As I wrote here , as a child I was obese. So I went on a diet, very simply, but against my parents’ advice, no one took me to a dietician.

But if I were overweight today, what would I do? If I had more than ten kilos to dispose of, I would look for a good dietician. I would not rely on any DIY diet, but I would aim for a personalized diet.

And here comes the beauty: but what does “personalized diet” mean?

PERSONALIZED DIET: WHAT IT MEANS

Personalized, let’s start there. Let’s focus on this word. What sets it apart? What makes it so that I have to eat differently from others, while respecting a healthy and correct diet? If it is personalized, it means that it is a tailor-made diet for us.

It is not a tradable diet, it is a diet that aims to feed us, who may have nutritional deficiencies, allergies, particular digestive problems, hormones that behave in a certain way and not just a sex, a weight or a ‘age. This is why the central figure of our weight loss is a good doctor.

Not the one that only measures our weight.

The one who asks us for analyzes and knows how to interpret them according to a food program to be provided to us. You may not know it, but being overweight doesn’t mean you don’t have nutritional deficiencies. Nutritional deficiencies are an indication that our body is not receiving the right nutrition. And, paradoxically, it gets fat, because it converts what it doesn’t need into fat, while asking us what it needs.

TAILOR-MADE DIET: FEATURES

A personalized diet must take into account not only our physical conformation , but also our history, our habits, and what our blood tells about us, what our hormones and our appearance tell about us. If we therefore rely on a dietician, here are the things we need to inform him about in order to have a personalized diet plan.

1. How many diets have we done and when was the last time we went on a diet.

   This information is very important. A person who has never been on a diet in their life will have a better chance of losing weight on a diet done for the first time. Things get complicated if, on the other hand, before getting to the doctor, we have scrambled our metabolism. For example, if the doctor gives us bread, pasta and rice, he should know that the week before we stopped Dukan, or any other carbohydrate-free diet.

2. What are our problems with food.

   It is useless to go to the doctor and tell him, “Doctor, I eat very little, I don’t understand why I weigh so much”, because in 99% of cases it will be false. We don’t have to make a good impression on the doctor, we have to tell him the truth. When we eat too much (that is, if in the evening, outside the home, etc.) and why (if we are depressed, stressed). What are the foods we can’t give up.

3. Other symptoms that may be signs of a health problem.

   Loss of energy, fatigue, intestinal problems, headaches, insomnia. It is good to tell the dietician, who can prescribe, as a doctor, additional tests.

   Finally, let’s say there are some problems with the diet that your doctor has given you.
   For example, you don’t like certain foods, or you don’t have breakfast in the morning and so on.
   The more feasible the diet plan seems to you for the long term, the better.
   The doctor in this case must take into account the risk of abandoning the diet.
   Because the advantage of a tailor-made diet is to increase the chances of making us lose weight permanently.

See also: maintenance diet, what it is and characteristics.