Three basic facts about diet for weight loss and the significance of exercise for weight loss

**3 Essential Tips for Weight Loss Through Diet**

Common sense 1: Eating rice boosts basal metabolism

During the day, our calorie expenditure is relatively high, allowing us to absorb nutrients normally. It's important to ensure sufficient staple food at each meal. If you can add some whole grains, such as brown rice, oats, or red beans, while steaming rice, the dietary fiber will boost your basal metabolic rate, accelerating your body's metabolism. Furthermore, eating enough staple food in the morning and at lunchtime will reduce feelings of hunger, thus decreasing the need for unnecessary high-calorie snacks and desserts. Note that each meal should consist of at least 2/3 of a bowl of staple food (about the size of a fist).

Common sense 2: Replace dinner with soy products

Tofu, often called "meat of the field," is a healthy food source, rich in high-quality protein. Soy products provide a feeling of fullness and are very low in calories. It's perfectly fine to eat tofu or other soy-based dishes before 8 PM. When eating soy products, you can pair them with mushrooms, seaweed, herbs, milk, etc., for a nutritious and healthy meal! However, it's important to avoid fried soy products.

Common sense 3: Choose red meat such as beef and pork; and for oil, try to choose olive oil or flaxseed oil.

Losing weight doesn't mean you can't eat meat, but it's best to choose lean cuts like beef and chicken, which are rich in protein and can help burn fat. When cooking, try to use olive oil, camellia oil, and flaxseed oil, as these three oils contain unsaturated fatty acids, which can lower blood cholesterol and improve blood microcirculation. Additionally, pairing meat with unheated fresh lemon juice or fruit vinegar is a good choice.

What are the benefits of exercise for weight loss?

Exercise is one of the most effective ways to improve sub-health. It not only enhances bodily functions but also helps relieve work stress and mental depression. Choosing appropriate exercise methods and developing an individualized training plan to redirect mental fatigue through scientific physical exercise are important aspects of preventing and treating sub-health. Life lies in movement. Although exercise only accounts for about 25% of energy metabolism, it helps increase calorie expenditure, promotes metabolism, increases the body's lean mass, and thus raises the basal metabolic rate, achieving the goal of fat loss and muscle gain. Exercise is the most scientific and natural way to lose weight. It is recommended to combine aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is beneficial for metabolizing calories, while anaerobic exercise is beneficial for increasing lean mass.

Dr. Robert Cooper, the pioneer of aerobic exercise, a renowned preventive medicine expert, and the personal physician to the US President, believed that the length and quality of each person's life depend entirely on their individual disease prevention efforts. Based on his practical experience, he proposed the following impacts of exercise on health: First, moderate exercise. Cooper believed that high-intensity exercise can gradually damage the body, while moderate exercise can effectively reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. For example, running more than 15 miles per week is excessive; he recommended exercising 4-5 times a week for 30 minutes each time. Second, brisk walking. Cooper believed that brisk walking is a good form of exercise; walking at a pace of 12 minutes per mile is as effective as jogging, while avoiding the knee injuries caused by running. Third, making the most of spare moments. It's not necessary to exercise for 30 minutes in a gym; fragmented time can be fully utilized. For example, walking the dog for 10 minutes, washing the car for 10 minutes, or doing housework for 10 minutes each day are equally effective. Fourth, alternating exercise. Alternating exercise is beneficial to the heart; for example, cycling one day and jogging the next, or varying the running speed. Fifth, don't judge health solely by weight. Exercise can usually reduce weight, but weight doesn't tell the whole story. Overweight people who exercise regularly are much healthier than sedentary thin people because exercise is the best way to promote bodily function. Sixth, take a multi-pronged approach. Fitness is a systematic project. Physical exercise is essential for physical and mental health, but it's not a panacea. Maintain a healthy lifestyle, including a balanced diet, quitting smoking, limiting alcohol consumption, and maintaining an optimistic attitude. Seventh, start from childhood. Parents should lead by example, encouraging their children to develop good exercise habits. They should also check if their children get enough physical activity at school, and if not, make up for it with extracurricular activities. For example, if the school is close to home, encourage children to walk or cycle to and from school, and after school, keep them away from television and computers, ensuring at least one hour of outdoor activity. Mr. Cooper also specifically reminded parents to limit fast food consumption to a minimum. These suggestions from Mr. Cooper are worth considering for self-health management and are especially valuable for those trying to lose weight.

When exercising at an intensity of 60%–65% of VO2 max or below, fat breakdown provides most of the energy needed by the muscles. Firstly, during prolonged exercise, skeletal muscle cells use fat as fuel; the amount of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) produced by the complete oxidation of each gram of fat is 2.5 times that of glucose. Glycogen is stored intracellularly as carbohydrates, while fat is stored anhydrous, and fat molecules have the advantage of small volume when storing energy. Secondly, fat plays a crucial role in energy supply during exercise. The proportion of various energy sources utilized by the muscles depends primarily on the intensity and duration of exercise. During short periods of intense exercise, whether dynamic or static, muscles cannot utilize fatty acids significantly. When exercising at 70%–90% of VO2 max, fat begins to provide energy 10–15 minutes after the start of exercise. During prolonged exercise at intensities below 60%–65% of VO2 max, especially during very long periods of exercise below 60% VO2 max, fat becomes a vital energy source for the muscles. Third, the forms in which fat contributes to energy supply during exercise are mainly manifested in the following ways: In tissues such as myocardium and skeletal muscle, fatty acids can be oxidized to produce carbon dioxide and water, which is the main form of fat energy supply; in the liver, fatty acid oxidation is incomplete, producing intermediate products such as ketone bodies, which participate in the regulation of lipolysis in adipose tissue; in liver and kidney cells, glycerol, as a non-carbohydrate substance, is converted into glucose through gluconeogenesis, playing an important role in maintaining blood glucose levels. Fourth, the sources of fatty acids that participate in skeletal muscle energy supply during exercise: During exercise, the human body basically does not utilize fat stored in the liver; the main sources are fat stored in adipose tissue (i.e., fat depots), fat contained in plasma lipoproteins in the circulatory system, and fat in the cytoplasm of muscle cells.