How Is Weight Loss Different Than Weight Maintenance?
Weight loss is a popular goal for many people all over the world today. Losing weight not only improves a person’s appearance, but it also improves their health. There are numerous advantages to losing a few pounds through healthy means, such as improved blood sugar control, lower blood pressure, and a lower risk of chronic disease.
Your entire lifestyle plays a role in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. You can’t have one without the other when it comes to diet and exercise. However, they may be more useful at different points in your weight loss journey. So, what is the best method for losing weight and keeping it off?
It’s common to think of weight loss as “calories in, calories out,” but it’s not quite that simple. Many factors influence the number of calories you need in a day, including age, activity level, body composition, illness, injury, and others. Our metabolism is the amount of energy (aka calories) that our bodies use each day.
Aside from the calories we burn while exercising, our bodies burn calories in three ways:
- Metabolic rate at rest (how much energy is needed to keep your heart pumping and lungs breathing)
- Thermogenesis during non-exercise activity (think of walking to work or going upstairs). Our basal metabolic rate consumes the vast majority of our body’s energy.
- Thermic effect of food (the amount of energy required to digest what we eat)
Losing weight can actually slow down your metabolism (think: a smaller body requires less energy to heat than a larger one). That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does indicate that you may need to be a little more strategic when attempting to lose weight. Let’s look at what your primary focus should be for weight loss and weight maintenance, as well as how they differ.
The Most Important Factor in Weight Loss
There are numerous methods for losing weight, but one of the most common is to create a calorie deficit. This entails consuming fewer calories per day than your body burns. Exercising is not the only way to lose weight, according to research.
A calorie deficit is required for weight loss, but studies show that changing your diet is easier to create and maintain than exercising. So, rather than constantly hitting the gym when you’re first starting out, try to focus on what’s on your plate.
Going on a restrictive diet can be harmful rather than beneficial. Going on a diet is not a sustainable way to lose weight. Rather than drastically reducing calories and losing a lot of weight quickly, you want to create a small calorie deficit that you can maintain over time. This can be accomplished by eating smaller portions, increasing vegetable and protein consumption, and decreasing consumption of simple carbohydrates, sugar, and alcohol.
Other methods of losing weight include using weight loss products. Different products produce different results, so do your homework by thoroughly researching the type of product you want to try before making your final decision to try one.
Best wishes on your weight-loss journey!
You may also read;
