Health
According to American researchers, losing weight is twice as difficult as the compilers of all popular diets claim. The common rule is that if you reduce your daily calorie intake by 500, you can lose half a kilo in a week.
However, experts say, this rule is not true, because the thinner you get, the harder it is to lose weight further. This is due to the fact that reducing the number of calories consumed in the diet slows down metabolism, which means that weight loss will gradually stop until it is completely will stop.
To restore balance, scientists from the American National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases have created an online calculator that develops an individual plan Weight loss based on information about your diet, physical activity and body shape.
While the tool is primarily intended for doctors, it can also be used by ordinary people, as it will help them calculate how much weight they will lose by making certain changes in your way of life.
In general, according to the developers, reducing your calorie intake by just 100 per day will result in you weighing 5 kg less in three years, with 2.5 kg losing in the first year. According to old data, it would only take you six months on the same diet.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver, Dr. Kevin Hall, one of the creators of the online calculator, said: “The difference is that The old rule is that you will lose weight twice as fast as you can without harming your health.” People used this rule to predict potential weight loss for decades, but it turned out to be quite different.
“If you reduce the number of calories in your diet, your metabolism slows down, it slows down even more when you lose weight, but it eventually stops at a certain point.” The online calculator takes into account factors such as people's age, gender, height, weight and level of physical activity, as well as their diet. Then, based on the data obtained, he predicts how much weight a person can lose if they follow certain dietary rules and exercise.
Then, the tool determines what dietary changes should occur in a person's lifestyle so that they can reach their desired weight in a timely manner. “If after a year, for example, you expected to lose twice as many kilograms, you immediately lose the motivation to move on,” says the doctor.
At the same time, speaking at the seminar, the doctor stressed that the growing global obesity epidemic is mainly due to increased food consumption, and not to a decrease in physical activity. He stressed that there are a number of measures that could help solve this problem, but the most effective ones are not being taken by governments. We are talking about restrictions on advertising junk food for children, introducing additional taxes on unhealthy diets, as well as special labeling of healthy products.