Losing weight and maintaining optimal weight is almost always an ordeal. Diets, miracle pills, subscriptions to gym, a swimming section, sugar-free products and a refrigerator that notifies the whole apartment about an insidious burglar - far from full list tricks, which from time to time go from 60 to 80% of the adult population.

Not everyone comes to success: sometimes there is not enough enthusiasm, sometimes there is not enough time, sometimes there are other obstacles on the way to the dream of becoming a ballerina.

If you take the statistics on Americans, you can see that in 2004 they consumed 2,750 kcal per day, which is as much as 500 kcal (imagine, 500!) More than in 1970. In our country, the scale is not the same - fast food has not yet managed to capture everything and everyone, but it is quite comparable.

Not a diet, but a trick

Fact: 97% of people who have ever been on a diet go back to their old way of life. And most of them gorge on even more kilograms than they lost during their experiments. There is only one way to solve this problem - to change the diet for life.

To do this, it is enough to add one and only - honest word! - a change that will allow you to come to your ideal weight and keep it forever.

So, all you need to do is consume as many calories daily as you would at your optimal weight. Everything.

This is a method that has been proven effective many times. By the way, this plan is also suitable for very thin people who want to gain weight. It doesn't matter how much you weigh now. If you eat as much as you should, then sooner or later you will come to your natural, healthy weight.

Determine the optimal calorie intake

How many calories you need depends on several factors: body type, height, and activity level. A number indicating the number of your extra pounds, you can forget it as a bad dream - it will not be useful to you.

And do not be afraid that you will have to write down what you eat for a while. There are many handy applications for Android and iOS, which are already hammered into standard portions with calories. Alternatively, you can point the camera at a barcode, and the application will read it, and then automatically download the calorie data. You may need an electronic scale first to weigh your portions. But after a month (or even less), you will be able to determine the portion size by eye and know how many calories and which product contains.

1. What is your body type?

Measure the circumference of your wrist (use a tape measure or piece of rope, which can then be easily measured with a ruler).

2. What is your ideal weight?

These data differ between men and women. Find your height and physique in the table: the coveted number stands at the intersection of these columns. This is what you will strive for.

3. How active are you?

One of the most popular classifications today suggests dividing people according to their level of activity into three groups. Choose the one that best describes your daily lifestyle. If you cannot choose one thing and you have a large excess weight, it is better to stay on the less active option.

• Sedentary lifestyle: lack of regular physical activity, occasional walking is a physical activity mainly characteristic of everyday life.
• Moderately active image life: a combination of various daily activities (work, rest, etc.) or a regular exercise program equivalent to walking or running 2.5–5 km daily, combined with physical activity typical of daily life.
• Very active lifestyle: a combination of various daily activities (work, rest, etc.) or a regular exercise program equivalent to walking or running more than 5 km daily, combined with physical activity typical of daily life.

4. Determine the optimal calorie intake

In the first column of the table, find your ideal weight(what you wrote down in the second paragraph), and then look for the number that corresponds to your level of activity - sedentary, moderately active, very active. Voila! Now you know how many calories you need each day. Do not forget that you cannot cut calories too much: men should consume at least 1200 kcal per day, women - at least 1000 kcal. And these are very low values ​​- do not aim for quick results so as not to harm your body.

Reducing calories is the key to optimal in Yes and its preservation. Eat healthy and varied. Be healthy!

Body weight directly depends on:
1) the amount of calories consumed with food;
2) how intensively they are spent.

You can increase your calorie consumption by using physical activity- sports, dancing, swimming. If you don't have time to attend classes, you can choose a set of exercises suitable for independent training, or at least just try to move more, use the elevator less often, and walk more often.

However, you cannot do without reducing the number of calories from food.

It is important to remember, however, that simply reducing portions is unlikely to help. Firstly, without gorging, you will experience constant stress; Second, a sharp decrease in the amount of food will slow down your metabolism - and if you return to your usual serving size, you will begin to gain weight faster than before.

Therefore, it is still better to combine the use of less high-calorie foods with a decrease in the usual portion of food by about a third.

In fact, you have to completely rebuild the power system.

Down with calories!

First of all, you have to give up a variety of fast food, carbonated drinks with sugar, ketchup, mayonnaise, butter, sweet chocolate bars with nuts and caramel. If you can't fight your love of chocolate, choose a bitter one. It is less high in calories, and you are unlikely to be able to eat a lot.

Do not drink packaged juices.
There are not so many vitamins in them, but sugar is abundant. If you cannot do without them - cheat: dilute the juices with water. Drinking the same amount of liquid will consume less sugar.

Don't add sugar to drinks.
If the coffee seems bitter to you, add a little skim milk(no cream!) The best thing to do is go to green tea- There is enough caffeine in it to provide you with energy.

Semi-finished products, especially products made from minced meat, will have to be excluded from the menu.
The meat in them is usually Low quality, but bold. In addition, unscrupulous manufacturers often increase the volume of minced meat by adding bread or potatoes.

How can this be replaced?

You can reduce the calorie content of the diet without sacrificing love for delicious food... A large number of foods can be replaced with less high-calorie foods, without much detriment to taste.

Instead of mayonnaise in salads, you can use natural yoghurt, in extreme cases - low-fat sour cream.

It is better not to choose mayonnaise marked "light" or "low-calorie": there is really less fat in it, but chemical composition far from natural, and taste qualities leave much to be desired. It is best to make a dressing with a small amount. vegetable oil and apple or balsamic vinegar or lemon juice.

Eat whole grain or diet bread instead of bread.

Choose fructose or natural substitute stevia instead of sugar. Fructose is no less high in calories than glucose, but it is sweeter, and, therefore, you need less of it.

If you find it difficult to give up sweets, let it be candy, marmalade or marshmallow, preferably cooked not on gelatin, but on pectin or agar-agar. Sweeten some food, such as cottage cheese or oatmeal with an apple, you can also use cinnamon - it will give sweetish taste and will add almost no calories.

Whole milk and regular cottage cheese replace with fat-free ones.

Choose less high-calorie meat: not pork or lamb - but lean beef, horse meat, chicken. And try to eat those parts where there is little fat, or remove fat and skin from the meat before cooking.

If possible, replace white rice with brown, or cook rice with vegetables - peppers, tomatoes, corn as a side dish.

Try freezing yogurt instead of ice cream. adding to it fresh fruits and berries, or fruit puree whipped in a blender.

Cooking healthy food

Soups it is better to cook not on rich meat broth, and on a vegetable or on water, as a last resort - on secondary broth... Pay attention to the mashed soups - they are hearty enough to gorge on one serving.

Instead of frying any food - bake them, boil or simmer in a little water or steam. As a last resort, fry without oil: use a non-stick skillet.

Of all the options for preparing a particular product, choose the one that will give the least calorie "result". So, it is better not to fry or boil potatoes, but to bake them in their skins; Make omelets from proteins alone.

If you make a salad, get along less oil. You can purchase a special oil sprayer to help control the amount of refueling.

As a side dish choose vegetables for meat or fish, Brown rice... If you are cooking pasta or potatoes, let them act as a separate dish.

Skipping sandwiches is optional - just make them less high-calorie. Put on a piece diet bread salted skim cheese and a slice of tomato is both tasty and healthier than White bread with butter or sausage.

Losing weight in a restaurant?

If you often have lunch and dinner outside the home, it is better to choose not one main course, but two servings. vegetable salad- even when clearly more food, its calorie content will be lower. Do not hesitate to ask the waiter to serve you a salad without mayonnaise if the menu contains a fatty sauce.

If time allows you, do not make the entire order at once - it is quite possible that you will already be full of soup or salad, and you simply will not need meat and dessert.

remember, that exact calorie content the dishes prepared in the restaurant are difficult to find out. Try to choose familiar foods that will give you a rough estimate of how many calories are in a serving.

It is better to exclude alcohol or consume in minimum quantities... And let it be a glass of dry wine, not beer with chips or crackers. Salted and hot snacks high in calories by themselves. They also make you thirsty, which makes you drink more.

We take into account everything

If you are preparing food for the whole family, and not just for yourself, think over the menu more carefully.

The support of loved ones is very important for those who want to lose weight! Talk to your family members if they are ready to switch to lower-calorie foods with you, or if you will have to cook for yourself separately. If family members demand hearty, heavy meals, and there are sweets and meat and potatoes on the table every day, it will not be easy for you to resist.

You can find a way out of any situation.

For example, cook meat for dinner with a side dish and light salad... You yourself can limit yourself to a portion of meat and salad - and the rest will happily eat a full dinner. Serve separately to reduce the amount of dressing in your salad. Those who wish can fill their portion on their own, and you eat the salad without dressing or dip as much salad as you took with a fork into a bowl of sauce - this way you will eat less sauce than if you mixed it with vegetables at once.

If you cannot refuse bread, eat it not fresh, but slightly dried - dry bread needs to be chewed longer, so you will be full faster and eat less.

Read the labels carefully when buying products, paying attention to nutritional value and fat and carbohydrate content.

Please note that the calorie content of the same product may differ in different tables.

How to eat less?

Pick up new dishes.
A small serving on a small plate will appear smaller. Consider the color of the dishes - plates are considered blue, green or purple reduce appetite.

Eat slowly.
Take breaks during meals - for example, between the first or second course. Do not put everything on the table at once - if you have to get up from the table every now and then, your appetite will quickly decrease.

There is one trick that can significantly reduce the rate at which food is absorbed: after you put a piece of meat or a spoonful of soup in your mouth, put cutlery... After chewing and swallowing food, take the spoon again and eat another bite.

Have a drink before your main meal. glass of water, eat an unsweetened apple or some green vegetables, only then start eating. You will be surprised to notice how much less you eat.

All of these measures will help you reduce the calorie content of your diet without compromising your quality of life or sacrificing the taste of your food. You will not feel hungry - but you will notice the results in a month or two.

Methods of reducing the number of calories will be especially useful for those who were able to lose weight on a more severe diet and now want to consolidate the achieved effect.

The calorie content of the products we consume is of great importance. Our well-being, our weight depends on them. How more calories- the more chances you have to gain extra pounds.

The energy value of food can be reduced by using simple rules.

Nutritionists say that by reducing our calorie intake by 100 per day, we prevent the appearance of 1 extra kilogram of weight per year!

Our weight directly depends on it. The more high-calorie foods we eat, the more likely it is to gain those extra pounds. But energy value food can be reduced.

By consuming just 100 fewer calories per day than usual, we can prevent the occurrence of 1 kilogram of excess weight per year, nutritionists say. And to lose weight, you need to consume 500 fewer calories daily. Within a week, you will lose 500 grams of excess weight.

So how can you reduce the calorie content of foods? There are several ways. And note that you do not have to go on diets and suffer from constant hunger. By reducing the energy value of foods, you get the opportunity to eat your usual foods and lose weight at the same time.

Calorie tracking

Studies show that most people have no idea how many calories they consume per day, or they underestimate their number. It turns out that we consume a large number of calories, and we are not even aware of this.

Scientists have proven that if a person writes down the foods that he ate and their energy value every day, then willy-nilly begins to monitor the amount of calories consumed. Calorie tracking can help you identify your weaknesses.

For example, if you are in the habit of eating in front of the TV, then when analyzing the recordings, you will notice that while watching your favorite programs you eat 2 times more.

Also, food portions are often increased during stressful situations.

Plus, by listing the foods you eat each day, you can easily identify how healthy the foods you eat are. Harmful products it will be easier to eliminate from the daily diet or replace them with healthy foods- vegetables and fruits.

Know everything about food

By making it a habit, you can easily learn to choose foods that contain fewer calories... Thus, you will learn to reduce your daily calorie intake by 100-200 units.

Low-calorie versions of foods

Perhaps the most effective method to reduce the energy value of foods - is to replace them with lower-calorie versions. For example, replace whole milk for low-calorie. If you are accustomed to drinking 1 glass of milk a day, then such a replacement will allow you to reduce your daily dose of calories by 56 units.

It will also get rid of 6.5 grams of fat. This will save you more than 2 kilograms in a year. This kind of arithmetic is pretty simple, but incredibly efficient.

By this principle, you can replace:

* high-calorie mayonnaise (600 kcal) - for low-calorie (less than 300 kcal);

* high-fat yogurt (200 kcal) - for low-fat (80 kcal);

* French fries (220 kcal) - boiled potatoes(70-100 kcal);

* bread (1 piece - 100-120 kcal) - for bread (1 piece - 40 kcal).

But remember that low fat foods not always less high-calorie. Therefore, carefully look at the packaging for the energy value of the products.

Reduce portion

If you do not have the opportunity to replace foods with their lower-calorie versions, then at least just reduce the portion of the meals you eat.

For starters, try reducing the serving size by 1/3. To do this, simply eat more slowly - by chewing food thoroughly, you will learn to feel a feeling of satiety while still sitting at the table. Within a week, you will get used to eating less and will not feel hungry at the same time.

To reduce the portion of the dish, psychologists advise eating from blue plates - this color suppresses appetite. And British experts say that in order to reduce consumed portions, you need to eat in front of a mirror, and best of all - naked. This method will allow you not to change your taste preferences enjoying your favorite foods and products, but losing weight.

Cook at home

The energy value of meals prepared at home is lower than that of restaurant meals. Hence the conclusion - you need to cook your own food and try to eat exclusively at home.

At home you have the opportunity to cook in a more balanced and healthy meals tracking the calorie content of ingredients. In a restaurant or diner, you do not know what energy value was used in the preparation.

Also, at home, you independently regulate portions of meals, excluding the possibility of overeating.

Another "plus" in favor of home food - you can independently come up with recipes for healthy, low-calorie meals that suit you individually.

Cook correctly

It is very important how you cook: what you fry the products on, how you season salads, whether you add spices.

First of all, pay attention to how much oil you pour into the pan when you fry food? In most cases, its amount can be easily reduced by 1/3, which is what needs to be done. Especially if you use a non-stick pan. Take note of the fact that different ways cooking has a different effect on the calorie content of meals.

Cooking methods that allow you to reduce the calorie content of foods:

* traditional cooking,

* steaming,

* grilling.

Reduce the amount of butter, salad dressings, and cream added to foods and dishes. Add them only "for taste", do not overdo it.

Nutritionists also advise adding spices and seasonings to dishes. For example, red pepper helps you feel full faster, which means you eat less.

The right snack

During meals, before starting the main course, have a snack. A good pre-dinner snack will keep you from overeating. It is best to start each meal with a green salad. It is very low in calories and incredibly healthy. Refuel it best lemon juice and a small amount olive oil... Vegetable puree soup is also great.

Scientists from Pennsylvania conducted an experiment with 22 women. Experts have proven that if a woman eats a plate of green salad every 20 minutes before the main course, the number of daily calories consumed is reduced by 10%.

Many nutritionists advise drinking a glass of clean water before eating. It also helps you feel full faster - and therefore reduce your daily energy intake.

More fruits and vegetables

Can't deny yourself a snack between meals? Then give up fast food and snacks in favor of vegetables and fruits. Eating a lot of fruits and vegetables not only helps to reduce the energy value of the diet, but also has a positive effect on human health.

Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals and are a great alternative to high-calorie, high-fat foods. These healthy foods help to fill faster and "kill" appetite between meals.

So, boiled potatoes are much healthier and contain much fewer calories than chips or French fries, and an apple healthier than a piece apple pie.

What should you drink?

Scientists recently proved that those who want to lose weight need great attention to pay not only the calorie content of consumed foods, but also drinks.

Few people know that our favorite and familiar drinks contain quite a large amount of calories.

For example, in a day, the average person can drink: a glass orange juice for breakfast (72 calories), a cup of coffee with sugar for lunch (20 calories), a glass of Coca-Cola for an afternoon snack (129 calories), 2 glasses of wine for dinner - 200 calories.

That's 420 calories in total! If most of these drinks are replaced with clean water or at least reduce their volume, the number of calories consumed per day will be dramatically reduced.

It is also better to give up alcohol. Moreover, it increases appetite. If during a meal you consume any alcoholic beverage then you will eat more than usual.

"No" to sugar

Try to give preference to sugar-free foods. Refusal of sweets - easy way reduce the calorie content of food in your diet. We will have to exclude from the diet not only sugar itself, but also products containing it.

Some nutritionists advise replacing sugar with fructose. In terms of calorie content, they are the same, but fructose is much sweeter than sugar... This helps to reduce the energy value of sweet foods by almost 2 times.

If you find the strength to completely abandon sweets, then you can find a substitute for them in the form of sweets and juicy fruits- apples, pears, citrus fruits.

But you shouldn't use artificial sugar substitutes. They are very low in calories, but according to scientists, they can cause serious harm to health.

Everyone knows that in order to lose weight, it is necessary to smoothly reduce the calorie content of the diet and remove about 300 kcal from it every day. However, not everyone can suddenly switch from a regular diet to a strict one. low calorie diet and endure it from beginning to end. In addition, after the diet, it is also necessary to maintain the results by eating less high-calorie meals, while not experiencing difficulties in the choice of dishes and their preparation.

Give up semi-finished products

Cutlets, meatballs, meatballs from stores are those products whose calorie content is overestimated, since bread, cheap fats and low-quality meat are added to many semi-finished products for a greater product yield. Semi-finished products with dough (manti, dumplings and pancakes) contain even more calories due to dough and flour.

If you want cutlets - buy meat or fish, grind in a blender and make cutlets yourself.

In addition, it is better to abandon the highly advertised drinking yoghurt"For weight loss". One bottle of calories they have is like a whole meal because of sugar and additives, and it will not work out to gorge on one bottle for a long time.

It is worth excluding strongly spicy and salty cheeses from the diet, replacing them with low-calorie ones, abandon sausages in favor of meat cut into thin slices.

Try not to eat out of boredom or for company; choose from the offered dishes the most natural - for example, salads from fresh vegetables; Snack on unsweetened fruits. All of these methods will help reduce the calorie content of your diet.

Do you keep track of how many calories you consume?

Alena PARETSKAYA

I don't know if there was such an article or not, but I really want to be read by many, whose rations I saw here.

Dear slimmers, in pursuit of small WEIGHT, do not forget that you need to reduce it at the expense of FAT, not MUSCLES! Read it, I have highlighted in bold a specific example, why this is so, and not otherwise !! Think before torturing yourself and those around you with your senseless hunger strike and bad mood!

“The key to weight loss is that to start losing weight, you need to consume fewer calories than you spend. And this is not as simple as it seems.

Three important points:

1. Weight is not only hated fat. It is also bones, and muscles, and internal organs, including the brain. The main task of losing weight is to get rid of excess fat, and not weight in kilograms, because with diets, kilograms can become less, and fat will not decrease by a single gram.

Ideally, of course, before starting a diet, it would be good to know the "composition" of your body: how many kg of the total weight is in bones, organs, muscles, and how much is in fat. If you take two people of the same weight, height and age, one of them may have five pounds of excess fat, and the other not a drop. This is because muscles weigh more than twice the fat. For example, if you look at the BMI tables, then Brad Pitt is clearly overweight and needs to lose weight)) All bodybuilders with almost completely "fat-free" bodies also have colossal excess weight according to the BMI tables.

Weight almost never means anything. It means only the amount of excess fat (fat is still not superfluous at all).

2. Fat for our body is the main strategic reserve, on which (in the understanding of the organism) its chances of survival depend. For the sake of preserving and increasing this important reserve, the body is ready to sacrifice the rest of the components (muscles, tissues, and so on).

3. There is such a thing as your basal metabolic rate. This is the amount of calories that the body spends on its main functions: breathing, heartbeat, digestion, the creation of new cells, etc. It is calculated in calories. On average, this is one calorie per hour for every kilogram of weight. This is how many calories you will burn if you lie still all day. If you start to reduce the calorie content of your diet below this figure, you will provoke your body into self-defense.

4. Our body still lives in the realities of the Stone Age. When he feels that he has stopped feeding or is not being fed, he triggers defense mechanisms that helped him survive in conditions when food was not enough. It is with these mechanisms that the majority of those who lose weight face and lose in the battle with them.

I will give an example of such a battle in the next post.

Summing up:
1. You need to get rid of excess fat, not excess weight.
2. Fat is perceived by our body as the most important reserve, therefore, to get rid of excess fat, you need to understand the "psychology" of the body and create the right conditions.

When fewer calories begin to enter the body regularly, the body goes into emergency mode "Hunger has come!" and is taking steps to reduce spending. Pay the main attention to this - he does not start to get rid of fat, he reduces his costs. The average person has a basal metabolic rate of about 1200 calories.

The body's daily calorie requirement is the basal metabolic rate + calories for other expenses (walking, sitting, mental work, physical activity). The average healthy person needs 2000-3000 or more calories per day.

So a typical story typical weight loss with a typical outcome.

On the specific example, with explanations.

Initial data:
Weight: 73 kg.
Body fat: 32% (based on total body weight)
The number of calories required to maintain the body in its current state is 2000 calories daily.
Goal: to lose weight up to 57 kg.

1. To lose weight, you need to spend more calories than consume - everyone knows that.
The slimmer goes on a 1,500 calorie diet a day, thus creating a 500 calorie deficit.

2. A drastic decrease in the amount of food consumed gives the body a signal that the times of hunger have arrived. The body turns on automatic coping mechanisms and learns to function at 1,500 calories a day.

3. The body adapts by getting rid of water and muscles in the first place (since maintaining muscle mass consumes the most calories), and in the second - from fat. Fat is the most valuable reserve for further survival, so the body leaves it for the last resort. Research shows that in total, for every 5 kg of weight lost through the diet, there is approximately 3 kg of muscle and 2 kg of fat.

4. As muscles become smaller (hence the cost of maintaining them has decreased), the body has adapted to 1500 calories per day and weight loss stops.

5. To continue to lose weight, losing weight must again reduce the number of calories consumed. From 1500 it goes to 1000 calories per day.

6. The body sheds muscle and fat again to adjust.

7. When the body has adjusted to 1000 calories per day, weight loss stops.

Results so far:
Weight: 62 kg (minus 11 kg from the initial, of which: 5 kg of fat, 6 kg of muscle)
Body fat content: 30% (based on total body weight) (- 2)
The number of calories to maintain the body in the current state - 1000 calories per day (- 500)

At this point, the situation looks like this. Since the body is in a state of chronic starvation, it includes additional means to conserve energy - the functioning of the endocrine system decreases. In addition, since almost half of the weight lost is from muscle, metabolism is reduced and lethargy and drowsiness appear. Lethargy leads to inactivity, and the body burns even fewer calories than before.

There is nowhere to go further. You cannot reduce your calorie intake. There is also nothing to burn calories with - muscle mass has significantly decreased, metabolism has slowed down, endocrine system works slowly. In these conditions, it is almost impossible to reduce weight, but it is very easy to gain weight: the feeling of hunger at this moment becomes obsessive and is very difficult to control.

Since the body has adapted to 1000 calories per day to keep the body in its current state, at its current level of physical activity (very low), then extra calories will inevitably lead to weight gain, which the body will convert to fat. Since the feeling of hunger at this moment became unbearable, sooner or later a person breaks down and a period of intense gluttony begins. The amount of fat in the body will increase to the original and higher, as the body will pick up in reserve, in case of the next unexpected hunger strike (namely, diet).

What we have in a year:
Weight: 78 kg (+ 5)
Fat: 38% (+ 5)
The number of calories to maintain the body in the current state: 1500 (- 500).

Fat has increased, but now you have to go on a diet so that you don't gain even more!

For those who often and for a long time sit on all sorts of restrictive diets, the metabolism can decrease to such an extent that they begin to get fat even looking at the cakes. They find themselves in a hopeless situation: either eat cucumbers alone, suffering from hunger, or get fat from every crumb of bread, and at the same time they all still have a lot of excess fat.

What to do? Two key concepts are metabolism and muscle mass. Metabolism can be accelerated and muscle mass can be increased.

1. Gain muscle mass. Muscles are the main consumer of calories in the body, the more there are, the higher the basal metabolic rate.

Olympic swimmer Phelps consumes 25,000 calories daily. This is ten times more than an ordinary person. And yet he has not a drop of excess fat. But not so much because he trains daily, but also because he is solid muscles. With so much muscle mass, he can lie on the couch and watch TV all day, and still burn more calories on it than the average person running around the city all day.

There are two types of physical activity:

1. Aerobic (cardio). This is all sorts of jumping and running. This type of exercise helps you burn more calories, increases lung capacity and improves heart function. At the same time, all this type of load can reduce the volume of muscle mass.

2. Power. This is all sorts of weight lifting (dumbbells, exercise equipment, push-ups from the floor). This type of exercise allows you to increase muscle mass.

As you can see, the effect of them is different and in some places the opposite. The golden mean is to combine one with the other. For example, if you go to the gym for an hour and a half, then devote 45 minutes to strength training and 45 minutes to cardio (in this sequence). This will help you burn more calories as well as build muscle mass. Not as much as you would grow it, doing only strength, but still enough for weight loss purposes.

For those who are afraid of "becoming like a Schwarzenegger": for women this is almost impossible. Ask this question on any bodybuilding forum and they will laugh at you with the whole rocking chair. It is generally difficult for women to gain and maintain any significant muscle mass. Women bodybuilders are people who have devoted years of their lives to their hobbies and spend five hours or more in the gym every day. If you go to the gym three times a week and do strength exercises for 45 minutes, for the first six months you will not see any result at all in the form of at least some visually identified muscles (but you will feel how your body has strengthened and tightened).

The most that you can achieve in a year of such training is to improve body proportions (where there used to be fat, there will be more muscle).

Speaking of which, it is impossible to wipe out excess fat with diets. Excess fat can only be burned by physical activity.

2. Eat more often, but in small portions. I already wrote that at the first signs of hunger, the body begins to destroy muscles, while simultaneously slowing down the metabolism. He can be fooled a little if you distribute your diet so that there are 4-6 times a day, every 3 hours in small portions. This will give the body a signal "There is enough food! You don't have to fight for fat!" and he is more willing to part with more. Plus, you don't get hungry between meals. It turns out a wonderful effect: it seems that you chew something all day, you don't feel hungry, and at the same time you lose weight.

Ordinary dieters skip breakfast, eat something dietary for lunch, and attack the refrigerator for dinner and chew until nightfall.

3. Experiment with the ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrates in the diet. Sometimes the effect of losing weight can be achieved only by this, without reducing calories. It is especially helpful when the weight loss has stopped (a plateau has come). An increase in protein and a decrease in carbohydrates can give the effect. I will write about this later.

There is also a fourth and fifth component - water, adequate sleep, and skills to reduce stress in life. This is also discussed in a separate post.

Summing up. In order to successfully shed excess fat, you need the following:

1. Slightly reduce calories daily diet and at the same time increase the level of physical activity. Be sure to include power loads.
2. Choose an effective ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
3. Eat often and in small portions.
4. Drink enough water.

There are two more methods you can use from time to time (especially when the weight is stuck):
1. Carbohydrate alternation.
2. Calorie alternation.
3. Loading (not unloading!) Days.

At the end, I want to emphasize once again:
1. Without sufficient muscle mass, it is practically impossible to lose weight without harm, seriously and for a long time.
2. In order to lose weight, you need to eat, not starve. You need to eat right and enough. "