You want to lose a few (corona) kilos, but how do you lose a kilo in a healthy way? Santé asked Lolkje de Vries, spokesperson at the Nutrition Center, which provides consumers and professionals with information about healthy, safe and sustainable food choices.
Lolkje de Vries:“Women need an average of 2,000 calories a day. If you use more energy than you take in, you will lose weight. You can do this in two ways:by eating healthier and exercising. If you want to lose weight, it is best to eat slightly below the calorie limit, for example 1,500 calories per day, and avoid products with a lot of fat and sugar.
A crash diet, where you lose a lot of weight in a short time, is much more difficult to maintain. To lose a kilo of fat tissue, you need to consume about 7,000 fewer calories or expend 7,000 extra calories through exercise.”
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“How many calories you consume during exercise depends on your gender, weight and sport activity. Suppose you weigh 65 kilos and play football for an hour. You consume seven calories per hour per kilogram of body weight. If you multiply that by your weight, you get 455 calories per hour. So to lose a kilo, you have to play football for more than fifteen hours. With running you need eleven hours – based on a weight of 65 kilos and a speed of ten kilometers per hour – to lose one kilo. But that only applies if you run in addition to your other activities and also continue to eat the same. Are you heavier than 65 kilos? Then you also burn more calories.”
“To lose weight, eating healthier is slightly more efficient than exercising. You have to exercise a lot to lose weight. If you exercise more but continue to eat the same, you will lose little weight. By eating healthier and less, with the disc of five as a basis, it goes faster. The first and most important step in losing weight is to adjust your diet. For example, avoid snacks and opt for whole-grain products. But that does not alter the fact that sufficient exercise is also very important. It is good for your heart and blood vessels and reduces the risk of many chronic diseases. Exercising also uses up extra energy, so it is best to combine a healthier diet with more exercise.”
