Several things may impact your progress when trying to lose weight.
While food and exercise are frequently coupled to assist in weight loss, some people may ask if you can lose weight just through dietary changes.
This article explores if reducing the weight simply via diet manipulation is achievable and advises getting you started.
Critical factors for weight loss
A few essential aspects impact your level of success when it comes to weight loss.
Calories in vs. calories out
Maintaining a steady calorie deficit is the most critical component of weight loss.
This is described as eating fewer calories per day than you burn.
This will lose weight over time since your body will be burning through its fat and carbohydrate stores for energy (1, 2).
When you’re in a calorie deficit, your body uses fat cells and glycogen; the body’s stored form of carbohydrates, to compensate for the lack of energy from meals.
Dietary factors
To lose weight, you can use a variety of nutritional choices.
The idea is to consume slightly fewer calories than your body requires for weight maintenance, encouraging progressive weight loss.
The quantity of calories you need to eat to lose weight varies widely and is determined by various factors, including gender, height, weight, and other hereditary characteristics.
Some popular weight loss techniques are as follows (3, 4):
- Low carb diets. Limiting your carbs to 50-150 grams per day may help you consume fewer high carbohydrate items. Low carb diets frequently focus on protein and fiber-rich vegetables, aiding hunger management and control of appetite.
- Ketogenic diets. Low carb consumption of fewer than 50 grams per day can increase ketogenesis. This mechanism, in which fat is used as the primary energy source, may help you control your appetite.
- High protein diets. Protein intakes of 0.5-0.7 grams per pound (1.2-1.6 grams per kg) per day boost the development and maintenance of lean body mass, which supports your metabolism and may help you feel fuller for longer, reducing overeating.
- Intermittent fasting. Restricting your meals to a specific period may help you minimize overall calorie consumption and improve your diet adherence.
While these tactics may help you lose weight, most experts advocate gradually lowering your calorie consumption and consuming nutrient-rich, complete meals high in fiber and protein.
This strategy promotes visible weight loss while supporting your general health and reducing some harmful side effects of dieting.
Exercise factors
Exercise is another key strategy that is frequently used to improve weight loss.
Physical exercise boosts the “calories out” side of the equation, increasing a calorie deficit and fat reduction even more.
Cardio workouts such as jogging, swimming, and cycling are frequently recommended over strength exercises while trying to lose weight since they burn more calories minute by minute.
However, practicing both aerobic and weight training delivers the best outcomes for a well-balanced training regimen.
This is partly because regular resistance training can build muscle mass, which may aid in fat reduction. After all, muscle burns more calories than fat (5, 6).
Fortunately, many of today’s workout regimens include aerobic and weight training, ticking both boxes simultaneously.
Benefits of focusing on diet alone
Though food and exercise are frequently coupled to aid in weight loss, other people choose to focus only on their nutrition.
This has several possible advantages.
Allows you to devote full attention to diet
Losing weight may be daunting, especially for those with a large amount of weight to shed.
Though physical exercise is vital for reasons other than weight loss, removing it from the equation allows you to focus only on nutrition.
With one fewer element to consider, you may be able to stick to your diet more consistently, perhaps enhancing your long-term weight loss success (8).
However, while most individuals have no issue losing weight by food alone, they may struggle to sustain their weight loss in the long run if physical exercise is not included in the equation (7).
More time-efficient for those with a busy schedule
Fitting in meal planning and exercise during the day might be difficult for people with a hectic daily schedule.
According to 2013 research, one of the most significant challenges to altering one’s diet is a lack of time (9).
You may free up significant time in your schedule by focusing on dieting, allowing for a more sustainable approach to weight loss.
Once you’ve established a robust nutritional plan, you may gradually incorporate exercise to help you lose weight.
Downsides of focusing on diet alone
Although focusing only on your food may result in some weight loss results, there are some drawbacks to consider.
Risk of weight regain
One of the most significant possible drawbacks of focusing only on your food is that you may experience weight return after some time.
Recent research on overweight people looked at the impact of several exercise treatments on weight loss (10).
They divided the subjects into four groups: calorie restriction, strength training, endurance training, and strength-endurance training.
For six months, each group maintained a diet that generated a 25-30% calorie deficit, with only the exercise groups engaging in physical activity three times per week.
According to the study, all groups initially dropped a similar amount of weight, but most gained a considerable amount back after three years.
The strength-endurance category was an exception. Those in this group kept the weight off for three years, indicating that exercise is essential in sustaining weight loss.
Avoiding exercise may increase your chances of regaining weight after some time.
You miss out on the positive metabolic effects of exercise.
Regular exercise can help you burn calories, lose weight, and provide other vital metabolic advantages.
The process by which your body turns the meals you eat into energy is called metabolic advantages. Having more lean muscle and less body fat allows your body to burn more calories at rest, which is beneficial while trying to lose weight (11).
Exercise has the following primary metabolic consequences (12, 13):
- gains in muscle and bone mass
- insulin sensitivity, a significant indicator of glucose metabolism, has improved
- higher resting metabolic rate, or the number of calories burned at rest
- the prevention of metabolic syndrome, a group of disorders that raise your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and artery disease.
However, the particular metabolic impacts vary according to the exercise undertaken.
A 2015 review of 66 research, for example, looked at several therapy strategies for overweight persons, including various forms of exercise (14).
Resistance training was essential for increasing fat reduction and sustaining lean muscle mass.
Regular resistance training has also been demonstrated to enhance healthy bone and muscle mass (15, 16, 17).
This is crucial as you age because muscle mass and bone density begin to drop beyond 30 (18).
Include some endurance activity, such as walking, jogging, cycling, or swimming, since this has been found to improve heart health and lower the risk of numerous illnesses (19).
If you avoid exercise, you may miss some beneficial metabolic consequences.
Finally, the ideal technique for weight reduction is one that you can stay too. As with your nutrition, select an activity you love and can commit to regularly.
Recommendations
Though combining dietary and activity changes is most effective for weight loss, you may undoubtedly achieve healthy weight loss by focusing just on your food.
How much weight do you want to lose?
The amount of weight you want to reduce is a crucial decision element.
For people who need to lose a lot of weight, combining diet and exercise is usually preferable for the best effects (14).
Those who want to shed 10-15 pounds (4.5-6.8 kg) will most likely be able to do it by food alone.
To begin, calculate your calorie maintenance calories and remove roughly 500 calories to arrive at your starting daily calorie target. This should assist you in losing 1-2 pounds (0.5-1 kg) every week (20).
A typical scientifically supported dieting technique focuses on eating a nutrient-rich, high fiber, high protein diet to aid in weight loss success (21).
You may wish to try one of the dietings above tactics that appeal to you the most, as developing a regular eating routine is essential.
Maintaining a high protein intake should help you retain muscle mass and satisfy you. Aiming for 0.5-1 gram of protein per pound (1.2-2.5 grams per kg) may help you attain this.
Some people consume even more protein, up to 1.0-1.4 grams per pound (2.3-3.1 grams per kg) of body weight (22, 23).
The remaining calories will come from carbohydrates or fats, depending on your preferences.
While calorie counting is not required to lose weight, some people find it helpful to track their progress, and studies have connected it to weight loss (24, 25).
Several smartphone applications can help you calculate calories much more quickly.
A certified dietician should be consulted for more detailed nutrition advice.
Set realistic goals
The more calories you eliminate from your diet, the faster you lose weight.
However, cutting your calorie intake too low has negative consequences like muscle loss, increased hunger, vitamin shortages, low energy, and a drop in daily calories (26, 27, 28).
To avoid these adverse effects, it’s better to set realistic weight loss targets of no more than 1 pound (0.5 kg) weekly.
Finally, when it comes to dieting, consistency is essential. As a result, you should choose a strategy you can stick to in the long run.
The bottom line
While there are benefits to losing weight with a mix of food and exercise, some people choose to focus just on nutrition to achieve weight loss.
The most crucial component in losing weight is sustaining a tiny but constant calorie deficit, which you may do by modifying your diet, exercising, or both.
Dietary modifications alone can result in a healthy weight loss. However, your progress may be slower than if you also exercise. You may also lose out on some of physical activity’s metabolic and health advantages.
See a healthcare expert before starting a weight loss program, mainly if you use drugs or have any underlying health concerns.
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