‘Lose weight quickly’ and ‘diet to lose weight quickly’ may be the most repeated concepts in internet search engines around the planet. But as nutrition and diet experts recommend, perhaps what all those who want to lose weight should be asking is ‘cHow to eat to lose kilos in a healthy way‘. Furthermore, instead of simply looking for a diet to lose weight, it is advisable to review your lifestyle as a whole, including physical activity and other habits, such as smoking, alcohol consumption or insufficient sleep.
The 3 basic principles of nutrition for weight loss.
Each person seeks to lose weight quickly for a different reason. For some, the urgency comes because summer is just around the corner and they want to show off palmetto. Other times it’s because they have a wedding and you have to get into that dress or suit that years ago fit like a glove and now won’t close. For whatever reason, too often we fall into that trap of desperately searching for the magic formula to lose kilos quickly.
But in losing weight, there is no magic, but numbers, common sense and patience. This is how the dietician-nutritionist Lucía Bultó, member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, remembers it: “For a weight loss diet to work, you have to follow some basic rules: personalization, lifestyle and care in the kitchen.”
Let’s analyze each of these aspects in more detail.
1. To lose weight, look for a personalized diet
For a diet to work it needs to be as personalized as possible. “If someone has standard measurements, they will surely find a suit in the store quickly. If, on the other hand, you are taller, shorter or shoulder-width apart than normal, surely in order for it to fit well it will have to be adapted to your body. The diet is like that custom-made suit,” says Lucía Bultó.
The dietitian-nutritionist gives as an example the fact that a person feels bad about legumes. «In that case, to ensure that we are going to follow the diet, we will have to design one that includes the smallest amount of legumes possible.» Something similar happens if there are foods that you don’t like. We cannot propose a diet with tomato and lettuce if the person does not like those specific vegetables.
2. Active lifestyle
Another basic principle of the diet to lose weight is eat fewer calories of those that are spent. In this way the body will look for the energy it needs in its fat deposits, but also from other compartments, such as muscle. The result is the desired weight loss.
The trick is to believe that cutting calories is enough, when it is also important. increase physical activityto burn more easily and contribute to the maintenance of muscle mass.
The dietitian-nutritionist recognizes that some people attribute the cause of their lack of weight loss to a genetic problem or perhaps a problem with the thyroid. However, “in more than 95% of cases in which you eat less calories than you expend, you lose weight. That does not mean that we have to evaluate other elements that will make that result more or less fast or more or less efficient,” Bultó recalls.
3. Type of food and preparation
The third golden rule of weight loss is lend to the type of food and type of cooking. “Both aspects will have an impact on the amount of calories you are eating. If we eat 100 grams of boiled or roasted potatoes, we will be taking in about 90 calories. The same amount, but of fries, will increase the amount to more than 200”.
Lose weight quickly and in a healthy way, is it possible?
The expert assures that “you have to give time to time and see the particularity of each person. “A healthy, younger person may be able to lose weight faster, but an older person may not be able to do so at the same rate.” In any case, insist on the need to incorporate a change in habits to lose weight safely and maintain the new weight. Otherwise, sooner or later you will return to your original weight, the dreaded yo-yo effect.
“A person cannot lose 10 kilos and forget about it forever. It’s not like if you break a bone, they put a cast on it and after a few weeks it’s healed. After losing weight, you must continue to maintain the healthy habits that have allowed you to lose weight so as not to gain it back, or do so in the smallest amount possible. The golden rule for a diet to work and for the person to maintain the new weight is that it incorporates habit changes. And for this, food education is needed to help maintain them,” he points out.
Miracle diets, as fast as they are ephemeral, only accomplish the first part. And, if that were not enough, they put health at risk and make it difficult to adopt healthy eating behaviors.
The challenge of losing weight during menopause
It is not impossible to lose weight during menopause, but it costs more. The key is to know very well what the consequences of menopause are. “We no longer do the hormonal work that used to take place in our body every month and that used up a lot of energy. Our basal metabolism decreases with age and, as if that were not enough, menopause is normally also a stage in which we put aside physical activity a little, from going to the gym to reducing activity at home or with our children,» Bultó relates.
Before we despair at the scale, it is important to understand what is happening to our body when it goes through menopause. This way it is easier to see why it is so difficult to lose weight at this stage of life.
Losing weight does not mean lowering cholesterol
Cholesterol is an essential substance for the body. 70% of what we have in our body is produced by it and 30% comes through the food we eat. “Many times they agree that excess weight in a person is motivated by a high intake of foods rich in saturated fats in the diet (pastries, processed meats, fast food, etc.). When its consumption is eliminated or reduced, cholesterol levels usually also lower. But excess cholesterol cannot always be associated with excess weight. There are people with an optimal weight and whose blood cholesterol levels are high,” Bultó clarifies.
Again, addressing weight loss with a dietitian-nutritionist is the best way to do it safely.
Superfoods do not work for weight loss (or for anything)
We have bad news for those who are desperately looking for a list of superfoods to lose weight. There are no foods that lose weight, that reduce calories as if they had a magic wand. There are only foods that are more or less caloric. The so-called superfoods may have certain positive effects on health, but that does not mean that they are low in calories, or miraculous. “For example, olive oil or nuts are often considered superfoods, and both are very caloric. Consumed in excess, they could have a negative effect on weight,” he warns.
Now, in general, these healthy foods are not usually responsible for a diet that leads to weight gain. Yes, they tend to be highly processed foods rich in sugar or fat, such as sugary drinks, pastries, fast food, processed meats…
Recommended foods to lose weight
There is no magic wand to lose weight, nor foods that will make excess weight disappear in the blink of an eye. We do, however, have healthy foods that will help us maintain a normal weight.
- Whole grains, legumes and nuts. They provide satiating fiber.
- quality proteins (fresh lean meats, fish, legumes, low-fat dairy and eggs). By reducing the intake of foods rich in fat and those that provide carbohydrates, the protein intake can be increased, although not entirely necessary. “You must always include them in the appropriate amount. Strict high-protein diets, in which the intake of carbohydrates is drastically reduced, can be dangerous,” he clarifies.
- fruits and vegetables. A high percentage of its composition is water. That’s why they are so low in calories. “In addition, thanks to the fiber they contain, they provide satiety,” says Bultó.
Foods to avoid on a diet to lose weight
We have repeated it on many other occasions and we never tire of doing it: in nutrition It is not about prohibiting, but about eating healthily in the long term. The enemies of any weight loss diet are all those foods of low nutritional quality. That is, those that do not provide essential nutrients and do provide an excess of free sugars, salt and saturated fats. They also tend to be foods with high energy density, that is, with many calories in a small amount of food.
The first thing to eliminate are the alcoholic drinkssince they do not provide anything other than calories to the body (the famous empty calories). Alcohol is also a toxin that promotes dehydration. There is no minimum amount that is free of health risks. “Of course, before removing the bread, it is better to leave aside the wine or beer,” insists the expert.
We must continue to discard all the superfluous foods. This group includes sweets, sweets, pastries, fast food, excess dressing, creamy sauces, sausages and very fatty meats.
Lucía Bultó advises that we look at the pyramid of healthy eating and start by eliminating from the diet all those foods located at the apex, that is, those with high energy density that are, in turn, rich in free sugars, salt and fats. . of low quality.
The key to success: diet and exercise
In the section of recommended practices to succeed in a weight loss diet, physical activity figures prominently. “It is not only a complement to the diet, but to our health in general. You don’t have to go to the gym every day, but you do have to adopt habits that keep us activesuch as taking 10,000 steps a day, choosing to get off one stop before the bus and walk, climb stairs, etc…. In short, for weight loss to work, daily physical activity must be integrated in a fluid and natural way. ”.
The ALDI Council
No two people are alike. For the same reason, a person’s diet does not have to be the best for their friend, for their neighbor, or for those at their gym. If you want to lose weight safely, don’t hesitate and consult with a dietitian-nutritionist.
looked lumpy. Member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Qualified as a dietitian-nutritionist from the University of Nancy (France) and the University of Barcelona. He currently consults at the Dietetics and Nutrition Consulting Center at La Rotonda Medical Center (Barcelona). Teacher at the Gremi de Pastisseria of Barcelona and external consultant for large companies in the food sector, such as Nestlé, Aneto, Lactalis, Danone, Adam-foods… Web: http://www.dndiet.com/
