How you can lose weight in a healthy way and not gain weight again. The recommendations of a specialist

Factors leading to weight gain

When asked how we can lose weight in a healthy way without gaining weight, the nutritionist is of the opinion that “in order to lose weight in a healthy way, first of all, you need to identify the causes, the factors that led to the weight gain and, with the help of the specialist, direct your attention to the correction these factors.

Most of the time, we are talking about factors related to a faulty lifestyle, i.e. unbalanced and excessive nutrition, on the other hand, sedentarism. But this is a simplification because a lot comes into question such as genetic factors, environmental factors, so we can’t really control everything, but what helps us or what we can control, namely nutrition and physical activity represent a good part of weight loss solution”, says Şerban Damian.

What is a caloric deficit?

“Basically, weight loss means caloric deficit, that is, reducing your caloric intake from food even more than your caloric needs. For this, calculations are made, all kinds of assessments are made related to physical activity, food, and if you manage to tilt the balance in the direction of this caloric deficit, to bring less energy than you need, the body will gradually start to take from its stores fatty energy and in this way weight loss occurs.

To keep the weight off you need to follow the same long-term steps, basically stay on a healthy diet and permanently increase or maintain a level of physical activity. These are the major things, of course we go into the details, there are a lot of particularities, a lot of aspects regarding everyone’s current life”, says nutritionist Şerban Damian.

A person who wants to lose weight must be able to implement all these things, says the nutritionist. They must “adopt a proper diet, increase their level of physical activity. An important component is also related to the psyche, because people really gain weight because they eat more, but that eating more can have a very deep root in the person’s psychological problems in their emotional life, and often the solution is to see what got you there.

Working with a psychologist can be very useful because you get to the root of the problem and you can make a correction and then a diet works. Patients rush straight to the nutrition part without addressing your underlying issues and this is where weight loss failures or relapses occur. You make an effort for a period of time, you don’t eat, you abstain, you restrict your diet very much and yes, you lose weight, but if your life is not balanced and controlled enough to be able to maintain those changes in the long term, the risk of accumulating again the kilograms is very high”.

Who can help us in the fight against extra pounds?

Regarding what people should do to avoid this disease, Şerban Damian is of the opinion that “periodic medical checks are necessary in which the weight is monitored and not to wait for tens of kilograms to accumulate, but to start correcting from the first moments, from childhood, if necessary, to take their child for a check-up and if they see that they are starting to gain weight, to take measures.

As an adult, if you see that your clothes no longer fit or that the scale is showing more and more kilograms, take action. It’s best not to try on your own, because like anything, if you try countless times you might succeed, but you might also fail” and then “lose your patience and willpower. If you call a specialist you can get safer and faster results”.

Avoiding obesity means adopting a healthy lifestyle, says Şerban Damian. A “balanced and correct diet in terms of caloric intake. The main problem is overeating, often people do not realize that they are overeating because the food we eat nowadays is much more calorically concentrated than it was a few decades ago. This sedentarism that kills us and with which we have to work every day, to exercise. These are the preventive measures. The education we provide, basically to document ourselves and be aware of certain aspects, in this sense we launched a platform with online nutrition courses”.

Diseases caused by obesity

As for the diseases that obesity can cause, there are many of them, says nutritionist Şerban Damian. “Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis, various forms of cancer, various mental problems (depression, anxiety)”.

There is a risk that an obese person “frequently has such problems if they do not correct obesity in time,” adds the nutritionist.

Excesses are what make us fat

When asked how we should eat and what we should eat in order not to become obese, Şerban Damian states that “we should eat as much as our body needs and no more than that. This is determined through investigations, calculations or common sense, that is, if you see that you start to accumulate kilos, do an analysis of your diet, make a food diary and try to see where you are wrong”.

Also, if we do not succeed in the fight with the extra kilos alone, we can turn to a specialist, advises Şerban Damian. “For food, we can eat everything, but in the appropriate quantities, and when you lose weight you can eat chocolate, but not a whole chocolate, but a piece, that is, nothing can be ruled out, but obviously the more concentrated foods in terms of energy , those that contain fat, of any kind, even healthy fats, those that contain simple sugars, all of these are much more risky, lead us to gain weight much more than classically healthy foods: vegetables, fruits, grains, lean meat and so on. But you can have a very correct diet with only healthy foods, but if they are in excess, for example, if you are a big consumer of fruit you can gain weight because the excess for the body is a storage signal or a stimulus to store energy which he does not need. The main thing is how much you eat, after which comes what you eat. You can get a lot of weight from anything,” except salad, “but you can get fat from any other food.”

Fighting extra pounds has never been easy. Adopting a healthy lifestyle, avoiding excesses and discipline are real trials, but they are the only way we can avoid obesity and the devastating effects it can have on our physical and mental health in the long term.