What Is The Best Weight Loss Diet?

In common parlance, the definition ” weight loss diet” has a universally recognized meaning: eat less to lose weight. There are also “diets” to which, despite not having the term slimming in the name, more or less effective or amazing effects are attributed. Diet of minestrone, jockey, banana, syrup based on dissociated, hyper pyretic, points, that of Dr. X, and so forth.

Those who intend to lose weight often choose one of the many diets recommended by friends or read in some newspaper, always with poor results; those who want to lose weight healthily and obtain a result that can be maintained over time should rely on medical science. The professionals qualified to administer a particular diet aimed at reducing weight are:

1. Doctors specializing in Food Science.
2. Family doctor supported by a graduate in Dietetics or Nutritional Biology.
3. The multidisciplinary team of doctors for diseases such as severe obesity or diabetes.

Why Do-It-Yourself Diets Are Not Recommended

Eating habits have multiple effects on health. The guidelines of a correct and balanced diet suggest diets that bring all the macro and micronutrients useful to our body and reduce the risk of contracting major diseases, including some types of cancer. Instead, “do it yourself” diets those that usually drastically reduce the amount of food or those based only on animal proteins and fats (meat and cured meats) and also those that only provide carbohydrates (lots of fruit and various beverages), etc., are not recommended for the various reasons described in the following points, to mention only the most important ones:

1. In a week or two, you can lose 3 or 4 kilos, but usually, it is a loss of water, not fat, kilos that you will regain when you return to the necessary hydration.
2. After a phase in which you have lost weight, you begin to gain weight again, and the lost kilos are recovered with interest, the yo-yo effect. Then you start not eating again, but the more diets you eat, the more difficult it will become to lose weight.
3. Lean mass is reduced with consequent reduction of metabolism. One kg of lean mass lost reduces the metabolic capacity by about 40 calories (Kcal).
4. They stimulate hunger and reduce the sense of satiety, which leads to loss of control and induces “nervous” hunger (binges and nibbling).
5. They can change the hormonal balance with a decrease in thyroid function and hormones such as serotonin resulting in a drop in mood, which often increases the craving for sweets.
6. They expose you to the greatest risk of producing damage to organs and systems: kidneys, liver, nervous system, musculoskeletal system, wakefulness – sleep rhythm (sleepless or badly makes you fat). 7. In the absence of micronutrients, cognitive and reactive abilities are reduced, resulting in work, study, and sport.
7. They can provoke moments of euphoria or depression and induce eating disorders leading to serious illnesses such as anorexia or bulimia.
8. Losing weight then gaining weight again demoralizes, removes self-confidence, lowers self-esteem until one is convinced that losing weight is impossible.

Losing Weight Well Is Good For Your Health

What is commonly called a “weight loss diet” is defined by doctors or dieticians as a “low-calorie diet.” It provides several calories lower than the subject is used to taking. The calculation of the daily calories that will have to be consumed during the diet is carried out for each individual based on various parameters, the main of which are:

1. Calculate the basal metabolic rate based on sex, age, weight, and height, which determines the body’s energy needs without physical activity, i.e., when we sleep and at rest: breathe, make the heart and all other organs work even if not stressed by movement.
2. Determine the amount of lean mass such as muscles and fat to evaluate our metabolism’s functionality (capacity) in transforming food into energy.
3. The individual’s food history (anamnesis) to verify what goals can be achieved, those who have lost weight and gained weight several times (yo-yo effect) will hardly be able to set themselves goals as a subject facing a low-calorie diet for the first time.

In addition to this, the doctor must evaluate other important parameters:

1. Check if there are intolerances or allergies to certain foods so as not to include them or limit them in the diet, but also if there are deficiencies in particular nutrients to increase the intake of the foods that contain them.
2. It was creating a diet that provides all the necessary nutrients and adapts to the person’s needs and encouraging new and healthy habits, even within a low-calorie diet.

To lose weight in an adequate and lasting way, it is not enough to undertake a good low-calorie diet, but at the same time, it is necessary to carry out adequate physical activity. The obese person with clinical needs should not adopt the diets already written, even the most serious and accredited. A weight-loss diet “already written” for the average person is educational and not curative in every case.

The Basics Of A Good Diet

A good diet cannot be among those that promise to lose 7 pounds in 7 days or other amazing results but must have a personalized foundation on each subject. In general, for all healthy people, the basic principles for a “good diet” should be taken into consideration precisely to evaluate the diets that do not work, those that make us regain the weight lost with interest and that can cause damage to the health.

The concept is:

1. Lose weight gradually.
2. Reduce fat mass.
3. Get out of a sedentary lifestyle.
4. Change the lifestyle that made us gain weight.

The following points are an example of how, in general, good results can be achieved.

1. Lose weight slowly, trying not to lose more than 10/15% of your weight in a year.
2. Eat everything by varying the foods daily: pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, legumes, milk and derivatives, meat, fish, at least three portions of vegetables a day and two fruits, limit alcohol.
3. Have five meals a day: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, which must be the last meal, no evening snacks before bed.
4. Proportionately reduce the calories introduced daily by 100/200 Kcal among all foods, depending on the starting weight.
5. Eat foods that bring all the macronutrients to each meal, balancing the percentage of calories from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to reach the daily requirement of each nutrient.
6. Eat foods that provide different micronutrients every day to meet your weekly needs for vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
7. Drink at least 1.5 liters of water per day.
8. Get out of a sedentary lifestyle or increase your usual physical activity to consume 200 Kcal per day.

The goal of the above suggestions is to get as close as possible to a correct and balanced diet and have an energy balance that favors a slow weight loss given by the 200 Kcal less taken with food and the 200 Kcal more spent with physical activity.

How Many Calories And Which Foods

The above rules are also valid for those who do not lose weight, but following them can be difficult. Calculating the calories we need daily, evaluating how many Kcal the food provides, and finally which nutrients they contain is a complex job even for an expert. The free program “Menu for your calories” helps us calculate the daily caloric needs of males and females aged 18 and over and provides comments and advice to improve everyone’s well-being. 

Still, above all, it offers us eight personalized menus for calories you should consume. Each menu includes five meals a day for seven days, including tasty recipes. The menus are sent to the program users at the rate of 2 every season and allow you to follow a balanced diet very simply and learn how to eat properly. If desired, they can also remove 200 Kcal per day by slightly reducing all the foods on the menu.

The Basics Of Physical Activity

In addition to giving general well-being, physical activity improves mood and helps eliminate excess fat. 

Free Radicals And Antioxidants

Free radicals are waste molecules that form in our bodies while producing energy and accumulate due to pollution, stress, and poor nutrition. Free radicals are one of the causes of premature aging, so it is important that a low-calorie diet, as mentioned, does not neglect foods that can ensure the right dose of antioxidants, which fight excess free radicals—determining if you have the right amount of free radicals and protective nutrients in your diet are not easy.

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