Sometimes losing weight isn't the real problem. It's much harder for many maintain weight after diet
Especially with crash diets, the dreaded accordion effect hits quickly: the pounds return to your hips in an instant – sometimes even more than before the diet.
How does the accordion effect arise?
It's part of almost every diet: the accordion effect. He describes a phenomenon you may have experienced: After dieting, the lost pounds return to your hips more quickly than you might think.
The accordion effect appears when we go on a diet, but then return to our old diet. If we are on a diet, our energy consumption is lower than normal and there is also a risk of not only losing fat, but also muscle mass.
This is fatal for permanent weight loss: muscle loss reduces our energy needs after dieting – and if we eat again afterwards or even with a slight excess of calories, this inevitably leads to weight gain.
This effect is particularly visible in crash diets and juice detox cures, in which very few calories are consumed.
However, our habits are even more decisive. If we behave again after the diet as before – so we eat little and don't move – the diet was in vain.
Proper nutrition to maintain weight
For a few weeks, you avoid everything you like most, and eat very little of the other foods that are allowed. However, after reaching your ideal weight, you go back to eating everything fatty that exists and that you like so much.
Unfortunately, this is a big weight maintenance mistake that many make after a successful diet. Your goal should be a long-term change in diet. It takes time to change your eating habits, but in the long run you will succeed.
Most of the time, natural foods should be on the menu – in accordance with the philosophy of healthy eating.
That means: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, lean meat, nuts, seeds and good fats. These whole foods provide your body with energy, fiber and lots of healthy nutrients, like antioxidants.
Avoid empty carbohydrates in sweets and white flour products. They provide energy but almost no healthy nutrients. Whole grain products, rich in minerals, legumes and pseudo-cereals, such as quinoa and amaranth, which are rich in complex carbohydrates, are better.
They also have another advantage: fiber. They help regulate our hunger and satiety and are essential for healthy digestion.
Fiber-rich foods are also green vegetables, potatoes, oats, dried fruits, chia seeds and root vegetables.
Another accomplice in the fight against kilos is protein. Protein-rich foods not only fill you up better, they also help build and maintain muscle mass.
We can also take advantage of the thermic effect of protein in weight maintenance: almost 25% of the calories consumed in the form of protein are used for digestion. This means they burn calories as soon as they are digested.
