Have you lost a pound in years of dieting? Avoid these three weight loss pitfalls!

In life, many people try very hard to lose weight, but some people not only fail to lose weight, but gain weight. What's going on? Today, I will share with you three pitfalls in weight loss, and I hope you will never fall into them!

Will people lose weight if their stomach becomes smaller?

The truth: Using starvation to control obesity is a total failure!

Although we usually love to procrastinate, we get anxious when we want to lose weight! So, the first way is to skip meals and try to "starve" our stomachs in a short period of time. The first day is not so difficult, after all, there is still food in the stomach, plus everyone has a strong belief when they first start to lose weight. Except for the pain of watching others eat, the first 24 hours are not particularly difficult. But the more time passes, the more you can feel what it means to be "starved". Moreover, when you are not losing weight, there are many things you want to do every day; but once you start to lose weight, there is only one word left in your mind: eat.

Even though I had switched from starvation to cucumber and tomato diet on the third day, the feeling of hunger, anxiety, sadness and grievance still followed me like a shadow, and I wanted to search through boxes and cabinets for food. After I recovered, I looked at the instant noodles, boiled eggs, ham sausage and potato chips I had eaten, and fell into deep self-blame...

Experts say

The stomach is a storage organ, and the gastric mucosa is indeed ductile. Long-term fullness will increase the stomach capacity, and long-term hunger will shrink the gastric mucosa and reduce the appetite. However, long-term hunger has many harmful effects, such as disrupting the rhythm of gastrointestinal function and even causing hypoglycemia.

Our body is like a bank. When it finds that its daily income - the food it eats - is less, it can only reduce its expenditure. In addition to maintaining the body's necessary functions, other operations should be suspended as much as possible - hair loss, anemia, menstruation running away from home, malnutrition, etc. will follow.

There is something even more heartbreaking: if you starve yourself to lose weight, you will gain it back faster. Moreover, if you diet crazily for a long time, you will lose muscle quickly. It is easy to lose muscle, but it is difficult to gain muscle again. I suggest that you should not take this extreme method that hurts your body and tests your willpower.

Just doing aerobics but not building muscle?

The truth: If you accidentally reach a plateau, you have to change it!

Losing weight is inseparable from exercise, so running laps is easily targeted by everyone - it can be used for both offense and defense, and the pace is fast, which is like jogging, and slow, which is very suitable for "bad players". However, after running for nearly a month and seeing initial results, the plateau period - a huge mountain in weight loss - can't wait to appear.

Experts say

When losing weight, we do need to change the way we exercise. It is not advisable to only exercise aerobic exercise without building muscle. Everyone knows that aerobic exercise will consume fat, but there is another point that may be overlooked: a single long-term aerobic exercise will also consume muscle. If the muscle weight decreases, the basal metabolic rate will decrease.

We can try to add some muscle-building training. Anaerobic exercise has another more intuitive effect - making the body lines look better. In this way, even if the weight does not drop significantly, you will find that the flesh on your body is tighter and the body circumference is smaller. The good news is that as the muscles increase, the basal metabolic rate will also increase.

So, adjust your mindset, go all out, and bravely rush through the plateau! After climbing over this "mountain", you will continue to lose weight.

No need to exercise anymore after losing weight?

The truth: Is the battle over after losing weight? The test has just begun!

In the gym, when you grit your teeth and ask the coach how many seconds are left in the squat, and muddle through the burpees, while the guy next to you swings the battle rope and pushes the barbell, have you ever thought of something like this:

Are you letting me live? You are in such good shape, why do you still exercise every day!

In fact, a more accurate way to put this question might be: Why do we lose weight? And how do we maintain it after we lose weight?

Wanting to look good is just about appearance, what is more important is health.

Experts say

In life, many people start to lose weight with the mentality of "that's it once you lose weight", hoping to see quick results, even if it means a little more pain to the body. In fact, what losing weight teaches us is to maintain good living habits, exercise regularly, have a balanced diet, and eat less unhealthy food. While being beautiful, you also need to be healthy and happy!

Tips: Diet plans to help you manage your weight

The most important thing to do when following a diet plan that helps you control your weight is to eat a balanced diet. A healthy diet plan should meet the following requirements:

1. Pay attention to the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk and dairy products.

2. Choose lean meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts.

3. Choose foods that are lower in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugar.

4. Ensure daily calorie intake.

How should we choose and cook different kinds of food?

1. Fruit

Fresh, frozen or canned fruits are all good choices. In addition to the common apples and bananas, you can also try mango, pineapple or kiwi. It is best to choose fresh fruits in season. When they are not in season, try frozen, canned or dried fruits. It should be noted that dried and canned fruits may contain added sugar or syrup, so the intake should be controlled.

2. Vegetables

Try to choose relatively healthy cooking methods, with less oil and less salt. Eating vegetables raw or cooked is more beneficial to the body. Some foods have different nutritional components when eaten raw or cooked. For example, tomatoes contain lycopene, so if you want to take it, you should eat it cooked, but if you need to take vitamin C, eating it raw will be more effective. At the same time, the choice of vegetables should also be diversified, and you can try a new vegetable every week.

3. Calcium-containing foods

In addition to fat-free low-fat milk, consider unsweetened low-fat and fat-free yogurts. They come in many flavors and can be great dessert alternatives.

4. Meat

If your favorite meal requires frying, try switching to healthier cooking methods, such as baking or grilling, or even trying dried beans in place of the meat.

Healthy eating is all about balance. You can enjoy your favorite foods even if they are high in calories, fat, or sugar. The key is to eat them occasionally and balance them with healthier foods and more physical activity. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing these comfort foods:

1. Reduce the frequency of consumption from daily to once a week or once a month.

2. Reduce the amount of food you eat. For high-calorie foods such as chocolate bars, reduce the amount you eat from a whole piece to a smaller piece or just half a piece.

3. Try low-calorie foods. Use low-calorie ingredients or cook food in different ways. For example, if a recipe contains whole milk, butter and whole-fat cheese, try using skim milk, a small amount of butter, low-fat cheese, fresh spinach and tomatoes. Even so, do not increase the amount of food you eat by changing the ingredients. (People's Health Network compiled from Healthy China, People's Network-Popular Science China)