Beach body at the last-minute?

Ziel: negative Energiebilanz

Eine Gewichtsabnahme basiert auf einem simplen Prinzip – einer negativen Energiebilanz. Sobald der Energiebedarf des Körpers nicht vollständig gedeckt wird, müssen körpereigene Reserven in Form von Fettdepots mobilisiert werden. Eine erwachsene Person mit überwiegend sitzender Tätigkeit und geringer physischer Aktivität benötigt am Tag circa 1800 kcal bis 2300 kcal. Um jedoch ein Kilogramm Fettgewebe abzubauen, müssen ungefähr 7000 kcal eingespart werden. Dies gelingt über zwei Mechanismen – eine verringerte Zufuhr und eine Steigerung des Bedarfs. Auch, wenn die Theorie relativ einfach scheint, stellt die praktische Umsetzung für viele Menschen eine unüberwindbare Hürde dar.

The goal: Negative energy balance

Losing weight is based on a simple principle - negative energy balance. As soon as our body’s energy needs are not entirely met, the body's own reserves, in the form of fat deposits, are mobilized. An adult with a predominantly sedentary lifestyle requires about 1800 kcal to 2300 kcal per day. It takes a negative deficit of approximately 7,000 in order to break down one kilogram of fatty tissue. This is achieved through two mechanisms - a reduced supply and an increase in demand. Even if the theory seems relatively simple, for many people the practical implementation is still an insurmountable hurdle.

Weight reduction without fat loss

Weight loss is not necessarily synonymous with fat loss. It is quite possible to reduce body weight in a few days without losing fat. This is mainly due to a loss of water. Especially carbohydrate-reduced diets initially drain the body's own reserves. On average, each person stores about 300 g of carbohydrates in the form of glycogen in the liver and muscles. Each gram of glycogen binds about 3 g of water. The initial, rapid weight loss in many diets is mainly due to the breakdown of glycogen and the elimination of the bound water. In addition, a reduction in the amount of supplied food leads to a decrease of stomach and intestinal contents, which the scales can reflect as a difference of 0.5 to 1 kg. The actual reduction of fatty tissue begins only after a delay of several days.

Starving for a slimmer waistline?

Regular weighing while dieting can be deceptive and thus quickly leads to frustration. Especially when a change in diet is accompanied by increased physical activity, it can quickly reach a point where the scales come to a standstill or might even show a weight increase.

A more accurate way to monitor our diet is to measure our body composition with seca‘s mBCA. Using bioimpedance analysis (BIA), the device quickly and accurately determines the proportion of fat and muscle tissue, as well as total body water. Thus, dietary measures and the amount of exercise can be controlled, while negative dietary consequences can be avoided, since not every weight loss is fundamentally positive. Above all, radical diets can lead to a reduction in muscle mass through a lack of needed protein. With a BIA, such an unhealthy weight loss caused by excessive muscle loss can be detected ahead of time. In order to prevent this development, a diet should be based on a daily protein intake of approximately 1 g of protein per kilo of body weight.
Pure diets tend to not be recommended in the long term. Although it does lead to weight loss, a long period of hunger also causes the body to go into an energy-saving mode, which hinders further fat loss and increases the risk of re-gaining the already lost weight. Once the energy supply returns to normal, the body tries to compensate for the weight loss and builds new reserves for future food shortages. The result is the well-known as the yo-yo effect.

Exercise and diet change

A more effective approach to long-term, healthy weight loss is the combination of a moderately reduced calorie, high-protein diet and regular exercise. Paradoxically, the weight decreases more slowly with increasing exercise activity or even remains stable for a long time. The seca mBCA can provide critical information to shed light on the internal developments again. Although a reduced calorie intake and higher energy consumption decreases fatty tissue, the proportion of muscle mass increases at the same time, thus leveling the weight loss. Even if the scales show little evidence of success, an evident reduction of the fatty tissue can be verified by measuring the body composition. A higher percentage of muscle mass has the positive advantage that it also leads to an increased basal metabolic rate, which prevents us from gaining weight again, should the training be temporarily suspended or the diet changed again.

A healthy weight loss or reduction of our fat deposits is a tedious process. Even if short-term weight changes are possible, larger fat deposits will not disappear within days or a few weeks. The key to success is to permanently change our diets and to exercise regularly. By using the seca mBCA as support, diet and training can be tightly controlled and permanently adjusted. The device can demonstrate the constant changes in our body‘s composition effectively, which can help maintain motivation in the long-term and bring the perfect beach body within reach for the next season.

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