This is how it happens: you diet, do aerobics and - hooray!- began to lose weight.And then suddenly this wonderful process stopped.There is also diet and physical activity, but you won't lose a single gram, even if you crunch!Plus, she's gaining weight again...
Why exactly is this happening?Scientists have only recently received an answer to this question.It turns out that when you suddenly stopped losing weight, your body reached the weight that your body "likes" the most.Well, it's convenient for him to live like this!When you try to lose weight, your body takes countermeasures: your metabolism slows down and your appetite increases.This continues until you return to a body weight that your body deems optimal.The fact is that your body weight is determined by genetics.
Genetics
Each person has his own individual "factory settings" - pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol.Some people have high blood pressure while others have low blood pressure.Some people have diabetes while others are fine with sugar.The situation is exactly the same with weight: for some, 50 kilograms is natural, for others, unfortunately, all 90. These parameters set by nature are very difficult to adjust.The body resists and reacts hostilely to any, and especially hasty, attempts to change its indicators.
What's going on?If fate told you to be fat, so be it?Not at all!There is still a chance to improve the genotype.True, then you have to maintain your "unnatural" weight with exercise and diet until the last day.Life sentence?!Yes, but what is it?There is nothing worse than being short of breath and wearing XXL clothes.
What are your natural settings?To more accurately determine your "genetic" weight (which determines your weight loss limit), answer the following questions honestly:
- What weight seems most comfortable for your body (ie, what age does the needle on your home bathroom scale hover around?)
- How much weight do you gain one and a half to two months after finishing the diet?
- What was your maximum weight?
Each of your answers (after age 25) will show approximately the same weight - this is what your genetics have determined for you.How many kilograms are different from the current one - after aerobics and diet?If the difference is 4.5 kg or more, you will have to work tirelessly to maintain the gains.Well, what if you want to lose even more weight?This is an absolutely prohibitively difficult task!
Otherwise, about 10% of women will give different answers to all three questions.This means that nature has not imposed strict limits on them.Such "lucky women" lose weight and gain weight at will, astonishing mere mortals with supernatural metamorphoses.For example, from an oversized fat woman to a fashion model.And back.Are you not one of them?
Lose weight once and for all
So, all of us (exceptions do not matter!) have our own body weight, and it is very difficult to lose more weight than what nature "allowed" to begin with.What if you're trying to change your weight loss limit itself?Suppose to "convince" the body that the "native" weight is 60 kg, not 90?At first glance, the task seems impossible.Arguing with nature?Yes, it's the same as turning the Sun backwards!Fairy tales?Endocrinologists have firmly established that this is possible.
The secret is to maintain the desired body weight for 2-4 years with the help of a diet.Imagine, the body gets used to the new weight, does not see it as an "emergency", and then maintains it as "natural".
You can also try to trick your own body.A small problem: how can it last for several years?Believe me, it's not that difficult if you live according to the algorithm developed by science.
By all means...
Tasteless, but great.So the body persistently protects its fat by lowering metabolism and stimulating appetite.Moreover, they are precisely attracted to "harmful" high-calorie foods, such as sweets and buns.On the contrary, you should limit yourself at the table.How?It's very simple.Choose food that does not arouse your emotions or appetite.In short, it looks tasteless to you.
Experiments have shown that rats fed an anorexic diet are guaranteed to lose their "natural" weight.Moreover, they do not gain weight even if they are given fatty, high-calorie foods.Conclusion: the less you like what you eat, the less extra pounds you gain.According to an incomprehensible law of nature, "harmful" (high-calorie, fatty and sweet) products always taste better.This means you will inevitably eat more of them.Healthy products are not lucky.Most of them cannot be called tasty.So eat them!
Eat every 2.5-3 hours.Long breaks between meals are perhaps the most common mistake of those who lose weight.The fact is that infrequent meals (every 4-5 hours) stimulate increased secretion of insulin and leptin.And this pair of hormones is exactly responsible for fat deposition under our skin.If you eat frequently, insulin and leptin are released to a minimum.If you're serious about losing weight, you need to break your traditional eating schedule and replace it with snacks.For this, you need to carry the food in boxes so that it is always at hand.
The formula for a healthy diet looks like this: 4-6 meals a day, 300-400 calories each.
Eat more!It sounds messy, but this method actually works.If you get less than 1,200 calories a day, your body goes into emergency, very economical, energy-wasting mode, and your metabolism "sleeps."To "crush" this, try eating 100-200 calories more than your individual norm recommends.If you get too many calories, your body loses its vigilance and it is easy to get rid of subcutaneous fat.
It seems like an impossible paradox, but when you starve, you actually lose fat more slowly than when you eat a reasonably balanced diet.Science has accurately calculated the difference in proportions.If you suddenly stop eating, you will lose weight 10% slower than those who exercise and maintain their calorie intake.
Vegetables
Load up on veggies!This is your first ally in the fight against excess weight.They contain very few calories, but most importantly, they are "bulky".For this reason, you should start each meal with a large bowl of vegetable salad.It fills your stomach and takes less of everything else.
Fruits
As for fruits, be careful with them.They have a lot of calories.To avoid overeating, it is better to cut the fruits into small pieces and add them to your porridge.Fruit juices are absolutely contraindicated for you.The calorie content of fruits is very concentrated, and manufacturers add sugar to the juice to improve the taste.
The formal basis of his diet is carbohydrates with a low glycemic index - these are cereals and other cereals, rice, legumes.You should serve it with vegetables and add protein to them three times a day: lean beef, chicken, fish.
Fats
Fats should be healthy.Don't make the fatal mistake of ditching fats altogether.Animal fats are harmful, but vegetable fats are healthy.Fats are joint "lubricants", "raw materials" for the production of hormones.Lack of fat leads to psoriasis, hair loss, joint disease and brittle nails.Don't eat anything fried in animal fat, but you can add a spoon or two of peanut or sesame oil to a vegetable salad.
And you should take fish oil without restriction.Contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.They help you lose weight.During aerobic training, they "burn" with the formation of special compounds that prevent the accumulation of subcutaneous fat.
Don't eat chocolate candy.These contain so-called trans fats.They are added to keep the candies soft longer.Trans fats have been proven to cause cancer.
Drink water
Another key point on the way to weight loss is plain water.Water is removed from the body by the kidneys.If you drink a lot, the kidneys begin to work actively, and at the same time the adrenal glands - the hormonal glands on top of the kidneys - are activated.Several hormones are secreted and all are “fat burners”.The more you drink, the more weight you lose.There is no such thing as too much water!In addition, water carries metabolic by-products.The less "garbage" there is in the blood, the less the load is on the liver, and then it can start burning fat without disturbance.
For those of you who have forgotten your school biology, when you do aerobics, the increased blood flow pulls fat molecules off the surface of the fat deposits and they "burn", providing energy to the muscles.But not everything.The rest travel through the bloodstream and eventually end up in the liver, which destroys them so the blood doesn't thicken with fat and lose fluidity.In addition to the kidneys, the liver is also involved in the neutralization of the already mentioned metabolic "garbage".If the kidneys do most of this work, the liver breaks down more fat.Drink more!
Running to lose weight
Aerobics?But just an interval!Cardio training at a constant intensity does little good.Pedaling at the same pace for an hour on an exercise bike is not only boring, but also pointless: such an activity can only help in the initial stages of sports, and then it stops.Modern science knows the only effective way to burn fat, this so-called "interval" or circuit training.
What is this?This is called "now fast, now slow" training.For example, after 30 seconds of insanely high load, 60 seconds of low tempo follow.And so on for the entire 25-30 minute workout.The effect is amazing!The secret is that this type of aerobics sharply increases the secretion of the most powerful "fat-burning" hormones - norepinephrine and growth hormone.
Interval training is the only way to shake up your weight-weary body.
Don't overestimate aerobics.Physical activity really helps you lose weight.This is an indisputable, scientifically proven fact.When, in an experiment, scientists forced rats to switch from a sedentary lifestyle to physical activity, they began to lose weight.But!If the rats were already exercising a lot, then they increased their physical activity in vain - this did not affect their weight.Conclusion: aerobics is not omnipotent.
Yes, if a woman starts aerobics after many years of a sedentary lifestyle, she will lose weight.But if you've been training for a long time, increasing aerobic activity may be useless.What should we do?A fundamentally different anaerobic load must be added to aerobic.Simply put, you need to do strengthening exercises.Do interval aerobic training for 25-30 minutes at least 3 times a week, and train seriously on the machines twice more.
Why do you need muscles?The fact is that muscles are a living biological system that requires nutrition.Muscles actively "consume" calories even during physical rest, when watching TV and sleeping.Adding an extra kilogram of muscle results in an automatic acceleration of metabolic processes by 2.5-3%.Thus, strength training will certainly speed up the metabolism and, with it, fat burning, if aerobics refuses to do so.
Breathe deeper
Some people are genetically predestined to be fat, while others are thin.The reason for this injustice is the difference between the natural amounts of the two types of hormones.Some accumulate fat, others break it down.It seems that you need to analyze your own hormonal background in order to identify the genetic predisposition and take action.For example, if everything is fine with hormones, then "bad" nutrition or lack of exercise can be blamed for obesity.However, all this is too complicated and can only be done by the highest level of professionals.
There is a simpler parameter that allows you to accurately determine who is at risk of obesity and who is not, even in a district clinic.This is the so-called respiratory coefficient, i.e. the ratio of the volume of exhaled carbon dioxide to the volume of inhaled oxygen.Thanks to this coefficient, you can understand where your body "prefers" to get energy - from carbohydrates or fats.
People with a high respiratory quotient "burn" carbohydrates.Fats as sources of energy are pushed into the background, so physical activity does not give a quick return.Well, those with a low coefficient, on the contrary, gain energy from fat and lose weight quickly.Women with a high respiratory quotient gain extra pounds even when they restrict their diet.
Let's change our lifestyle!
Losing weight isn't just about your damned "set" weight.Habits and lifestyle play a huge negative role.For example, don't eat anything for breakfast, eat too much at night, or add a lot of fat to everything - "to make it tastier".Consequently, the rate of weight loss is highly dependent on your general culture.
The following argument can be supported.About 30% of women in the lower social strata are obese, 16% in the middle class, and only 5% of women in the upper strata of society are overweight.Anyway, buy popular nutrition books and finally find these proteins, fats and carbohydrates.You need to know exactly what is good and what is bad in nutrition.And teach this to your children.Otherwise, you will suffer from the same problems.
Let's say you break your diet.We need to sit down and figure out why.We all have our own list of "dangerous" situations.Here are the examples: sitting at the table - putting candy in your mouth, watching a movie on TV - crunching chips... All this must be carefully analyzed and safe replacements for "dangerous" products - apples, dry bread and the like - must be prepared.
Psychologists believe that transference is rarely conscious.This is triggered by eating in a hurry, when a person eats in a hurry or wants to get rid of food quickly and then eats automatically.Such situations must be completely eliminated from life!Very often, automatic eating is triggered by eating in company.That is why psychologists advise to develop the habit of eating alone.You can't watch TV and read at the same time!
It's easier to learn to eat slowly when you're alone.And this is another secret of successful weight loss.Signals from the stomach to the brain rise very slowly - about 20 minutes.And all the time it will seem to you that you are hungry and have not eaten much, although your stomach may have been full for a long time.Conclusion?Eat slowly.After 20 minutes, your brain tells your appetite to “turn off the lights,” even if you've eaten less than half your caloric intake.
So you have to spend the next 2-4 years doing a unique "genetic" experiment.Your family and friends will be shocked: you will be unrecognizably different.It seems like a hell of a job ahead of us - dieting constantly and exercising regularly for years.But fitness experts say there's nothing fancy about it.You get used to good things quickly.In a few months, all those who choke on junk food and do not know the joy of exercise will seem like strangers to you... Well, how can you live without fitness?