Healthy & permanent weight loss with personalized nutrition - this is how it works!
You want to lose weight? There are many tips and diets. We show you which ones are really healthy and make sense.
First of all: Personalized nutrition is the key to your feel-good weight. Find out more about this exciting topic here.
There are many different reasons for losing weight: Better blood values, more health, less movement restrictions or more well-being are just examples. You are now asking yourself 'Lose weight, but how?'. Various diets promise to lose weight quickly or simply get rid of belly fat. But at the latest when the yo-yo effect sets in, it becomes clear that this has nothing to do with healthy and lasting success. Losing weight properly and maintaining your target weight is not that easy. We would like to show you how it still works and why an individual approach is so important.
This speaks for a personalized diet
Each of us is different. This is not only noticeable through external differences, but also in the metabolism.[1] For example, your body may react quite differently to a diet than a girlfriend or boyfriend. Therefore, it is also quickly clear that there is no one diet for losing weight for everyone. It makes more sense to follow a diet that is adapted to your body and your needs. For example, you can learn more about your body through special questionnaires, blood tests or a genetic analysis and personalize your diet accordingly.
Reading Tip: Personalized nutritionAs individual as you are!
Did you know that you can create a Complete Food tailored to you? Answer the questions in our quiz and receive a personalized meal.
Keto diet, low carb or paleo? What suits you?
Losing weight without dieting? That works in the rarest cases. But what should eating right for weight loss look like for you? We show you 5 diets at a glance:
Low carb diet
With this diet, you reduce the proportion of carbohydrates to about 20 to 30 percent. In return, the proportion of proteins and (healthy) fats increases. This means that pasta, bread, sugar and the like are only allowed in very small quantities. Your diet can now look like this:
Instead of pasta you can cut spaghetti from zucchini (a spiral cutter is helpful here)
if carbohydrate-rich foods are consumed, then it should be the whole grain variety be
Plenty of vegetables such as cabbage, salads and legumes
Low sugar fruits
Good orientation is the Mediterranean diet (apart from white bread)
High quality oils like olive or rapeseed oil
Milk and dairy products, eggs
Tofu and tempeh
Fish and meat are allowed, but should not be consumed in larger quantities than usual (this is especially true for red meat)
Ketogenic diet
This diet is an extreme form of the low carb diet, as carbohydrates are reduced to about 20 grams per day. Healthy fats become the focus of the diet. The organism now forms so-called ketone bodies from fat, which supply the brain with energy, for example. The diet is interesting from a medical point of view, because positive effects have been shown in neurological diseases such as epilepsy.[2] These foods are ideal:
Avocado, olives, nuts and seeds.
Vegetables with low carbohydrates like zucchini, cucumber, spinach
Fruits low in sugar
high quality fats like olive and rapeseed oil
milk and dairy products, eggs
fish and meat (red meat only in small quantities)
Tofu and tempeh
Paleo diet
Also known as the Stone Age diet. The idea behind it: Our bodies are not designed for modern nutrition and are still in the Stone Age. Therefore, your diet should be as similar as possible to the way it was back then. Also include more exercise, because people in the Stone Age moved much more than today. The food selection in the Paleo diet:
No convenience foods
No grains and legumes
No milk and dairy products
Seasonal vegetables and fruits
Plenty of fish, eggs and meat
Note: You should pay special attention to getting enough B vitamins and calcium on this diet, as you are eliminating the usual sources from your diet.[3]
Intermittent fasting
Here it is not the choice of food that is important, but the time intervals at which you eat. Intermittent fasting is just an umbrella term and encompasses several dietary concepts such as the 16:8 method, where you fast for 16 hours a day and are allowed to eat two meals in eight hours, or the 5:2 diet, where you eat normally five days a week and consume only a quarter of the usual amount of energy on two days. Researchers have already found some benefits of interval fasting, for example, it is said to prevent diseases such as type 2 diabetes.[4]
IIFYM: If it fits your macros
With this diet, you can eat whatever you want as long as you cover your macronutrient distribution. To do this, you must first calculate how much protein, carbohydrates and fat are suitable for you and then track your food accordingly. Our recommendation: Even if everything is allowed, you should not reach for burgers, pizza and co. too often, because in addition to macronutrients, your body also needs micronutrients and these are hardly ever found in fast food.
Healthy weight loss: Tips
These 5 tips make it easier for you to lose weight, because they fit perfectly with the personalized diet.
1. find your stress management method
Losing weight, diet and stress are directly related, as various studies have shown.[5] For your weight loss, this means: Ongoing stress makes it harder to lose weight, because cravings become more likely. Therefore, relaxation is just as important as exercise and the right diet for losing weight. Again, each of us is different. You need to find your individual method to manage stress. Some ideas: Breathing exercises, autogenic training, yoga, meditation or letting off steam during sports.
2. set goals and know your own prerequisites
Many weight loss diets promise quick success. But losing a lot of weight in a short time is not necessarily healthy. So-called crash diets can reduce the energy metabolism in the long term and even lead to eating disorders.[6] So realistic and healthy goals are crucial for long-term success. We therefore recommend a calorie deficit of between 200-500 kcal per day. This will allow you to lose about 1-2 kilograms of weight per month. Example of a healthy weight loss goal: 5 kilograms in 7 months. Although a long breath is required for this type of weight loss, studies show that a small calorie deficit leads less often to the yo-yo effect.[7]
Reading Tip: The basics of fat burning - lose weight healthily and permanently. Here we explain how you can calculate your individual energy consumption and calorie requirements for losing weight.
3. develop healthy routines
We humans are creatures of habit. Sometimes that's good and other times it's bad. After all, unhealthy habits are not so easy to eliminate from our lives, but once we develop a healthy routine, it is also easy to maintain it. To lose weight sustainably and healthily without the yo-yo effect, this means you should take a close look at your routines. If you discover an unhealthy habit, change it to a healthier routine. Example:
Old habit: Have a sweet dessert after lunch.
New habit: After lunch, have an espresso, coffee or tea (without sugar and with little milk if needed).
4. increase calorie consumption with exercise and sports.
At the end of the day, the calorie deficit is what counts. Some people find it easier to achieve this by eating a calorie-reduced diet, others by increasing calorie consumption, i.e. by adding more exercise to their daily routine. Losing weight without sports and exercise rarely works. Therefore, decide to take the stairs more often instead of the elevator or get on a bike instead of driving.
Strength training is also ideal for losing weight, because the greater your muscle mass, the higher your basal metabolic rate. In the following table you can see how many calories are consumed per 30 minutes by which type of sport or everyday activity.[8] Note that this is an average value for a person weighing 80 kg. Depending on the intensity and physical conditions, you can consume more or less calories:
Sport Calorie consumption in 30 min. at 80 kg
Boxing: 380 kcal
CrossFit: 200 kcal
Soccer: 340 kcal
Gardening: 200 kcal
Golf: 180 kcal
HIIT: 220 kcal
Horse riding: 160 kcal
Climbing: 380 kcal
Cooking: 90 kcal
Jogging at 7min/km or 5 min/km: 330 kcal or 500 kcal
Cycling at 15km/h or 25 km/h: 240 kcal or 410 kcal
Walking: 140 kcal
Swimming: 350 kcal
Squash: 480 kcal
Climbing stairs: 280 kcal
Walking: 260 kcal
5. boost metabolism
There are actually foods to lose weight, such as chili. Because the pod increases your energy metabolism by making you sweat.[9] Likewise, water will help you. If you drink a lot of cold water, your body needs energy to heat it up to body temperature. Great side effect: if you drink water about 30 minutes before a meal, you're likely to take in less energy.[10]
In addition, more muscles provide a higher energy turnover, because muscles need to be supplied with energy. So any additional exercise you do is a booster for your metabolism. Consequently, expert Matthias Weber, press spokesman for the German Society for Endocrinology, also advocates a combination of endurance and strength training for weight loss to Der Spiegel.[11]
Diet myths and typical mistakes when losing weight
Many people want to lose belly fat. But what are the typical mistakes? Some diet myths have been around for several years. We have looked at common assumptions and checked what science says about them. Here are our findings:
1. eating in the evening makes you fat
Although this statement has been examined in many studies, researchers disagree. What is known is that people who eat a large proportion of their calories at dinner are at greater risk of becoming overweight. [12] But whether this is increased by eating late is not quite so clear. Another research group concludes that our diet should be in tune with our internal clock in order to prevent obesity.[13] Several studies suggest that eating late is unfavorable for the body. It can aggravate the symptoms of heartburn[14] and generally lead to digestive problems, because the metabolism is restricted during the night.
2. low carb brings you to the dream figure
This statement does not apply to everyone. Depending on your metabolism, you may find a different diet much easier. For example, one study found that people with a healthy glucose metabolism lose weight best by following a diet with less fat and more carbohydrates. While people with impaired glucose metabolism benefit from a low-carbohydrate diet.[15]
3. fruit always goes, because it is healthy
While it is true that fruits contain many vitamins and are healthy, you should not overdo it. Because they also contain fructose, which in excess can also lead to obesity. Two pieces of fruit a day are a recommended amount. Note the fructose also in products that contain 'natural sweetener from fruit'.[16]
4. sugar makes you fat
A combination of factors usually contributes to the development of obesity. Little exercise, genetic predispositions and a poor diet. The latter also includes excessive consumption of sugar. According to the German Nutrition Society (DGE), a maximum of 10 percent of the energy consumed should come from sugar. More sugar in the diet contributes to obesity and other diseases such as diabetes.[17]
5. fat is always unfavorable
This statement is simply wrong. Fats are not necessarily bad. On the contrary, some fatty acids, such as certain omega-3 fats, are needed for normal brain function. But since fat now contains more calories per gram compared to the other macronutrients, you should pay special attention to a good selection of fats when losing weight. In other words, chips, whipped cream and the like are taboo, while healthy fats from avocado, olive oil or nuts are allowed (in normal moderation).