How to Lose Weight? The Complete Scientific Guide Explained by Dhruv Rathee
Hello, friends! This is one of the most searched questions on the internet. How to lose weight? And this is probably the most popular New Year's resolution in the world. Weight loss. On this one question, millions of YouTube videos have been made, thousands of articles have been written, and so many rumours have been spread. Some tell you to eat Maggi for a muscular body, some tell you to go on a low-carb diet, some tell you to go on a low-fat diet, some try to sell their fake products. An entire industry has been built on weight loss. In today's blog’s post, let's understand this concept in a scientific way.
What's true and what's myth?
To lose weight, what should you eat and what should you not eat? And which diet is the best? Let's find out.
The logic behind weight loss is quite simple. Imagine that you have a bank account. All the money you earn gets accumulated in your
bank account. All the money you spend is
deducted from your bank account. So, if
you want to increase your bank balance, you either have to increase your earnings
or reduce your expenses. Similarly, our
body has a calorie bank. The calories you consume, accumulate here. And the more you spend, it is deducted from
the stored calories. This calorie bank is our body. To store calories, they are converted into fat
and stored by the body, which increases our weight.
Free Healthy Food Photos
So, if you want to lose weight, either reduce your calorie
intake or spend more calories. To spend
calories is known as Burning Calories. Let's
talk about how calories burn later, before that, let's know where do calories
come from? The food you eat, whatever
you drink, except water, all of them have energy in the form of calories. In nutritional science, the definition of calories
is that "it is a unit of energy."
So, the food and water you are consuming, that is where the calories are
coming from. Since calories are a form
of energy, everything for which the body uses energy, calories are burned for
those. The most obvious thing that comes
to people's mind to burn calories is exercising. This is true, our body needs energy is needed
for every process, so calories are burned for everything.
To make your heart beat, for your lungs to breathe, to
digest food in your stomach, energy is needed for all. For this reason, even while sleeping at
night, your calories are burned. You
heard it right. On average, a normal
person burns 400 calories during 8 hours of sleep. And these calories are burned merely to keep
the body alive, this is known as Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. Every person has a different Basal Metabolic
Rate.
It depends on your height, weight, muscle mass and many
other factors. There is an online
calculator through which you can calculate your BMR. For example, I am 28 years
old and my height is 186 cm and weight are 80 kg. So, my BMR is 1828 calories per day. So, I will burn this many calories every day without
doing anything. Now, apart from this, I
told you that eating provides calories to the body. But do you know, depending
on what food you are eating, your food can burn calories too? Here comes the concept of the Thermic Effect
of Food, in short TEF.
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The logic is very simple, when you eat food, your body has
to digest the food, absorb nutrients from the food and store the food. In all these processes, the body uses energy
and burns calories. So, some things have
a low thermal effect. Like fats, oil,
flour, and butter. Our body digests
these things very easily. There is
almost no need to burn any calories. On
the other hand, whole grains or protein rich foods, Dairy, eggs, high-fibre
vegetables and fruits, spinach, broccoli, these have a high Thermic Effect. Our body has to burn a lot of calories to digest
these foods.
That is why it becomes difficult to gain weight by eating
this type of food. Now you will wonder,
if this means that some types of food may provide negative calories. The calories available in that food, the body
is burning more calories to consume that food.
This is a myth, friends. To
achieve this, the thermic effect of any food should be more than 100%, which is
impossible.
This can't happen. The
highest thermic effect possible is around 30%, usually found in proteins. This means that if you are eating 100
calories of protein, you are spending 30 calories to digest that protein and
your body is actually gaining only 70 calories.
Now, there is no need to go into the math too much. I am not asking you to find out the thermic
effect of every food before eating. I
just wanted to give you a basic idea so that you know that this kind of concept
exists. Now, let's talk about weight
loss. After listening to what I said
till now, people might wonder why should we exercise at all. If you consume fewer calories than your
body’s basal metabolic rate, you will lose weight automatically. Theoretically, this is true, but practically,
it is very dangerous. Eating fewer
calories than your BMR without exercising means that your body's hormonal
balance can deteriorate. You will be
more tired. You will become more
irritable. It will be very difficult for
you to focus on your studies and work. Do
you know which body part consumes the most calories in the human body? Our brain.
Almost 20% of the energy usage of the human body is consumed by the
brain. It becomes difficult to
self-control for the body.
weight loss transformation images
Many people have this problem where once they start eating less,
they become weak, their mood is disrupted terribly, they will go on a diet for
some time, but after that, they will start binging and their diet will fail. That's why our goal should not be weight loss,
but healthy weight loss. And for healthy
weight loss, exercise is very important.
In fact, four main things are very important. Diet control, exercise, proper sleep, and keeping
yourself stress-free. The last two
points are quite obvious, but if you struggle with them, keeping yourself
stress-free and getting 8 hours of sleep daily, then it means that you are not managing
your time properly.
Have you ever had a feeling that even though you have eaten
a whole chocolate bar but still you are feeling hungry? After eating certain things, you still don't
feel full. The reason behind this is the
Satiety Index. The thing is that there
are some types of food after eating which you feel full and some types of food
aren't like that. In 1995, some
researchers tested 240-calorie servings
of 38 types of food. They found that
boiled potatoes had the highest satiety index among all potato dishes. Potatoes were given a score of 323.
There are some other things like pulses, high-fibre foods,
low-fat dairy products, eggs, and nuts. These
things also have a very high index. This
means that for the same number of calories, if you eat high-satiety food items,
you will comparatively feel fuller. You
will feel less hungry, even though the number of calories is the same. Now, some people will say that they would eat
boiled potatoes throughout the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So, they consume the least number of calories
in the day while feeling full, they’ll go on a potato-only diet. But again,
this is a wrong approach. It is alright
to tweak a few things here and there, but overall, the body needs a nutritious
diet.
Your goal here is healthy weight loss. Meaning, you don't want to lose muscle, you
don't want to lose your health, you just want to lose weight. There are 6 different essential nutrients
that the body needs for optimal function.
Proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. So when you are on a healthy weight loss diet,
you will definitely need proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water. Now the question is about fats and
carbohydrates. What about them? Many people suggest different types of
low-fat, low-carb diets. So, let's talk
about carbohydrates first. Carbohydrates,
in short carbs, what is their relation with weight loss?
The sugar that comes out of carbs is an important source of
energy for the body. If our body does
not use that energy immediately, the energy from the carbs is converted into
glycogen and stored in the liver and muscles.
If a person eats more carbs than his body needs, the body converts those
carbs into fat cells and stores it as fat.
If this energy is not used later, it remains in the form of fat cells
and you gain weight. You might think
that carbohydrates should be avoided but this is the wrong conclusion. I apologize in advance for disappointing the
fans of keto or low-carb diet. In 2017,
a meta-analysis was done of 32 controlled feeding studies. Keeping the level of protein and calories the
same, they found out whether high-carb diet is better or a low-carb diet. This research found that there is no benefit
in weight loss whether you follow a high-carb or a low-carb diet. Weight loss, ultimately, works only due to
Calorie Deficit.
weight loss transformation images
The same calorie bank balance that I explained in the
beginning. In 2012, another study was
conducted in a Swedish University to compare whether a low-fat diet is better or
a low-carb diet. This study monitored
people for 2 years and ended with the same conclusion. Weight loss has nothing to do with these
things. Only calories are important
here. Now, some people go on a
high-protein diet to lose weight. Because
some people have a perception that if they eat fats or carbs, they will convert
into fat cells leading to weight gain. But
if they eat protein only, their muscles will grow bigger. It is true that protein is usually used for muscle
building and muscle repairing. So, if
you do weight training, exercise more, wrestle or such, then naturally you will
need more protein.
But if you sit on the sofa all day, don’t move, don't exercise,
then the excess protein you are eating also converts into fat. Now some people will say after watching this
video that they went on a low-carb diet and lost weight, thinking that it works
for them. But here I would like to say that
if your body is suddenly deprived of carbs, then your body loses water weight. Glycogen stores help in retaining water in our
body. So if you go on a keto diet for a
week, you will lose 1-2 kgs of weight for sure.
And that will be because your body has lost its water weight. As soon as you start eating carbs again, that
water weight will come back.
Dr Sara Seidelmann and her team of researchers did a study
on 15,400 people for 6 years. It was
published in the famous Lancet Public Health Journal. And it studied people who are on a low-carb diet
but are eating more animal protein. This
study found that this diet can actually reduce the lifespan. When a low-carb diet is replaced by plant
protein and fat, then it will be beneficial.
I have talked about this in the video of World's Oldest Human what are
the things that can be done to extend our lifespan. Now, if we have to go low-carb, then how low
should we go? This study found that if
less than 40% of total energy is coming from carbs or more than 70% of total
energy comes from carbs. Both pose a
higher risk to our health. It means that
what we were taught in school is very important here.
A balanced diet. While
doing a healthy weight loss, you don't need to completely remove carbs from
your diet. Rather, you need to eat
healthy carbs. " Carbohydrates is
the food for the brain. If you stop
eating carbs, your brain health may start declining. Aggression, depression, nervousness, anxiety,
trepidation, all these are part of it."
What are healthy carbs? Carbs
that are absorbed by the body slowly. These
don't raise or lower the blood sugar level.
And give the body a steady source of energy. Examples of these are whole grains, fruits, and
starchy vegetables. And now, let's talk
about fats. When you hear the word fat, you
might think that they make you fat. But
this fat nutrient is also an essential nutrient and the body needs it too.
Many vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K are fat-soluble vitamins, so the body needs fats to absorb them. Apart from this, fats are needed for hormonal balance, energy storage and to protect our vital organs. Human brains are made up of 60% fat. And this advice was given by the popular nutritionist Pooja Makhija. This trend of eating a low-fat diet, she was against it. She said that fats don't make you fat. Rather, eating more fat and eating the wrong kind of fat makes you fat. So, a healthy weight loss diet is a balanced diet in which carbohydrates, proteins and fats are present. The next question is, what is the optimum percentage of each of them? What is the healthy proportion? There is a range called Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDR). According to this, 45-65% of your daily calories should be from carbohydrates. 20-35% of calories should be from fats. 10-35% of calories should be from protein.
The percentage you should be in this range depends on your
personal lifestyle choices. Your age,
how much muscle you want to gain, are you diabetic, what kind of food you
prefer. For these you can consult a
professional dietician, and it will be a good idea, to get a diet plan
customized for you. If you do not want
to consult a dietitian, then for an average person who is not facing any health
problems, it would be better to stay within this range. So, the next question you will ask is, how can
you stay within this range? What to eat
and what not to eat? Let's clear this
point by point. What should you eat? You should eat whole grains. Complex Carbohydrates. Other than wheat and rice, you should eat
different types of grains like corn, oats, barley, ragi, buckwheat (kuttu),
amaranth, which is also called chaplain, or pearl millet (bajra). Eat them as flatbreads (roti) or porridge. Apart from this, you should eat legumes like grams
(chana) or different types of lentils. These
are good sources of complex carbohydrates.
And they also have fibre and protein.
Then you focus on other healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.
Kidney beans (rajma), chickpeas (chole), soy protein (soya
chunks), gram powdered (sattu), fruits, berries, dry fruits, peanuts, walnuts,
pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, spices, eggs. Dairy items like milk, curd, and cottage
cheese (paneer) contain healthy fats. They
should be eaten in controlled amounts. It
is important to mention that many people think that they are eating a balanced
diet. But in reality, their diet is not
balanced. In North India, you must have
seen many people eating 3-4 rotis with half a bowl of vegetables. This is not the right proportion. Unknowingly, in their home-cooked meals, many
people eat more rotis in a higher proportion of carbs. They should increase the number of
vegetables. "Other than water, what
else should one eat? Drink water, eat
green vegetables, green is very good for the body. It contains antioxidants, it is good for the
skin. I eat a lot of vegetables." Don't be stingy in buying vegetables.
And second, don't bargain with the vegetable vendor. Even if you save ₹5-₹10 by paying less to a
poor person, you won't be able to build a palace. If you want to save money, don’t spend ₹150
on burgers, don’t spend ₹400 on pizza. The
online food delivery apps that you use, on which you spend thousands every month,
save money there. I would say, stop
relying on food delivery apps. Use that
money to buy nuts, seeds, fruits, and other healthy food. If you don't want to cook food, hire someone. Someone will get employment and you will be
able to eat healthy and tasty food. Now
let's talk about what you should not eat in a healthy weight loss diet. First of all, refined flour. Refined carbohydrates like refined flour get
digested very quickly in your body. You
can see unhealthy spikes in your blood sugar levels because of this. And if you eat many things made of refined flour
then after 1-2 hours of eating you will start feeling hungry again.
Because shortly after eating these, your blood sugar levels
drop rapidly. The second problem with
refined flour is that it has bad cholesterol, known as LDL cholesterol, which
causes arteries to clog, increase in blood pressure, increases hunger,
increases craving for sweets. Second,
stop eating sugar. This is the same
problem with refined sugar, which is also called added sugar. I explained this in the video on cold drinks. This added sugar is not only found in cold drinks,
but also in ice creams, candies, biscuits, etc.
Third, stop eating bad fats. As I
told you earlier, there are two types of fats.
Good fats and bad fats. Monounsaturated
and polyunsaturated fats are beneficial for us.
We get these good fats from plant sources. Like peanuts, olive oil, pumpkin seeds,
sesame seeds, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, sunflower oil, flaxseed oil. On the other hand, we need very little
saturated fats. But most people eat a
lot of saturated fats.
They are found in butter, raw coconut oil or clarified
butter (desi ghee). If you eat a lot of
saturated fats for many years, it increases the risk of heart attack. Palm oil also has saturated fats, which is found
in most packaged foods in India. And
then comes trans fats, which are the most harmful. These trans fats are found in refined oil, which
is usually in everything that you eat out.
Fried food, fried chicken, fried memos, fried doughnuts, French fries,
Indian street food, golgap pas, samosas, all of these have high value of trans fats
because they are deep fried. Deep-fried
foods should be avoided. Some people
watch this and say that I am fear-mongering.
There's a channel called Food harmer; they make good health-related
videos. But people accuse him of
fear-mongering since he points out things that one shouldn't eat. Fear-mongering means spreading fear about something
unnecessary.
But the thing here is that these things are they are,
actually, very dangerous. Avoid eating
as much packaged food as possible. These
are ultra-processed food items made in factories. They are made of everything that's harmful to
us. Refined flour, added sugar,
artificial sweeteners, palm oil, artificial food colours, harmful
preservatives. First, let's look at the
things made of refined flour. Biscuits,
Rusk, Mathi, Chakli, Nama pare, Fan puffs,
Samosa, Kachodi, Pav Bhaji, Vada Pav,
Aloo Patty, Hot Dog, Bhature, Kulcha, Tandoori Roti, Naan, Malabar Paratha, Pizza, Donuts, Chowmein, Spring Rolls, Momos, Jalebi, Ghevar, Gulab Jamun, Pancakes, Muffins, Cakes, Sandwiches, Phew! In fact, even your favourite Tandoori Masala Chhaap
has 40% refined flour. And what are the
other harmful things in these food
items? Bad oil, the deep-fried things, like Bhature, Samosas, Kachori, Momos, the examples I just listed out, Added sugar, apart from this, cold drinks, ice
cream, candies, chocolates, biscuits, cereals,
packaged juice, and even the expensive biscuits
which are sold as high-fiber, multigrain digestive contain refined flour, sugar, palm oil, raising agents, artificial flavouring
substances. Most people consume these on
a daily basis. I would like to give you
a 30-day challenge stop eating these which contain these 4 things. Maida, added sugar, bad oil or trans fats,
and packaged food. Don't eat these
things for 30 days and you'll see a
transformation in yourself. After these
30 days, you'll feel much more healthy. You'll have more energy.
You'll be able to concentrate more on work and studies. You might be thinking that I haven't left out any ingredients. What can one eat if not these things? Don't be disheartened. Because there're so many things to eat other
than these. You can eat roti-sabzi with
very little ghee or butter. Idli, Upma,
Poha, Dhokla, Omelette, Moong Dal
Cheela, Dosa, Uttapam, which is made
with very little butter, Milk, Curd,
Lassi, Boiled Eggs, Natural Fruit Juice,
Cheek shake, Anjeer Shekh, Misi Roti,
Tawa Paratha, Raita, Butter Milk, Jeera
Rice, Biryani, Hara Bhara Kebab,
Mushroom Tikka, Paneer Tikka, You can
eat these if they are made in desi ghee, butter, or olive oil. The interesting thing is that when you start eating more of these things and less of the unhealthy things, you will notice a transformation, your taste buds will start changing.
You will stop craving for that unhealthy food. This happens a lot to me. I never feel like eating packaged food. You will crave fresh fruits and fresh
vegetables. If you are not used to
eating all this fresh food, you can start with your favourite fruit or
vegetables. Also, learn to control your
portions while eating. Always drink a
glass of water before eating so that you don't need to eat much. Eat on small plates, with small spoons, and
eat slowly. Don't eat so much that your
stomach is 100% full. Eat till it is 80%
full.
There are three different types of exercises. First, stamina or cardio exercises, which are important for your cardiovascular
fitness. Like swimming, running, or
playing any other sport. The exercises
that increase your heart rate. Second,
stretching exercises, they are very important for your flexibility. These include exercises like Surya Namaskar
and Yoga. And third, strength training, which
is important for your muscle strength and muscle endurance. These include lifting heavy weights, going to
the gym, doing push-ups, squats, planks, or lifting dumbbells. So ideally, all these 3 types of exercises should
be balanced in a healthy lifestyle. But
for weight loss, it doesn't matter what type of exercises you do as long as
these exercises are helping to burn calories.
Some exercises obviously burn more calories than others. Like running, rope skipping, playing badminton,
football, and squash. Some exercises
burn fewer calories. like playing
cricket, doing yoga or stretching. So,
broadly speaking, you have to keep in mind that you should burn more calories if
you want to lose more weight. But you
should do the exercises in the form you like.
Whether you do Zumba for 30 minutes or run for 30 minutes,
it's up to you. Apart from this,
movement should be included in your day-to-day life, like walking or cycling as
much as possible. The extra calories
that are burned by these activities, adds up throughout the day. Always remember, doing something is much
better than doing nothing. Some people
search for "best exercises" to lose belly fat. Or the "best exercises" to lose
facial fat. Friends, these are only
myths. To some extent, particular
muscles can be toned, but spot reduction is more or less not possible. Most of the research and studies that have
been done, do not support this. The
areas where our body stores fat and the areas where the fat is burned by burning
calories, depends entirely on the body. Your
job is to exercise, your body will decide for itself from where the fat should
be burned. When you do this
consistently, then overall, one day your body will get into a good shape. This depends on genetics the areas where your
body will lose fat. I would like to
mention a final point here, stress.
There is a significant link between weight gain and stress. When you feel stressed, your body's cortisol
levels increase. This reduces your
metabolism and increases your craving for fat and sugar. So if you want to lose weight, it is
important to manage stress as well. For
this, you can do meditation, play sports, or spend time with friends and family
in real life. I have told you a lot of
things in this video, but I have summarized all the useful information on
weight loss for you. Let's do a small
rewind so that you remember everything.
The simple principle behind weight loss is Calorie Deficit. Control the calories you are eating and
increase the calories you are burning. The
calories you are eating should come from your nutritious, balanced diet. Eat more whole grains, fibrous fruits, vegetables,
and proteins so that your stomach feels fuller.
So that you feel less hungry. Avoid
eating refined flour, white sugar, bad oils and packaged food so that your food
cravings can be reduced and you can focus on healthy nutrients. Move your body daily in some way or the other
and include exercises in your regular routine.
Cardio exercises, strength training, and stretching exercises.
Make sure to sleep for 7-9 hours daily and keep stress away
from your life. And also remember that
spot reduction doesn't work and being healthy doesn't mean you have to fit some
beauty standard. These things make a
perfect plan for healthy weight loss. If
you want to follow this plan, then write your goal in the comments below. And after a month, after completing this
30-day challenge, give us an update in the comments how the transformation was
for you. To manage your time in life, you
will find the link to download the course in the description below. And if you liked this video, then you will
definitely like this one. In this, I
have talked about Blue Zones. The zones
all over the world where people live the longest. What is the secret behind their health? It's all in the blog’s post. Thank you very much!