Contents
1. Incorrectly selected calorific value
The basic mistake of people starting weight loss is to strictly cut off calories. Of course, the caloric deficit in order to reduce body weight must be kept, but you cannot go to extremes. Drastically low-calorie diets, first, increase the likelihood of discouragement with weight loss, second – they often lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and third, they reduce the metabolic rate. You should know that in order to keep the metabolism in good shape, it needs a properly balanced diet. Moreover, if you give yourself too few calories, you will go into the saving mode. Then every possible part of the energy will be turned into fat – ‘for spare’. And that’s not what we mean.
Calculate the amount of calories you should provide each day to maintain your body weight. If you want to lose weight, subtract about 500 kcal at the beginning. Remember that you should never eat a calorie diet below 1000 kcal.
2. Comprehensive exercise
Hours at the gym, exhausting runs, daily rugs – you do your best to burn as many calories as possible. First of all, the frequency and type of activity must be acceptable to you and not forced by unrealistic ambitions, otherwise you will simply quit training quickly. We also forget that during exercise, muscles are built, of course sometimes to a lesser extent, sometimes more. When you stand on the scale, you may be disappointed that, despite all your efforts and time, the pointer barely moves. There is nothing strange about this. Muscle mass is greater than the same amount of fat burned. Many people will probably rebel. “Like this, I don’t lift weights, I’m faithful to ‘cardio’, I don’t build muscle!” ‘And it is possible, as our coach Damian Jefremienko explains, in case you haven’t exercised before. The muscles can then build up to a certain level. ‘
Saraj, therefore, choose a physical activity that you enjoy, and you do not have to exercise every day. 3-4 times a week will be a good frequency.
3. Skipping meals
Skipping meals is very often practiced among people on a slimming diet. The fewer meals the better? Not at all. At this point, we naturally reduce the caloric content, which is related to all the aspects mentioned in point 1, and additionally we run the risk of feeling hungry because we eat too rarely. Hunger discourages weight loss and increases the risk of abandoning the diet.
In a slimming diet, you should eat at least 4 meals and spread them evenly. The first meal should be eaten up to two hours after waking up, the next one every 4 hours or less, and the last one no later than 3 hours before going to bed. Eating breakfast is extremely important. It turns out that people skipping the first meal more often eat sweets during the day and, consequently, eat more after lunch.
Remember – frequent, regular meals are more pleasant slimming and better metabolism.
4. Exclusion of carbohydrates
Limiting carbohydrates is often the first thing that comes to mind for a person who wants to lose weight. However, the matter is not that simple. Colloquially speaking, fat burns in a carbohydrate fire. If we do not supply them in the right amount, the fat will not burn completely, producing ketone bodies. They do suppress hunger, acting on the brain a bit like a drug, but at the same time they acidify the body and cause headaches, problems with concentration, nausea and, consequently, more serious problems, e.g. with the kidneys. A balanced diet is one that provides the body with all the necessary ingredients. Of course, carbohydrates in a slimming diet can be limited a bit, but they should still be the basis of our diet.
5. Choosing only light products
Losing weight with the use of ‘lihgt’, ‘fit’, ‘slim’ products is not slimming. What’s more – they can be an even worse choice on a slimming diet than their traditional counterparts. As I wrote in the article about products that pretend to be dietary:
Only the term light is legally regulated and applies to products that contain a minimum of 30% less of a given ingredient (calories, fat or sugar) than their predecessors.
Apart from the fact that even if we actually find a product with a reduced calorie content, it may have opposite results. It turns out that people who often throw light products into the basket, subconsciously eat more.
Losing weight is a complicated process that requires sacrifice – every person who has ever been on a diet knows this. However, very often we ourselves make our lives difficult, instead of gradually changing our habits, we look for quick ways to reduce.
The photo is from: schermpeter42 / Foter / CC BY-ND