In Spain, 16.5% of men aged 18 or over and 15.5% of women suffer from obesity, according to data from the 2020 European Health Survey. The study also reveals that up to 44.9% of men and 30.6% of women are overweight. These are striking figures, taking into account that Spain is one of the countries in the world where the Mediterranean diet reigns and one of those with the longest life expectancy. In fact, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it is the country in the world with the highest life expectancy, only behind Japan, although the population does not comply with some of the main health recommendations, such as the practice of sport in adults.
Overweight and obesity have therefore become a public health problem of the first order, since they are the direct cause of numerous diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) points out that a high BMI “is an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases (especially heart disease and stroke), diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and some cancers, such as that of the endometrium, breast, ovaries, prostate, liver, gallbladder, kidneys and colon”.
Controlling overweight does not mean, however, becoming unnecessarily obsessed with thinness, something that according to various studies, and judging by the percentages of people (especially women) with some type of eating disorder, is more common than expected. we believe and in some cases extremely dangerous. According to research carried out by the University of the Basque Country and scientists from the University of Bragança, in Portugal, “excessive concern about being thin affects even girls with normal weight and underweight.”
The study concludes that “the level of body dissatisfaction was higher for fat mass than for bodybuilding index, which may be justified by current beauty canons and by the overvaluation of thinness, which make young women want to be thinner even with a normal BMI or at the lower limit of the range considered normal”.
This means that before starting to punish ourselves with diets that we may not need, it is convenient to know if we have an adequate weight to stay healthy, which happens, first of all, by knowing what our percentage of body fat is. “The obsession with the weight that the scale marks is an absurdity that has been with us for a long time, because this can vary by a few kilos depending on whether you have gone to the bathroom, have eaten or drank too much, have retained fluids due to hormonal changes … It is convenient to forget the weight that the scale shows and pay attention to the percentage of fat, which will not change if we go to the bathroom or if we have menstruation, for example”, explains the doctor and nutritionist Núria Monfulleda, from the Loveyourself center, in Barcelona.
To calculate the percentage of fat, specialists use the so-called bioimpedance scales, which allow measuring body composition (percentage of fat, muscle, visceral, etc.) in an easy, accessible and safe way. The optimal percentage of body fat is calculated based on age and sex (there are tables that indicate what the optimal levels are in each age group). If you need to lose weight, then, it is necessary to reduce the amount of fat, something that is achieved progressively with a combination of a proper diet and physical exercise. It is essential to flee, then, from those miraculous diets that were so fashionable for a long time that the only thing they achieved was to cause a loss of liquid, which will be recovered later. “The artichoke diet consisted of Rocío Carrasco having liposuction and selling us that she was losing weight thanks to the artichoke,” Monfulleda jokes, referring to all those miracle diets.
“One of the first things that we have to ensure if we want to lose fat, something that we will also immediately notice in the volume, is to guarantee a correct protein intake at each meal. Because it is necessary? Protein is hard to digest, so we don’t usually feel like eating it plain. This makes the body entertain itself in the digestion, we feel satiated and we are not hungry in a few hours. If we don’t eat enough protein, which most people do, we won’t feel full and will soon be hungry. What will happen then? That the body will ask us for carbohydrates and we will enter a vicious circle in which we will consume more carbohydrates than we need and, therefore, we will not lose fat ”, explains Monfulleda.
The doctor and nutritionist recalls, in fact, that the loss of fat immediately translates into a reduction in volume: “fat takes up a lot of space, contrary to what happens with muscle, so that despite the fact that it is difficult to lose and it is We immediately notice a relatively slow process in our clothes,” says Monfulleda, who insists that “we are probably losing fat, but the home scale continues to show the same weight: we shouldn’t worry,” he says.
The nutritionist assures, in this sense, that “one cannot speak of an ideal weight, but of a weight range, in the same way that there is no perfect grade in an exam. Between the approved and the excellent we must place ourselves where we like to be, where we want to see ourselves, depending on what it compensates us and the effort it costs us, and that is important to take into account”.
Regarding fat loss, Monfulleda recalls that “you always lose evenly, from top to bottom, so that no matter what type of body you start with, you always lose or gain in proportion. That is, you stay with the same body, with the same shape, but with less fat. Therefore, one should not believe those diets that claim to lose localized fat, something that – Monfulleda recalls – “is impossible”.
Another myth that we must banish is that of those foods that supposedly help us burn fat. Monfulleda is blunt: “There is no food that helps burn fat. None. It’s like asking yourself what you can buy to help you save. Nothing, because the moment you buy you spend money ”, and he insists:“ the only possible thing is to consume fewer calories than we need ”.
Nor should we confuse fat loss with muscle mass, which is something that does not interest us at all. According to a study published in the Annals of Medicine, having low muscle mass can increase the risk of surgical and postoperative complications, and lead to a poorer quality of life and poorer survival rates.
The research also points out that “muscle mass should be seen as a new vital sign, so that if health professionals identify and treat low muscle mass they can help significantly improve the health of their patients.” To guarantee good musculature, it is important to combine a diet rich in protein (again, the importance of this nutrient) with the practice of strength training.
“If we have to choose between strength and cardiovascular training, the ideal is to always prioritize strength, although it is best to combine both,” explains nutritionist Natàlia Calvet, who recalls the need to include a portion of protein in all the foods.
