Lose weight and not gain it back. Burn 1000 kcal per workout

The May holidays swirled me, like everyone else, with a series of pleasant weekends in nature, walks and relaxation with friends. With one reservation that alcohol was cut out of my life back in February, and before trying a kebab I asked long and carefully about “what kind of meat it is” and “what you marinated it in”. These two simple and very vital questions helped me to gain about 500 grams total for May and to continue experimenting with different methods and techniques that promised me to “lose weight” by summer.

Let me repeat that I really like the message with which my colleague and I came to this experiment. Its essence for me is not to lose 15 kg and to gain them back by the fall, but to calculate for myself a cherished chain of actions that I am ready to perform regularly and throughout my life. To find the right diet, to understand what water and how much I am ready to drink during the day, not to replace sugar with no less caloric desserts without sugar, but to learn to control my craving for it, and so on.

In this article I would like to elaborate on 5 thoughts-discoveries that came to me during several weeks of the experiment. We somehow do not usually talk about them much and in detail, because all the most popular articles are reduced to one banal and loud topic: “How to lose weight FAST”. That is, “even yesterday”, “in a dream”, “under hypnosis” or “from magic pills”.

Table des matières

Weight loss triggers: what’s really the outcome for you?

The trap thought crept into my head one evening when it was already about 10pm on the clock, with about minus 3.5 kg on the scale, but my body was in no way inspiring me to take a few selfies or even, what’s more, to write an article and share it with you. The weight was going away and I felt like it wasn’t changing my appearance at all.

And then I thought about one interesting thing: what does an ideal body mean to me? If we abstract from the numbers on the scale and just talk about the figure of dreams. For me, I’ve identified three main points:

A beautiful waist,
clean and healthy skin,
no second chin (ha ha, but I think girls will realize that’s really annoying).

And then I just realized that none of the actions I’m doing now will lead me to the proper result. Because intense cardio and the gym are great, but you’re not going to make a waistline on a run or a squat with “pancakes”. My low carbohydrate diet doesn’t help me get clear and healthy skin, because I’m stressed out due to a lot of restrictions, and all my nervous dilemmas show up first on my face. Plus it turned out that a lot of proteins “presses” on my kidneys, because of which small but unpleasant rashes appeared on my back.

Oh, yeah, and my chin. Well, in short, eat-don’t eat, drink-don’t drink, sweat-don’t sweat in the gym – this is a problem of a different plan, let’s say, more cosmetic. Both at 65 and 49 kilograms I had it. And it’s not genetics or heredity, but the fact that facial skin needs the same workouts as abs, butt and further down the list. In general, I had to study the direction of “face fitness” at leisure, a very interesting topic. I recommend it.

Cardio. I tried to run away from it, and then I started running

After the fitness testing we went through in the Crocus Fitness lab, I was prescribed cardio. Lots of cardio. Running, jumping rope, or walking. But 50 minutes a day. More – please, less – consider that there was basically no workout at all. The weather at the end of April was unstable, so all my eyes went in the direction of the gym.

Well now imagine: walking, at a slow pace, on a track, staring into the street… 70 minutes. Hell. Hell for me. But you see, calories won’t burn themselves, so, clenching my will into a fist, I continued running at the stadium and on the track and looking for alternatives that would help me burn the optimal number of calories in the minimum amount of time, without stressing my body and without increasing my heart rate to peak values. Insights are two. One: these workouts exist. Two: they are truly effective.

In search of something truly innovative, I went to Enhel Dome, the first wellness space in Moscow. The approach to wellness in Enhel Dome is based on many years of complex research by Japanese scientists and the traditions of the Land of the Rising Sun. In general, you feel that right from the threshold you get to the year 3019, where you are told about the benefits of hydrogen inhalations, cryosauna and super exercise machines, during training on which you can burn up to 1000 kcal in 45 minutes. Just think about this figure, after a standard treadmill workout at an average pace I burn 400 to 500 kcal. And to be completely honest, after that I sometimes want to lie down next to the machine and not go anywhere.

That’s why I was interested in the offer to burn more and feel better. I’ll tell you in a nutshell about the machines themselves: during my first workout, I was able to test out the bike and the treadmill. You are wearing an “elastic skirt” that is attached to the top of the exercise machine, covering it tightly. The part of your body that is “under the skirt” is tightly and hermetically sealed. And then the magic happens: imagine that you are spinning a bicycle or walking on a track… in a vacuum, which creates the necessary resistance and practically sucks you into the machine. But beyond that, the active fat-burning effect is enhanced by the heating and infrared sauna effect. Spoiler for all those who dare to try the procedure on themselves: it really works.

Of course, nothing can replace a morning jog in a picturesque forest or in a deserted city that won’t wake up, but due to the limited time of megapolis residents and the desire to see the result “here” and “now”, I’m sure that such cosmic workouts will find their audience. I promise to go to a few more classes and take measurements “before” and “after”.

Food. Everything is awesome, only if you are ready to eat like this for the rest of your life

In general, if you believe the Internet, the camp of thinners is divided into two clans: some believe that to lose weight you need to eat chicken, vegetables, cottage cheese, eggs and a little protein after workouts, while others bake skillful “PP-charlots”, add fructose and stevia instead of sugar everywhere and juggle recipes left and right. I was not destined to be on the team of “partridge and don’t eat anything else”, because after trying this menu on myself in the first week of the experiment, I honestly waited until Saturday and went to eat cake with a large cappuccino. I could not be accepted into the ranks of “PePaeshniki experimenters” either, because I have no time to cook at home.

And let me remind you about the goal: to build a diet in such a way that everything was in moderation and enough. To find a menu that I can stick to for the rest of my life, not 3.5 days for the sake of 2 extra pounds.

Decided to try meal delivery, let’s see if it works. I’ll keep you guys posted. By the way, if you’ve tried meal delivery, vote in the poll below.

Drink more water. And the three questions are, “How much? What kind? And how do you know when it’s time to stop?”

All the trendy weight loss advice will tell you to “create a calorie deficit” first, and “drink lots of water” second. And, importantly, not sodas, juice or tea, but pure water. Because the doctor correctly noted during the examination: “Everything that is not water is food”. And indeed, liquid calories, which are contained in any beverage – from a cup of latte, ending non-alcoholic mojito – are the most insidious. With them, we don’t get full, we just load up the body with a serving of sugar and fast carbs.

Anyway, here’s the recipe:

you should drink as much water as you want and when you want;
really maximize the effectiveness of water and don’t splurge on juices, lattes, or even tea. This will help kick-start your metabolism and maintain the body’s natural water and salt balance;
do not listen to all these stories about the fact that it is mandatory to drink from 2 to 2.5 liters of water per day. This parameter is individual and depends on your height, weight and body type;
keep a bottle of water with you, so there will be less temptation to break into something unhealthy. After all, if water is at hand, why waste time looking for alternatives?
If you can’t drink pure water, try adding lemon, leaves or strawberries to your bottle. This makes a great detox drink with a distinct flavor;
Try to avoid liquids that retain water in our bodies. This can cause swelling in the morning and throughout the day. Coffee has proven to be my number 1 enemy in this regard.

I promise to continue to keep a diary from the fields of weight loss, share insights and try the most fashionable procedures, confirming or denying their effectiveness. In general, as they say, summer is near. Let’s not relax! And for those who have read to the end, I will tell you that the results on the scales are already about 4.5 kg minus, but most of all I am happy with the volumes, because they go away much faster.