Reshaping a Healthy Body: A Beginner's Guide to Weight Loss from Concept to Practice

Less fat, more health

Lai Xiuzhen

Modern life is becoming increasingly refined, especially in terms of diet, which often results in overnutrition. The booming development of restaurants, eateries, and snack shops, coupled with a focus on hedonistic lifestyles and a general lack of physical activity, has led to one of the biggest health problems for modern people-obesity.

Obesity is not only a factor in how individuals subjectively evaluate their self-image, but it also has a significant impact on actual health. As a result, modern people are looking for ways to lose weight, but the common concept of weight loss is still stuck at the stage of thinking that "starvation" can achieve the goal, which has caused many people to not only fail to achieve their weight loss goals, but also to sacrifice their health.

Therefore, we have carefully planned this handbook. We hope it will convey to you the correct concepts and methods for weight loss. From real-life cases, we have compiled 100 questions and answers regarding the difficulties and problems you may encounter during your weight loss process. These include general knowledge, beverage knowledge, weight loss recipes, and more-covering everything in detail, with the sole purpose of helping you lose weight healthily.

If you've ever wondered how to eat to lose weight without nutritional imbalances, how to resist the temptation of snacks, how to lose weight if you have stomach problems, how many kilograms to lose in a week, whether vegetarians can lose weight, or how to plan your lunchbox for office workers, please answer these questions.

This book provides detailed answers to all these questions. With your willingness, determination, and perseverance to lose weight, coupled with the assistance of this book, weight loss is no longer a pipe dream. It will help you escape the shadow of obesity and bring you a healthier life.

Finally, I wish you a speedy success in losing weight!

What is standard weight?

My name is Xiaojie, I'm 160cm tall and weigh 52kg. I always feel like I'm too fat. But my boyfriend says my figure is like that of a Miss China. So, am I considered fat?

Good Body Mailbox

My dear Xiaojie, you're not fat at all; you have the perfect figure of a Miss China. I once heard a saying: every woman thinks she's too fat, but every man thinks women who complain about wanting to lose weight are too thin.

Therefore, body shape (fat or thin) is largely a subjective factor.

However, objectively speaking, what exactly constitutes being overweight? What is considered a standard weight? Here is a formula you can use for reference.

Male: 62 + (height - 170) × 0.6 = weight

For example: 62 + (180 - 170) × 0.6 = 68 kg

For women: 52 + (height - 158) × 0.5 = weight

For example: 52 + (160 - 158) × 0.5 = 53 kg

Weight within 10% of the ideal weight is considered standard. Weight exceeding this range is considered overweight, and weight below it is considered underweight. The following standard weight table is for reference.

female male

Normal height range

(cm) -10% Standard weight +10% (cm) -10% Standard weight +10%

145 41 45.5 50.1 155 47.7 53 58.3

146 41.4 46 50.6 156 48.2 53.6 59

147 41.9 46.5 51.2 157 48.8 54.2 59.6

148 42.3 47 51.7 158 49.3 54.8 60.3

149 42.8 47.5 52.3 159 49.9 55.4 60.9

150 43.2 48 52.8 160 50.4 56 61.6

151 43.7 48.5 53.4 161 50.9 56.6 62.3

152 44.1 49 53.9 162 51.5 57.2 62.9

153 44.6 49.5 54.5 163 52 57.8 63.6

154 45 50 55 164 52.6 58.4 64.2

155 45.5 50.5 55.6 165 53.1 59 64.9

156 45.9 51 56.1 166 53.6 59.6 65.6

157 46.4 51.5 56.7 167 54.2 60.2 66.2

158 46.8 52 57.2 168 54.7 60.8 66.9

159 47.3 52.5 57.8 169 55.3 61.4 67.5

160 47.7 53 58.3 170 55.8 62 68.2

161 48.2 53.5 58.9 171 56.3 62.6 68.9

162 48.6 54 59.4 172 56.9 63.2 69.5

163 49.1 54.5 60 173 57.4 63.8 70.2

164 49.5 55 60.5 174 58.0 64.4 70.8

165 50 55.5 61.1 175 58.5 65 71.5

166 50.4 56 61.6 176 59 65.6 72.2

167 50.9 56.5 62.2 177 59.6 66.2 72.8

168 51.3 57 62.7 178 60.1 66.8 73.5

169 51.8 57.5 63.3 179 60.7 67.4 74.1

170 52.2 58 63.8 180 61.2 68 74.8

171 52.7 58.5 64.4 181 61.7 68.6 75.5

172 53.1 59 64.9 182 62.3 69.2 76.1

173 53.6 59.5 65.5 183 62.8 69.8 76.8

174 54 60 66 184 63.4 70.4 77.4

175 54.5 60.5 66.6 185 63.9 71 78.1.

Can diet pills help you lose weight?

I'm currently on a weight loss plan, but I can't resist the temptation of the diet pill advertisements on the market. I really want to buy a bottle and try it out.

I heard on TV that those pills can really make you lose weight quickly and never gain it back. Looking at the before-and-after photos of weight loss experiments in the newspaper, with the people involved describing their weight loss experiences so earnestly, I think those pills must be very effective, but I'm also afraid that weight loss pills have many side effects.

I'm so conflicted. Are diet pills safe or not?

Good Body Mailbox

I understand your desire to lose weight quickly. However, many weight-loss drugs on the market are unsafe and have numerous side effects. They can generally be divided into the following four categories:

1. Appetite suppressants: These diet pills reduce the user's appetite, thus decreasing the frequency and amount of food consumed to achieve weight loss. These pills can cause side effects such as anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, and headaches; in severe cases, fainting may occur.

2. Thyroid hormones: This type of weight loss drug is very dangerous because it works by increasing the body's basal metabolic rate to achieve weight loss.

It can cause heart problems in users and poses a significant threat to their health.

3. Diuretics: These weight-loss drugs cause the user to lose a large amount of water, resulting in frequent urination. They achieve weight loss by reducing the body's water content. Once discontinued, the weight immediately returns to its original level. Taking these weight-loss drugs can lead to conditions such as low blood pressure.

4. Mild Laxatives: These weight-loss drugs have a mild laxative effect, increasing the excretion of water from the body to achieve weight loss. Long-term use of these drugs can disrupt normal intestinal function and lead to malnutrition.

As we can see from the above, there are many types of weight loss drugs, containing various different ingredients. Never take them arbitrarily; be careful not to jeopardize your health in the pursuit of rapid weight loss!

Patience is the key to weight loss

My name is Xiaoqing, and I'm a girl who loves beauty. I'm always very self-conscious about my overweight figure, so I've recently been working hard on a great weight loss plan. But after a month, I've only lost 4 kilograms, and I'm really worried!

My classmate Xiaolan told me she lost 3 kilograms in a week! Wow! Add that up, and she lost 12 kilograms in a month! I was both envious and jealous, and I started to wonder if I was using the wrong weight loss methods. Otherwise, why was my weight loss so slow, or even stopped?

Good Body Mailbox

Actually, your weight loss method isn't wrong. According to relevant medical reports, the most reasonable and safest weight loss is no more than 2 pounds (about 1 kilogram) per week; otherwise, it will have adverse effects on your health! Therefore, losing 4 kilograms in a month is perfectly normal, so there's no need to worry too much or feel inferior.

As for why your weight seems to have stopped decreasing after a period of time, it's because when you're on a weight loss plan, your body's fat is constantly being burned and consumed, freeing up many spaces that were originally occupied by fat. Water then takes this opportunity to enter these spaces, so your weight naturally remains at a constant level.

Therefore, these are normal during the weight loss process. As long as you temporarily stop eating starchy foods such as rice and noodles, increase your intake of small pieces of meat and enough vegetables, and do an extra half hour of exercise every day to burn off excess water, you should be able to lose weight again.

Remember, patience is key to a successful weight loss plan; only through persistent effort can you anticipate achieving your desired physique in the near future!