Maintaining a healthy weight is important to reduce the risk of various health problems. One of the main points for this is the care with food, along with healthy lifestyle habits, such as the practice of physical activities.
So, nutritional assistance, made by experts, is essential. This, because the correct accompaniment helps to organize a diet that goes far beyond the weight, after all, the feeding does not only have to do with the number of the scale, but also with the correct functioning of the body.
Thus, those who are wanting or need to reduce a few pounds need to bet on food reeducation and forget about fad diets once and for all – in addition to not having effective and lasting results in body measurements, they are surrounded by possible health risks.
Better understand the importance of having experts in nutrition to lose weight in health:
Contents
How to make a healthy weight loss diet?
Having a healthy diet, contrary to what many people think, is not difficult and does not have to be expensive. A few simple changes in daily life are enough to make meals more balanced – and all without suffering.
For the World Health Organization (WHO), healthy eating is one that values the variety of foods, has harmony between quality and quantity, values natural foods and is sanitary safe.
That is, eating well refers to colorful, tasty, affordable and, of course, nutritionally rich dishes.
Betting on a variety of fruits and vegetables, for example, is a great way to reach the daily indications of vitamin and mineral intake . Reducing industrialized products and making healthy exchanges also helps to ensure that proteins , carbohydrates and fats are ingested properly as well.
Often, only these measures are already capable of causing changes in the balance. But for those who really need to lose weight, there is no secret: nutritional monitoring and dietary reeducation.
To lose weight in health, you need to stay away from popular diets on the internet and menus that promise miracles in 3 or 5 days.
Reducing weight without causing damage to the body is possible – and in some cases, it is even important to improve or regain health – but there is a need for responsibility in this.
Thus, the guideline is that the diet needs to be adequate (this includes being possible too!).
This last characteristic is fundamental, after all, it is very difficult to stay in a routine of poor nutritional meals or that make the person feel hungry – and may also trigger other problems, both physical and psychological.
Why doesn’t everyone lose weight on the same diet?
A number of factors must be taken into account when drawing up an eating plan.
The objective of dietary change is very important to assist in the choices – remembering that the diet can be part of a medical treatment (reducing cholesterol, for example), it can be to lose weight, to put on weight or to have no direct relationship with weight, only to take better care of your health.
But if the goal of reducing measures is considered, it is still common for people to wonder why not everyone loses weight on the same diet. It is that story: someone copies the menu of a friend, and even doing everything very similar, the results are quite different.
Along with this, there is another important point: the emotional or psychological aspect of food. The same diet can be extremely complex to be followed by one person, but it can be simple and bring more well-being to another.
This is because each person has individualities, specificities and needs that can vary, as explained by nutritionist Camila Machado. “That is why the food plan of one does not serve the other, both in matters of physiological need, as well as adherence, routine, preferences and experiences”.
Considering all this, the results are more promising – either due to the effectiveness of weight loss, or because of the ease in adhering to dietary change.
For Camila Machado, “an eating plan always seeks to include food, not to exclude, and to include pleasure when eating. It also takes into account the affective memory, as it is worked on eating behavior, and the dynamics of food groups. ”
Therefore, anyone who still thinks that in order to lose weight in health should restrict several foods – or, worse, go hungry – is well mistaken (a). Because the objective of nutritional monitoring is to develop an adequate, simple and functional routine – very different from those rigid and difficult to follow menus.
Rigid diet vs. flexible diet: is there a better one to lose weight?
It is not uncommon to see very rigid menus promising a few pounds less on the scale. This type of diet is usually well delimited – that is, with pre-defined quantities and foods, so that meals should be strictly eaten according to the meal plan.
Flexible diets are, in general, those in which there is the possibility of making exchanges, which are combined with the nutritionist based on some criterion.
For example, it is possible to exchange a portion of food for another of the same nutritional value, the same calorie amount or the same food group.
So, it is clear that they are two distinct food forms, not necessarily one better than the other.
It is often easier and more appropriate for some people to follow more rigid plans, knowing exactly what to eat. Others, on the other hand, may often find it easier to adopt flexible menus, where food exchanges are allowed.
Thus, Camila Machado points out that “the diet plan most suitable for the patient is one that he can adhere to and maintain constancy, therefore, he must take into account social, physiological, environmental aspects and preferences”.
In addition, the nutritionist explains that it is important that the elaborated menu promotes awareness that, in general, it is not necessary to exclude anything in order to have a healthy diet or to lose weight – this is the so-called moderation.
What are the risks of radical diets and without professional monitoring?
It is not difficult to meet someone who, when deciding to lose weight, bet on ready-made menus or fad diets. Despite being so common, the behavior generally does not bring the desired results – even worse, it can involve serious health risks.
This is because there is a difficulty in maintaining the menu. Generally, radical diets exclude much of the food, even those rich in nutrients. This causes food sources to be restricted – both in quantity and quality.
Thus, it happens that in most cases people cut more than half of their food, drastically (and unhealthily) reducing calories and other important nutrients.
That is why it is so common to feel unwell when starting fad diets – which, consequently, poses health risks.
Camila Machado points out that “when you go on a diet without accompaniment, there is a very wide range of food restrictions, full of“ can’t ”, and this keeps the individual from having a good relationship with food”.
It is worth emphasizing that eating is not only an act of nourishing the body, but also full of cultural, affective and social meanings. For this reason, diets without professional help can have a very generalized reverse effect, affecting all these spheres of life.
Another point to be taken into account is that many people are deceived by the promises of accelerated weight loss (like those diets that promise fewer numbers on the scale in just 5 days).
“Weight loss is about decreasing the amount of fat stored in the body. In the most restrictive protocols caught on the internet, what is lost in the first days is water. For this reason, the number is reduced so quickly, but that does not mean that you have reduced the amount of fat in your body ”, says the nutritionist.
Why don’t restrictive diets lose weight?
The promise of quick weight loss in a short time is very tempting for many people. In two weeks, sometimes in just 5 or 3 days, some menus promise to eliminate extra pounds.
However, as nutritionist Camila Machado points out, what usually happens is a reduction in body fluids, and not necessarily fat.
But there is another very important point to be considered: the ability to persist in changing food.
Camila indicates that, with a drastic reduction in the amount of food eaten, the person “loses weight (not necessarily fat) but is unable to maintain the diet. He goes hungry, ends up discounting on caloric foods, gets frustrated. The consequence is regaining weight ”.
That is why it is worth investing in dietary reeducation, so that it is continued and generates effective weight loss results with physical and mental health.
What aspects are taken into account when setting up a diet?
The consultation with nutrition professionals will enable the development of a balanced diet plan capable of meeting the needs of the patient. In addition, it will be a work together to reach the routine that brings health and well-being.
That is why consultation with nutritionists is so important. To lose weight, gain weight, take care of your health, have more well-being or any other goal, it is not enough to follow a menu that promises to include healthy foods.
It is necessary to consider the social, biological, psychological, affective and cultural context of each person. It is necessary to understand the dynamics of food and how it relates to food, so that the change is beneficial and generates the desired results.
“Each nutritionist has his / her consultation dynamics, there is no right and wrong, but in general, the idea is to get as much information from the patient as possible so that the plan adapts to his / her routine and needs. ”, Points out Camila Machado.
It is possible to lose weight with health, betting on a balanced, nutritious and adequate diet. Taking care of what is put on the plate is a way of taking care of yourself.
The Healthy Minute, together with nutrition experts, brings information about health and food!
Consulted sources
- Camila Machado (CRN: 12313) – graduated in Nutrition from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR), Specialization in progress in Weight Loss and Metabolism at Faculdade Uniguaçu;
- Food Guide , Ministry of Health;
- Healthy Eating , PAHO / WHO.
