If you are going to start now, it is essential that you are motivated and that you integrate new eating habits that you should no longer abandon. With our nutritionist and our coach, meet your goal!
They will explain how to modify habits that are preventing you from losing weight. But the first thing when you intend to follow a diet is to understand what happens both in your body (the physiological changes, why sometimes it seems not to respond to the diet …) and in your mind, which sometimes ends up becoming your worst enemy
WEEK 1: LESS CARBOHYDRATES
The first days of diet are more important than you imagine because the change in eating habits helps to purify the body . These days you will reduce carbohydrates a little after mid-afternoon and also at dinner. That way, you will get your body to activate because you force it to seek the energy of fats.
We recommend that you let your nearest environment know that you are going to follow a diet to lose weight, so you can receive encouragement at a time of “downturn.”
The Nutritionist’s explanation:
- This first week the diet is hypocaloric and provides a “fair”, although sufficient, amount of carbohydrates.
- Before it, the body burns what it takes for energy (in the form of glucose), but also uses glycogen stores in muscles and liver.
- When these reserves run out , the body looks for another way to get energy … And burns more fat !
- Since the muscles are drained of fuel (glycogen), you may notice something weaker and tired . That makes your body temperature lower a bit.
- Remember that you need to do some exercise (e.g: Treadmill) to increase caloric expenditure and lose weight effectively.
- It has been proven that the combination of low-calorie diet , high- fiber foods and physical exercise (moderate but daily) makes you lose more weight.
Coach tips: tricks to start it
- Touch to check the pantry . If you keep a lot of caloric pecking, it will be impossible for you to stop. Place it at the bottom of the pantry cabinet.
- Take a picture wearing a garment that suits you. Better if it’s tight (like a swimsuit). Don’t look at her again … until I tell you.
- Measure and record the outline of your arms, thighs and abdomen (at the level of the navel). In a few days you can compare.
- How many steps are you able to climb without getting tired ? Write down the data … because that will change …
- Choose pants or a skirt that suits you. Keep them and don’t put them back on … until I tell you.
WEEK 2: LESS TIRED AND MORE SLENDER
Usually, in this second week of diet you will have the most important weight loss . Following the right habits, your body understands that you must stop “saving” calories and become more active.
You will feel less bloated and the fatigue of the first week will disappear. Take advantage of all this to follow the menus carefully and lose those 2 kilos of rigor.
The Nutritionist’s explanation: you lose between 1 and 2 kg
- The glucose stores (liver and muscle glycogen) are already very low … That is why the body is burning fat stores (there are ketosis).
- Fatigue disappears : the body has already adapted and has taken advantage of the energy of fats.
- Next to the fat you are losing water, so you should hydrate well . It occurs because, by burning fat, you expel more carbon dioxide through the lungs (CO2) and water (in urine).
- You no longer feel bloated and yes more agile, lighter and more vital .
- You start to notice that the clothes you were wearing are somewhat looser and that you can put another in disuse.
- You are encouraged because this week the weight loss is very appreciable .
Coach tips: you start seeing yourself with different eyes
- Do not weigh yourself . It is likely that you did it before starting the diet or during the first week, but at this time it is not convenient for you to do so.
- Focus on volume loss and not so much on weight loss. This is not representative, especially if you are doing physical exercise.
- At the end of the week measure your thighs and abdomen . Compare with the figures you had. Surely you will have reduced centimeters.
- Do the ladder test again : right now you can climb more steps without much effort? Excess weight prevented you.
WEEK 3: THE SLOWEST
The body is wise. That is why, in this third week, you need to understand what is happening … and you are more cautious . You have to make him understand that he is not being attacked, but that the caloric restriction to which you are subjecting him will allow him to release a ballast that he does not need to then perform all his functions better.
The risk , among those who do not know how the body behaves when readjusting calories, is the abandonment of the diet . That is why we put so much emphasis on explaining that you have not stagnated but that it is a precautionary measure of your body. As you will see from the explanations of our nutritionist, you are still losing fat . However, since fat weighs less than water, that loss is not reflected on the scale at this time. Be true to the proposal and you can move forward. You can also get some fat release equipments such as resistance bands.
The Nutritionist’s explanation: you enter the “Plateau” phase
- There may be a stagnation in weight loss : you are in the “Plateau” phase and, given the loss of water that has occurred in the previous weeks, your body is trying to compensate for it with a slight fluid retention .
- Since water weighs more than fat (at the same volume), the balance can “confuse you” by pointing out that there is weight gain. But it is due to water retention (which will be resolved shortly) and you continue to lose fat from adipose tissue.
- It is time to review and adjust the diet so that water retention does not go over. You can include diuretic foods . A small “thermogenic” aid will also go well : season the dishes with a pinch of spicy spices.
- The green tea and coffee help you . We encourage you, if there is no contraindication, take them for breakfast or for a snack. In this way you will be able to give another “boost” to your metabolism and continue burning, at a good pace, the accumulated fat.
Coach tips: distract your mind from the diet
- It’s time to ask yourself: “Do I look good or do I want to keep losing weight?” Respond to this knowing that the ups and downs are normal and all people ever have them.
- Be creative and distract your mind so that it does not require you more than the body cannot give you. That way you will not be discouraged: paint, read, sew, write … Any option is valid.
- Neither tape measure nor scale . It is preferable that now you are not aware of how much you weigh or how much you measure. Because right now they are not reliable data. Focus only on being constant.
- Find an accomplice . It may be one of those people whom you told you were going to lose weight. Ask him to give you the little push you need if your mood doesn’t let you move forward.
Maybe you have relaxed?
Another possible reason that you don’t notice so much weight loss this week is the relaxation of habits . Perhaps having lost enough grams the previous week you thought that “for a little” pecking your weight would not suffer. Be as objective as possible and write down what you can be doing a little worse compared to the previous days.
WEEK 4: HYPOCALORIC BUT BALANCED
What has been done before will have made your body less swollen . Surely you notice immediately when buckling a skirt or putting on your pants, but also when moving.
We are going to ask you for a little effort of reflection: that you ask yourself if you do things with more ease , if it costs you less to adopt some postures and make some movements. Because if we cannot do it, we are immediately aware of it; and the same does not happen when it is the other way around: we act with the autopilot on.
The Nutritionist’s explanation: something more about hydrates
- With a proper diet, the body ends up reacting to the dietary adjustments that this proposal implies. And he does it without anguish or suffering.
- The trick is none other than to establish a meal plan , menus that do not neglect a single nutrient. By doing so, we can afford “the luxury” of lowering macronutrients that are taken in excess.
- This fourth week it is time to “reintroduce” a small portion of carbohydrates at dinner (always slow absorption). But without abuse , the just and necessary amount for a person who wishes not to gain weight again, the dreaded effect yoyó (the great failure of many diets).
Coach tips: know your achievements well
- Do you remember the picture you took the first week? It’s time to put on the same tight clothes , take your picture again … and compare . Do not do it “by eye”, take the photo in the same place and in the same position.
- We also asked you to keep a garment. Try it . Are you baggy? That was the goal!
- At the end of this week re- measure your waist, your belly … and compare those measurements with those you recorded the first few days. However little it is, it is your triumph.
- At this point you will also notice that you can climb more stairs without getting tired . Enjoy your new –and healthy– life!
5 STRATEGIES TO STAY THIN
- First, a summary. Make, in writing, a list of everything you have achieved with these menus and doing a little more physical exercise. Paste the list in the fridge, in sight, and you will have a great reminder of why you should not lose your good habits in the kitchen and at the table … and continue with the exercise.
- Now, yes, weigh yourself and measure yourself. You are also interested in seeing the centimeters of volume you have lost and the kilos that you have eliminated. We insist that the first data is more important - the centimeters - because, if you have done, for example, 15 squats daily and 3 or 4 exercises with weights of 0.5 or 1 kilo, your muscles will be in better shape. That is, they will weigh more (muscle fiber is heavier than fat).
- Imagine “dangerous” situations. A family party, a social commitment, a trip, two or three days with nothing to do.Those moments can put you to the test. And you fall into their trap! To avoid it, nothing better than to anticipate what you will do if something tempts you: try a little but delight yourself by eating it very slowly; visualize yourself with more kilos if you eat it in large quantities …
- Remember the great secret to lose weight or not to regain unnecessary kilos: continuity in a low-calorie diet and increased physical activity.
- Reacts (soon) to a weight gain . Getting fat a kilo does not have to be transcendental … or yes. When in doubt, and so that your body does not become “slow” again, try to act and reduce it as soon as possible. Without extremisms, but you know that one kilo leads to another kilo.
Author
Selena is a blogger and a guest contributor for a well-known brand that includes Mesheble & Inthemarket. In her leisure time, she plays tennis.