Do you know the difference between losing weight and losing weight? When we talk about weight loss, we soon imagine fewer pounds, looser clothes and a good relationship with the scale, but is that right?
Much more than losing a few pounds, healthy weight loss consists of changing body composition: losing fat but maintaining — or even increasing — other essential components of our body, such as muscle mass.
This is the difference between slimming and losing weight. In the first option, you will reduce the amount of fat in your body but keep what is essential to function. Second, the weight on the scale can decrease thanks to the loss of muscle, proteins and not necessarily fat, and can even cause damage to your health.
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What Does It Mean To Lose Weight With Health?
Now that we understand that losing weight is related to losing fat and not just pounds, we can think about how to go through this process healthily. The first step is to end the idea of losing weight and eating less.
Imagine the following situation: a person who wants to lose weight decides to eat less but does not change the quality of his food. Instead of the most important meals of the day, she starts drinking slimming shakes and eating cereal bars, believing that she will have a more significant caloric deficit.
Will this person lose weight? Maybe she can lose weight, but she will also lose nutritional quality with the pounds that go away. So, if eating less is not the only solution, how to lose weight healthily? Eating better!
Eating nutritious foods and practicing physical activities that prevent the loss of lean mass to respect your body’s individuality will help you preserve your health during the weight loss process. And how do you know what these foods are and what are the best physical activities recommended for you?
For this, there are professionals qualified to prescribe diets and training: the nutritionist and the physical educator. It is important to remember that food and activity must be planned according to your body, unique characteristics, routine, and limitations.
Precisely for this reason, having an up-to-date and quality professional by your side is an essential step towards achieving your ultimate goal. Also, you need to be aware of your body to lose weight. It is, therefore, necessary to seek self-knowledge.
Combining good nutrition, good training and sound professionals, your goal will be closer to you. And to help you on this path, we separate some common mistakes that hinder weight loss in this article.
What Am I Doing Wrong?
2.1. Counting Calories
Okay, a calorie deficit is significant when looking to lose weight, but the amount of calories in each food says very little about how it will help you lose fat.
If reducing calories were the key to losing weight, we could, for example, spend a week eating only, as long as we didn’t exceed the caloric amount established for our body, and we would lose fat.
We know that’s not how it happens. That’s because each food triggers different reactions in our bodies. Eating a calorie fruit like Avocado can be more interesting than consuming a low-calorie but highly industrialized cookie.
As caloric as it is, Avocado is rich in nutrients and good-quality fats that will help you feel full and benefit your health. Despite being low in calories, the biscuit can be rich in refined carbohydrates, with a high glycemic index and without nutrients that help your body function.
2.2. Avoiding Fat At All Costs
One of the most common mistakes of those seeking weight loss is to believe that fat is the villain of history. Besides bringing flavor and satiety, good-quality fats have an energetic, structural and hormonal function.
They are fundamental, for example, for the formation of the membranes of all our cells; they help in the absorption of some vitamins that are soluble in fat (fat-soluble vitamins); they are part of the thermal and intestinal control and the production of hormones, they do not promote the increase in blood glucose, among other benefits.
2.3. Avoiding Bodybuilding
For a long time, it was believed that people who wanted to lose fat should only do aerobic exercises, such as running or cycling, and that weight training would be exclusive to those in mass muscle gain.
Today, it is known that this is not the case. Without questioning the benefits of cardiovascular activities, we cannot think that, for weight loss, they are the only ones indicated. On the contrary, weight training can be a great ally in building a better body composition.
One of the factors that makes bodybuilding an exciting exercise for weight loss is that it helps maintain muscle mass if practiced correctly and combined with a good diet.
2.4. Copying Someone Else’s Diet
Individuality must be respected when composing a diet. Therefore, copying your friend’s food routine can get in the way, and a lot, when it comes to getting the desired results.
Quantities are individual and depend only on weight, height, sex, body composition, and intolerance to certain foods. The tip also applies to those following diets from blogs and personalities.
Exchanging ideas with friends is valid, and following motivational profiles is also great for helping you find good foods and recipes that you like.
2.5. Betting On Miracle Diets, Remedies And Immediate Results
Countless diet options promise miraculous and immediate results. The truth, however, is that there is no miracle in losing fat — even rushing can get in the way of getting there.
If it took you a few years to gain all the pounds you want to lose today, why would it be possible to lose them in two weeks? It doesn’t make sense. Healthy weight loss happens gradually, improving our physical conditions and health.
Also Read: Workout: At What Time Of The Day Is The Training Most Effective?
