It doesn’t really matter why someone may decide to lose weight: to take care of one’s health, following doctor’s recommendations,  out of a desire to engage in particular sports, or just because wishing to wear clothes of smaller size. What is important is to do it right and in a responsible way. The most popular recommendation of just ‘eating less and moving more’ can be useless and even harmful in practice. At the same time, the desire to lose as many kilos as possible within the shortest time can lead to serious health issues. In this article, we will get you covered on both how to get ready to losing weight in the right way to make it as simple as possible and have good results.

Yo-Yo Effect: What It Is and Why It Is Risky?

The nutritionists warn that whatever the reasons and plan behind your decision to lose weight are, the worst scenario possible is to choose a strict diet, drastically cutting on calories or reducing the diversity of your foods. In the best case, you will experience the so-called yo-yo effect: same as with this once poplar toy, the lost (or more strictly speaking, ripped off) kilograms will come back to your pretty soon, and most likely, with friends. On average, the kilograms lost on a strict diet comes back within a year. If you do several such experiments in a row, there is a high likelihood that you will have very serious issues with metabolism. According to the results of the research, done with the participation of Jean Pierre-Montani (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25614198/), most of the volunteers who have practiced short-term quick diets, were reported to have lower levels of leptin which is a special, helping us to develop and experience the sense of fullness (this hormone is released by adipose tissue). As a result, those who have participated in the experiment were feeling hungry more often, and, after discontinuing the diet, were eating more often and in bigger quantities, adding up to 65% of the weight, pre-existing at the beginning of the diet.

Another consequence of the yo-yo effect is an increase in fat tissue in our body. If we cut on foods or reduce the diversity of our diet, our body will burn not only fats but also muscles in an attempt to get energy. And while after discontinuing the diet, the fat tissue is quickly recovered, we need to make extra efforts to build up muscles — the step which is skipped by many of those, who try to lose weight. As a result, the balance between the fats and muscles is destroyed.

Finally, the yo-yo effect poses a significant threat for our body: regular fluctuations of our weight when we lose or gain more than 4-5 kilograms per month put an extra strain on our blood vessels. Thus the result of the research titled ‘Consistently Stable or Decreased Body Mass Index in Young Adulthood and Longitudinal Changes in Metabolic Syndrome Components: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study’ (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17283263), where scientists were studying the risk of coronary risk development in young adults, have proved that regular dieting and the following weight gain are increasing the chances of heart diseases much more than extra weight alone.

Diabetes is another disease, the risk of which is significantly increased by quick-dieting. The thing is that when we significantly cut on foods either in relation to quantity or quality, our body interprets it as serious stress and increases its production of cortisol hormone. This, in turn, affects how our cells react to insulin and increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

Finally, the diets which end up with yo-yo effect lead to stable hypertension, which cannot be alleviated even by a considerable weight loss (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15981894/).

What to Do to Lose Weight?

The short answer is: if you want the long-lasting result without damage to your body, you should transform all your lifestyle and eating habits. The weight loss is safe and effective when we lose no more than 4 kilograms per month (the less, the better). Also, in doing so, we should have a minimum of half an hour of aerobic exercise per day and two-three strength workouts per week, lasting a minimum of 15 minutes each. The diet should be diverse and shall include a maximum quantity of necessary vitamins and minerals and should not completely exclude sugars, carbohydrates, and, most importantly, fats. In other words, it’s enough to have a normal healthy lifestyle but to keep it for life. But how to switch to such a lifestyle?

How to Get Ready to Losing Weight?

First Stage: Check Your Hormones

Before starting to lose weight, it’s worthwhile to do some homework. First of all, you should find the cause of extra weight. The doctors recommend controlling the level of main hormones, which can affect gaining excess weight (and prevent losing extra fat). Here are these hormones:

Leptin. As it was mentioned earlier, this hormone is responsible for hunger and appetite. If there is too much of it, you can start to experience a state known as ‘leptin resistance’ when your body doesn’t get a response from leptin and decides that it’s a hard time and that it shall eat more and accumulate fat.

Cortisol. This one is a stress hormone, which affects how our cells react to insulin and can impact our food habits. When we have too much cortisol, we are craving for sweets and those foods which are rich in fats and carbohydrates.

Insulin. The primary function of this hormone is to release glucose, which is the simplest and most accessible source of energy. However, if we overeat on sweets or foods with light and quick carbs, the body goes through insulin peaks, each of which increases the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Irisin. This hormone is developed in our muscles and is released during physical exercise. Its main task is to transform white fat into brown fat, which is the source of energy for our bodies. Consequently, with a lower level of irisin, our fat doesn’t transform and prevents us from losing weight.

Second Stage: Check Your Health

Even if you are very young and have never had health issues, you should check your body before starting to lose weight. First of all, check the state of your heart and blood vessels (to understand what type of physical activity would work best for you), check the heart rate (for adults, it shall not exceed 60-80 beats per minute in a normal state) and arterial pressure (if it exceeds 130/90 during the weak, you shall consult a physician). Also, it is important to check the sugar level in your blood and take an expanded blood test: even a smaller inflammatory process in your body can be a significant health hazard, especially when increasing the intensity of the daily workout and changing eating habits and diet.

Third Stage: Evaluate Age-Related Risks

The older we get, the more prone we are to certain diseases. That is why the way we lose weight and do workouts in our 30s, 40s, 50s, and so on should be different. Thus, we should remember that after 50 years of age, when most women undergo menopause, their bodies have less calcium. Also, the body loses the capacity to store calcium from foods, which increases the risks of fractures as well as bone and joint diseases, including osteoporosis. You should be aware of this when contemplating your diet and especially choosing your workout.

Stage Four: Pick the Right Diet

The first rule is to have enough proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in your daily diet. Often when trying to lose weight, women cut on high-fat foods, which is a huge mistake. Fat acids, especially polyunsaturated ones, are necessary to support the health of the cardiovascular system. The only type of fats, which you should cut out of your diet, are trans fats since they increase the risk of some forms of cancer, heart disease, and blood vessels as well as metabolic syndrome.

Stage Five: Adjust Your Sleep Pattern

A full night’s sleep is essential not only for our well-being, energy level, and health but also for keeping in shape. Thus, the researchers from the Waseda University in Japan have found that lack of sleep increases the risk of obesity for at least 10% even if one sticks to a healthy diet http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201702240001.html). The required minimum is 7-8 hours of sleep. Also, it’s crucial to have a good night’s sleep with enough quantity of deep sleep. Try to get into bed at least one hour before midnight, get the gadgets and other sources of blue light out of your bedroom (it negatively influences the release of melatonin hormone which impacts our circadian rhythms), and keep your bedroom dark and cold.

Now You Are Ready to Start!

If you are serious about your weight, you can start from several simple but essential steps. Check your health and the level of hormones, which influence how you gain and keep your weight, pick the right diet and workout, and make sure to get enough sleep every night. And, in any case, don’t try to lose weight quickly, once and for all: take care of your health and remember that you are great whatever the size of your clothes and the figure on your scales!