Dieting, taking medicine, or exercising, which is the most effective way to lose weight?

There are three common ways to lose weight: diet, diet pills, and exercise. Among these three methods, diet is the fastest way to achieve results (not recommended), but the healthiest and most recommended is diet and exercise. Forget about taking medicine, which is harmful and has no benefits (even if you take orlistat, you should be careful that your farts may cause poop to pop out).

If there is no special work requirement, it is not recommended to lose weight quickly. The faster you lose weight, the greater the harm to your body. The ultimate goal of losing weight is not only to look good, but also for health.

1. Best weight loss speed:

Recommended 0.5 kg/week

The "Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Overweight and Obesity in Chinese Adults" recommends losing 0.5 kg per week and slowly reducing your weight to your target level.

The "Expert Consensus on Obesity Prevention and Treatment in Chinese" also mentioned that a 10-15% weight loss within 6 months is an achievable and healthy goal.

For example, for a person weighing 120 pounds, it is recommended to lose 12 to 18 pounds in 6 months.

2. How to eat?

Diet is not recommended! Don't! Diet! Dieting generally has a calorie intake of less than 800 kcal, which is a very low energy diet, and the carbon water intake will be very low. Low-carb/very low-carb diets have many hazards (see picture).

▲Figure: China Obesity Prevention and Control Blue Book

Even when losing weight, you should eat both staple food, vegetables and protein. You can use a large dinner plate to measure the amount of food, so that you can not only know the amount of each food to eat, but also avoid overeating. Each meal should have 1/4 of staple food, 1/2 of vegetables and 1/4 of protein. At least 1 fist of staple food, 1-2 fists of cooked vegetables and about 1 fist of protein. Eat until you are 70% to 80% full.

If there is light and low-salt vegetable soup, it is recommended to drink a bowl before the meal, or drink about 300 ml of water directly, which can enhance the feeling of fullness and avoid overeating.

3. How to move?

Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise should be done. Aerobic exercise is recommended for at least 30 minutes a day, and you can choose brisk walking, jogging, aerobics, playing ball, square dancing, etc. Anaerobic exercise can be done 2 to 3 times a week, and you can do dumbbells, elastic bands, push-ups, etc.

Don’t be impatient when losing weight. After losing weight quickly, you will often gain weight back even more. However, if you lose weight through a healthy diet and proper exercise, you will not feel hungry, have a tight and toned body, and will not gain weight back!