Losing weight: basic concepts.

Diets

Every year, just before the summer, magazine adverts for diets are a big hit. And every year, thousands of people flock to fitness centres and start a "diet" in the hope of looking their best on the beach in July or August.

Is it really realistic to think that all the excesses of the year can be eliminated in just a few weeks, thanks to a bit of sport and a 'miracle' diet? (sometimes even without doing any sport)

No, miracle diets don't exist! Yet every year we are offered different diets. But ask yourself why it's different every year. If it really was the best diet in the world, we wouldn't need to change it every year.

And yet it gets a lot of people moving... that's probably the good thing.

But what most people want isn't to lose weight, it's to look good in the mirror! So the real question is: "Will losing 3 kilos change my figure? No, it won't. Many people go on diets because, on holiday, they let themselves go on a diet of food and drink, and tell themselves that if they lose a few kilos, they might just go back to their original weight after the holidays. But while these miracle diets can still help you lose weight, if you stop them (because you can't eat unbalanced food all year round), you'll put the weight back on just as quickly. Sometimes you even put back on more weight than you lost. As a result, after the holidays, you're often worse off than before you started the diet.

It's important to distinguish between temporary weight loss and lasting weight loss. Losing weight is not difficult, you just have to stop eating, but look at the people who are at the end of a hunger strike. They still have fat, but no muscle. What we generally want is to lose fat. You are what you eat! If you follow any kind of diet, you'll get results. But will you be able to keep to this diet all year round without experiencing cravings or deep frustration?

So the long-term solution is to control your diet all year round so that you don't have to rush into anything just before the summer. Controlling your diet also means weighing your food, knowing what you eat and the calories it adds to your body, and knowing the protein, carbohydrate and fat content of each food you eat.

In short, it won't be that easy at first. However, as you monitor your diet, habits will develop both in terms of your knowledge of foods and your body's reactions to them. Once you've acquired these habits, controlling your diet will no longer be difficult. You just have to manage to acquire this lifestyle, to impose your will on your body.

Of course, there's a big difference between drying out and losing weight. Drying means only losing fat with as little muscle loss as possible. And that's actually what a lot of people want, because it looks good in the mirror. On the other hand, drying out requires more discipline and organisation. But controlling your diet is the only sustainable long-term solution.

We'll develop this idea further below.

What does it mean to control your diet ?

Controlling means being present at every stage of the diet, but also every minute of the day, because for optimum results, the diet must be combined with training. When we talk about discipline for a slimming diet, we're really talking about a constant effort. Effort to eat at specific times and often outside normal hours, effort to train regularly, effort not to succumb to the suggestions of those around you, organisational effort to put everything in place... and so on.

This also means that you need to listen and be aware of the reactions you might have in any given situation, and try not to find yourself in a situation where you might break down: surround yourself with people who won't tempt you, with sportsmen and women. If all you hear around you is criticism and jealousy, you won't want to continue. There's always a tendency to mimic those around you. Being dry requires a will that can be destroyed or reinforced by the environment in which you live. The choice is yours...

So, anything that will help you take another step towards your goal is welcome. If you set yourself an achievable goal, set a date for reaching that goal, surround yourself with people who can encourage you, and take pleasure and confidence in seeing yourself progress by having yourself measured, then you'll overcome many of the difficulties in reaching your goal !

Diet: until when ?

This question is often asked: "Will I have to go on a diet for the rest of my life if I want to stay fit ?

The answer is simple: you are what you eat...

However, you'll need to decide how your body should look most of the time, so define a "base body" when you're not dieting. This will allow you to manage and ensure that you can occasionally take a break.

For example, a woman weighing 68 kilos who imposes a diet on herself to get to 56 kilos. To achieve this, she didn't make any compromises, and perhaps put part of her social life on hold, but in the end, after a while, she achieved her goal.

She decided to go back to going to restaurants and going out from time to time.

If she doesn't want to regain the 12 kilos she's lost, she'll have to set herself a limit: For example: When her weight reaches 58 kilos, i.e. 2 kilos above her best weight, she will have to resume her strict diet, just long enough to lose a little more. As long as she stays below her self-imposed weight limit, not only will she be able to have the body she wants, but she'll also be able to enjoy her little 'deviations' while managing her figure.

It's a good way of managing your diet, your figure and your social life.

Yves Bondroit coach for QNT