PERMANENT WEIGHT LOSS: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?

The first study I am talking about is precisely the one mentioned in the introduction. Psychologist Traci Mann of the University of Minnesota, who has studied the problem for twenty years, says that only a very small portion of the population can maintain their weight or target weight for years. According to the expert, in fact, the key to having an average weight without gaining weight is not the scale, whose weight fluctuations are impossible to fight forever, but health.

Eating a healthy and proper diet reduces the risk of being overweight.
But putting yourself on a diet to achieve a healthy weight and then thinking about maintaining it for life according to the researcher is a utopia.

A second , very detailed study, which appeared in 2004 and developed by the US Institute of Medicine, explains that most people regain the weight they lost within 3-5 years of stopping the diet.

Those who manage to maintain their weight for life, on the other hand, account for an estimated 2 to 10% of the world population.

The strategies offered by the researchers to avoid regaining weight but indeed maintain the results for life are the following.

• Maintain the new weight for at least 1-2 years for the body to adjust to the new weight achieved.
• Adhere to the maintenance diet.
• Learn how portions work ( read here to find out )
• Cooking lighter with lower calorie alternatives
• Eat much more vegetables and fruits than other foods
• Avoid eating out often
• Exercise from half an hour to an hour every day, for a total of calories lost as a weekly average which must go from 2500 for women to about 3000 for men.

To these recommendations are added those of a study by the Karolinska Institute , which instead traced the identikit of the person who manages to maintain weight forever. According to the researchers, this person must learn, in addition to what is described, the following skills.

• Knowing how to manage stress and eliminate everything that is frustrating and negative wherever possible.
• Lead an active life by incorporating, in addition to physical activity, walking with others, hiking, or even being at home more upright than sitting.
• Check your body weight periodically, for example, if we are on maintenance, at least once or twice a month.
• Act immediately in case you notice an extra pound.
• Have regular meals.
• Avoid forms of obsessive control that can trigger hunger.
• Limit yourself to snacking on vegetables and / or fruit.