The author and family's weight loss experience and answers to 50 frequently asked questions (Part 1)
Case 12: Successfully lost 22.5 kg in 9 months.
Hello everyone, my name is Zhu Lanlan, and I am a teacher at an elementary school in Shanghai.
I hadn't been controlling my diet before, and after giving birth I was busy taking care of my baby, so my weight once reached 97 kg. Because I am 180 cm tall, I always give people a very burly feeling.
Before I started losing weight, I had anemia. I'd like to share this with you all: anemia isn't just a problem for thin people; many obese people also have it.
At the time, I wanted to lose weight because of my health concerns, but I was also wary of anemia and dared not try many weight loss methods.
By chance, I met Teacher Xing, who teaches you how to lose weight. Under her guidance, I finally embarked on the weight loss journey I had been looking forward to.
My weight loss journey officially began in July 2016. Due to anemia, Teacher Xing has been monitoring my hemoglobin levels, urging me to eat iron-enriching nutrients and certain foods, and reminding me to go to the hospital for regular check-ups.
As of April 2017, after 9 months, I successfully lost 22.5 kg and now weigh less than 75 kg, with a BMI of 23 (18.5-23.9 is normal), and my hemoglobin is also within the normal range! You may think this weight loss speed is a bit slow, but I am very satisfied with it.
Teacher Xing told me that the speed at which I could both improve my anemia and lose weight was just right.
Here, I would like to thank my colleagues who always praise me whenever they see me. With your encouragement, I can keep moving forward on my weight loss journey. I would also like to thank my mother-in-law. She changed her cooking habits of decades for my weight loss meals. It was truly not easy for her. Finally, I must give a special thank you to the "Teach You to Lose Weight" team. It is you who have helped me regain my confidence and rediscover my former self. I love you all!
The author's family member's weight loss experience: successfully lost 16 kg.
This is my husband, Liu Shaonian. Before losing weight, he weighed 81 kg, and now he weighs 65 kg.
In 2009, I was losing weight after giving birth, and he helped me lose weight to set an example for me.
Later, they helped me research how to lose weight safely and easily.
Before I researched weight loss, he skipped lunch during his weight loss period and went to the gym every day to exercise for two hours straight. He clearly felt weak and lacked energy.
I admire his willpower and am grateful for his encouragement, but I also feel sorry for him.
However, at that time we knew nothing about weight loss and relied entirely on willpower to persevere, which was very difficult.
Without my husband's support, I might still be overweight, and I certainly wouldn't have such profound insights and conclusions about weight loss.
Like me, he couldn't escape the torment of rebound weight gain during his six years of dieting. As soon as he started eating normally and stopped running, his weight would rebound.
It wasn't until I summarized this set of easy-to-lose-weight lifestyle habits that he was able to get rid of the pain of rebound and achieve his ultimate weight loss goal of 65 kg.
Once your body is in good condition, your overall energy and spirit will change.
Now he never complains of being tired when he goes shopping with me, and running is no problem for him either; he has participated in a full marathon and the Gobi Desert Challenge.
On our tenth wedding anniversary in 2016, he celebrated by running. The first phase was a 10 km run to commemorate the past ten years of ups and downs; the second phase was a 13.14 km run to represent a lifetime of walking hand in hand; and the third phase was a 5.20 km run to express "I love you," for a total of 28 km!
The author's weight loss experience: Successfully lost 18 kg.
This is me. Before losing weight, I weighed 64 kg, and now I weigh 46 kg.
Actually, I was always skinny before 2002. When I was a child, people called me "firewood stick," which means a twig that can be used to start a fire.
I always thought I was the kind of person who could eat a lot of meat and not gain weight, but since I started working, my weight has been soaring, reaching a personal peak of 64 kg.
I gained weight after childbirth and was diagnosed with fatty liver during a physical exam. I was panicked and didn't know what to do, so I started my weight loss journey.
I spent six years and over 80,000 yuan trying more than 10 different weight loss methods: I went to the gym, did aerobics, went to beauty salons, took diet pills, drank slimming tea, drank milkshakes, used traditional Chinese medicine, participated in weight loss training camps, and also tried dieting, acupuncture, cupping, and so on.
I have firsthand experience of the suffering of overweight people, the hardship of losing weight, and the fear of rebound. The mention of weight loss is a source of bitter tears.
Whenever I see our clients lose tens of kilograms in just a few months, I feel really envious and happy for them; helping more people successfully turn their lives around is the original intention of me in founding the "Teach You to Lose Weight" company.
Our clients' successful weight loss is also a driving force for our business progress. We are very grateful for their trust and support.
Chapter 5 Preventing Rebound and Managing Weight
Take control of your weight, take control of your life.
As adults age, they gradually lose muscle mass and their basal metabolic rate decreases.
To maintain your weight, you must either reduce your calorie intake or increase your energy expenditure.
Weight management is a lifelong endeavor; losing weight is a lifelong practice, and it is the result of putting knowledge into practice.
May every self-disciplined person be able to manage their weight and take control of their life! Strive to do the following to prevent weight rebound:
(1) During the weight loss period, in addition to achieving the weight loss goal, you must cultivate good habits of balanced diet and moderate exercise, and continue to maintain them after the weight loss ends.
(2) Keep your weight below the maximum weight to prevent rebound.
The formula for calculating the maximum weight to prevent weight rebound for people aged 18 to 65 is: Men: 22 × height (m) × height (m); Women: 21 × height (m) × height (m). If the weight is higher than this, the probability of weight rebound is greater.
(3) Weigh yourself at least once a week, and weigh yourself daily on holidays and keep a record.
If your weight increases by more than 1 kg, please immediately correct your diet, increase exercise, and get back to your original weight as soon as possible.
(4) Maintain the habit of regular exercise, find a sport you like and stick to it for a long time.
(5) If you exercise less, eat less; if you eat more, exercise more. Ideally, you should exercise more and eat more, and maintain a balance between eating and exercising.
(6) Try to do strength training 3 times a week to increase muscle mass or slow down muscle loss, increase basal metabolism or prevent it from decreasing. This is the best outcome after weight loss.
It is recommended that strength training be done under the guidance of a fitness coach, as this is a professional matter.
The same movement can have very different results if the posture is incorrect or the wrong muscle groups are used. Incorrect posture can also increase the risk of injury.
Muscle-building exercises cannot be started at any time. Generally, they involve three stages: improving cardiopulmonary function, improving muscle endurance, and finally entering the muscle-building stage.
(7) Weight management is a lifelong career! Take "30 Easy-to-Lose-Weight Lifestyle Habits Notebook" as your partner in your weight management career and practice the weight loss skills in it throughout your life.
(8) Maintain close contact with “Teach You to Lose Weight”, immerse yourself in the environment of weight management, and manage your weight for life.
50 Frequently Asked Questions
(1) When is the best time to eat fruit?
Is the saying "Golden apples in the morning, silver apples at noon, rotten apples in the evening" true? Some people eat fruit with meals, while others eat fruit after meals. So when is the best time to eat fruit?
When is the best time of day to eat fruit – morning, noon, or night? From a weight loss perspective, there isn't much difference between eating fruit in the morning and at noon. Fruit has fewer calories than the same volume of staple food, so eating it at dinner time, especially if it replaces some of your staple food, is perfectly acceptable.
However, it is not recommended to eat fruit before bed, because if you eat it and then go to sleep, the sugar in the fruit will not have time to be metabolized and will easily turn into fat.
(2) Why am I still fat even though I don't eat much?
Weight and energy levels are positively correlated. Eating less generally means eating a smaller volume of food, but it doesn't necessarily mean less energy.
For example, a candy and an apple have the same number of calories, but the candy is much smaller in volume than an apple.
The food you eat may not be large in volume, but it is high in calories and contains oil and sugar, such as cookies and pastries. Although the volume is small and the feeling of fullness is low, the calories are very high.
Drinking milk tea or juice when thirsty has a much higher calorie content than drinking plain water.
(3) What is energy?
Energy is heat. Units of energy include: joule (J); kilojoule (kJ); megajoule (MJ); calorie (calorie); and kilocalorie (kcal).
Energy conversion: 1 kilojoule (kJ) = 1,000 joules (J); 1 megajoule (MJ) = 1,000 kilojoules (kJ); 1 kilocalorie (kcal) = 1,000 calories; 1 kilocalorie (kcal) = 4.184 kilojoules (kJ); 1 kilojoule (kJ) = 0.239 kilocalories (kcal).
Energy efficiency coefficient: 1 g carbohydrate: 4 kcal; 1 g fat: 9 kcal; 1 g protein: 4 kcal; 1 g ethanol: 7 kcal.
(4) Am I currently suited to strength training?
Strength training is divided into exercises that increase muscle endurance and exercises that increase muscle strength.
During weight loss, you can focus on aerobic exercise and supplement it with exercises that increase muscle endurance.
Exercises that increase muscle strength are not suitable for everyone. People with a BMI over 26 who are obese, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high blood sugar, have cardiovascular disease, or are minors are advised not to do exercises that increase muscle strength.