Rapid weight changes and a demanding diet can lead to the yo-yo effect. What rules should be followed to safely lose weight?
As numerous studies show, as many as 90% of people on reduction diets return to their previous eating habits and gain weight again once they have finished. Interestingly, this effect can lead not only to the return of excessive weight, but also to the gain of a few extra pounds that were not there before the diet. This phenomenon is popularly known as the yo-yo effect. This process is particularly noticeable several months after the end of the diet, when a person, encouraged by the effects of reduction, slowly returns to previous eating habits. The starved body accumulates more fat reserves, thereby increasing body weight. As experts emphasize, the process of weight loss can be completed with good results without the yo-yo effect, but it is necessary to follow some of the most important rules, both during the conduct of the diet and after its completion.
The most important rule when losing weight is to choose the right diet. Before starting it, it is a good idea to go to a doctor and thoroughly examine your entire body. This will give the dietician a general overview of the state of health, as well as the needs of the body. The data provided will allow the selection of an optimal dietary process that will provide the body with the necessary micronutrients and nutrients, while reducing caloric requirements. A properly prepared diet also includes an introduction, which will prepare the body to systematically reduce the calories supplied, and a stabilization stage, in which the body will be able to cope with the new system of daily nutrition.
Even the best diet will not produce the desired results without oxygenation of the muscles. Regular physical activity provides the body with the oxygen it needs to burn fat, protein and carbohydrates. What’s more, regular exercise helps speed up weight loss and improves the body’s respiratory capacity. If you are dieting, you do not necessarily need to start a gym or intense physical training. A longer walk twice a week, a short jog a few times a week or a weekly visit to the pool will suffice.
This rule applies to strict reduction diets lasting one to two weeks. Diets that cleanse the body of harmful toxins or juice diets of all kinds also have a similar duration. Such diet regimes can help you shed a few pounds in a short period of time, but the yo-yo effect easily occurs once you return to regular dieting. For this reason, experts say that a balanced diet to produce long-term results should last at least a few months or even a year. Under this regime, you can lose about a kilogram per month, but in the long run, weight loss is safer for the body and more effective.
main photo: unsplash.com/Szabolcs Toth
