Weight loss is a long and arduous journey. After successfully losing 24 pounds, I decided to share these 8 hard truths with everyone!
First, controlling what you eat is far more important than exercising.
Weight loss has never been an easy task; you need to maintain enough self-discipline. The saying goes, “30% exercise, 70% diet.” During weight loss, diet and exercise are more important.
If you are completely reckless with your diet, no amount of exercise will help you lose weight. Conversely, if you manage your diet well, even without intensifying your workouts, you can still gradually lose weight.
Second, absolutely do not over-restrict your diet.
Extreme diets that require you to eat only a few hundred calories a day may show a decrease in weight in the short term, but these come with the body’s resistance to weight loss. You may experience issues such as hair loss, menstrual irregularities, and decreased immunity, along with a decline in your basal metabolic rate, causing rapid rebound in weight.
Third, fat breakdown happens not through sweating, but through breathing.
Many people believe that excessive sweating can quickly burn fat, but in reality, the main way that fat is broken down in the body is through breathing. When our body undergoes aerobic metabolism, fat is decomposed into carbon dioxide and water, of which the carbon dioxide is expelled through breathing. This means that relying solely on high-intensity workouts that cause heavy sweating does not directly equate to the massive breakdown of fat.
Fourth, you may underestimate the calorie content of food.
Many people trying to lose weight unknowingly consume too many calories due to a misunderstanding of food calorie content, leading to failure in weight loss. For instance, a 500cc caramel milk tea requires 50 minutes of exercise to burn off. A small piece of chocolate cake might require an hour of running to offset.
Fifth, going to bed with a slight feeling of hunger helps you burn fat overnight.
Eating dinner early and ensuring it is light while maintaining a certain level of hunger before sleep allows the body to continue consuming stored energy throughout the night, thereby achieving fat-burning effects.
However, this feeling of hunger is not extreme; it should be moderate and manageable. If excessive hunger causes insomnia, it will negatively impact the body’s normal metabolism and weight loss progress.
Sixth, drinking more water can promote weight loss.
Adequate water intake can increase the metabolic rate, allowing the body’s various functions to operate more efficiently. Moreover, drinking water can increase feelings of fullness and reduce food intake.
Additionally, during exercise, the body loses a significant amount of water through sweating, and timely replenishing fluids helps maintain the body’s balance and ensures effective exercise and health.
Seventh, do not be afraid of a weight loss plateau.
A plateau is a phase that almost everyone encounters during the weight loss process. It is not a failure in losing weight but a sign that the body is adapting to new weight and metabolic levels, indicating that you have achieved a phased victory.
During a plateau, even though weight may not show significant decline temporarily, the body is still undergoing adjustments and optimizations internally, such as muscle shaping and fat redistribution. As long as you optimize your weight loss plan and remain patient, you will break through the plateau, and your weight will likely continue to decrease.
