Losing weight is one of the main reasons why people take up sport or exercise. But are we doing it right? We've put together 10 weight-loss tips in this article, to help you to keep the weight off for good.
First of all, as we've explained many times before, let's dispel a myth: electrostimulation doesn't make you melt!
On the contrary, it helps to shape your figure and tone your body. It can activate areas that have not been used for a long time. Muscle stimulation can also help you prevent injuries caused by excess weight. It's an effective ally in encouraging you to do more physical activity and take care of yourself. These are all elements that will help you lose weight.
Tip 1: Eat the right amount of calories
Before starting a new, more restrictive diet, make sure you're already eating the right amount of calories.
The nutritional needs of adults vary according to sex, age, body shape, daily physical activity and the existence of any health problems. Despite this variety, there are general recommendations that set out the basic rules for a balanced diet. These are ideal values to guide our choices. The more active you are, the higher your energy requirements. And to top it all off, your basal metabolic rate will also increase.
For a man, the recommended energy intake is, on average, 2,400 to 2,600 calories a day, depending on activity. For women, it's 1,800 to 2,200 calories.
If you don't consume these calories, a diet would be pointless or, in the worst case, harmful. In fact, your body fat will fall as your body temperature drops without you losing weight, because your cortisol levels (the stress hormone, one of the causes of weight gain) will rise significantly.
Tip 2: Adopt a good nutritional balance
To lose weight, you need to eat enough protein. Protein protects your lean body mass and reduces the feeling of hunger. It is advisable to prefer white meat to red meat, and especially fish.
Make sure you eat plenty of vegetables at every meal, both raw and cooked.
Eat as few refined carbohydrates as possible - don't cut them out!
And above all, avoid ready-made meals and fast food. Cook for yourself and you'll be in control of what's on your plate.
Tip 3: Drink plenty of water
Drinking the right amount of water helps you feel full more quickly. What's more, a lack of water can slow down your metabolism. It's a good idea to drink before you sit down to eat, as it fills your stomach more quickly and can help you control the amount of food you eat.
Tip 4: Choose an active lifestyle
Whatever your level of fitness, try to move around as much as possible to increase your energy expenditure.
Exercise alone is not enough, so any excuse is a good one to get moving: take the stairs, walk instead of taking the car and have fun doing sport.
If you're a beginner, Compex will help you to prepare your muscles for physical effort, and will help you to limit aches and pains the next day.
If you've returned to sport after a long break, don't rush. Take it one step at a time and the results will come sooner than you think.
Cardiorespiratory endurance isn't enough, you also need to have a good muscular structure to support your joints. That's one of the advantages of using Compex: it doesn't put your joints at risk.
Tip 5: Choose the right sport for weight loss
The best way to lose weight is to combine active calorie burning (during exercise) with the ability to build lean body mass.
Running and low-intensity cardiovascular activities burn calories during activity. But they don't generate any metabolic benefit and don't help to develop lean body mass effectively.
Mind you, this doesn't mean that we should exclude them and prefer to stay at the back of our sofa. It does mean that we should replace them with more effective activities.
If your main objective is weight loss, then prefer interval training (applicable to all sporting disciplines), which combines muscle strengthening (toning) with adequate calorie expenditure. Take hiit, for example.
Tip n°6: Don't underestimate capillarisation
The capillarisation programme on your Compex electrostimulator is an invaluable aid to slimming.
It provides powerful vascularisation of fatty areas, where blood and nutrients have difficulty circulating. Imagine the effect of applying a cream or a hot-cold treatment to stimulate the formation of new blood vessels from existing ones. Now imagine the effectiveness of a treatment that increases blood flow in the affected area by up to 300%. The capillarisation programme enables you to achieve this result.
You can now see why this programme is important in our weight loss advice.
Tip 7: Vary your training as much as possible
Whatever sport you do (endurance, power, etc.), it's important to vary your training, especially if you want to lose weight.
Repetition creates adaptation, and adaptation always has less effect on our bodies.
So you need to diversify by always adding something new to your session, without completely changing your habits.
Tip 8: Give priority to recovery and warm up properly
Training every day without rest is exhausting for the body, but also for the mind.
Don't forget that, during recovery, so-called indirect energy expenditure occurs. This increases the basal metabolic rate (which helps us to pursue our weight loss objectives) and the receptivity of nutrients by muscle tissue.
Recovery also helps to limit the occurrence of stubborn injuries that could lead to a forced stop.
Compex promotes blood flow to tired muscles after exercise, speeding up the recovery process and making it more effective.
Don't rush your training sessions. Exercise should always be progressive. Your Compex can help you prepare your muscle tissue to respond better to stimuli. It will help you avoid sprains and other problems that result from a poor training routine.
Tip 9: Keep a record of your successes
Keeping a record of how much weight you've lost or how many centimetres you've slimmed down is not an exercise in narcissism; on the contrary, it helps you to stick to your goal. Hard-won results can easily be lost if you lose sight of your new ‘healthy routine’.
So don't lose sight of your results and always set yourself short-term goals for losing weight. Be realistic, setting achievable goals is important.
Tip 10: Congratulate yourself and reduce stress
Reducing stress is very important. Exercise shouldn't be an obligation, it should be a pleasure. Rewarding yourself (for example, a little slip from time to time) can help you to adopt this lifestyle more easily.
Less stress also reduces the hormone cortisol, which prevents us from losing weight.
Also on this last point, your Compex can provide you with the means for better relaxation. Programmes such as Muscle Pain or Regenerating Massage act on the release of endogenous endorphins, proteins that trigger muscle relaxation by stimulating a proper sleep cycle.
By adopting these new routines, your lifestyle will become more active, and you'll be well on the way to losing weight.
If you're looking for the ideal Compex electrostimulator, use our product selector to help you in your search. Don't forget that, used properly, the Compex electrostimulator will be your most precious ally on the road to weight loss and fitness.
