Breaking Free from the Vicious Cycle of Forced Endurance and Number Games: Why Suppressing Appetite and Believing in Calories are Ineffective Ways to Lose Weight

Forcing yourself to suppress your appetite. The more you tell yourself to "be patient," the stronger your urge to eat will become. It's like deliberately taking a detour to climb a steep mountain. Do you also really love cakes and fried foods? Are you determined to "never eat them again" because you're worried about your weight? But such self-restraint will only lead to greater obesity in the long run.

If you suppress your appetite and control your intake of high-calorie foods, you will gradually lose weight. However, the moment you immerse yourself in the satisfaction of controlling your appetite and not eating is only fleeting. After that, all you'll have in your mind is the thought, "Ah, I really want to eat..." Even if you can suppress your appetite once or twice, the consciousness of "suppression" will remain in your mind.

Then at some point you'll reach your limit, and you'll feel like you "can't take it anymore" and eat a lot at once. The result is that the weight loss effect immediately rebounds, and you'll keep repeating this cycle of gaining and losing weight. The stomach that you finally managed to shrink after constantly enduring will soon be stretched out by the food you eat all at once, and all your previous efforts will be wasted.

"You can't eat high-calorie foods, you can't eat before bed, this is wrong, that is wrong..." This kind of thinking will cause your restraint to turn into an explosion of cravings, making it even harder to lose weight. Food is a very important pleasure in life, and if you impose too many restrictions on it and simply endure it, it's definitely not sustainable.

For weight loss, consistency is crucial. "Endurance" is a major obstacle to perseverance and is a key factor in obesity, essentially unlocking the mechanism that increases appetite. To achieve true weight loss, it's essential to enjoy a diet that doesn't force you or force yourself to endure certain foods. Rather than forcing yourself to endure, it's better to eat happily; this is more beneficial for both your body and mind.

Calorie phobia. This involves unconsciously calculating how many calories you eat and desperately trying to control your calorie intake. In this case, food isn't being treated as nutrition, but merely as a number to be counted.

Do you also believe that "to lose weight, you need to carefully count calories"? "To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume, thus controlling your calorie intake!" Do you think this way too? Food contains essential nutrients for human survival, a fact we must not forget. If you only focus on the number of calories, your body's functions will decline.

Basically, dieting leads to weight loss. However, not all calories are stored as fat. Insufficient nutrition also hinders the development of bones and muscles, which are crucial for maintaining a healthy body. When dieting, weight rebounds once you return to a normal diet, often exceeding your pre-diet weight. Let's assume a weight gain of 3 kg, and that 3 kg is entirely fat!

The "mechanism" of weight loss based primarily on calorie control hides terrifying consequences and dangers. That is, "the strength of bones and muscles, which are vital to the body, decreases, while fat accumulates continuously." Weight loss is not just about reducing weight, but about sculpting a healthy body with a shapely figure. The constant cycle of calorie control and fluctuating weight gain and loss gradually increases body fat percentage, leading to a predisposition to obesity. Worse still, this not only causes obesity but also leads to diseases and an unhealthy body.

It's essential to calculate your total daily calorie intake and think about how to combine meals. However, a "balanced diet" is more important than controlling calories.

Starting with exercises beyond your physical capabilities is unrealistic. Even if you suddenly start exercising, the effects won't be immediate. Stopping exercise can lead to a body type that's prone to weight gain. Whether you can stick to an exercise routine, you should ask your body for advice. Did you suddenly start exercising because you wanted to lose weight? Whether it's weight loss or exercise, gradual progress is the key to success.

You diligently go to the health club every day, setting yourself a daily walking goal and sweating profusely to achieve it. Or you hear that "swimming is very good for weight loss" and go to the pool several times a week. And have you ever been tempted by a lucrative advertisement on TV or in a magazine?

"A machine that lets you easily do lower body exercises at home," "A slimming belt that's super easy! Just 5 minutes a day to burn off your excess fat" and other such enticing advertisements for slimming devices make you want to buy them every time you see them and work out at home, hoping to achieve the results advertised.

"Exercise is essential for weight loss." This statement seems very correct at first glance. However, forcing yourself to exercise can have the opposite effect, making you more prone to weight gain. Exercise increases muscle mass and promotes basal metabolism (the energy necessary for human survival, such as maintaining body temperature, keeping the heart functioning properly, and maintaining respiration), thereby enhancing weight loss.

However, almost everyone says that "after stopping exercise due to weight loss, they quickly find their bodies rebounding." This is because once muscle is built and basal metabolism increases, the body automatically stores the energy it needs, making it easier to gain weight than before starting exercise.

Furthermore, when you first start exercising, you feel satisfied with your efforts and your mood is positive. However, it takes time for the effects of exercise to appear. Before the effects are visible, your mood may drop, and you may find exercise boring or troublesome... As a result, many people give up at this point.