The hypocaloric diet

The hypocaloric diet is one in which there is a reduction of daily calories or foods with high caloric density, and that depends on the demands of each person. A growing child, an elite athlete, an elderly person or a pregnant woman does not have the same metabolism. The balance must always be balanced between what is swallowed and what we wear with our daily physical activity.

This diet is based on a value that interferes with the metabolism of each person plus their activity factor, age, sex, etc., subtracting from it the calories that the diet must carry, in this way we will create an energy deficit that will be responsible for the progressive weight loss.

For example, a 40-year-old woman with a basal metabolic rate of 1500 and moderate exercise (activity factor 1.2) would need about 1900kcal to maintain her weight. If you intend to lose it, you would develop a diet of approximately 1300 Kcal creating a deficit of 600 Kcal daily. These 600Kcal that we ingest of less are those that are going to help the body to obtain the energy of the stored corporal fat and thus its later combustion that will give rise to a progressive loss of weight.

Duration of the hypocaloric diet

In a hypocaloric diet we must first propose an ideal weight, always taking into account the constitution, height of the person, etc., (there is no established duration). That is, a person who must lose 15kg we will target short term the first 10, then we will introduce certain limited foods from the beginning of treatment to get to the target weight, it is at this point where the person has to learn to combine food, control rations, but eating all kinds of food. This phase tends to last for 5-6 months.

We will try to educate patients on how to eat. It is a diet in which the fundamental thing is not to achieve a weight loss, if not to maintain it. For this you should always follow a controlled diet.

They are always recommended to increase their daily physical activity, a diet must be accompanied by an increase in exercise. The specialists teach the patient how to eat. We analyze if you take an excessive amount of carbohydrates, many sugars, a lot of fat, and the diet is elaborated restricting these types of nutrients.

The results of the hypocaloric diet

The average healthy weight loss is usually 2-2.5 kg per month. But it is true that when a diet is made, the first month what is lost is liquid, since we suffer a detoxifying effect that at a renal level causes us to eliminate retained fluid.

We must take into account, that without being exact, for the loss of a kilo of fat there must be a deficit of 7000kcal (every 10-12 days). The fact of losing at a higher speed can have disastrous consequences when leaving the diet, since the person does not acquire the correct alimentary habits, the body does not get used to the change of metabolism and brings about an excessive weight gain when leaving the treatment.

The weight loss must be progressive and controlled, that is, little by little so that the patient does not suffer anxiety or go hungry, because otherwise the rate of abandonment will increase, increasing the appetite resulting in the weight gain lost again.

How should be the meals of this type of diet

The ideal food is to make 5 meals a day. It has been shown that every time we eat there is an increase in glucose and an insulin discharge to compensate that glucose. These abrupt discharges of insulin make us more hungry, so if we make three meals a day and very abundant, due to a binge or simply that we are very hungry, the discharge of insulin is much higher, causing us to enter that feeling soon after. hungry

However, if we break up the meals into five, we will discharge a little insulin, but not an exaggerated amount and it will help us to stay without so much anxiety.

A strong breakfast should be made, as it is the first meal of the day and should be plentiful and varied (fruits, cereals, some milk, etc.). By midmorning we must introduce a portion of fruit or some milk, to be able to be skimmed.

In the lunch is where we must introduce carbohydrates (pasta, rice, potatoes and legumes) to have hours in the day for its subsequent combustion.

In the snack the ideal thing is to make a small snack type fruit of season and the dinner must be also light, because there will be few hours to rest and the burning of fats diminishes to the maximum. In this way, we will maintain insulin peaks and glucose more or less stable.