The famous entertainment star Jia Ling posted on Weibo that she had "successfully lost 100 pounds" in more than a year, which quickly detonated the Internet. Many people start to ask for weight loss tutorials, some people are worried about excessive weight loss, and some people feel that it will aggravate body anxiety. Movie stars lose weight for the needs of the role, but is it worth emulating as ordinary people?
Do we really need to lose weight?
Whether you really need to lose weight, it is recommended to look at these 3 indicators:
BMI
BMI = weight (kg) height (m) ➗ squared. A BMI greater than 24 is considered overweight.
waistline
Women: A waist circumference ≥ 85cm is considered overweight
Men: A waist circumference of ≥90cm is considered overweight
Body fat percentage
Women: A body fat percentage of ≥30% is considered overweight
Men: A body fat percentage of ≥25% is considered overweight
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As long as it is within the normal range, it is a healthy body, and from a health point of view, there is no need to lose weight. I also hope that everyone will not blindly have body anxiety, a healthy body is the most beautiful.
Blind weight loss is not advisable
For the sake of her career, Jia Ling lost 100 pounds in 1 year while maintaining shooting, which sounds very inspirational. However, I want to remind everyone not to use extreme means to lose weight by surprise, otherwise you will be injured in the end. Losing weight too quickly can cause all sorts of problems, and there are many cases in the news.
Image source: Weibo screenshot
Losing weight too quickly leads to amenorrhea.
If short-term weight loss > 10%~15% of the standard body weight, it may lead to amenorrhea. Not having your period at this time is not an easy task, but it can be uncomfortable and frustrating.
Not eating carbs can lead to fatty liver
Too high in carbohydrates is one of the causes of obesity, but carbohydrates are essential. The normal energy supply of the human body is mainly carbohydrates, followed by fats. If you lose weight without eating carbohydrates for energy:
The body will first try to break down liver glycogen to increase blood sugar and energy, but the glycogen stores are enough to consume for a maximum of 1 day;
When glycogen is insufficient, the body tries to synthesize fat for energy, so the fat in the liver increases.
However, because the intake of protein is not enough to support energy expenditure and the protein required by various functions of the body - the transport protein is reduced, the fat in the liver cannot be transported out (which also leads to the increase of fat in the liver), and the enzyme protein is reduced, and the lipolysis will also be affected, and the fat is left.
If you don't eat carbohydrates for a long time, the liver will already accumulate a lot of fat, and then it will develop into fatty liver.
Dieting to lose weight can lead to hair loss
Excessive dieting can lead to nutrient deficiencies, and deficiencies in nutrients such as iron, vitamin B3, vitamin D, fatty acids, and selenium can all lead to hair loss.
Be in control of your own weight loss rhythm
Scientific weight loss must be relatively slow, and it needs to be adhered to for a long time, and the general weight loss rate of 0.5~2 pounds per week is within the normal range. However, it is recommended that you choose a reasonable speed according to your base weight, and do not set your goal to the highest at first.
In terms of diet, it is necessary to consume carbohydrates (i.e., what we call staple foods in our daily life), preferably non-highly processed rice and noodles, reduce fat intake, and increase the intake of high-quality protein, vegetables, and fresh fruits.
When it comes to dietary control, a very low energy diet (i.e., a diet with a total energy intake of less than 800 kcal per day) is not recommended without professional guidance.
In terms of exercise, it is recommended to have a certain intensity of aerobic exercise that engages large muscle groups, such as: walking, cycling, climbing, playing ball, jogging, dancing, swimming, rowing, skating, skiing and dancing. Step by step, do not have to exercise at high intensity, and mainly ensure the duration of exercise
For example:
If you plan to lose 2 kg in 1 month, i.e. 0.5 kg per week, you will need about 550 kcal of energy deficit per day.
Increased physical activity consumes 300 kcal. It is best to increase moderate-intensity physical activity for 1~1.5 hours or low-intensity physical activity for 2~3 hours per day.
In terms of diet, it is necessary to reduce 250 kcal per day, 1100 kcal per day for women and 1300~1500 kcal per day for men.
Usually it is difficult for us to lose weight so precisely, we can adjust it through the first two weeks: the amount of food can be gradually reduced to one-third of the previous one, and the exercise starts from jogging for 30 minutes ~ 1 hour every day.
Sticking to weight loss is really hard
Friends who often lose weight know that losing weight is a thing that is often picked up and often put down, and it is not easy to stick to it.
One is that our work and life often disrupt our weight loss plans, staying up late today and having a party tomorrow, and suddenly finding that weeks of perseverance are all in vain.
The second is that the more difficult and painful it is to lose weight. For example, when it comes to the bottleneck period of weight loss, no matter how hard you try, you can no longer lose 1 pound of weight, and it is easy to rebound when you relax a little. All of this is a big blow to our confidence in persevere.
So for yourself, or to your friends who are losing weight, please be more motivated and strive to embrace a healthier body.
bibliography
[1] Chen L, Lu Y, Zhou YF, et al. The effects of weight loss-related amenorrhea on women's health and the therapeutic approaches: a narrative review. Ann Transl Med. 2023; 11(2):132.
[2] Anekwe CV, Chandrasekaran P, Stanford FC. Ketogenic Diet-induced Elevated Cholesterol, Elevated Liver Enzymes and Potential Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Cureus. 2020; 12(1):e6605.
[3] Guo EL, Katta R. Diet and hair loss: effects of nutrient deficiency and supplement use. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2017; 7(1):1-10.
Planning and production
This article is a work of popular science China-Star Project
Produced by the Department of Science and Technology of the China Association for Science and Technology
Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Galaxy Culture Media Co., Ltd
Author丨Jiang Yongyuan, Master of Internal Medicine, Third Military Medical University
Review丨Zhang Yu, Researcher of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, MD
Tang Qin is the director and researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association
Planning丨Lin Lin