Do you have questions about nutrition? Send them to us at comer@lavanguardia.es, our nutritionist Aitor Sánchez will solve all your doubts.
Hello good. I'm trying to eat better to lose some weight, but it seems to me that the changes take a long time to come. How long does it take to lose weight? What advice can you give me to achieve it? (Antonio Sánchez, reader)
Hello Antonio,
A remarkable physical change carried out with good eating habits and physical activity, often takes longer than we would like, but it is something that is completely worth it.
It must be borne in mind that when we seek to lose weight, we do not simply want to reduce a few kilos, but rather that loss is from fat. To give you a more or less estimate, it is calculated that to lose a kilo of weight, coming mostly from fat, a continuous deficit of about 7000 calories is needed. This is a very complicated amount to achieve in a few days because otherwise it would imply having an insufficient diet and it could imply many deficiencies.
It must be borne in mind that when we are overweight it has taken us many months or even years to reach that state, and therefore we cannot reverse it in a few weeks. The best thing is to plan a long-term strategy, and that allows us to adhere to a pattern so that we can achieve our goals in a much more bearable way.
If it is done correctly, noticeable physical changes can begin to be noticed after a month of healthy eating and an active lifestyle. If we wanted something more significant, we could go to a period of two or three months where the changes would be much more noticeable.
I recommend that you take it patiently and as a long-term goal. Think that if you get it that way you can keep it for life and, therefore, it is worth doing the process and it will also contribute to your health.
In summer I prepare a lot of fruit smoothies to refresh myself, especially with watermelon and melon. My question is whether it is healthy to drink a lot of them, now that there is so much talk about how caloric the juices are and how important it is to eat the whole fruit. With the watermelon and melon, which are all water, I thought that maybe it's not so bad. Can watermelon and cantaloupe smoothies be as healthy as whole fruit? (Carmen García, reader)
Hi carmen,
It is a very good question, although we are going to try to clarify it, because sometimes it can cause confusion, as in this case. The downside of fruit juices or smoothies made from fruit juice is that we are only drinking the juice of the fruit and we do not consume its fiber or pulp. Therefore it is not so much a question of calories, but more of free sugar and speed of absorption.
Rather than focusing on one type of fruit, I would recommend preparing smoothies with whole fruit, that is, including the pulp. This can also apply to smoothies.
If you like to take them regularly, I would suggest that you use whole fruit and that if you want it in a refreshing way, freeze it before preparing it in small pieces, so that you can have a very cold smoothie every morning.
