The hypocaloric diet is one in which there is a reduction of daily calories or foods with high caloric density, and which depends on the requirements of each person. The metabolism of a growing child, an elite athlete, an elderly person or a pregnant woman does not have the same metabolism. The balance must always be balanced between what is ingested and what we wear out with our daily physical activity.
This diet is based on a value in which interferes the metabolism of each person plus their activity factor, age, sex, etc., subtracting from it the calories that the diet should carry, thus creating an energy deficit that will be responsible for the progressive weight loss.
For example, a 40-year-old woman with a basal metabolism of 1500 and moderate exercise (activity factor 1.2) would need about 1900 kcal to maintain her weight. If she intends to lose weight, a diet of approximately 1300 Kcal would be elaborated, creating a deficit of 600 Kcal per day. These 600Kcal that we ingest less are the ones that will help the body to obtain energy from stored body fat and thus its subsequent combustion that will result in a progressive weight loss.
Duration of the hypocaloric diet
In a hypocaloric diet we must first propose an ideal weight, always taking into account the complexion, height of the person, etc., (there is no established duration). That is to say, a person who has to lose 15kg will set a short term objective for the first 10, then we will introduce certain limited foods from the beginning of the treatment until reaching the ideal weight, it is at this point where the person has to learn to combine foods, control portions, but eating all kinds of foods. This phase tends to last for 5-6 months.
We will try to educate patients on how to eat. It is a diet in which the main goal is not to achieve weight loss, but to maintain it. For this, a controlled diet must always be followed.
It is always recommended that they increase their daily physical activity, a diet must be accompanied by an increase in exercise. The specialists teach the patient how to eat. We analyze if you take an excessive amount of carbohydrates, a lot of sugars, a lot of fat, and the diet is elaborated restricting these types of nutrients.
The results of the hypocaloric diet
The average healthy weight loss is usually 2-2.5 kg per month. But it is true that when a diet is done, the first month what is lost is liquid, since we suffer a detoxifying effect that at renal level makes us eliminate retained liquid.
We must take into account that, without being exact, for the loss of one kilo of fat there must be a deficit of 7000kcal (every 10-12 days). The fact of losing at a faster rate can have harmful consequences when leaving the diet, since the person does not acquire the correct eating habits, the body does not get used to the change of metabolism and brings with it an excessive weight gain when leaving the treatment.
Weight loss must be progressive and controlled, that is to say, little by little so that the patient does not suffer anxiety or starvation, otherwise the rate of abandonment will increase, increasing appetite and giving rise to an increase in lost weight again.
How should the meals of this type of diet be?
The ideal diet is to eat 5 meals a day. It has been demonstrated that every time we eat there is an increase of glucose and a discharge of insulin to compensate that glucose. These sudden discharges of insulin generate more hunger, then if we eat three meals a day and very abundant, due to a binge or simply because we are very hungry, the insulin discharge is much higher causing that soon we get that feeling of hunger.
However, if we fragment the meals in five, we will discharge a little insulin, but not an exaggerated amount and it will help us to keep us without so much anxiety.
We should have a strong breakfast, since it is the first meal of the day and it should be abundant and varied (fruits, cereals, some dairy products, etc.). At mid-morning we should introduce a portion of fruit or some dairy, if possible skimmed.
At lunch is where we should introduce carbohydrates (pasta, rice, potatoes and legumes) in order to have hours in the day for later combustion.
At snack time the ideal is to have a small snack such as seasonal fruit and dinner should also be light, because there will be few hours left to rest and fat burning decreases to the maximum. In this way, we will maintain more or less stable insulin and glucose peaks.