Simulation charts and weight loss rhythms: Precisely assess food portion sizes and embark on a gentle and sustainable weight loss journey.

Foods rich in iron include chicken blood, pork liver, and black sesame seeds. Foods rich in zinc include oysters, pork liver, lean pork, and soybeans. Weight-loss diets require controlling the intake of various foods at appropriate levels, but accurately assessing the amount of food that should be consumed and has already been consumed can be difficult. Therefore, we can use food charts as an aid to assessment. A "simulated food chart" means that the weight of the food marked on the chart is the same as the weight of the actual food of the same size. Readers do not need to make associations or conversions; they can easily estimate the weight of the food consumed simply by visual comparison.

Some foods have relatively easy-to-determine weights; for example, the weight of milk, yogurt, and bottled beverages is usually labeled on the container. Similarly, the weight of commercially available eggs is generally easy to estimate, with 7-10 eggs per 500 grams and each brown-shelled egg weighing about 60 grams. Since obesity is caused by an energy imbalance-that is, energy intake exceeding energy expenditure-excess energy accumulates in the body as body fat. Therefore, controlling your diet is the most basic way to lose excess fat.

We need to pay attention to the energy level of our weight-loss diet and the speed of weight loss. Weight loss cannot be rushed. Since obesity is caused by long-term excessive energy intake, achieving weight loss cannot be done overnight. Many methods claiming to provide rapid weight loss may cause a quick decrease in weight in the short term, but ultimately they all fail. Rapid weight loss often results in water loss, not body fat. Furthermore, there needs to be an adaptation period when switching from a regular diet to a low-energy diet.

Just as a person who has been starving for a long time cannot immediately eat a large meal after receiving food, otherwise the body's digestive and metabolic systems will not be able to adapt, leading to the opposite effect. Adopting a weight-loss diet also requires a gradual change in eating habits and a reduction in energy intake, avoiding drastic changes from past diets. Reducing 1 kilogram of body fat is equivalent to reducing 7000-8000 kilocalories of energy. For young, mildly obese individuals, if they reduce energy intake and increase energy expenditure by a total of 250 kilocalories per day, they can lose 1 kilogram of weight in a month.

If half of those 250 kcal of energy comes from "eating less," then reducing daily energy intake by 125 kcal is not difficult to achieve. As nutrition experts say, "eating a bite or two less and exercising 15 minutes more" each day can help control weight. Specifically, you can reduce your intake of grains, oils, meats, sweets, snacks, and sugary drinks based on your past eating habits, but it's not advisable to reduce your intake of dairy products, legumes, vegetables, and fruits. For example, eating 50 grams less of a steamed bun, a 50-gram piece of braised beef, or a can of cola can reduce your energy intake by 125 kcal.

It's important to note that the short-term weight loss effect of reducing food intake will be less pronounced in the long run. Many factors influence long-term weight loss. For example, as weight decreases, the basal metabolic rate also declines. Further reduction in energy intake is needed to achieve sustained weight loss. In the weight loss diets of severely obese individuals, extremely low-calorie diets are designed for rapid weight loss, with daily energy intake below 800 kcal; this is sometimes referred to as "starvation therapy."

This diet is generally only suitable for obese patients with a BMI > 30 who have not responded to conventional low-energy diets for weight loss; or for individuals with a BMI > 30 who also have one or more of the following conditions: hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc. It should only be used with a doctor's approval. Using extremely low-energy diets for weight loss can produce many side effects, such as dehydration, fatigue, and arrhythmia, and can also cause loss of body protein and fat. Therefore, it carries significant risks and must be conducted under the supervision of medical personnel. Overweight and obese patients should never attempt to use starvation therapy on their own.

This type of starvation therapy should never be used by patients with severe arrhythmia, unstable angina, wasting diseases, pregnant women, children, or the elderly. The energy ratio of the three macronutrients in a weight-loss diet is a highly controversial topic, with experts holding sharply contrasting opinions.