BENGALURU: Have you been looking for ways to lose weight on Google? The answer is simple – follow a ‘Step Diet’ plan. You just have to ‘move more and control portions’. The step diet requires you to walk 10,000 steps each day. It permits you to eat most things but to cut down portion sizes by 30 per cent. Begin by walking 2,000 steps a day (15 min walk) and gradually increase the pace to 10,000 steps per day (burning a minimum of 400-500 calories).
By walking on the treadmill at a speed of 4.5 mph for 30 minutes, the average individual would burn about 150 calories. Eating consciously is important. By skipping guilty pleasures such as that extra bowl of ice-cream, a serving of aloo pakodas or Coke, one would cut down their calorie intake by 300-375 calories. Follow the 70:30 principle – i.e., fitness is 70 per cent of what we eat and 30 per cent of exercise. The intake for a normal individual, as recommended by the USDA, is 2,000 calories/day. For a successful weight loss of 0.5-1 kg, a calorie deficit of about 500-1,000 per day is recommended.
For healthy weight loss, exercise sessions should be a mix of strength training and cardiovascular training, not only cardio. Both modes of exercise burn calories, which in turn leads to stored fat being used as a source of energy. By walking 10,000 steps a day and by making small dietary changes, we can address obesity.
In the pandemic, as most citizens are advised to remain home, one tends to turn into a couch potato. Research shows that people who are leading a sedentary lifestyle (< 5,000 steps/day) or are almost inactive (<2000 steps/day), are at a higher risk of severe Covid-19.
The starvation mode
People often experience a point in their weight loss journey when the needle on the weighing scale stops falling lower and they get demotivated and give up. This phase is called ‘the starvation mode’ where the body tends to resist weight loss as we are eating lesser than earlier.
The brain thinks that it might not get sufficient food and would have to starve and starts to conserve the food that we eat in the body. It instructs the body to store food in the form of fat, which is why weight loss plateaus after the successful shedding of a few pounds. Here, strength training is essential. It speeds the metabolism back up and one keeps losing weight steadily.
Hence, by walking 10,000 steps a day and a minimum of 15 min of strength training, at least four times a week, one can push past plateaus and achieve the ultimate goal of weight loss, instead of a fad crash diet which helps shedding more water and muscle weight (protein) initially but leads to a relapse of lost weight once diet is terminated. It is quite straightforward if followed routinely. Lace up a pair of sneakers, and put one foot in front of the other. You need to be more active! (The author is senior physiotherapist, Aster RV Hospital)