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Diet Plan

Personalized Weight Control

Using Physiological Insights to Devise a Personally Sustainable Diet-and-Exercise Plan

Why Does Your Diet-and-Exercise Plan Need to Be Personalized?

Because of the many factors influencing calorie intake and expenditure, the strategies that work best will vary between individuals (Harvard Health Publishing, 2019). Each person will have different hurdles to overcome in weight control.

 

For some, complex conditions like food addiction, which can be triggered by high GI carbohydrates, can present a particular challenge when it comes to making and sticking with sustained diet changes (Lennerz & Lennerz, 2018). Among women, cravings that peak during the luteal phase (the two weeks pre-mensturation) can cyclically undermine their efforts to control calorie and macronutrient intake (Trout et al., 2008).

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How susceptible your hunger regulation and activity levels are to being overridden by your food and calorie intake depends on your medical history (i.e. weight, insulin resistance, body fat levels, etc.), your genetics, and environmental factors (Harvard Health Publishing, 2019).

 

So, if you struggle with weight control, no matter if you're trying to lose, gain, or maintain, the best thing you can do is apply gradual changes, giving your body and mind time to adjust to new habits and physiological signals that will reinforce your new behavior.

What Does a Personalized Diet-and-Exercise Plan Look Like?

Adopt diet-and-exercise strategies based on your individual needs. By testing and sustaining diet changes and activity that control your hunger, limit cravings, and improve your energy levels and mood, you'll be able to successfully control you weight according to your goals.

 

Finding the right strategies for your needs will require some trial-and-error, but it will be worth it to gain understanding of how your body responds to changes in calorie and macronutrient intake.

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Controlling hunger (Amin & Mercer, 2016; Chambers & Yeomans, 2008)

  • Reduce calorie surplus or deficits to limit hunger control signals' effect on your appetite

  • Try calorie-shifting diets to increase chances of diet adherence

  • Focus on eating high fiber, high protein foods to increase satiety during calorie restriction

  • Limit intake of hyper-palatable, processed foods that trigger reward conditioning that overrides hunger control systems

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Limiting cravings (Apolzan et al., 2017; Trout, 2008)

  • Focus on limiting the frequency of indulging food cravings rather than quantity

  • Avoid integrating high-GI carbohydrates into your regular meals

  • Plan ahead in anticipation of predictable cravings (like during your menstrual cycle) to avoid triggering future cravings

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Improving Energy Levels and Mood (Davoodi et al., 2014; Park, 2001; Rogers, 2001; Widmaier, 2019)

  • Increase your non-exercise activity if you struggle with low energy levels while on a calorie deficit

  • Try reducing carb intake or eat mixed-macronutrient meals to improve mood and cognitive function

  • Avoid eating hyper-palatable foods, which can trigger addiction-like behavioral changes, irritability, and reduced cognitive function and limit your ability to diet and exercise consistently

 

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