For obese individuals, losing weight is not just a matter of aesthetics, but a necessity from the point of view of health. Reducing body fat is important in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as controlling cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
No weight normalization is required to achieve these goals. It is important to educate the obese patient that even small losses, such as 5% of body weight, already bring great health benefits.
The treatment of obesity requires a combination of three factors: diet, exercise and changes in lifestyle. Eventually, it becomes necessary to use remedies to lose weight. In more severe cases, bariatric surgery may be indicated.
Slimming or fattening can be predicted by a simple arithmetic account: calories spent - calories ingested. If the calorie balance is positive, that is, if we ingest more calories than we spend, we will gain weight. If the balance is negative, that is, if we spend more calories than we consume, we will lose weight. That simple.
Calorie expenditure depends on our degree of physical activity. Already the calorie consumption depends on the type of diet. Therefore, the role of diet in weight loss should be to provide the best quality of foods with the least amount of calories, so that at the end of the day the patient has spent more calories than consumed.
You may feel tempted by fad diets that promise quick and easy weight loss. The reality, however, is that there are no magical foods or fast diets. Fad diets may help in the short term, but the long-term results are not satisfactory, making you present the famous accordion effect.
A diet to be effective should provide fewer daily calories than the patient spends, while maintaining a limit of at least 800 calories per day. You can even lose weight on a radical diet, but you will likely get it back when the diet is suspended. To lose weight, and maintain it, you have to adopt healthy eating habits that you can maintain over time.
It is very difficult to lose weight in the long run only with diet. As we lose weight, fewer calories our body needs to spend throughout the day. If the patient does not increase their calorie expenditure with exercise, diet alone will not take him too far.
Let's talk next of some types of diet recommended by doctors.
When planning a diet to lose weight is necessary to first establish the amount of calories desired and then select a range of foods that meet this proposal. It is important to cut down on calories, but it is essential to eat foods with adequate nutrients, such as protein, carbohydrates and fats (yes, there are good fats.).
Thinking of cutting calories without cutting out the quality of the meal, diets for weight reduction should eliminate alcohol, soft drinks and sweets because these are high calorie and do not contain adequate amounts of other nutrients.
Some foods, such as desserts, sweets, fats and processed foods, have a high energy density. This means that a small volume of food contains a large number of calories. In contrast, other foods, such as fruits and vegetables, have low energy density. These foods even in larger portions have fewer calories. That means you can eat bigger portions, quench hunger, and still eat fewer calories.
The daily calorie intake indicated in these diets is 1000 to 1200 for women and 1200 to 1600 for men. To plan a low calorie diet requires the help of a nutritionist and / or endocrinologist.
Most people do not know and can not control calorie consumption without help. Jobs with obese patients show that they always underestimate by more than 20% the amount of calories they eat throughout the day. It is not uncommon to find obese people who swear to eat very little. However, whenever a dietitian is able to report on the diet of these patients, it is clear that there are several errors in eating and an exaggerated consumption of calories.
Low-fat diet is another common strategy to help patients lose weight. Currently a reduction in daily fat intake is recommended, so that a maximum of 30% of the calories are from fat. That means about 30g of fat in every 1000 calories eaten. Again, professional help is necessary for a correct calculation of portions.
It is important to remember that there are healthier fats, such as polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats. You should always avoid unhealthy fats such as saturated fats and trans fat.
The type of carbohydrate consumed greatly influences weight loss. There are less healthy carbohydrates, high in fat and calories, such as sweets, desserts and soda. Carbohydrates of fruits, vegetables and grains are healthy because they contain little concentration of fats and calories. The latter are considered carbohydrates with low glycemic index.
Diets with low and very low concentrations of carbohydrates are more effective in the short term for weight loss than low-fat diets, although in the long run there is no big difference.
An important observation is that a drastic reduction in carbohydrate intake decreases fluid retention, causing the patient to lose weight without necessarily having lost weight in the first few days.
Low-carbohydrate diets may have other beneficial effects, such as reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus and heart disease.
If a low-carbohydrate diet is the option, healthy choices for fat (mono and polyunsaturated) and protein (fish, nuts, legumes and chicken) should be encouraged because of the association between saturated fat intake and risk of disease cardiovascular.
Some popular diets recommend a high protein intake associated with low intake of carbohydrates and fats. In the short term this type of diet is effective for weight loss. The most famous protein diet at the moment is the so-called Dukan diet.
The high consumption of protein in the diet increases the production of acids by the body, which in turn increases the urinary excretion of calcium, with potential risk of bone loss and formation of calcium calculations. This diet also carries a risk of increased cholesterol.
About 39% of women and 21% of men in Western countries have already tried to lose weight and approximately 24% of women and 8% of men report that they are currently on a diet.
Hypocaloric diets are currently the most commonly used to induce weight loss.
Regardless of the type of diet chosen, the patient should keep in mind that it is necessary to change eating habits. No one can keep "on a diet to lose weight" for a long time. Therefore, healthy eating needs to become the patient's natural diet. Foods with high caloric density, high glycemic carbohydrates and trans and saturated fats should be eliminated from the patient's usual diet.
The most important thing is to learn to have a balanced diet, without excess of calories, and to practice physical exercises.
