Rubric Healthy nutrition: keep fit by controlling your weight

Tips for keeping fit by controlling weight

One of the first health risk factors is overweight, an "often underestimated" condition that can lead to obesity and the onset of very serious diseases, especially affecting the cardiovascular and joint systems.

Read the previous article about weight control and physical activity

For this reason, the percentage of fat in the body must always remain at balanced levels: weight and diet are closely linked and this means that the deleterious effects on health can derive from both excess pounds and excessive thinness.

In fact, when sufficient energy is not introduced to carry out normal activities, the body draws on the reserves of fat and, if it does not find them, is forced to affect the internal organs and muscles (lean mass), triggering a series of negative reactions on the metabolism and causing a weakening of the immune system.

How to behave, therefore, to avoid an anomalous trend of vital functions?

A few simple tricks are enough to acquire a behavioral habit that will spontaneously repeat itself over time, producing increasingly evident benefits: let's see which ones.

Monitor the weight once a month, evaluating the response of the scale and any variations.

When you are overweight (or underweight), it is advisable to consult your family doctor immediately to ascertain your clinical condition and carry out any diagnostic tests.

Plan a diet (perhaps with the professional support of a nutritionist), which allows you to keep your body weight at optimal levels.

If you are overweight you will need to reduce your energy "income" by taking the correct amounts of foods and selecting low-calorie ones.

Try to "keep the line".

If you notice a significant change in weight, it is essential to bring the level back to normal parameters, possibly changing your eating habits (even when dining in the office or away from home) and introducing more vegetables and proteins into the daily diet.

Carry out systematic physical activity.

Moving every day (doing housework, climbing stairs, walking briskly for at least a quarter of an hour) helps regulate metabolism and allows you to dispose of excess calories.

Avoid drastic and "do-it-yourself" diets: the former are always unbalanced and the latter do not follow an objective elaboration.

In case of overweight, the correct weight loss diet does not involve fasting or the absolute elimination of certain foods (pizza and diet, for example, are not necessarily considered enemies), but tends to guarantee the body a balanced supply of nutrients.

Don't be obsessed with the extra pounds.

The goal to be achieved is to reduce fat mass in favor of lean mass, so it is better to rationalize your diet by choosing foods suitable for the purpose.

Pay close attention to vegetarian or vegan diets, especially if "self-managed".

Especially during adolescence, depriving the body of certain foods can lead to excessive weight loss and a dangerous impoverishment of natural defenses.

At any age, do not follow eating behaviors based on the exclusive choice of certain foods, nor assume manic attitudes relating to movement and physical fitness.

The famous saying "est modus in rebus" also applies in the field of nutrition and motor activity.

When there is an eating disorder and a corresponding - excessive - weight loss, it is essential to consult a specialist who draws up a plan to restore the body to its ideal condition, continuing to follow the instructions of the expert even after regaining the optimal physical fitness.

Finally, always remember that metabolism has absolutely individual values: energy needs vary from one person to another and are affected by age, lifestyle, physical activity, as well as hormonal factors.

Almost always, however, weight gain is the result of an excessive introduction of energy, compared to the real needs of the body and the metabolic capacity to dispose of calories.

To follow the right criterion that regulates weight and nutrition, those who belong to the category of subjects who "tend to get fat" or "have difficulty losing weight", will have to pay more attention to their nutritional habits and lead a lifestyle in which activity physics is more frequent.