Measuring Out is Measuring In
Measurement means that we should learn to estimate our daily energy consumption to determine our energy intake.
Weight loss is a long-term project, the process of each day’s energy consumption may be different, we must learn to adjust the dietary arrangements based on energy consumption.
Specifically, it is important to have a general idea of the level of energy consumed by different activities in daily life, and to learn to look up and understand the energy of food intake.
For example, climbing stairs for 10 minutes at a rate of 100 steps per minute burns 85kcal. The calories in 100g of ordinary toast are about 300kcal.
Mastering the “Eat Thin” Tips
Finally, I would like to introduce you to some weight loss can be used to “eat thin” tips, used properly, can help the cause of weight loss.
1
Keep in mind the order of meals
Eat dietary fiber-rich fruits and vegetables first, then eat high-quality protein-rich and light eggs, milk, meat and soy products, and finally eat less processed whole grains and coarse cereals. If conditions permit and there is no gastrointestinal disease, you can drink a bowl of light soup before lunch, such as vegetable soup, egg soup, etc., can also help control the total energy intake of lunch.
2
Choose the “right” color and size of tableware
Some studies have found that the use of smaller tableware, the use of color and food color contrast tableware, with blue tableware, can help control the total amount of food to a certain extent.
3
Meal times and pauses
Chew slowly, increase the appropriate time to eat, can make the brain easier to feel the “full” signal, so stop eating.
A study found that in the middle of the meal appropriate pause, such as answering a phone call, and then eat the enthusiasm will decline, which is probably also disguised as “extend” the results of the meal time.
4
Lower food temperature
Starchy food in the cold (such as cold steamed potatoes, cold rice), because the starch aging back to the role of resistant starch. Resistant starch is not easily digested and absorbed by the body and also increases satiety, therefore reducing some energy intake. Although limited, but the leg of a fly is also meat.
Although there are these techniques, but still want to remind friends: weight loss is a systematic project, do not seek quick success, but seek stability. Be sure to establish good eating habits, coupled with scientific exercise, in order to achieve sustainable, non-rebound weight loss effect.