Lose Weight and Break Through Plateaus: How to Get Results with Dr. Xiaohe of the Chaohe Hospital

Hello, welcome to the 'Beijing Union Hospital Weight Loss Prescription' course, embarking on a 21-day, 8-kilogram weight loss journey.

In the previous lecture, I discussed the three tricks to fight hunger, helping you trick your brain and delay the feeling of hunger.

In this lecture, I will teach you how to accelerate weight loss and break through the plateau.

Let's first chat about your physical changes over the past two days. How often do you feel hungry during the day? Have you used my little tricks?

Someone just consulted me, saying that after following my methods, he overcame the difficulty of hunger and basically fooled his brain, whenever he felt hungry, he just drank some water or chewed on some dried shiitake mushrooms he made himself. It was very helpful.

But why didn't my weight decrease? This week I lost about 1 kilogram, and it hasn't moved much since then. Usually, I feel light in the morning and heavy in the evening. So I came up with another trick: since I have a regular diet, shouldn’t I add some exercise?

That's right. In fact, weight loss is not as simple as many people think. If I initially reduced my weight by 2 kilograms a day, I could lose 2 kilograms every day. Generally, the weight loss process is a spiral decline, which has a plateau and a small plateau. Small plateaus want to level out several times a day. Generally, it’s stable for a period of time, then decreases, and then stabilizes again before decreasing again. You need to find this ‘wrench’—

For example, originally, I was also following our weight loss plan. I was very strict with myself, didn’t eat snacks during meetings, didn’t eat tea points, and so on. Then I ate the tea points I was not supposed to eat, completely out of control. I observed him, what did he eat? First he picked up a piece of cake and put it in his mouth, then he didn't eat any fruit, only ate the usual things he was not allowed to eat, and completely lost control.

So relying solely on the brain to manage not eating is far less effective than adding an exercise to burn calories. Because there is a basic metabolic rate theory here. When you eat less and less, your basal metabolic rate will correspondingly decrease to a plateau. Because the human body is most afraid of falling ill and being sick, and most afraid of losing weight too quickly, so it won't move. How can you shake it? You need to find a variable, the biggest variable affecting metabolic rate is what? It's exercise—this is something you can do yourself, and through exercise, it’s easier to reach the second balance.

So in this stage, especially the 'stuck' stage, exercise is a last resort, and it's a very necessary thing. You must exercise!

2. What is the ideal heart rate for exercise?

You might say I don’t want to exercise, go to the gym is too expensive, and I don’t have much free time. Is there a way to exercise and burn calories without being too tired?

Of course, the simplest way is walking. Now the fashionable trend is to track your steps every day, but basically, those who track steps don't lose weight. Why? Because it’s not effective exercise! It just increases the number of steps, but doesn’t increase heart rate.

And to balance effective heart rate, we need to use the basic formula: 170 minus age. Why use 170 minus age? Because this is a gradual calculation, when you reach the peak of exercise, you reach 170 minus your actual age, this is the best heart rate for burning fat. Once you exceed it, it’s a cardiovascular exercise process.

Another thing to look at is the state. We have a saying: heart rate increases slightly, a little sweat, a slight gasp, still able to speak, but can't say 21 words in one minute, you can't sing, such exercise is most suitable. So you need to have this situation every day, to reach 40 minutes or more, then it's a good exercise.

If you go to the gym, the coach will tell you to watch your heart rate, and you need to keep it between 130 and 140, which is the best process for burning fat. Once you exceed it, it’s a cardiovascular exercise process.

But you might often see people in the gym, who are exhausted and almost collapse. Basically, it’s not a suitable exercise method, and it can even increase sports injuries. Many people run desperately on the treadmill, even if they weigh hundreds of kilograms, their knees can't stand it, you don't feel sorry for the treadmill, I don't feel sorry for them.

Finally, I want to remind you that the timing and frequency of exercise also have their own requirements. Some people say I exercise on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and rest on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday. Is this okay? This is not recommended.

3. Which exercises are more suitable for weight loss?

What if I don’t have the conditions and time to go to the gym? I can recommend several simple ways. For example, for overweight and obese people, swimming is the best weight loss method. Fat people are suitable for swimming, let’s make a joke, look at the large marine mammals, they are all big guys, they get tired and come back without effort. Swimming is a relaxing environment, which can help you shape your body clearly and smoothly.

But if you swim, you might feel that you can't swim, that is, you keep the heart rate at the same frequency, and swim gracefully, swim hundreds of meters without getting tired. I can't swim, I can only 'play with water', so for people like me who don't know how to swim or can't swim well, what’s a good way?

Then for those who really can't swim, you can take another way, which is the fitness car. Now there is an elliptical and a dynamic single-cycle, which are fixed on the seat, so they won't put much pressure on the knees, and you can adjust different modes to change the resistance, so that your heart rate can increase, which is safe and protects the knees.

When your weight comes down, you no longer compress the knees, then you can run,

But there’s one thing: after exercise, you might be even hungrier. Will you think since I’ve exercised, shouldn’t I eat a little extra?

You can't exercise and then have a big feast, but before exercising, you can usually eat a little bit to maintain a basic level of blood sugar, but don’t eat too much.

After exercise, don’t eat a lot, but in the normal range, go to supplement food after exercising, in the normal range to consume food.

Summary

This is the end of Lecture 5. Let’s summarize how to accelerate weight loss through exercise:

First, exercise can break through the weight loss plateau and accelerate the weight loss process, and you can't be lazy!

Second, 170 minus your actual age is the best heart rate for exercise.

Third, you must exercise at least 5 times a week, and each time for at least 30 minutes!

Fourth, swimming, fitness car are good weight loss exercises, they can burn fat and protect injuries!

Next lecture, let’s learn how to avoid various dietary traps and finally achieve weight loss.