Losing 10 kilos: The 12 best tips

You look at yourself in the mirror, and your eyebrows frown: 5 years ago that belly wasn't there yet. And your hips were also much narrower. You get the oppressive feeling that you will only gain more weight in the future. Time to make a change before it's too late! You want to lose at least 10 kilos!

There are of course many diets and advice for a change in your lifestyle that promise you everything: lose 10 kilos of body fat in one month at most! Do you believe it yourself? In this article, I'm going to tell you why that just isn't technically possible, aside from the fact that it's very bad for your health.
There are of course a lot of diets and advice for a change in your lifestyle that promise you everything: lose 10 kilos of body fat in one month at the most! Do you believe it yourself? In this article, I'm going to tell you why that just isn't technically possible, aside from the fact that it's very bad for your health.

Losing 10 pounds is a very good goal, but do it slowly and don't be tempted by all the fantastic stories about crash diets with quick results. Believe me, it will not work in the long term, because you will inevitably have to deal with the well-known yo-yo effect. This means that over time you will regain the lost pounds, and often more.

To lose 10 pounds you should take a period of 3 to 6 months, depending on your abilities and your desire to change your lifestyle.

Losing 10 kilos and your calories

The principle of weight loss is basically very simple: To lose weight you have to eat less calories than your body uses. Your body then takes the remaining energy from your body fat, with the result that you lose weight. Of course there are many other things that come into play, such as your hormone level and what you eat, but in this article we will focus on the calories.
The principle of weight loss is basically very simple: To lose weight you have to eat less calories than your body uses. Your body then gets the remaining energy from your body fat, with the result that you lose weight. Of course there are many other things that come into play, such as your hormone level and what you eat, but in this article we will focus on the calories.

If you want to know more about the role of hormones in weight loss, read on: The role of hormones in weight loss

Let's do some math: To lose 1 kilo of body weight, you have to 'save' about 7700 calories. If we calculate, you would have to save 550 kilocalories every day and eventually lose half a kilo a week.

The amount of calories you need every day is highly dependent on gender, daily activities, level of sportsmanship, age and physical condition.

Just a practical example: A 35-year-old woman of 176 centimeters who weighs 87 kilos. It is clear that this is overweight. She would like to lose 10 pounds.

She sports about 1 hour a week, so she needs 2,300 kilocalories a day to maintain her current weight. Taking into account the aforementioned amount of calories per pound of body weight, she should eat no more than 1,750 kilocalories per day to end up losing 1 pound per week.

She then reaches the desired 10 kilos after a period of 20 weeks. In general, it is recommended not to lose more than half a kilo to one kilo per week.

An important basic rule: The slower, the more durable!
An important basic rule: The slower, the more sustainable!

The temptation is of course very great to reduce a lot of calories, in order to lose weight faster. You could bet a little lower, but never go below the limit of 1400 kilocalories for a woman and 1800 kilocalories for a man. Eating too few calories will inevitably result in a slower metabolism, loss of muscle mass, and ultimately the well-known yo-yo effect.

This brings me directly to the danger of crash diets. You know, those diets that promise you can lose 10 pounds a month. Let's also calculate this: 10 kilos per month equals 77,000 kilocalories. If we assume 30 days per month, you should save more than 2,500 kilocalories per day. And if you know that the normal need for calories (for adult men) is about 2,500 kilocalories, we can immediately conclude that this is impossible. Of course you will lose a lot of weight in the first month, but that is only loss of fluid and, at a later stage, of muscle mass. After that, the pace is gone, and you won't lose much anymore. You give up, after which you inevitably have to deal with the well-known yo-yo effect.
This brings me directly to the danger of crash diets. You know, those diets that promise you can lose 10 pounds a month. Let's also calculate this: 10 kilos per month equals 77,000 kilocalories. If we assume 30 days per month, you should save more than 2,500 kilocalories per day. And when you know that the normal need for calories (for adult men) is about 2,500 kilocalories, we can immediately conclude that this is impossible. Of course you will lose a lot of weight in the first month, but that is only loss of fluid and, at a later stage, of muscle mass. After that, the pace is gone, and you won't lose much anymore. You give up, after which you will inevitably have to deal with the well-known yo-yo effect.

Eating for a feeling of fullness

The moment you have adjusted your lifestyle to lose kilos, the feeling of hunger is the greatest danger. You always have times when your stomach starts to rumble, and you want (read: need) to eat something. It is precisely these moments that are the greatest danger to the success of your goal of losing 10 kilos.

In order to stay ahead of that annoying feeling of hunger, it is important that the food you eat not only has good nutritional value, but also makes you feel full. So avoid foods with a lot of calories and little content. Replace these with foods with fewer calories and higher nutritional value. Think of fruit, vegetables, broth. For that full feeling, you also need to replace the fast, usually refined, carbohydrates slow, unrefined, carbohydrates. In practice, you should then opt for, for example, whole grains such as wholemeal bread, brown rice and wholemeal pasta. In addition to the extra nutrients that are (still) in unrefined products, the fiber ensures a long-lasting feeling of fullness, the nutrients are absorbed more slowly by the body, so that you have a slow but long-lasting source of energy in your stomach, without your blood sugar being noticeable. responds. So no unnecessary storage of body fat either.

Do you want to know more about foods for feeling full longer? Then read on: 24 foods that keep you feeling full

Emphasize healthy fats and proteins. These also provide a long-lasting feeling of fullness. Longer than carbohydrates, for example. You will find a lot of protein in lean meat, poultry, fish, low-fat dairy, soy and beans.

To give you an idea of the amounts of protein: An egg contains about 6 grams of protein, a cup of milk contains 8 grams of protein, one and a half ounces of lean meat contains 22 grams of protein and the same amount of chicken fillet contains 26 grams.

Your Diet Strategy

So it is important to make the right choices. Not only the choice for healthy food, but also the choice for the times when you eat. In order to better distribute your energy throughout the day and to keep your hunger pangs at bay, it is important to spread your eating moments throughout the day. For example, eat three meals each, combined with 2 to 3 (healthy) snack moments. Keep each meal roughly the same size and make sure you eat foods that make you feel full. So make sure that your meal contains slow carbohydrates, healthy fats and sufficient protein. For example, always start from vegetables and / or fruit and supplement with proteins and / or whole grains.

To give you an idea, just an example from practice:

Make sure you avoid eating junk food. And I mean not only the junk food of the well-known fast food chains, but also the junk food that is available at the supermarkets in the form of soft drinks, cookies, cake, candy, and all those other processed, refined, foods. When it comes to drinking, water is always the best choice.

Do you want a free recipe book with a wealth of delicious weight loss recipes? Download Recipe Book

Exercise to burn fat

Any weight loss project should always be combined with exercise and sports. Although exercise and sports account for 'only' 25% of the weight loss, exercise is also a great support for your diet, so for the other 75%. So exercise is always necessary!

It would be ideal to set aside an hour to exercise 3 or 4 times a week. In any case, start with cardio exercise. Think of swimming, cycling, fast walking, water aerobics or jogging. Start slowly and slowly build up the duration and pace. Not only will you get in better shape, but the moment you are intensively engaged in your sport for half an hour or more, you will also burn calories.

One of the consequences of losing weight, ie burning fat, is losing muscle mass. Your body not only takes your body fat to compensate for the shortage of energy, but also looks for this energy in your muscle mass. The result: Loss of muscle mass.

You can compensate for this by working on your muscles. No, you definitely don't have to grow a six pack, but growing muscle mass would be a really good idea. Try to work through your routines two to three times a week, for example on the days you are not doing cardio training.

By growing muscle mass you not only strengthen the base of your body, but you also burn more and more calories. This is because muscles consume a lot of energy, even when they are at rest.

Sounds good, right ?: While you are sitting on the couch watching television, you still burn energy!

This means that, as muscle mass increases, you need to cut back on calories to lose weight.

The 12 best tips for a good start!

If you've ever tried to lose weight, you've probably noticed that everyone has good advice for you, everyone has a different experience with losing weight, and some lose weight faster than other. One says that if you stop eating after 7 p.m. you will lose weight very quickly, the other says they've lost 5 pounds by simply eating once a day. food. And that other girlfriend? Well, you're jealous, because he only has to sneeze and the pounds will fly off!

But do all these well-intentioned tips really work? Of course they will have an effect, but you have to ask yourself whether it is sustainable, and whether the stories are not a bit (much) exaggerated. In addition, there is the fact that everyone is different, everyone reacts differently to a certain diet. So you can never take over one on one feeding schedule from a friend.

It is important to focus on tasty and healthy food, and eat more often. Yes, losing weight does not mean that you should always be hungry and that you should eat or drink the most horrible things. On the contrary: Healthy and varied food, in combination with exercise, is the best remedy for successful weight loss in a sustainable way.

To get you started, I hereby give you some essential tips for successful weight loss:

When you're hungry, you can't really make good decisions anymore. Hunger affects your rational thinking, so that you only eat what you feel like at the moment: That pack of cookies, that bag of chips, or that nice ice cream from the ice cream parlor on the corner.

Always stay ahead of that feeling by eating small portions regularly, so that you never have that gnawing feeling again.

One says you have to let go of calorie counting completely, the other says you have to stick to your calories strictly. I'm leaning toward the former, but that's not to say that calorie count isn't important. The best way is to actually start counting calories for the first one or two weeks, so that you get a good idea of the amount of food you can / may eat. After that learning period, you have to let go of this completely, and continue on your feeling, based on what you learned during the first weeks. [! 192057 => 1140 = 37!] If you are just counting, then all pleasure in eating disappears, then a meal becomes a math problem. And that is definitely not the intention. Food should be fun, food should make you feel good.

So focus more on the quality of what you eat than on the amount of calories!

Make sure you always have one or more of the above colors on your board, and preferably most of it. The big advantage: Rich in important nutrients and very low in calories. You can never eat enough colored fruits and vegetables!

No, no alcohol, but water! Water is essential for your body. Not only to hydrate your body, but also to make your stomach feel full on a regular basis, so you will snack less. Since water contains no calories, you can drink water regularly without any problems.

It may sound contradictory, but if you drink too little water, your body will tend to retain water in your body. So you gain weight, but only because of the moisture that you retain. Unnecessary kilos that you have to carry every day.

Drink 2 liters of water per day, and adjust if necessary in response to special activities such as sports or extremely hot weather.

Don't like pure water? Then try with just a little bit of syrup, preferably without added sugars.

Salt is one of the greatest dangers. Not only for your health, but also for weight loss. We eat more than twice as much salt than we actually need. This will lead to bloating and an inability to lose pounds. In addition, the salt will increase thirst and hunger.

It is not so much the salt that you use in the kitchen, that is relatively little. The large amount is in the foods you buy in the supermarket. Salt is a flavor enhancer for the manufacturer: the more salt, the better. Salt is cheap, so that's a big plus for the manufacturer!

So read the ingredients list carefully for the amount of salt processed before you buy it. Even better: Start with natural ingredients and cook everything yourself. Not only fun to do, but much healthier!

If you like tasty hot spicy food, then you have an advantage if you want to lose weight too. Hot herbs make you feel full faster and curb the feeling of hunger. In addition, scientists have found that a certain compound found in peppers activates your brain and ensures extra production of the happiness hormone Endorphins. So no hunger and a good mood! Great combination, right?

I've given this tip a few times before, but that's just because it definitely works! Firstly, it is of course about the overview of what you eat per day or per week. This way you can check again what you have eaten, especially after your scale has just indicated that you have gained 1 kilo.

Second, you become more aware of what you eat when you write everything down. Every time you update the diary, so after a meal, you think about what you have eaten, and you are more aware of it.

People who keep a diary are generally more successful than those who don't.

People who start the meal with a tasty soup that contains few calories, eat over 20% fewer calories during the entire meal, including the soup. Vegetable-based soup makes you feel full, is nutritious and contains very few calories. It is also delicious to eat soup during lunch.

Make sure you leave the salt jar in the kitchen cupboard. Once you put it on the table, most people will add salt first and then taste it. You can interrupt this bad habit this way.

People who eat quickly and in a hurry are often heavier than people who eat calmly and thoughtfully. Did you know that a message from your stomach to the brain, telling you that you have eaten enough, only arrives after about 20 minutes? So if you have finished your plate within those 20 minutes, you still feel that hungry feeling, so scoop up one more time. This way, you eat too much, and you quickly get the feeling that your stomach is overflowing with unnecessary calories. An uncomfortable feeling.

Try to eat quietly, preferably at the table with the whole family. Chew each bite at least 10 times before swallowing. Besides the fact that you slow down eating, your saliva will already add certain enzymes during chewing that support the digestion process in your body.

Do you still tend to eat quickly? Then go and eat with Chinese chopsticks. Indeed, very difficult, but besides the game, you are forced to eat slowly.

Ghrelin is the hormone that controls your hunger. If nothing has come in for 3 to 4 hours, the Ghrelin will make itself heard, making it actually too late to eat normally. Under the influence of this hormone, you tend to eat emotionally, preferably as sweet as possible.

Be smarter, and eat a small, balanced meal every 3 hours, so that the Ghrelin no longer has the chance to play games with your hunger pangs. Ghrelin can completely derail even the healthiest eating habits.

It is a myth that you are not allowed to eat after 7 pm if you are trying to lose weight. Even stronger: There are even people who stop eating at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. This will inevitably result in a strong feeling of hunger the next day, after which you will over-eat. So don't hurry.

You can also eat during the evening, provided you stop eating an hour and a half before bedtime. Your body needs this time to digest most of the food, allowing you to sleep more peacefully.

Of course you don't feel like diving into the kitchen after work, to make something tasty from fresh ingredients. Still, it is a must, at least if you are serious about losing weight and your physical and mental health.

But you can also prepare anything during the weekend: Cut a large batch of colored vegetables, onions and sweet potatoes. Put this, along with some olive oil and some herbs, in a large baking dish. Add a tasty chicken to this, or possibly a number of chicken fillets. Put this in the oven until everything is done.

You can also prepare a large pan of brown rice. All this takes about an hour of your time, but you have food for a whole week. Not the same every day, but variation with everything you have already prepared, for example with the addition of wholemeal pasta.

You then have pasta with vegetable mix, brown rice with vegetable mix and chicken, sweet potatoes with chicken fillet etc. etc.

In this way it will take you up to 15 minutes in the evening to conjure up something delicious on the table. And that's less time than heating up the oven and heating a frozen pizza!

Finallyâ €!

If you have decided to actually lose weight, you have already taken the first step. Bravo!

Do you suffer from a condition and are you taking medication for this? Before adjusting your lifestyle, please discuss this with your treating physician. Certain foods can affect your medication, both positively and negatively. A healthy lifestyle can also be a reason to (partly) stop taking medication, because your body can heal itself again because it gets the right nutrients.

Sources

Www.eufic.org/article/en/artid/barriers-dietary-lifestyle-change/

Www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-lisa-young/lifestyle-weight-loss_b_3831981.html

Www.apa.org/helpcenter/lifestyle-changes.aspx