Think you have 10 pounds to lose? A very round number, but so round that it surely does not correspond to anything valid for you! To lose your excess weight (whatever it is), without regaining it and without demotivating yourself, discover the 13 recommendations of Nathalie Négro, dietitian and head of the nutritional center of the Brides-les-Bains thermal baths.
1: Evaluate your healthy weight
To assess your healthy weight, you have to remember the weight during which you have remained stable for at least 6 months. This healthy weight will be the limit of your diet. Going below, would force the body to too great a strain and lead to failure.
2: Find the cause of the weight gain
Pregnancy, emotional disturbances, stress, bad eating habits, or conflicting relationships with food: to eliminate the pounds that have stuck on, you have to identify where they come from.
3: Surround yourself with a healthcare professional
The greater the number of pounds to lose, the more essential it is to consult a dietitian to avoid falling into the trap of a restrictive diet, to be deficient under the guise of foods to be banned, and especially to protect yourself from it. yoyo effect, weight gain and stressful demotivation.
4: Do not set a goal in weight
The number of kilos to lose can only be established by knowing the healthy weight of each individual, so as not to force the patient to “forcefully fight against impossible weight loss”. “It remains absurd to set a number of kilos in a round figure which corresponds to nothing, only to a fantasy. Not everyone can weigh 60 kilos, ”explains Nathalie Négro, dietitian and head of the Brides-les-Bains thermal baths nutritional center .
In addition, when setting up a diet, we cannot estimate how the body will react, and how far it is able to go. Setting a weight goal may be to exceed this limit point and nullify all efforts to lose weight and promote demotivation, the biggest enemy of weight loss.
5: Do not set a goal in time
It is impossible to know how the body will react to food restriction. As a result, we do not set a time target. “This approach would not be productive and would push people to become demotivated,” recalls Nathalie Négro. Monitoring of weight loss should be implemented once a month at the start of the diet, then during the period at risk of regaining weight, once or twice a year. “You must always remember that weight loss is not linear and that throughout your changes in eating habits, you have to listen to your body” adds the nutritionist.
The right questions to ask yourself before dieting
6: Don’t underestimate the role of emotions
It is important to have psychological support to assist you in your efforts. Indeed, emotions and stress play a vital role in weight loss and gain. They promote compulsive cravings and snacking without hunger. As weight loss does not occur in a linear fashion, and efforts do not instantly bring satisfactory effects, they can generate stress and conflicting cravings. “Professional support brings comfort and reassures patients throughout their weight loss,” says Nathalie Négro .
7: Pay attention to the quantity of food consumed
To lose weight, you obviously need to eat less. But, to avoid weighing everything you eat and not have the impression of living in a food prison, you change your dishes. We provide smaller plates (maximum 18 centimeters in diameter), a bowl of 200 ml and we measure the fat with a teaspoon. Without thinking about it, the number of calories per meal will drop.
The distribution on the plate must always follow this rule: half will be made up of vegetables, a quarter of protein and a quarter of starch.
8: Don’t make a clean cut in your diet
A restrictive diet that deprives of pleasurable foods promotes frustration, compulsive consumption of so-called “forbidden” foods and weight gain. It is preferable to gradually modify your diet to eat less sugar , less fat and reduce the quantities .
9: We do not consume food at will
In the same way that we do not eliminate food, we do not consume others at will on the pretext that they are low in calories or light. Indeed, all foods provide calories (for example, 500g of cottage cheese at 0% fat = 220 Kcal = 1.2 croissants) and can promote digestive disorders (vegetables) and eating disorders.
10: Watch out for false friends
There are trap dishes that must be identified. For example, since 30 grams of flour equals 100 grams of cooked starchy foods, a tiny eighth of a pizza or pie will have as much calories as 100 grams of satisfying starchy foods. “To avoid being hungry, you have to eat in a balanced way and with satiety, so we prefer whole grains to quiche”, explains Nathalie Négro.