The holiday season can weigh an extra pound or two on the scales. If we are fit, we can quickly dispose of the pounds we take. “For those who need to lose weight, on the other hand, the important thing is at the beginning of next December to weigh less than what they weighed last Christmas”, he says. Michelangelo Giampietro, doctor, specialist in Sports Medicine and Food Science and teacher at the School of Sport-Sport and Health in Rome. A goal that can be achieved without excessive sacrifices, by applying small precautions to our lifestyle.
Diet, the calories on the menu (unfortunately) are not enough to lose weight
by Giulia Masoero Regis
Increase energy expenditure
There are scheduled physical activities. Football training, tennis match, zumba time in the gym. And then there are all the other activities we do throughout the day. Cooking, walking, making a phone call. We can act on these to increase energy expenditure. “Increase the Neat (“Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis”), the energy expenditure due to the use of muscles not linked to organized and programmed physical activities, means for example getting up every two hours if you are in front of the PC, crossing and loosening your legs when you are seated; get up when you have to communicate with a colleague without sending a message or an email. “Many small choices lead to an energy expenditure which, added to the end of the day, can make the difference between an active day and a less active day. The invitation is to take the stairs, especially uphill (even two floors make the difference); extend the distance traveled on foot, for example by parking 500 meters from where you want to arrive; use a basket or bags and not a trolley when shopping . “I always repeat that even resorting to good manners helps to lose weight: let’s pour drinks to our guests, get up to welcome those who arrive, keep the door open to those behind us. Furthermore, now automated gestures can be recovered: cutting bread with a normal and non-electric knife, whipping eggs with a fork “, suggests the specialist.
Diet, the calories on the menu (unfortunately) are not enough to lose weight
by Giulia Masoero Regis
Doing organized physical work at home
“To get back in shape it is important to be active at least 30-45 minutes a day as many days a week as possible, also doing exercises that help improve the muscular endowment”, suggests Michelangelo Giampietro. Not everyone has an exercise bike or treadmill at home; but you can do free body exercises or with small tools such as weights, rubber bands, hand springs. You can do some stretching. Skipping rope or running in place are also fine. “They are aerobic but require good muscle work”, explains the specialist. “It is also a physical activity that, if practiced consistently, is also valuable for avoiding sarcopenia, that is, the loss of muscle mass”, he adds.
Pay attention to the power supply
You don’t need big sacrifices even at the table. “My advice is to follow a varied diet without eliminating any category of food, except for specific allergies or diseases. One trick is to eat as always but by reducing the portions by one fifth”, advises Giampietro. Which suggests other small measures to be taken to contain the food intake after the holidays: drink a lot during the day; start meals with raw vegetables; prefer quick cooking using low cooking fat; eliminate spirits, which provide a lot of calories without any nutritional benefit. What if sweets or other party foods are left over? “Let us give them away or consume them, if the expiry date allows it, over time”, concludes the specialist.
Pasta: does not make you fat, on the contrary it reduces the waist circumference
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