You have often wondered how to maintain a healthy weight
Especially after so many sacrifices to get it, it is frustrating to find that maintaining it is very complex. Or why over the years it becomes more and more difficult to maintain an optimal body weight
Below we will answer these questions and understand what is the best way to maintain a healthy weight in the long term .
The problem of excessively low-calorie diets Excessively low-calorie diets
, albeit hyperproteic, not only lead to the loss of excess fat mass, but also to a consistent loss of muscle mass. The amount of muscle is one of the determining factors of the extent of the basal metabolism which represents about 70% of the total energy expenditure.
Therefore the greater our musculature, the greater our daily energy expenditure. Conversely, a reduction in muscles is reflected in a reduction in basal metabolism , leading our body to consume less energy. For this reason, when you switch to a maintenance diet after an excessively low-calorie diet, you risk even gaining a few extra grams compared to the initial weight.
The yo-yo syndrome
All those times when you gain weight after a period of diet, the body changes: muscle mass decreasesmore and more and the fat mass increases . The weight alone does not inform about the body composition. The reasoning “I eat and drink without worries as long as I’m on vacation and I’ll go on a diet when I return” can work when you are very young and your basic energy expenditure is at its maximum.
Over the years, however, we realize that persisting in trying to lose the pounds accumulated during the holidays is increasingly difficult. This is because repeated weight changes lead to a progressive alteration of our body and lowering of our metabolism . The consequences of this behavior are so well known that they are scientifically recognized as ” weight swing syndrome ” or ” yo-yo syndrome .“.
The solution to maintaining a healthy weight
Changing your way of thinking
The only way to maintain a healthy weight and acquire a lifestyle that includes daily movement and a healthy and balanced diet, but also pleasant and in line with your own rhythms, in so that it can be followed naturally and forever. In fact, there are no miraculous diets that once concluded allow you to maintain a healthy weight forever!
Diet is not simply what we eat, diet is our lifestyle, for this reason it should never be concluded. Often we tend to link the concept of renunciation to the word “diet”, but this is not the case. A healthy diet does not preclude the possibility of occasionally having moments of overeating. An occasional high calorie day will not negatively affect our metabolism because our body will recognize it as an exception and will be able to increase energy expenditure in order to burn more calories.
Good habits to achieve good results and maintain a healthy weight
There are people who gain weight while having a healthy and balanced diet in nutrients. The reason is that, despite everything, if a diet provides more calories than necessary, we inevitably gain weight Having breakfast can help in this because it allows us to better manage our appetite and take in fewer calories during the day than we need. we would have hired if we skipped it.
We will not arrive at lunchtime with that hunger that would make us devour even the desk! Those who are not hungry in the morning should investigate the causes of the lack of appetite. Getting hungry in the morning should come naturally: we come from about 8 hours of fasting. The possible causes of the lack of appetite in the morning are many (too abundant dinners, few hours of sleep, etc.), but they should be investigated, because – trust me – if you do not have breakfast, the stomach call will recur during the day, and it will be a lot more aggressive.
Another tip is to eat slowly. The satiety signal takes about 10 minutes to travel from the stomach to the brain. Eating too quickly does not allow the body time to pick up the signal and therefore tends to eat more. How to start eating slowly if you are not used to it
It takes patience. One of the first factors that lead to fast eating is being hungry. You should never get a hole in your stomach with the help of snacks.
Sometimes the problem is mere habit. In this case we can take smaller bites , put the cutlery down until we chew , or if we eat in company we can commit ourselves not to finish before the others .
Distraction also makes us eat quickly, such as watching the phone or TV or working. Satiety also comes from the eyes and if we don’t focus on what we eat , food will satiate us less.
It is essential to be able to carve out at least half an hour to be able to eat : haste leads to eating quickly.
Water retention
When you suffer from water retention the problem is not the excess adipose tissue, but the extracellular fluids that are not effectively drained. As always, a correct diet and physical activity are essential to solve the problem, even more effectively in synergy with theuse of herbal medicines such as those of the Diurerbe line aimed at promoting the drainage of excess fluids and the body’s diuresis .