Losing weight is one of the purposes of every year for many people. If this is your case, it may be costing you more than you thought. To undergo a diet in which you have to look at the calorie intake is not easy in these times, in which high-energy foods are attractive (in large part, because of their intense flavor) and Easy to Find.

Another reason why dieting is not an easy task is due to the rapid natural response of our body when we reduce the amounts ingested, which causes a sensation that will be familiar to those who have experienced a voracious appetite when dieting. On the contrary, our body does not emit any response when we eat more than we should.

If you stop to think about it, it is common to eat more during holidays or weekends, in addition to other special occasions. For example, if you go out to eat at a good restaurant in a country like the United Kingdom, you'd better know that the main course of a menu usually contains more than half the calories needed for the whole day.

Overfeeding? Where? 
The recent study that we have carried out my colleagues and I show that our body barely detects overfeeding, ignoring it even in cases where they eat foods that generate an excess of more than 1,000 calories a day.

The results of the investigation revealed that consuming 150% of the daily calories needed did not imply a variation in the participants' desire to eat. We observe your appetite levels, as well as the levels of the hormones that are specifically responsible for regulating hunger. To complete the study, we checked the amounts of food eaten throughout the next day.

What we found was the body's inability to take into account additional calories. From an evolutionary perspective, it can be said that it makes sense since our ancestors inhabited environments in which access to food was limited, so they ingested much more than necessary to survive until they found more food.

It is important to be aware of the caloric intake we make. By eating too much, even if only a few times, we are gaining weight or interrupting the loss. In fact, the evidence obtained reminds us that the weight we increase during the holidays will accompany us throughout the year, in the same way, that spends with the food on weekends can completely offset the diet we carry out during the week.

However, we can lose weight even knowing how simple it is to overfeed. What's more, being aware of this can help us improve our health, since we will surely have more information about the healthiest food options.

The importance of exercise
Despite the tendency of our body to get fat, eating a proper diet and adopting healthy habits will help us achieve the goal of losing weight and maintain it later.

Habitually, people overlook exercise practice, obsessed with finding the "best diet to lose weight." However, staying active is extremely important to lose weight and, especially, to stay at the desired weight for a prolonged period of time.

Exercise can supplement dietary changes and help minimize the increased appetite that comes with the regimen. This is because the sport does not intensify hunger in the way that diet does, despite generating an energy deficit by losing weight. In fact, exercising intensely can eliminate cravings while increasing energy loss.

Participants of The Biggest Loser, an American television show in which they compete to see who loses more weight, highlighted the importance of exercise to maintain the ideal weight once it has been achieved. The follow-up to the contestants during the six years after their participation revealed that only those who had increased their physical activity by 160% kept their weight, compared to 34% of those who returned to take kilos.

Keep an open mind
Regardless of the diet you choose, you should know that all require a certain degree of commitment, so you must be flexible.

For example, if you are invited to a celebration in which there is an abundance of dishes that may not be suitable for you, be aware that your body will not respond in the way you would like to an excessive caloric intake will allow you to avoid consuming exaggerated. Another option is to eat more healthy foods the days before or after the event, as well as increase the level of exercise to counteract excesses.

In short, we should not wait for the body to send us signals to know that we have gone through caloric intake; To compensate for the tendency of our body to gain weight, it should be enough to have a healthy diet and lifestyle. If we are aware of the need to maintain healthy habits, we will be able to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves this year.