Four indicators to test your weight loss effect.
Obesity/overweight
We often say, "I've gained weight recently, and I've gained three or four pounds." Because weight can reflect our fatness and thinness, and it is very convenient to measure, we often use it to measure fatness. In fact, this concept is not desirable-weight is affected by many factors, such as physical condition, bone size, muscle proportion, water content and so on. These will affect the weight, but they can't accurately reflect the fat and thin figure. So we say that it is unscientific to take weight as the only indicator to measure obesity.
lose weight
When we lose weight, weighing scale is often what we miss most every day-any slight change in the pointer has become the weather vane of our daily mood. However, because weight is influenced by many factors, taking weight loss as the purpose of weight loss often leads to great deviation in our weight loss-the vacillation of weight affects our confidence and determination to lose weight; The simple pursuit of losing weight leads us to adopt the method of losing weight quickly, and most of these methods are to reduce muscle and water, so losing weight is easy to rebound. So don't rely so much on your weighing scale pointer, sometimes it will cheat you! So, how do we know whether we are fat or thin, and how do we test our weight loss effect?
Obesity = high fat rate
The purpose of losing weight is to finally have a beautiful body and a healthy body. Every behavior during weight loss is to achieve this goal. Judging from the composition of the body, our body is mainly composed of several parts-bones, internal organs, muscles, water and fat. Obviously, the first two parts are basically fixed; Muscle is the main place to consume calories, and its reduction will lead to the decline of metabolism, so you can't lose weight by losing muscle; The water content will change, and it will be easily excreted and replenished; Moreover, fat not only has a great influence on our appearance, but also does great harm to our health, so the fundamental goal of losing weight is to lose fat! Obesity does not simply mean overweight, but refers to abnormal or excessive fat accumulation. To measure whether you are obese, you can measure the proportion of adipose tissue in your body, that is, the fat rate.
Lose weight = lose fat
When we lose weight, taking the fat rate as another indicator can better reflect our weight loss effect and whether the weight loss direction is correct or not than simply taking weight as the sole criterion. Be sure to remember that every action you take to lose weight is to lose weight, not to lose weight. Therefore, some behaviors, such as reducing water or muscle tissue (muscle is the main place to consume calories, and reducing muscle in weight loss is equivalent to suicide), are contrary to our goals and even hinder us from losing weight.
Measure weight loss effect
As can be seen from the above, we actually reduce fat content, not lose weight; Traditionally, taking weight as the only index to measure the weight loss effect has a great misunderstanding. In order to better measure our weight loss effect and test whether our weight loss direction is correct, combined with the advantages and disadvantages of various measurement methods, it is suggested that we take four changes as indicators to measure the weight loss effect-the change of fat rate, the change of weight, the change of moisture rate and the change of girth of various parts of the body (especially waist circumference).
If you lose weight, or your body moisture rate has increased, but your fat rate has not changed (in the case of normal body moisture, the same below), or even increased, don't jump for joy-it is very likely that you have lost water or even muscle, not fat!
If your fat rate decreases properly, then your fat will also decrease. At this time, even if the weight has not been reduced for the time being, the waist circumference will continue to decrease to achieve the purpose of losing weight.
If your weight (or body water content) drops too fast, you should reflect on your weight loss method. Because fat loss is generally not so fast, you may lose more water or muscle. If you lose more than 2 pounds a week, it usually means that lean muscle tissue is also broken down-at this time, your metabolism will decline, that is, if you are quiet, your body will consume less. Therefore, from the perspective of continuous weight loss and keeping in shape, even though on the surface, your weight loss effect is good, if you don't replenish the lost muscles in time, it will become more difficult to continue to lose weight and keep weight.
The recommended weight loss speed is 1-2 kg per week, which is also a healthy weight loss speed.
In addition, in order to compare the changes of these indicators, it is more meaningful to measure at the same time every day (or every week) under the same environmental and physical conditions.
Weight is influenced by other factors, and people's metabolism is also slow, so it is more appropriate to measure it once a week (fixed for one day); Fat rate and moisture rate are the weathervanes of weight loss, and measuring them 2-3 times a week can check whether the weight loss direction is correct in time. As for the circumference, it is an index that is not limited by time and place, and it is more convenient to measure.
+Fat rate-the most faithful fatness index
There are many misunderstandings in traditional weight loss methods. Losing weight means losing fat. Weight can objectively reflect the change of fat, but it is influenced by many factors. The fat rate can directly reflect the change of body fat, which is the most faithful indicator of our weight loss effect.
Fat rate refers to the proportion of adipose tissue in body composition. Measuring fat rate can better reflect the body's fat level (obesity degree) than simply measuring weight.
Fat rate can be measured by special health scale or other methods.
Judging from the current measurement technology, the biological resistance method is mainly used. The principle is that muscle contains more water such as blood, which can conduct electricity, while fat can't. Therefore, the resistance can be calculated by the small current flowing through the body, and the fat rate can be measured from this.
However, because the accurate measurement of this technology requires advanced technology, it is recommended that you choose a reliable brand when purchasing measuring instruments (such as health scales).
In addition, this method is greatly influenced by factors such as people's physical condition. To compare the measurement results, it is best to use the results at the same time and when the body is full of water.
Obesity standards of the World Health Organization and some obesity societies in Asia;
Standard table of female obesity; Standard table of male fat status.
For adults, the fat rate exceeds the standard, which means they are more likely to suffer from many chronic diseases than ordinary people. For children or adolescents below 18, this standard cannot be used as their reference, because adipocytes are not fully developed.
Techniques for measuring body fat percentage:
It is meaningful to use a fat scale at the same time of day, in the same environment and under the same physical condition to observe the changes of body fat content.
When measuring fat rate, it will be affected by body moisture, drinking, taking drugs, exercise status, environment and other factors. Therefore, to correctly treat the change of fat rate, under normal circumstances, 2-3 times a week can better reflect the change of fat rate;
Under the influence of estrogen, the fat rate measured during female physiological cycle may also be overestimated;
Pregnant women and people who have implanted pacemakers or other electronic devices are not recommended to use fat scales. Because the current fat scales are generally measured by bio-impedance method, there will be weak current passing through the body, which may cause interference and cause great harm to these people.
+Treat your weight correctly
In the process of losing weight, the change of weighing scale pointer always affects our daily mood.
In fact, weight is affected by many factors, and excessive attention to weight often leads us to lose weight and even lose confidence. We need to eliminate these interference factors, so that these naughty little guys will no longer disturb our sight and let us deviate from the direction of reducing fat.
1, combined with other indicators to see the weight loss effect.
Each method of measuring obesity has its advantages and disadvantages. In order to better measure our weight-loss effect and test whether our weight-loss direction is correct, we can take four changes as indicators to measure the weight-loss effect-the change of fat rate, the change of weight, the change of moisture rate and the change of girth (especially waist circumference) of various parts of the body.
The combination of the four indicators can better reflect our weight loss effect and avoid a single weight-oriented wrong weight loss method (such as reducing water or muscle, although the weight has dropped, it is not good for weight loss).
Especially when shaping, the weight will not change much. At this time, we should be more inclined to use the other three indicators as reference.
2. Measure at the same time every week under the same environmental and physical conditions.
In order to eliminate eating, drinking, exercise, environmental impact, etc. , it is better to choose a time period, the same environment, physical condition is not much different, more real weight loss effect.
Before breakfast, it is a good time to measure. At this time, after a long rest and adjustment, the body is in a relatively stable state and is less affected by diet.
3. Measure your weight once a week.
If you think about it carefully, you will find that our week is actually a small cycle, and different living habits will certainly change our weight. Once a week, on a certain day (such as Monday), you can avoid the interference of this lifestyle.
In addition, the metabolism of the body is a slow process, and the effect of losing weight is not only affected by one or two days' behavior. Looking at our weight every day will make us doubt our weight loss effect-in fact, the daily weight change is more influenced by various factors. But once you measure your weight every week, the trend is obvious.
4. Lose weight 1-2 kg per week.
The essence of weight loss is to reduce fat, and 1-2 kg per week is a healthy weight loss speed.
Under normal circumstances (no external force, such as liposuction), the body's own fat decomposition is not so fast. If you exceed this speed, you will lose more water or muscle.
If you lose more than 2 pounds a week, it usually means that lean muscle tissue is also broken down-at this time, your metabolism will decline (or be disordered), that is, if you are quiet, your body will consume less. Therefore, from the perspective of continuous weight loss and keeping in shape, even if your weight loss effect is good on the surface, it will become more difficult to continue to lose weight and keep weight if you don't replenish the lost muscles.
If the weight loss rate exceeds 3 kg per week, it means that the body will be slightly or seriously damaged, and the resistance will decrease at this time.
5. Correctly treat the influence of female physiological cycle on weight.
Women's physiological cycle also affects their weight. Women often find that on some days, they lose weight faster, while on other days, they gain weight. In fact, we don't have to be so sad and happy at all. It's totally estrogen in our bodies.
Generally speaking, about a week before menstruation, under the action of hormones, there will be more water retention in the body, and then the weight will increase; At other times, the water in the body will return to normal level, especially one week after menstruation. Generally, the metabolism will be slightly faster and the weight will change greatly. Therefore, there will be a weight fluctuation of 1-6 kg in a physiological cycle, but this does not reflect the quality of weight loss.
6. Correctly look at the trend of weight change at all stages of weight loss.
Even with the same weight loss method, the weight changes are different at different stages of weight loss.
A single weight loss method (especially diet or exercise-based method) is easy to lose weight faster in the early stage, but with the decrease of weight loss, due to the slow adaptation of the body to this method, slow metabolism (muscle loss), lax implementation and other reasons, consumption will decrease and weight loss will slow down.
In addition, the human body decomposes various substances combined with different moisture, and the human body automatically adjusts and adapts. At first, it will also make the weight drop faster, but as the weight drops more and more, the rate of decline will generally slow down. Of course, another reason for this situation is that with the familiarity with the weight loss plan, the implementation will be relaxed.
7. Different effects under the same weight
Sometimes there will be such a situation: my weight has not changed much, but my pants are loose, which makes me very uneasy. I wonder if losing weight has any effect.
In fact, under the same weight, the substances in the body may be different. For a simple example, at the same weight, the volume of fat is about four times that of muscle. In other words, under the same weight, people with more muscles will look thinner and lose weight more easily. In addition, people who use dehydration to lose weight (such as diarrhea, thirst, hunger, and just eating something to lose weight) lose weight, but because water is easy to replenish, it is easy to rebound.
This needs to be combined with other indicators to judge our weight loss effect, not just the change of weight.
+Measure your body moisture rate.
Because water accounts for a large proportion in your body, the measurement of water ratio can also reflect your fatness. The change of moisture content measurement results during weight loss can also reflect whether your weight loss direction is correct-blindly reducing body moisture content during weight loss will increase body fat content. If the water content is obviously reduced during weight loss, it may indicate that your weight loss method is somewhat biased, and you should adopt a healthier weight loss method instead of reducing water content. Therefore, while insisting on recording the changes of body moisture and body fat, we should lose weight healthily.