Journalist Rianne made countless attempts to lose the excess kilos. And each time it ended in disappointment. Until she discovered a way that did manage to coach her to a lighter version of herself.
I hardly dare to look. What if I didn't make it? When I started losing weight for the umpteenth time, I really didn't think that I would succeed this time with a simple tool like counting calories with an app. Even with a vacation in America in between – the land of fat, fatter, fattest when it comes to food. Although I am proud of the result achieved so far, I will still be very disappointed if I do not reach my target of -10 kilos, except for a few hundred grams. To find out, of course, I have to look at the scale. With a deep sigh I stare at the numbers in the cool glass under my feet. 10.2 pounds less than when I started. I just did it!
From 'Dutch prosperity' as a baby I changed into a fat toddler, a sturdy toddler and a chubby child. That's just my build, because there was no unhealthy food at home. My mother was not slim from an early age and she was very insecure, which resulted in a very persistent phobia of gaining weight. So I and my brothers were told with the low-fat yogurt spoon (porridge is too fat) that we had to eat healthy and especially not get fat. And yet I was always firm. For a long time I thought it was all fine. I felt good physically, I could sprint to catch the train and I didn't lack attention, so I saw no reason to worry about my body. Until a few years ago I had to take medicines that have the side effect that you can gain quite a bit. I saw myself in the mirror change from a tall woman with big hips and thighs and a tummy, into a kind of stretched Michelin woman. My pants pinched (or just couldn't get over my thighs at all), my ring got too tight, my chin suddenly got a little sister, and in clothing stores a plus-size sweater suddenly looked like a rather uncharming crop top. In addition, with those extra kilos I felt lifeless, not so strong and I moved less easily. So it's high time for measures.
But how? Losing weight is not easy anyway, but because I had to keep taking those medicines, I wondered if it was even possible at all. Especially because my husband is a huge sports freak and we ate quite healthy at home as a result. I tried everything, but nothing really helped. The – often quite contradictory – advice from diet books and from food gurus didn't make me any wiser either. Eventually I ended up with a dietician who spoke the wise words. 'It's very simple. Superfoods, power yoga, 7 minute workouts, avocado burgers:it doesn't really matter what you do, as long as you take in less than you burn.'
So what it really comes down to is counting calories. Makes sense, and it is, says physician Aaron E. Carroll in the New York Times. Based on various scientific studies, he states that in recent years far too much emphasis has been placed on more exercise, but that this does not mean that you can eat and drink without limits. In fact, science has failed to show that adults who lead an active lifestyle are less likely to become overweight than people who exercise less. And so someone who wants to lose weight will really have to watch what goes in, without eating too little, because that takes your entire digestive system down. So keep track of what you eat down to the last detail.
But how? In a diary? On the Web? I looked for something to hold on to, and I eventually found it in the app store, in MyFitnessPal. MyFitnessPal (MFP) is a health app in which you enter your height, weight and lifestyle and indicate how much you want to lose (200 grams, half a kilo, 800 grams or a kilo) or gain per week, or whether your goal is to reach your current weight. preserve. The app calculates exactly how many daily calories fit your goal. If you eat or drink anything, add it to your log. You can choose from a list of thousands of foods, but also add a dish or ingredient yourself by scanning the barcode or by entering the product manually. If you wish, the app will calculate for you what is the most optimal mix of carbohydrates, fats and proteins for your body and will warn you if you are consuming (too) much salt or sugar. You also get the wind from the front if you eat too little one day. Crashing is therefore impossible.
Based on your BMI, that activity is converted into a number of calories burned. When you open the app, you can see at a glance how many calories you have left that day. If you stay within your target, you are green. If you go over your 'day credit', you get red numbers. And that seems to work really well for me. Me and my competitive nature are simply not going to end up in the red. And then leaving an extra block of cheese with a drink suddenly becomes a lot easier, or do I get very inspired to go for an evening walk instead of plopping on the couch immediately after dinner and not getting rid of it anymore come. At a glance I can see how the balance between eating and exercise is. In this way you also learn that it is best to eat something unhealthy like a piece of chocolate if you really feel like it. As long as you burn enough energy to ensure that it doesn't get on your hips right away.
In fact, the weight loss with the help of MFP went better from day one than I ever thought possible. But hey, day 1 of a diet is never the hardest. And neither are days 2, 3 and 4. Only after about a week does the tipping point for me come between 'I can do this, I feel good!' and 'God, what am I doing to myself, I can't take this any longer, help me stop'. The Saturday morning that marked the end of the first week for me, I stepped on the scale. I felt good and expected that I had lost some weight. 400 grams? Maybe half a kilo? And what turned out? lost 0.9 kilos. In a week! Look, that way it's not very difficult to persevere.
What's also very motivating for me is that if you save your log at the end of the day, the app will tell you what your weight will be in five weeks if you stick to your behavior from that day. At first I was really surprised at the results I could get if I kept going in the same way, and because five weeks is a manageable period – you don't feel like you have to 'suffer' forever – it gives a huge boost to continue. to put. And before you know it, you've suddenly mastered a different lifestyle. Because that is losing weight if you want the result to be permanent, of course:a change in your lifestyle. And that doesn't necessarily mean that those changes are big.
Most people who need to lose or want to lose some pounds really don't eat fries three times a week and don't clock away liters of cola. Change is often found in small things and that is precisely why it is sometimes so difficult to really have a clear picture of what exactly you need to adjust and what that will yield. And until that's clear, learning new habits is very, very difficult. An app can suddenly make that a lot more transparent and really help you with that. This is also apparent from research by Spanish scientists. They explained several studies on weight loss and the role that health apps could play in it side by side, and concluded that people who used these lost on average just over a kilo more than the control group. Detail:they had stopped exercising, the gain was only made because people had more insight into what they were consuming in calories.
Are there any drawbacks to this method at all? Of course it is. Succeeding in losing weight with a calorie tracker comes down to your own discipline and honesty. Discipline to keep track of everything you do in terms of movement and everything you ingest. Also those few snacks that you snack from the pan while cooking. If that's too much trouble for you, just don't take them. Immediately saves calories. Keeping track of what you eat often turns out to be a pitfall in the long run. For example, a group of scientists from the US Department of Health examined a group of people who wanted to lose weight using MyFitnessPal and found that after a month, most participants lost track of keeping up with the app. Once this happened, the weight loss also stagnated. So persistence is very important. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. Those first 10 kilos taste like more. Or rather:to less. On to another -10!
Text Rianne Sepers | Image:Getty Images
