Losing weight: how to lose weight without diets

Losing weight: how to lose weight without diets

Avoiding miracle diets and physical exercise are key to losing a few kilos after confinement

If normally during this time the concept of "bikini operation" begins to appear in the headlines of newspapers and social networks, this year "normal" has changed. After two months confined at home, now that we face the deescalation and little by little we are seeing an end, many have begun their preparation. Some people have done the first thing by making an appointment at the hairdresser or visiting (also by appointment) their favorite clothing store. And others, after more than 60 days in which physical activity has decreased and maintaining a healthy diet has been more difficult, they set themselves the goal of losing weight before the end of the deescalation.

This desired weight loss, which comes at the time of the year in which we usually live the popular aforementioned "bikini operation", involves several dangers, since many people, eager to see quick results, indulge in very demanding diets that, in many occasions can be harmful to health.

Progressive change of habits

That is why, if we want to lose weight, the best thing is not to diet, but to establish new healthy eating habits in our routine. Nutritionist Maria Eugenia Fernandez explains that the ideal "to lose weight and maintain it" is to change our eating habits: the number of meals a day, the amounts we take or the weekly frequency with which we consume food from each group can influence. «A diet understood as such is normally not sustainable over time; It also has deficiencies and side effects that could accompany it: vitamin and mineral deficiencies, hormonal problems, sleep disorder ... », says the nutritionist.

Nutritionist Carlos Rios, creator of the "realfooding" movement agrees with Fernandez: "If you want weight, we must redirect our habits." "If you want to take off a couple of kilos from confinement, you should not fall into a hurry or emergency," he explains and adds: "We are very black and white: spend eating ultra-processed foods and then fast, for example." The nutritionist points out that if we undergo an extreme diet, we will "suffer", it will not be healthy and in the end we will suffer a rebound effect, so it is best to change our habits little by little and in a calm way. "The only thing we need is to implement small changes in our habits: avoid the ultraprocessed ones, satiate ourselves with" real food ", stay active ... if we are constant we will end up losing those kilos," he explains.

Sport, a fundamental pillar

Nutritionist Maria Eugenia Fernandez stresses the idea of ​​staying active, since she believes that the key to losing weight is spending more energy than we ingest. For this reason, the nutritionist talks about that we should include physical exercise in our new routine, since this way "we increase our daily caloric expenditure", as well as "it allows a greater fat burning and by improving the physical composition in what refers to the fat-muscle ratio ». "If I had to assess how a percentage works, I would say that physical exercise would be 70% of the final result," says the nutritionist, speaking of the importance of sport in weight loss.

Ascension Marcos, president of the Spanish Federation of Nutrition, Food and Dietetic Societies (FESNAD), explains that a healthy diet to acquire regularly consists of: eating five servings of vegetables, vegetables and fruits every day, in addition to cereals and dairy products . We can eat legumes between three and five servings a week, three times fish, two or three white meats and one red meat, although the latter is not mandatory.

Three fundamental meals

“It is always advisable to cook food in a healthy way, avoiding frying and not skipping the three key meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. In between you can have a small light meal mid-morning and / or mid-afternoon, "explains the expert. Finally, he recommends that we drink between six and eight glasses of water daily.

For her part, speaking of drinks, nutritionist Maria Eugenia Fernandez recommends avoiding alcoholic beverages and soft drinks (including those light or low in sugars) and only taking them sporadically. "Also, those drinks such as coffee, tea or infusions, we should reduce the consumption of sugar or honey with them," he says and adds: "The ideal is to give preference to water and infusions without sweetening."

Seven keys to lose weight without diets

To finish, the nutritionist leaves us with the seven keys to lose weight without dieting:

1. Forget about restrictive diet and miracle products.

2. Set real and achievable goals in the short or medium term.

3. Be consistent.

4. Perform physical activity four to six days a week, adapted to our abilities.

5. Base our diet on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, quality protein and healthy fatty acids.

6. Leave alcoholic beverages and soft drinks for occasional consumption.

7. Run away from ultra-processed products.