Lose weight healthily – this is how it works
5 weight loss and shaping myths checked
New year, new resolutions: If shaping is at the top of your list, you've come to the right place. In this article you will find out how you can reduce your weight healthily, sustainably and in the long term. To do this, we examine five weight loss myths - find out which ones are true and which ones are not.
Live healthier, appear more self-confident, finally fit into your favorite jeans again: the turn of the year is the perfect opportunity to put personal goals into action. You have recharged your batteries over the holidays and can now devote yourself to your resolution to lose weight healthily. But what does that actually mean?
To put it simply, losing weight healthily means reducing weight in the long term . For this you need one thing above all: a lot of patience. But it is admittedly often not that easy to come up with this. Especially if you constantly see advertisements for so-called crash or lightning diets that promise you the “perfect” body in just a few weeks. Sustainable and long-term weight loss offers you three major advantages.
Healthy weight loss – 3 advantages:
- Advantage 1 - you don't feel like "eating less" is a sacrifice: If you gradually reduce your daily calorie intake instead of halving it overnight, your stomach can slowly get used to it. This means you don't constantly feel like you're starving.
- Advantage 2 - you avoid muscle soreness and performance drops: If you start with light training and increase slowly, your muscles and your condition can adapt little by little. This will reduce the risk of muscle pain and ensure you don't overuse them.
- Advantage 3 - you lose significantly less muscle mass: If you lose weight more slowly, more of your muscle mass is retained. Studies also show this.
Even if this all sounds logical and understandable, there are still many people who rely on radical diets or overly ambitious training plans. There are a lot of weight loss myths and prejudices circulating about how to get your body in shape that promote exactly these approaches. From excessive exercise to skipping meals: Below we take a close look at five weight loss fairy tales - for healthy and sustainable weight loss at the beginning of the year.
Weight loss myth 1: Skipping meals makes you slim
In order to lose weight, some people skip breakfast. At first it may sound sensible: if you eat less, you consume fewer calories and therefore lose weight - at least that's the idea. However, in reality it doesn't work quite that easily. If you don't eat anything early, you risk cravings and, in the worst case, you end up grabbing an unhealthy snack during the day. However, chocolate bars, cookies, etc. are anything but helpful when it comes to shaping.
While you sleep, you consume carbohydrates, among other things . At the same time, your blood sugar and insulin levels drop. This causes your body to begin relying on your fat reserves for energy. So far so good. But if you don't eat breakfast the next morning, you'll be less productive - especially if you skip breakfast from one day to the next.
Our tip: Start the day with a healthy breakfast - whole grain products, fruit and vegetables give you energy and fill you up until lunch .
Do you do a lot of sport? Then make sure you have a protein-rich breakfast - this will help you build and maintain muscle** . If you want, you can also enrich your muesli with a protein powder.
If you eat a purely plant-based diet , choose a vegan protein powder such as Plant Protein from Dextro Energy* in the varieties Vanilla and Chocolate Nut . If you're in a hurry early and can't sit down for breakfast, just whip up a delicious shake to go.
If you're wondering whether you can simply skip dinner and lose weight, the answer is: theoretically yes. Because then the break until breakfast is longer and your body has more time to break down the fat reserves as soon as the carbohydrate stores are empty. The problem: Many people who fast in the evening eat more during the day. Then their daily energy intake - i.e. the sum of all the calories they consume during the day - may be just as high as people who eat all three main meals. And then of course they don't lose weight.
Weight loss myth 2: The more exercise, the better
When you started exercising, your weight dropped very quickly. But the number on the scale has been stagnating for a while now - even though you're now training even more often than you did in the beginning. That's because more exercise doesn't automatically mean more weight loss .
For these reasons, you don't automatically lose more weight when you exercise more:
- The more exercise you do, the higher your energy needs . So you have to eat more to avoid performance drops during training. This in turn prevents you from losing weight.
- The more exercise you do, the more likely you are to build muscle mass . Whether and if so how much you build muscle depends on many factors - such as the type of sport and the intensity of the training. What is true in any case is that muscle is heavier than fat. But they also give you more strength and burn more calories during and after exercise.
The weight that your scale shows you is a pretty poor indicator of your weight loss success. You still don't want to miss out on weighing yourself every day? Then we recommend that you: Calculate your weight average from the weight you measured on five different days. You can compare this average value with other weekly values and track how your weight is developing . However, if you compare individual days with each other, weight fluctuations, which are completely normal, can give a false impression.
Always keep in mind that healthy weight loss is a long process. It usually takes many weeks before you see a real difference. You should lose around 0.5 kilograms per week - then you are in a healthy range. If you lose significantly more weight, it is usually due to loss of muscle mass or water. Of course you want to avoid both.
Otherwise, we advise you: It is better to measure your weight loss and training progress based on your well-being than on your weight. Your favorite jeans fit again? Does your body look more defined and toned? These changes show that your training is effective. Otherwise, you can, for example, take before and after photos that document “your transformation”.
The myth “the more exercise, the better” is based on a common misconception. Many people think that the body only burns fat after half an hour. But you actually lose fat shortly after you start training - even if it's relatively little at first. The burn is at its peak after about 20 to 30 minutes. This means: You don't always have to train for 90 minutes at a time to see results. You can achieve similarly good results with shorter but more frequent and intensive training sessions.
How long and often you should train depends on your individual training level. Are you just starting to exercise again? Then we recommend that you initially only do 60 minutes of strength training three times a week . If you want to train more often, make sure that you use different muscle groups during each session - this will ensure that they regenerate in between. For example, you can train the front of the thighs and calves on Monday, the back on Tuesday, the chest on Wednesday, the back of the thighs and glutes on Thursday, and shoulders and arms on Friday.
If you want to lose weight healthily, rely on a mix of exercise and a balanced diet.
@Orion Production/Shutterstock.com
No matter how long you train per session, be sure to take rest days between each training session . The reason: Your muscles don't grow during, but after training. The process by which muscles are formed from proteins is called protein biosynthesis. Studies show that it lasts longer for beginners than for professionals - around 48 to 72 hours.
If you don't take breaks between sessions, the following can happen:
- You get sore muscles - you can't train properly for days.
- Sport degenerates into stress - your body and your mind cannot relax.
- Your training level was already too high at the beginning and overwhelmed you - you gave up doing sport after a short time.
Our tip to avoid all of this: Start with a moderate training plan that is adapted to your fitness level and that fits your everyday life. If you start with a fairly easy workout, you can increase your training level little by little - without overwhelming yourself. Seeing yourself constantly improving can be incredibly motivating. The result: You stay on track in the long term and lose weight more slowly, but in a healthy and long-term way.
Weight loss myth 3: Carbohydrates start
This weight loss myth is a little trickier. It is true that your body stores carbohydrates that it does not directly need. And this causes your fatty tissue to grow . It is also true that foods containing carbohydrates stimulate insulin production and increase blood sugar. This in turn inhibits fat burning. And if this is inhibited, you won't lose weight. But that doesn't mean that you should completely avoid carbohydrates from now on.
The reason: Carbohydrates provide energy - and your body needs it for vital processes such as breathing or metabolism. But what you should actually pay attention to is what type of carbohydrates you consume.
There are two different types of carbohydrates :
- Short-chain carbohydrates are quickly available, but break down just as quickly. The result: You get hungry again after a short time. Short-chain carbohydrates are found, for example, in fruit, dairy products, sweets and white baked goods
- Long-chain carbohydrates first have to be broken down by enzymes and are therefore less quickly available. In return, they provide you with energy for longer and thus prevent cravings. They are found in whole grain products, legumes, nuts, oatmeal and vegetables, among other things.
This means: If you want to lose weight healthily and get your body in shape, rely mainly on long-chain carbohydrates . However, you don't have to give up short-chain carbohydrates entirely. Foods in this group, such as fruit and dairy products, also provide vitamins, minerals and the macronutrients fats and proteins. And your body needs that. If you eliminate them completely from your diet, you risk inadequate supply.
In addition: If you generally consume too few carbohydrates, your body draws energy from your protein reserves . This can, among other things, lead to muscle breakdown. As I said, since muscles consume a lot of calories, you should make sure that they are maintained.
By the way, skipping carbohydrates in the evening is also not a good idea. Because: According to studies , they promote the production of the happiness hormone serotonin and the sleep hormone melatonin. So eat a few carbohydrates if you want to dive into dreamland in a good mood.
Our tip : Just pay attention to how much and what type of carbohydrates you eat - short or long chain. And complement your healthy diet with plenty of exercise. Then you can treat yourself to a piece of cake every now and then.
Do you do a lot of sport and are you looking for a snack that supports you during your training but is as low in carbohydrates as possible? Then the Cream'n'Crunchy is the ideal choice for you. The protein bar scores with a juicy cream filling, delicate chocolate and fine nuts. In addition, it only has 14 grams of carbohydrates and less than two grams of sugar per bar. You can choose between Peanut Caramel and Hazelnut Nougat .
Weight loss myth 4: The “more intense” the workout, the better
High heart rate equals high weight loss : Is this true or just a misconception? There is actually something to this myth. Because the harder you exert yourself while exercising, the more calories you burn.
It is also true that a pulse rate of around 130 is ideal for burning fat - the body then draws up to 80 percent of the energy it needs from fat reserves and around 20 percent from carbohydrates. But with this rather low heart rate, the total calorie consumption is relatively low . On the other hand, if you put more strain on yourself, the body takes a little less energy from the fat reserves in percentage terms, but your total calorie consumption is higher.
Confused? Then the following example might help:
- When walking, a normally exercised 150-pound person burns about 217 calories per hour. The energy it needs comes from 60 percent fat burning and 40 percent carbohydrate burning. That means: 130 calories come from fat reserves.
- When jogging quickly, a 150-pound person burns about 700 calories per hour. The energy it needs comes from 40 percent fat burning and 60 percent carbohydrate burning. So 280 calories come from fat reserves.
You see: In percentage terms, you burn less fat when your heart rate is higher, but in reality you still burn more fat than when your heart rate is lower. But also keep in mind that you probably won't last as long as you do a "harder" workout, where your heart rate and calorie consumption are higher , than a moderate workout. If you jog for just half an hour, you burn about the same amount of fat as if you walked for an hour.
Weight loss myth 5: You have to radically change your diet
If you're unhappy with your weight, you might think you need to completely overhaul your diet . After all, the way you currently eat doesn't seem to match your dream weight. So you start a keto diet, cut sugar from your diet or only eat one meal a day - in the spirit of the one-meal-a-day diet. Lo and behold: you lose a few kilos in no time. The problem is that this eating behavior can harm you.
One-sided or crash diets pose various risks - such as inadequate intake of vitamins and other nutrients or concentration problems. Digestive problems can also be a result because the body needs time to get used to the new diet. In addition, according to studies , your body burns fewer calories during and after a crash diet - both at rest and during exercise. And then there is the famous yo-yo effect, which can occur when you want to lose as much weight as quickly as possible. Once the dream weight is reached, many people eat the same diet as before. The result: you gain weight again.
For these reasons, it is better to avoid a radical change in diet . Instead, try a balanced diet. And if you feel like chips every now and then, then treat yourself to some – without feeling guilty and in moderation.
And another little tip: eat sweets as dessert instead of in between. This way you avoid the additional rise in blood sugar between meals. Studies also show this. The reason: If your blood sugar level is at a constant level, you avoid energy and mood swings - and reduce the risk of food cravings. If you do a lot of exercise, you can of course treat yourself to a protein-rich snack every now and then, since as an athlete you burn more calories.
Lose weight healthily: Trust your body rather than the myths
Even if many weight loss myths sound tempting at first, if you want to get your body in shape in a healthy and sustainable way, it's better to stay away from them. Instead, find a sport that you enjoy and eat a balanced diet. Then you will soon feel more comfortable in your body - and radiate it. Use your New Year's energy - start your new, healthier lifestyle straight away!
* Smart Protein: smart mix with a high protein content, without added sugar (NATURALLY CONTAINS SUGAR).
** Proteins contribute to increasing and maintaining muscle mass.
A varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle are important.
SOURCES
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