Key points of weight management dietary guidance

The core dietary logic of weight management has never been extreme dieting or overcoming hunger, but "adaptation of energy gap to personal metabolic characteristics + balanced nutrients + sustainable eating pattern." If these three points are done correctly, you can maintain your ideal weight for a long time without going hungry. There is no such thing as "being born prone to obesity".

I met a girl who was born in 1998 a while ago. She didn’t touch a grain of rice for three months in order to take wedding photos, and she lost 12 pounds by eating boiled broccoli and chicken breasts. After the photo shoot, she showed off her first hot pot meal for two hours. After that, she couldn’t stop eating milk tea and cakes for half a month. She regained 14 pounds and messed up her aunt. She went to the hospital to find out that the corpus luteum function was insufficient. To put it bluntly, it is stepping on the trap of "only focusing on short-term weight loss, regardless of long-term adaptability".

The two major diet schools that are making a lot of noise on the Internet right now, the low-carb diet and the low-fat diet, actually both create energy gaps, but the paths are different. A low-carb ketogenic model, in which carbohydrates are kept to an extremely low level in the early stages, will indeed make you fall off the scale very quickly. You can lose four to five pounds in the first two weeks, but most of what you lose is glycogen and water in the body, not fat. And for Chinese people who grew up eating rice and noodles, less than 10% can persist for more than half a year. Once they resume eating staple food, they rebound faster than when they lost it. The low-fat and high-carbohydrate model is more suitable for people who usually like to eat grains and vegetables and have low demand for meat, eggs, and milk. However, if fat intake is less than 15% of total calories for a long time, girls are prone to hair loss and aunt disorder, and the gain outweighs the gain. There is no absolutely correct eating pattern. The one that you can stick to for more than half a year is suitable for you.

Don’t always look at the calorie table on the food and calculate. It is also 150 calories. If you drink a can of sugar-free Coke, you will be hungry in half an hour. If you eat a boiled egg and a handful of cherry tomatoes, you will not be hungry for 3 hours. The difference lies in the density of nutrients. You don’t have to boil the food carefully when cooking, just follow the approximate proportions: half of the plate should be filled with dark green and red vegetables, one quarter should be reserved for protein - fish, shrimp, eggs, chicken breasts, tofu, lean beef, etc., and the remaining quarter should be used for staple foods. Try to replace one third of the white rice and flour with whole grains such as corn, sweet potatoes, and oats, which is enough. A programmer student I taught before used to eat two large bowls of white rice every meal, and he always liked to order fried chicken as a late-night snack after work. Later, he adjusted this ratio and ate an extra piece of fried salmon every meal. The late-night snack was replaced with sugar-free yogurt and blueberries. He did not deliberately go hungry. He lost 8 pounds in two months. His energy level was better than before, and he did not feel sleepy even after working overtime.

As for whether we should eat snacks or not, the two sides were arguing fiercely. Some nutritionists say that we must completely abstain from processed snacks and not even touch them. Others say that as long as they are included in the total calories, you can eat whatever you want. My own experience is, don’t push yourself too hard. If you can’t keep your mouth shut and insist on giving up milk tea and potato chips completely, it will be easy to save enough to show off at the weekend, which will lead to more excess. It is better to set aside a "happy limit" of 200-300 calories for yourself every week. When you want to eat, buy a small piece of cake, or a half cup of milk tea with half sugar, and stop when you satisfy your craving. This will make it less likely to cause carbon emissions. I regularly order a cup of pearl milk tea with half sugar every Friday afternoon. After drinking it for almost a year, my weight has remained stable at around 47kg without any fluctuation.

There are two small details that many people overlook, which are particularly useful. One is not to wait until you are so hungry that you panic before eating. At that time, you will most likely be tempted to order takeout that is high in oil and sugar. Keep a small handful of plain nuts or cherry tomatoes on hand. When you are a little hungry, you will not eat too much. Another is to eat slowly. It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach and intestines to send a signal of fullness to the brain. You finish a meal in 10 minutes, and you are full by the time you feel full. I have a friend who works in sales. He used to wolf down his meals in 10 minutes. He would eat two bowls of rice every meal. Later, he deliberately chewed each mouthful of rice 20 times and took 20 minutes to eat each meal. Now he is full after eating one bowl at every meal. He has lost 10 pounds in half a year without consciously dieting.

Actually, weight management is really not a chore that requires you to grit your teeth and persevere. You can’t just eat boiled vegetables and avoid milk tea hot pot all your life, right? Those who can maintain a good figure for a long time do not rely on hunger at all, but find a way to eat comfortably that can last a lifetime. Don't worry about the number on the scale. Even if you only lose 1 jin in a month and keep it steady without rebounding, it is much better than losing 20 jins in three months and regaining 30 jins in half a year.