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What is the best way to lose weight? How to lose 5 kilos? What foods help you lose weight? What are the workouts that burn the most calories? Google's 'sneak' does not deceive. At this point of the year, we become obsessed with the idea of losing the most weight, in the shortest time and, if possible, with the least effort. We don't care how 'murky' the method may be or how dangerous the diet may be. Any 'shortcut' serves us if it leads us, even if it is fleeting and short-term, to reach our goal despite the fact that the cost may be higher than we think: our health.

"Losing weight is not a matter of haste; It involves a change of habitand is a long-term investment in our health. It's not just about eating well, but how we spend the energy we consume in the form of calories through movement, getting adequate rest, and controlling our stress levels. Many people still have the concept that they want to lose weight to look good in the swimsuit. They are not aware that this involves effort. There are no magic formulas and, if there are, they will have some contraindication, for sure. Therefore, it is very important to ask ourselves what is the level of commitment that we are able to assume to introduce the changes we need in our lifestyle, "explains Enrique González, therapist in Precision Functional Nutrition with training in Biochemistry, Dietetics-Nutrition and Naturopathy.

In his opinion, "the 'disadvantage' of living in a country with a gastronomic culture like ours is that we believe that we eat well, although, sometimes, the combination of nutrients is not the most appropriate." To begin with, González points out that, whether we eat at home or outside, "we should know that we have to ensure a good proportion of macronutrients (proteins, fats and carbohydrates), raising the doses of one or the other based on the objectives that we want to achieve so that our body begins to 'understand' that it has to 'pull' other sources of energy different from the usual ones. "

This aspect, that of the metabolic flexibility that athletes work so well, is essential to achieve a balance in our diet. "We live in a society in which we cannot always be looking with a magnifying glass if what we eat is entirely healthy. However, our body, thanks to metabolic flexibility, should be able to take energy from different sources. That is, just as it gets immediate energy from fast-absorbing carbohydrates, it is also able to do so from fatty deposits or proteins."

The key to maintaining our weight and to 'train' that desired metabolic flexibility lies in breakfast. "We had a bad breakfast, because the main protagonists of our first meal of the day are sugars when this role should be reserved for proteins, the great absent in this intake. With which, we already start the day with a caloric excess and some peaks of blood glucose that will make us spend the day with the feeling of hunger and itching. All this ends up producing an imbalance of hormones that, in the end, will make us fat."

This specialist delves into his argument. "Simply by eliminating coffee, which is very exciting, and breakfast carbohydrates, changing them for some protein (egg or salmon) you can lose weight. The insulin peaks will not be so pronounced (their sudden rises are those that favor the accumulations of fat), we will not spend the morning snacking to cope with the lows and we will arrive at lunch with other desires. "

To better understand how our body uses carbohydrates and proteins as fuel to generate energy, he gives us a very graphic example. "Let's imagine we want to light a fireplace. We can do it with sticks and leaves. That way, we will get a very fast and explosive fire, but it will be consumed very quickly and we will have to be all the time throwing more sticks. This is precisely how hydrates work in our body. On the other hand, if we use a trunk (metaphor for proteins), it will take a little longer to burn, but its energy will be more constant, lasting and sustainable."

In this sense, he continues, he emphasizes that "all hormones can be connected to each other: when some go up others go down. The best known is insulin, involved in the management of sugars. A diet based on carbohydrates of rapid assimilation will cause that insulin to be compromised and that excess energy that is 'received' by the body, accumulates in the form of fat. "

To establish what diet a person should follow to lose weight, beyond studying and correcting their diet, González emphasizes the importance of making an orderly balance of their hormonal status. "Hormones, when you gain weight, are unbalanced and denote the existence of an underlying problem. Recovering that balance is going to be fundamental to ensure that this weight maintenance is sustainable."

STRESS LEVELS

He also emphasizes that, although it seems a lie, "many people who go on a diet do not notice the importance of the degree of stress they suffer during the day and how it influences their mission to lose weight. They do not manage to lose weight because a high degree of high cortisol, especially in the final stretch of the day, impairs the quality of their night's rest, preventing the proper functioning of ghrelin and leptin, hormones that are produced in the digestive system and are involved in the dissolution of fats. "

In this slimming, this specialist in Nutrition puts the accent on a point that, although it seems amazing, we forget. "Everyone has their genetics: tall, short, wide hips... Our bodies have certain characteristics, inherited from our ancestors; We can't look at unattainable models."

Therefore, "the goal should be to have a good lean structure that, it should be remembered, weakens with age due to the advance of sarcopenia and that is precisely what we have to avoid. In that mission, strength work in the gym plays an essential role. Having a good muscle mass will make our basal metabolic rate (the minimum energy we need to carry out our basic functions) higher and energy expenditure will be much higher even at rest and eating the same. It should also be noted that, no matter how much you 'feed' your muscle, you do not have to gain volume, but your density will increase and, therefore, you can weigh more. "

Collaborator of Longevitas Labs, Enrique González has no doubt that nutritional supplements are "an added plus to the basis of good healthy habits (food, physical activity, rest and control of emotions)". What would be the most appropriate for, within the framework of a plan designed by a professional, help us lose weight in a healthy way? "Of special interest are supplements that help us activate the metabolism of enzymes (responsible for breaking nutrients into particles that our body recognizes for proper absorption of them), such as magnesium, zinc or chromium. Also, those that increase the level of energy or those that help fight chronic inflammation and, in this sense, it should be remembered that obesity is an inflammatory process. And, of course, those that have an antioxidant action, known as 'fat burning' since they will make the fat adhered in different areas of the body begin to circulate, "he concludes.



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