“For two years I went to the gym three times a week, constantly limited myself in food, but not only did not lose weight, but even gained weight. And then I started to eat five times a day, and the weight finally began to decrease, "- I recently saw such a post in one of the social networks. And she was surprised: how is it - to eat and lose weight? In my understanding, these are two mutually exclusive things. To lose extra pounds after childbirth, I stopped eating after six, gave up sweets, got up from the table with a slight feeling of hunger. But this did not bring great results: the battle size of my jeans what he was, he remained so. In addition, I noticed that due to constant restrictions on food, I often feel tired and irritable. In general, intrigued, I went to the seminar "To lose weight, you need to eat!". Its author, dietitian Svetlana Viktorovna Fus, has laid out our diet on the shelves and debunked the main myths associated with weight loss.
Myth 1. Ideal weight = height minus 110
It is this formula that I have always been guided by when determining how much should ideally weigh. It turned out to be wrong.
“Take two people of the same height and weight. For one with an asthenic body type, a weight of, for example, 50 kg will be ideal, and for another - a hypersthenic - insufficient. With this weight, it will look like a skeleton covered with leather, - explains Svetlana Foos. - Therefore, when determining your ideal weight, you need to be guided by the so-called. the Soloviev index. To do this, first measure the circumference of the thinnest part of your wrist. This figure will show your body type. For women, the picture looks like this: wrist circumference less than 15 cm - asthenic, 15-17 cm - normosthenic, more than 17 cm - hypersthenic. A man of asthenic body type will have a wrist circumference of less than 18 cm, normosthenic - 18-20 cm, hypersthenic - more than 20 cm. Each type has its own index. So, women-asthenics should multiply their height by 0.325, normosthenics - by 0.34, and hypersthenics - by 0.355. For men, respectively, by 0.375, 0.39 and 0.41 ".
The seminar began for me with a surprise: I thought that my ideal weight was 70 kg, but it turned out - 61 (my wrist circumference 15 cm, which means I am a normostenic, so I multiplied my height of 181 cm by 0.34 and got 61.5 kg).
After childbirth, extra pounds are often deposited on the sides and abdomen / istockphoto.com
Myth 2. Gotta keep your mouth shut
An even bigger surprise for me was that in order to achieve this ideal, I do not need to reduce the calorie content of my diet. Every day I should get at least 1354 kcal - this is the minimum amount of energy needed to maintain the vital functions of my body (i.e. n. basic exchange - OO). It is calculated as follows: we multiply our ideal weight by 22 (women) and by 24.2 (men).
“If you don’t give your body this minimum, you will ruin it: there will be fewer functioning tissues, dystrophic changes will begin, and so on,” explains Svetlana Fus. “Also, if we don't supply enough energy, the metabolism slows down. As a result, excess weight will not go away. That is why, in order to lose weight, you need to eat. "
To calculate how many calories you ideally need (how much total energy you need), you also need to take into account your physical activity (PA) and food thermogenesis (PT).
(PT) is the energy that the body spends on processing and assimilating food. To determine the PA, you need to multiply the basal metabolic rate by the coefficient of the level of physical activity. When it is low, it is 0.2, for the first group it is 0.4, and so on. (this information is easy to find on the Internet). So, for me FA = OO 1354 kcal CFA 0.4 = 542 kcal. How much energy is required for food thermogenesis, I calculated as follows: OO (1354 kcal) + FA (542 kcal) 0.1 = 190 kcal. Then I summed up all these numbers: OO (1354 kcal) + FA (542 kcal) + PT (190 kcal) = about 2100 kcal. This is exactly what the calorie content of my daily diet should be with the lifestyle that I now lead. I will go to the gym regularly - I will need to increase it. If I become less active, decrease.
To lose weight after childbirth, you need to drink enough water / istockphoto.com
Myth 3. You can't eat after six in the evening
If you eat within this framework (each will have their own numbers according to this formula), that is, you will not overeat or undernourish, then this restriction does not make sense.
“The main thing is to have dinner no later than four hours before bedtime,” says Svetlana Fus. - If you go to bed at 12 in the morning, then you can quite afford dinner at 8 in the evening. Just give preference to foods that are easier to digest. For example, it is better to cook poultry fillets than pork.
Myth 4. You should eat as little potatoes and pasta as possible.
Before the seminar, I was very wary of these products: if I ate, then in very small quantities. It turns out that these products fell into disgrace for those losing weight in vain. Their reputation has suffered because of their high glycemic index (the higher the glycemic index, the faster the blood glucose level rises and the more insulin is produced. The maximum GI for glucose is 100, the low level is 10-40, the average is 40-60, and the high is from 70). So, the GI of potatoes cooked in a peel is 65, and for pasta made from premium flour - 60.
But you cannot take into account only the glycemic index. You need to know his glycemic load (GL) - a criterion that allows you to estimate the approximate amount of glucose supplied with food per day. The lower the GL, the more slowly glucose is absorbed (when there is more of it than the body needs, it distributes it to the fat depots). GN is calculated as follows: (GI of the product, the amount of carbohydrates in the mass of the product in grams) / 100. Let's take an example with boiled potatoes. His GI = 65, the amount of carbohydrates 11.3, respectively, his GL = 65 11.3 / 100 = 7.4. For comparison, the GL of milk chocolate is 35.7, and the daily glycemic load of a healthy person should not exceed 100 units. In general, before excluding a product from your diet due to its high glycemic index, inquire about its glycemic load (this information is available on the Internet).
“But don't forget about the calorie content,” warns the nutritionist. - For example, dark chocolate has low levels of GI and GN, but it has a high energy value. And if you exceed the maximum daily calorie threshold, then adding extra pounds is definitely inevitable. "
Track the glycemic index of foods and their calories / istockphoto.com
Myth 5. Completeness is a genetic verdict
Many often wave their hand at their excess weight: they say, this is our family and nothing can be done about it.
“In fact, there is a genetic predisposition to be overweight. But whether it manifests itself or not depends on your nutrition. There are also genetic diseases that can provoke the appearance of excess weight (it happens that there is no hereditary regulation of fat accumulation). But they are very rare, says Svetlana Fus. “With genes, the constitution is passed on to us and how fat will be distributed: in some people it can accumulate on the thighs, in others - in the abdomen.”
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