lose weight

"Take" and "lose" weight at Christmas

You know, at Christmas you are NOT allowed to REFUSE a big meal! This habit, once aberrated by the community of food professionals, is today considered an integral part of diet therapy and a fundamental stage in food education.

"Take" weight at Christmas

The weight gained (more or less rapidly) at Christmas CANNOT and must not be evaluated in the following hours or days; in fact, the value obtained (both by weighing and by bio-impedance analysis - BIA) would not translate ONLY a real adipose accumulation, MA would be confused with interstitial water retention (typical of supercharging) and with the fullness of the digestive tract (stomach and intestine) .

Water retention after the binge: following large binges, the concentration of nutrients in the blood (especially glucose and sodium) tends to increase in a dizzying manner, favoring the increase in osmotic pressure and the relative increase in plasma volume to maintain homeostatic balance: ergo ...

the volume of blood plasma and, by reflex, that of interstitial fluids tends to increase significantly following the large meals consumed at Christmas.

It is also logical that, assuming the restoration of a balanced diet, the faster the excess water was retained, the more quickly it should be disposed of; on the other hand (as often happens) if the large meals were CONSECUTIVE, the organism would tend to preserve the "sponge" effect until the "normal" daily habits and the desirable physical-sporting activity are restored (a further element favoring the recovery of physiological homeostasis).

Fullness of the digestive tract: obviously it is not simply a question of gastric "totality", which persists only up to 3-5 hours after a hearty Christmas meal. In the adult, the digestive tract (esophagus and pharynx excluded) is about 6.5 m long (of which only 25 cm belong to the stomach) and several large CONSECUTIVE meals can fill it more than normal. This means that, by measuring body weight during or in the immediate post-Christmas period, one runs the risk of adding the visceral content to the deposit fat.

Fat accumulation: to be honest, fat accumulation also plays an important role in increasing body weight during Christmas and, contrary to water retention and the fullness of the digestive tract, it is NOT simply a temporary factor; therefore, the restoration of the physiological condition preceding the holidays also includes a certain weight loss (more or less important based on the size of the deposit).

It is not possible to establish what the relative percentages of importance in the purchase of weight are during the Christmas holidays (since also the bioimpedenziometria represents a method of indirect evaluation of the body mass), nevertheless, it is possible to affirm that frequent variations of some are manifested. total kilograms (based on the number of days and meals).

"Lose" weight after Christmas

As anticipated, after having "given in" for the Christmas holidays, it is very important to be able to restore the right body weight.

First of all, for methodological correctness, it is essential to evaluate the fat increase after a few days of normal feeding to avoid overestimation caused by water retention and the fullness of the digestive tract; in this way it is possible to organize slimming more accurately without risking to exceed the caloric reduction.

Suppose that a subject of 70 kilograms (kg), after a festive "stop" from the physical activity associated with the supercharging induced by lunches and Christmas dinners, has gained 3 kg of real fat (detected after 15 days of normalization and restoration of habits) and that you have to lose weight until you recover the initial body composition. To achieve the goal, it is first of all necessary to remember that the "optimal weight loss" never exceeds the threshold of 3kg per month but, on the other hand, to be motivating, it should not fall below the threshold of 2kg every 30 days. Therefore, doing a couple of calculations ...

1) Subject of 70kg → 2) Christmas holidays 24 December: 1 January → 3) weight gain up to 73kg displayed on 15 January → 4) 3kg weight loss scheduled before 15 February or the end of the same.

Last but not least, the estimate of the amount of energy to be subtracted from the normal one to get a weight loss of about 3kg in 30 days (days): if it is true that one kg of fat, not being made up entirely of lipids but also of water and other molecules, is equivalent to about 7000 kilocalories (kcal), in the programmed period it will be necessary to subtract:

7000kcal * 3kg = 21000kcal TOT

...Or...

21000kcal: 30 days = 700kcal / day

In conclusion, if the subject of 70-73kg has a total daily energy expenditure (basal metabolic rate + physical activity and desirable) of 2500kcal TOT (purely hypothetical), it would be necessary to eat no more than:

2500kcal / day TOT - 700kcal / day = 1800kcal / day TOT

NB . Another valid method to calculate the useful energy requirement for weight loss of around 3kg a month is to consume 70% of the energy needed to maintain normal weight; using the hypothetical parameter indicated above

2500kcal / day TOT * 70% = 1750kcal / die TOT

Bibliography:

  • Recommended Nutrient Intake Levels for the Italian Population (LARN) - Italian Society of Human Nutrition (SINU) -.