Month Two: Happy Weight Loss - Bonus Calories and Avoiding Hunger
Having read the previous units, you should now have a good understanding of how to control your calorie intake, find suitable exercise, and improve your lifestyle to achieve your weight control goals. To help you better utilize this weight loss knowledge and make weight loss less painful, this section introduces some new concepts. You'll be surprised to find that controlling your diet no longer means sacrificing your appetite or starving yourself. Even if you frequently eat out or attend social events, you can still eat with peace of mind through certain control techniques.
Of course, this article still provides some specific and practical tips on how to exercise effectively and change lifestyle habits, which can help you become a true slim designer as soon as possible.
**Month Two: Happy Weight Loss Diet Plan**
**■Bonus Calories**
I've interacted with and counseled countless obese individuals, many of whom frequently complained, "I gained weight without eating much!" or "Actually, I eat very little at each meal! But I still keep gaining weight." After reviewing their 24-hour food diary entries for one to two weeks, it's easy to see that "Rome wasn't built in a day," and everything has a cause and effect. Some people, while not eating much, choose high-calorie foods, such as high-fat, high-sugar pastries or fried foods.
The worst part is that these high-calorie foods often taste and feel delicious, making it incredibly difficult to quit once you're hooked. Therefore, even though experts repeatedly teach people how to identify and avoid these foods, sometimes excessive restraint in satisfying cravings can make some overweight individuals who previously enjoyed these fragrant, crispy, and overly sweet foods feel like life has lost its joy. They might even feel "crazy" when faced with the temptation of others eating these foods!
To make the weight loss process more humane, we have specially proposed the "bonus calories" design, which allows obese friends who like certain high-calorie foods to have the opportunity to satisfy their cravings "occasionally" without causing weight gain.
As the name suggests, "bonus calories" are extra calories. According to the law of conservation of matter, to have bonus calories, you need to have the concept of "saving" them. Asking you to allocate 500 calories from your daily reduced calorie intake as the price for eating two pieces of fried chicken might make you feel unbearably hungry. However, by adjusting your food distribution plan, simply reduce your calorie intake by 80-100 calories per day for 6 days. Then, save those 500-600 bonus calories for Sunday to treat yourself to a delicious meal and satisfy your cravings. Wouldn't that make your weight loss process less "miserable"?
Actually, reducing your daily calorie intake by 80-100 calories is very simple. Just replace whole milk with skim milk to accumulate 60 calories of bonus calories; eat 1/4 to 1/3 less bowl of rice to gain 80 calories. However, be careful, although you can use these bonus calories to enjoy the foods you like, you "cannot" use up all the bonus calories you've saved "more than a week" at once, as this could ruin your weight loss plan!
In addition, the bonus calories saved each day should not exceed 10% of the recommended daily calorie intake. Some people try to eat a lot on one or two days of the week and try to accumulate bonus calories. As a result, the calorie intake is too low for several days, which causes the metabolic rate to drop. Because the calorie intake is concentrated on one or two days, the high calorie intake will be converted into body weight in a much higher proportion than usual under the physiological condition of low metabolic rate.
Finally, a reminder: while consuming fewer calories is certainly a way to accumulate bonus calories, don't forget that doing more exercise and burning more calories is also a way to accumulate bonus calories!
**■Away from the Hunger Challenge**
The feeling of hunger is perhaps the most difficult part of the weight loss process. Therefore, if you can reduce the feeling of hunger, the chances of reaching your target weight will greatly increase.
The reason people feel hungry is mainly based on a natural physiological response: when the amount of nutrients (glucose) in the blood that can be burned is insufficient, the physiological mechanism automatically notifies the hunger center in the brain, causing a feeling of hunger. However, "hunger" is only the most direct feeling when blood sugar drops, and does not mean that the body's energy has been depleted. Even if you don't eat, the body's physiological mechanisms will find their own way, seeking help from glycogen and adipose tissue stored in the liver and muscles, as well as protein in the muscles.
However, it takes time for these fuels to be converted into blood sugar. If blood sugar drops drastically due to strenuous exercise or some other reason and energy needs to be replenished urgently, there is a risk of dizziness or even fainting due to insufficient energy.
Overcoming the challenge of hunger can be divided into two levels: first, how to minimize the feeling of hunger, because once hunger becomes unbearable, it is difficult to overcome the craving for food; second, how to endure the feeling of hunger without becoming weak in the limbs, dizzy, or experiencing lightheadedness, thus avoiding the danger of low blood sugar.
It's undeniable that it's almost impossible to maintain a feeling of complete fullness during weight loss. Feeling a little hungry is inevitable. The key is to keep this feeling of hunger within the safe range of the body's physiological functions and minimize the feeling of hunger.
In addition, people who consistently have large appetites experience an increase in stomach capacity due to the constant presence of food. This necessitates a larger intake of food for the satiety receptors located in the stomach wall to transmit the satiety signal back to the brain. Over time, this leads to a persistent feeling of hunger unless sufficient food is consumed, resulting in a consistently large appetite and making weight loss difficult. However, training oneself to tolerate slight hunger and eating only until 70% full can gradually reduce stomach capacity, decrease food intake, and decrease the frequency of hunger pangs, thus making weight loss easier.
Now, let's learn some tips on how to overcome the challenge of hunger.
Small, frequent meals
The term "small amount" means eating until the feeling of hunger disappears. Most people tend to eat until they are "full" or even "very full" before stopping. While eating until "very full" makes it less likely to feel hungry before the next meal, if you always eat until you're completely stuffed, your stomach will be stretched out. Over time, it will be difficult to feel full once you stop eating that much food. To change this, reduce the amount of food at each meal and add a snack between meals (such as afternoon tea). Eat a little more when you feel slightly hungry, and the feeling of hunger will disappear, preventing you from going hungry until the next meal.
Eating small, frequent meals gradually reduces your food intake. Furthermore, because the intervals between meals are shorter, blood sugar levels don't fluctuate wildly, and intense hunger pangs don't occur when blood sugar drops. For people with diabetes or at high risk of developing diabetes, small, frequent meals can also slow the progression of the disease and prevent its onset.
*Eat more high-fiber foods
Dietary fiber absorbs water and expands in volume, and it also prolongs the time food stays in the stomach (extending gastric emptying time), thus effectively reducing hunger. However, excessive fiber intake should not be excessive, as too much fiber may affect the absorption rate of certain nutrients such as calcium and iron.
So, how can we increase our fiber intake?
Cook rice using brown rice or whole grains instead of white rice.
If you are not used to the texture of brown rice or whole grains, you can adjust it gradually. For example, in the first week, add brown rice or whole grains in a 1:3 ratio and mix it with white rice; in the second week, adjust it to 1:2; and in the third week, adjust it to 1:1.
Increase vegetable intake
Replace fruit juice with vegetable juice as a side drink. Use a juicer instead of a blender to make vegetable juice, as this will increase your fiber intake.
Replace white bread with whole wheat or multigrain bread.
While whole wheat or multigrain bread doesn't have much less calories than white bread, it's rich in fiber, which can increase satiety.
* Take some fiber supplements with meals or between meals.
Fiber supplements usually indicate their fiber content, and the recommended intake is 3-5 grams per serving. It's important to note that fiber supplements must be taken with plenty of water (approximately 5 grams of fiber supplement to 200-250 ml of water).
Do some exercise before dinner.
Most people tend to eat a more substantial dinner to reward themselves for a hard day's work. Since there's often a long gap between lunch and dinner, the feeling of hunger can also lead to overeating. After dinner, most people sit down to watch TV, then shower and go to bed. The result? With low energy expenditure during physiological activities, almost all the food consumed is stored as weight. Over time, it's no wonder they gain weight!