Achieving the ideal weight: 5 successes and 5 errors

Above all, “we must give our diet the importance it has, which is a lot, and be aware that there is no universal diet or routine that is valid for everyone,” they point out from the LEV slimming clinic.

You have to have a balanced diet all year round and not just for the ‘bikini operation’ (lose weight quickly in the months before summer) or after a holiday period (Easter, Christmas, summer holidays) when we incur in gastronomic excesses, according to health insurer Cigna.

“Our attitude is key to following a weight loss diet and adopting healthy habits, to achieve the best version of ourselves for the holidays and, most importantly, for the whole year,” the LEV experts point out.

Starting a diet in the months before summer is very common, but many times that effort becomes frustrating because only a small percentage of people who intend to lose weight achieve their goal, according to data from the LEV-weight loss clinic. Your Nutrition Expert (LEV).

Consistency is key when following an eating plan to lose weight, as it translates into longer-lasting results, better health and a more satisfying relationship with food, without forgetting that “when you eat you have to enjoy it”, as they explain.

Next, they describe some of the most frequent mistakes that are made when following a pre-summer diet and that it is convenient to know in order to avoid them:

1. Skipping meals. Hunger is a sensation with a strong component of hormonal regulation and fluctuates throughout the day, according to LEV.

They explain that “to keep leptin (appetite inhibition hormone) and ghrelin (appetite activation hormone) in balance” it is important that each meal includes a good supply of protein, healthy fats and fiber, in amounts that should not be be excessively large and must be well distributed throughout the day.

2. Think only about dieting. It is preferable to focus on learning to eat correctly, acquiring healthy habits, than on the concept of diet, a word that is associated with a limited temporal scope, according to this clinic.

“If we consider from the beginning that we are going to ‘go on a diet’, we will unconsciously be setting an end date, leaving aside good habits that last over time,” according to what they point out.

3. Worry only about food. Weight loss is not only based on what we eat and when, but also on how many calories we spend in our daily activities in addition to with scheduled physical exercise and good management of our psychological tension and exciteds, which keeps cortisol (stress hormone) at bay, according to LEV

The fourth pillar to achieve our goals is to maintain an adequate level of hydration, drinking water in sufficient quantities, distributed throughout the day, instead of incurring excesses, either due to overhydration or dehydration, they warn.

4. Put planning aside: “Stipulating a menu, including snacks to eat between meals, and preparing our ‘batch-cooking’ in our spare time (devoting several hours of the same day to cooking all the dishes of the week) are two keys to achieving a balanced diet. orderly and balanced”, according to LEV experts.

5. Not taking social life into account. Social activity can be a barrier, prompting us to leave the diet aside one day because “I have an appointment or an outing”, or to stay home without going out “because I’m on a diet”, according to the LEV clinic.

They emphasize that “it is vital that our eating plan can accompany us on our trips, dinners, parties, getaways to the beach, city tourism, mountain tourism, or to any destination or with any plan, since with regard to diet the restriction is synonymous with frustration and abandonment of care”.

For its part, from the medical insurer Cigna they insist on the importance of “having a balanced diet all year round and not only at specific moments or stages”.

To do this, “it is convenient to follow a series of guidelines that help us maintain our well-being, learning to choose and plan meals in a healthy way and throughout the year,” says Dr. María Sánchez, medical manager of digital health (eHealth) in Cigna in Spain (www.cignasalud.es).

Dr. Sánchez offers the following recommendations to take care of our health through food, taking into account all areas of our daily lives, 365 days a year:

6. Design the menu before the purchase. Sánchez recommends “establishing a weekly plan with the daily menu and its corresponding shopping list, going to the supermarket without hunger, including only what you need to buy on the list and delimiting a spending budget.”

7. Bring food from home. Whenever possible, it is preferable (and healthier) to take our own homemade lunch to work, which prevents us from buying something at the moment, surely more caloric, and makes it easier to count the calories we eat, according to this doctor.

8. Look for healthy or satiating options. “If you need to eat something as a snack, there are healthy and delicious alternatives, such as fresh fruit, raw or roasted nuts without salt, natural yogurt, pickles and pickles, fresh cheese, vegetable sticks (carrots, zucchini, cherry tomatoes )”, he points out.

Faced with an impulse to eat between meals, you can also choose foods that fill us up, preventing us from eating more than necessary, such as apples, bananas, sugar-free dairy products or foods rich in fiber, he points out.

9. Change activities if hunger strikes. Small gestures such as getting up from the chair and moving around, stretching or practicing some relaxation exercises are usually enough toto distract the mind and occupy the time with other activities, instead of eating, according to Sánchez.

10. Exercising also helps. “Going for a run, taking long walks, playing soccer with friends, doing yoga or practicing a sport are activities that not only help us to be healthier and in a good mood, but also help us to follow an order in our lives. schedules and at meals”, according to Sánchez.

Source-listindiario.com