If you want to lose 10 pounds before summer, start eating like this now!

As the temperature rises day by day, everyone's anxiety about weight also increases. Both men and women hope to become slimmer before summer officially arrives.

However, the current social standard for judging "slim" is not necessarily accurate. Too many young people, especially young women, are constantly pursuing thin, thinner, and the thinnest. Under this aesthetic view, many people have embarked on a blind weight loss journey. Therefore, before talking about weight loss diets, we need to talk about how to scientifically determine whether your weight is overweight.

Don't blindly pursue light weight , but develop a good body shape

To determine whether you are overweight, the most well-known indicator is BMI. The BMI calculation method is simple, and the result is also quite intuitive.

BMI=weight (kg)/height ( m² )

Perhaps most of our friends who feel they are "a little fat" have a BMI that is within the normal range after calculation, and are neither overweight nor obese.

However, the BMI value has its own flaws : on the one hand, for those who exercise all year round, have very low body fat, and have large muscles, which leads to a heavy weight, only calculating the BMI may result in a judgment of "(false) obesity"; on the other hand, for those who lack exercise, have high body fat but not heavy weight, only calculating the BMI may make them considered "slim", but in fact this group of people may already have the problem of central obesity.

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To solve this problem, we can use "body fat percentage" to determine. The body fat percentage of a normal adult male should be less than 25%, and the body fat percentage of a normal adult female should be less than 35%. However, body fat percentage often requires professional instruments to be accurately measured, which is not very friendly to ordinary consumers like us.

There is another indicator that is a substitute for body fat percentage: waist circumference. Indeed, waist circumference can reflect the degree of central obesity and the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In order to reduce the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, it is recommended that the waist circumference of adult males in my country should not exceed 85cm and that of females should not exceed 80cm. However, for many beauty-conscious people, if this is used as a standard, they may be a little too "indulgent" in their body shape.

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On the whole, for ordinary people like us who do not do high-intensity exercise, we might as well combine BMI and waist circumference (and measure body fat percentage if conditions permit), and pay continuous attention to other body circumferences, such as neck circumference, thigh circumference, upper arm circumference, etc., so that we can evaluate our own condition relatively objectively and comprehensively.

If you ultimately conclude that you are overweight or obese, then it is time to consider developing a scientific, healthy weight loss plan.

The hit movie "Hot and Spicy" at the beginning of the year gave confidence to many friends who wanted to lose weight: they thought they could also lose weight as quickly as Jia Ling. But in fact, without the help of a professional nutritionist or a team of doctors, it is not recommended for ordinary people to lose weight quickly.

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For a truly sustainable, non-rebound, and health-friendly weight loss rate, you can refer to the World Health Organization's recommendations, which are: 0.5-1kg per week, 1-3kg per month. You can also refer to the recommendations in the "Guidelines for Adult Obesity and Nutrition" newly released by my country's National Health Commission: reduce 5%-10% of your current body weight within 6 months, and lose 2-4kg per month. Although there are slight differences, the core of both is to avoid damaging the human body by losing weight too quickly.

Understand the principles of eating thin

If you want to lose weight through dietary intervention, you must not blindly diet right away. This is not only bad for your health, but also affects the sustainability of weight loss and is very easy to rebound.

The most important points of a healthy weight loss diet are twelve words: reasonable structure + regular rhythm + limit your intake.

1

Reasonable structure

A reasonable diet structure means that the types of food you eat can not only meet your nutritional needs, but also help control calories and promote fat metabolism. Specifically, the selection order of various foods during the weight loss period is as follows:

High-quality protein foods → foods rich in dietary fiber → foods rich in water → high-quality starch foods → high-quality fats.

1. High-quality protein foods mainly include: eggs, milk, beans, fish, shrimp, seafood, poultry, and livestock meat (arranged in order of priority).

High-quality protein can meet the needs of the human body to maintain normal physiological functions, enhance immunity, and repair trauma. At the same time, because the calories consumed by the human body to digest protein are higher than starch and fat, appropriately increasing high-quality protein foods during the weight loss period can also help increase metabolism.

2. Foods rich in dietary fiber mainly include: various fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, coarse grains, etc.

Foods rich in dietary fiber often have the characteristics of strong satiety and chewiness, which can not only help control food intake, but also regulate insulin levels by maintaining stable blood sugar levels after meals. In addition, dietary fiber can promote intestinal peristalsis and improve the problem of constipation that is easy to occur during weight loss.

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3. Water-rich foods mainly include: fresh fruits and vegetables with high water content, various light soups and porridge, soy milk, milk, etc.

This type of food not only takes up a certain amount of stomach capacity and helps control food intake, but the water can also promote the metabolism of substances and energy in the body.

4. High-quality starchy foods mainly include: whole grains, coarse grains, and starchy staple foods with a low degree of processing.

Whole grains and coarse grains provide more B vitamins, dietary fiber, and minerals than refined rice and white flour. These characteristics are beneficial for promoting material energy metabolism and controlling food intake. At the same time, appropriate intake of starchy foods can prevent the body from using protein and fat to provide energy, as well as the resulting protein consumption, ketoacidosis and other adverse consequences. In addition, the ketogenic diet (not eating or eating very little starch and other carbohydrates) without the guidance of professionals is not recommended for ordinary people to try.

5. The main food sources of high-quality fats include: cooking oils and deep-sea fish rich in unsaturated fats, as well as original nuts, etc.

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High-quality fat is not only necessary for the human body to maintain normal functions and metabolism, but it can also improve fat metabolism to a certain extent. But after all, it is fat, so you still need to pay attention to controlling your intake.

On the basis of reasonable matching, we should also pay attention to two points:

1. Don’t forget to keep the taste light. High oil and salt content not only increase the risk of various chronic diseases, but also easily stimulate appetite and increase food intake.

2. Choose natural foods. Natural foods usually retain more comprehensive nutrients and are lower in calories, oil, salt and sugar than processed foods, which is beneficial for weight loss.

Left: 100g steamed potatoes have 69kcal calories. Right: 100g French fries have 188kcal calories. Copyright image. Reproduction may cause copyright disputes.

2

Rhythm

Rhythmic regularity means that the total amount and frequency of eating should be both regular and moderate.

During the weight loss period, some people may skip one of the three meals, and some may adopt light fasting methods such as 16+8 (eating within 8 hours a day and fasting for the remaining 16 hours) or 5+2 (eating normally for 5 days a week and reducing food intake for 2 days). However, if such light fasting is not implemented properly, it is easy to cause various discomfort symptoms. Some studies have also shown that it may increase health risks and is not easy to stick to for a long time.

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If you want to lose weight healthily without rebounding, it is best to have three meals a day, but the energy of each meal should be reduced appropriately. If you feel hungry between meals, you can eat some low-calorie healthy snacks, such as low-sugar, high-water fruits, or sugar-free yogurt. This can not only help you lose weight gradually, but also avoid drastic fluctuations in blood sugar.

300kcal food combination example

3

Keep your income within your budget

Living within your means learning to estimate your daily energy consumption to determine your energy intake.

Weight loss is a long-term project. The energy consumption each day may be different during the process. We must learn to adjust our diet according to energy consumption.

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Specifically, we must have a general understanding of the energy levels consumed by different activities in daily life, and also learn to check and understand the energy of the food we consume.

For example, climbing stairs for 10 minutes at a speed of 100 steps per minute can burn 85kcal, while 100g of ordinary toast has about 300kcal.

Master the tips of "eating thin"

Finally, I would like to introduce to you some “eating thin” tips that can be used for weight loss. If used properly, they can help you lose weight.

1

Remember the order of eating

Eat fruits and vegetables rich in dietary fiber first, then eat light egg, milk, meat and bean products rich in high-quality protein, and finally eat whole grains and coarse grains with a low degree of processing. If conditions permit and there is no gastrointestinal disease, you can drink a bowl of light soup before lunch, such as vegetable soup, egg drop soup, etc., which can also help control the total energy intake of lunch.

2

Choose the right color and size of tableware

Studies have found that using smaller tableware, tableware with a color that contrasts sharply with the food, and blue tableware can help control the total food intake to a certain extent.

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3

Meal times and pauses

Chewing slowly and increasing the time spent eating can make it easier for the brain to sense the "full" signal and stop eating.

Studies have found that if you pause during a meal, such as to answer a phone call, your enthusiasm for eating will decrease. This is probably the result of "extending" the meal time in disguise.

4

Lower food temperature

When starchy foods are cooled (such as cold steamed potatoes and cold rice), they will produce resistant starch due to the aging of starch. Resistant starch is not easily digested and absorbed by the human body, and can also increase satiety, thus reducing some energy intake. Although limited, fly legs are also meat.

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Although these techniques are helpful, I still want to remind my friends: weight loss is a systematic project. Don't seek quick results, but seek stability. You must establish good eating habits and exercise scientifically to achieve sustainable weight loss without rebound.

Finally, I strongly recommend that you read the "Diet Guide for Adults with Obesity" recently released by the National Health Commission, which not only provides recipes for weight loss, but also provides local weight loss menus based on the types of food and eating habits in different regions. It's really thoughtful! The country has handed us the weight loss guide, so let's act quickly!

References

[1] National Health Commission, Dietary Guidelines for Adults with Obesity, 2024.2.8.

[2] M. Chen, VW Zhon, Association Between Time-Restricted Eating and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality[R], Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & and Cardiometabolic Health. 2024.3.18.

Planning and production

Author: Wang Lu, registered dietitian

Reviewer: Ruan Guangfeng, Director of Science and Technology Department, Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center

Planning丨Fu Sijia

Editor: Fu Sijia

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin