Mastering psychological motivation techniques for weight loss and a guide to food calorie classification

Aversion Training Method: While others decorate their homes with various encouraging phrases to aid their weight loss, I decorated a corner with funny pictures of overweight people. Every time I saw these pictures, I thought: "Ah! If I don't lose weight, I'll end up like this!" This thought strengthened my resolve to lose weight.

Doctor's Explanation: Using negative examples to motivate yourself can indeed have some effect. However, if you use this method frequently, you may develop psychological "tolerance," ultimately diminishing the effectiveness.

Goal-Based Motivation Method: The person who kept me going was a Korean actress. Initially, I started losing weight because I fantasized about having her figure. So I used her photos as wallpapers on my computer, tablet, and phone, and even bought several T-shirts with her picture on them. Although the method was rather childish, seeing her figure gave me the motivation to lose weight again! —Mudanjiang, Wei Xiao

Doctor's Explanation: This method, the opposite of using negative examples, uses positive examples to motivate oneself, and it can also be quite effective. Besides using celebrities as goals, you can also set some abstract goals, such as meeting someone, taking certain photos, etc.

Maintain a Calm Mindset

During my weight loss process, I didn't use any unusual methods to adjust my mindset; I simply constantly reminded myself to maintain a calm mind. With this calm mind, I no longer panicked over weight fluctuations of one or two kilograms. The ultimate benefit was that I finally reached my target weight. —Siping, Zhang Minxia

Doctor's Explanation: The key to weight loss is actually mindset. Only with the right mindset can you choose the right weight loss method and stick to it. Most women are overly optimistic and enthusiastic when they first start losing weight, but become overly pessimistic and negative when they plateau in the middle of their weight loss journey. Such drastic emotional fluctuations are detrimental to weight loss. Maintaining a calm and consistent mindset is the key to successful weight loss.

Women are often very concerned about their calorie intake when trying to lose weight, fearing they might accidentally consume high-calorie foods and undo all their previous efforts.

Therefore, at the end of the book, I've listed hundreds of the most common foods in daily life, categorizing them into seven main groups: meat, poultry, seafood, fruits, vegetables, staple foods, and others. Each category is further divided into low-calorie and high-calorie sections. Low-calorie foods can be eaten frequently during weight loss (except for organ meats); high-calorie foods can also be eaten, but portion control and strict calculation of total calorie intake are crucial.

For meat, the low-calorie section mainly includes organ meats and lean meat. While organ meats are very low in calories, they shouldn't be eaten frequently because they contain a significant amount of cholesterol. I recommend consuming more lean meat. Lean pork, beef, and lamb are all relatively low in calories and can serve as a good source of protein. Meat with a good balance of fat and lean is very high in calories and should be avoided by those trying to lose weight.

Poultry is generally lower in calories than red meat, but because it's often eaten with the skin on, the final calorie intake can be higher, especially from the legs and wings. When eating poultry, try to remove the skin to avoid excessive fat intake.

Fruits and vegetables are mostly low in calories and can be eaten without worry during weight loss.

Regarding staple foods, whether whole grains or refined grains, most are high in calories, but you can't completely eliminate them. The key is how you combine them in your diet.

To help you control calorie intake more effectively, I've added personal suggestions after each food item, hoping they will be helpful to readers.

It's important to note that the calorie value of each food is not strictly fixed. For example, different brands of milk have different calorie levels; skim milk and whole milk have almost double the calories! To ensure accuracy, the following data are averages I've derived from multiple calorie charts, including authoritative data from the Chinese Food Composition Table. I believe the discrepancies with other calorie charts will not be significant.