For many women who are already struggling with weight loss, it's important not to be as eager to see weight drop as they were in their 20s, but rather to focus on their overall health and quality of life. Women with families and careers often want to control their weight without affecting their work, their ability to eat with family, or even their complexion and overall well-being.
Meeting these requirements is actually quite easy. Here's a simple and easy-to-follow weight loss strategy that I've summarized, with the main principles summarized as "three major disciplines and eight points of attention."
The so-called Three Main Rules of Discipline are requirements concerning daily physical activity:
1. Ensure at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise daily. This can include jogging, brisk walking, dancing, gymnastics, hiking, etc. It must be continuous exercise. The intensity should be such that you feel warm all over, your complexion is flushed, and your breathing is slightly faster afterward. The specific time is not limited; morning, afternoon, or evening are all fine. Don't worry about finding the "best time"; the duration you can maintain is good.
2. Unless you have issues like a prolapsed stomach or severe indigestion (which would make it difficult to gain weight), absolutely do not sit or lie down within half an hour after lunch or dinner. While strenuous exercise is not recommended after meals, gentle housework is fine. Activities like washing dishes, mopping the floor, doing laundry, or tidying the house involve walking around. If you plan to watch TV, be sure to stand and do some light exercises like waist twists, leg raises, stepping, and chest expansions. When making a phone call, also stand, and ideally, alternate raising one leg at a time.
3. Wear comfortable walking shoes in daily life. Avoid driving or taking public transport for distances under two kilometers; walk as fast as possible, aiming for 1 kilometer in 10 minutes (6 km/h). Women who drive to work should park their cars as far away as possible. Avoid taking the elevator to floors 8 and below; climb the stairs yourself. Going downstairs is more stressful on the knees, but going upstairs is not very dangerous unless wearing high heels.
Many modern women work sedentary jobs, experiencing high work pressure and insufficient physical activity, making it crucial to emphasize increasing physical activity. Integrating exercise into daily life can prevent the problem of excessive time commitment and difficulty in maintaining a consistent routine. Exercise not only increases muscle tone and reduces body fat percentage, improving body shape, but also relaxes the mind and body, boosts mood, reduces stress, and slows aging—all extremely beneficial to women's physical and mental health. Furthermore, developing good physical activity habits is the best way to prevent weight regain.
The eight points to note pertain to dietary requirements:
1. Try to avoid eating fried and greasy foods.
2. Drink a large glass of water or weak tea 20 minutes before meals. Avoid sugary drinks and try to avoid snacks and desserts. If absolutely necessary, refuse all alcoholic beverages.
3. Eat a full breakfast, a 70% full lunch, and a 50% full dinner. Avoid snacking between meals, except for fruit and a small cup of yogurt.
4. Eat more whole grains and other ingredients in your staple foods, and minimize your intake of foods made from white rice and white flour. It's better to have multigrain and bean porridge instead of rice for dinner.
5. Eat more than 1 pound of vegetables cooked with less oil every day, especially leafy green vegetables.
6. Use less oil when stir-frying vegetables, and make one or two delicious cold dishes and steamed dishes for each meal.
7. Avoid eating staple foods with added oil, such as dumplings, pancakes, sesame seed cakes, layered pancakes, and fried rice. If you must eat these foods, have them for breakfast.
8. Eggs, milk, fish, shrimp, beef, chicken, and soy products are all good choices to avoid protein deficiency. However, cooking methods should be steaming, stewing, boiling, and braising to reduce the amount of oil used in stir-frying.
In addition, since the total amount of nutrients in the diet inevitably decreases during weight loss, it is also recommended to supplement with multivitamins daily.
This plan ensures a varied diet and sufficient nutrient intake throughout the day, preventing feelings of hunger. Dieters can still eat what they like without having to meticulously calculate the types of food and energy intake each day.
If you follow this plan diligently for two months, you will soon find that not only will your weight steadily decrease, but your waistline will also become slimmer, you will feel happier, and your whole person will become refreshed and full of energy.
The optimal rate of weight loss without rebound is 3 pounds per month. Although the speed is slow, by adjusting diet and exercise, cultivating healthy lifestyle habits, and being willing to maintain them for life, rebound is fundamentally prevented. Long-term adherence not only controls weight but also reverses aging, boosts confidence, and provides lifelong benefits.
