Playback trouble? Watch on YouTube ↗
The classic eight characters of failed diets: 管不住嘴,迈不开腿 (guǎn bù zhù zuǐ, mài bù kāi tuǐ) — can't control your mouth, can't move your legs.; Why crash diets backfire: 报复性进食 (bào fù xìng jìn shí, revenge eating) and 反弹 (fǎn tán, rebounding) leave you heavier than before.; The golden rule of losing weight: 少吃多动 (eat less, move more) and 三分练七分吃 (30% exercise, 70% diet) — how you eat matters most.
Xiao Yue, you've got a cake in one hand and a scale in the other, and you're saying you're starting a diet today? Don't you feel like something's a little off here?
Haha, I knew you'd make fun of me. But you really don't get it — for someone who runs a dessert shop, losing weight is the hardest thing in the world.
That's true, actually. Other people just have to watch what they eat, but you're face to face with cake and cream every single day.
So today I have to make up my mind for real. In this episode, let's really dig into dieting — something so many people love and hate at the same time.
Sounds good. My belly's gotten a bit rounder lately too, so I can pick up a few tricks from you.
Then you've come to the right place. When it comes to dieting, I've fallen into more traps than the number of cakes I've ever made.
Let me ask you first — you don't look fat at all, so why suddenly decide to lose weight?
Ugh, it's a long story. Last week a friend took a photo of me, and when I looked at it, my face had gotten a whole lot rounder.
Haha, all because of one photo?
Not just the photo. Summer's here, and when I tried on last year's dress this year, the zipper actually wouldn't go up.
I get that. Clothes are the most honest — they never try to comfort you.
So true. And girls over here, more or less, all have this idea that "thin is beautiful."
Wait, "thin is beautiful" — can you explain that phrase for me?
It means thinking only thin looks good — the thinner, the prettier. That idea runs really deep in our sense of beauty here.
Speaking of which, I've always found this interesting. In the UK, people put more emphasis on "being yourself" — a bit heavier or thinner, no one really comments on it.
Really? So in the UK, people won't say something like "you seem to have gained weight lately" right to your face?
Almost never. Saying that is really rude, and it might even make someone angry.
It's totally different here. When relatives meet, the first thing they say is often "Oh, how'd you get so chubby?"
Haha, if that happened in the UK, the two people could get into a fight right there.
So now you understand why I care about it so much.
I get it, I get it. But then again, you're surrounded by desserts all day — the difficulty level of your diet is basically hell mode.
Don't even mention it — that's my biggest problem. I have to taste-test the cakes I make, and by the end of the day I've eaten a whole pile without even realizing it.
So you're running the business and dieting at the same time — isn't that a huge contradiction?
So contradictory. On one hand I want customers to buy more, on the other I don't dare eat much myself — I'm basically split in two.
Speaking of eating, teach me something practical first.
Okay, first let me teach you a real classic — "can't control your mouth, can't move your legs."
"Can't control your mouth, can't move your legs"? Those eight characters rhyme nicely, but I don't fully get it.
It means people who fail at dieting usually fail for two reasons: one, they can't control their mouth and can't resist eating; two, they can't get their legs moving and are too lazy to exercise.
Oh, so "can't control your mouth" means you can't stop yourself from eating, and "can't move your legs" means you don't want to work out, right?
Exactly right. And look at me — both of those seem tailor-made for me.
Haha, you're a living cautionary tale. Let me quiz you — how many times have you already "failed to control your mouth" today?
Ugh, don't ask. This morning I sampled a slice of cheesecake, and at noon I sneaked two cookies.
It's only the afternoon and you've already used up your quota for the day.
So every time after I eat, I feel really guilty inside.
Guilt? That "I shouldn't have eaten that" feeling?
Yeah — super happy while eating, then the regret kicks in and I feel like I have zero willpower.
I know that all too well. In the UK we have a phrase, "guilty pleasure" — you know you shouldn't, but you enjoy it anyway.
Oh, that's a great phrase — it's basically a perfect match for our word "guilt."
So when you taste-test, can't you just take a bite and spit it out? Don't a lot of chefs do that?
I know the logic, but I make desserts — they're so good I really can't bear to spit them out, so in the end I swallow anyway.
Well, regret aside, can't you just control yourself properly the next day?
You wish. My specialty is the phrase "I'll deal with it tomorrow."
"Deal with it tomorrow"?
Right — eat this cake today, and as for the diet, I'll deal with it tomorrow. Except tomorrow always has its own cake.
Haha, so your "tomorrow" never actually comes.
That's the biggest lie on the whole dieting journey — we always tell ourselves "just this one bite."
Speaking of which, I've always wanted to ask — this "calorie" you all keep talking about, what exactly is it?
A calorie is the unit of energy in food. If you take in too much energy and can't burn it off, it turns into fat.
So that's why people who are serious about dieting keep counting how many calories they've eaten?
Right — the strict ones calculate forever over a single bite. That slice of cake of mine probably had three hundred calories.
Three hundred calories — what does that even mean?
It'd take about an hour of brisk walking to burn it off.
What? A whole hour of walking just to cancel out one slice of cake? Then I'd rather not eat it.
So now you understand why I have such mixed feelings when I look at a cake.
Have you ever calculated how many calories you take in just from taste-testing in a single day?
I did once, and it scared me so much I just never dared to count again.
So what's the right way to lose weight? You can't just stay hungry forever.
The basics come down to four words — "eat less, move more." Eat a bit less, move a bit more. Easy to say.
Hard to do, right?
So hard. And a lot of people have this misconception that working out like crazy alone will make them thin.
Isn't that the case? I thought as long as you hit the gym, it didn't matter how you ate.
That's where you're wrong. There's a saying in fitness circles: "thirty percent training, seventy percent diet."
Thirty percent training, seventy percent diet? Meaning training is thirty percent and eating is seventy percent?
Right — it means when it comes to losing weight, exercise only accounts for thirty percent, and the other seventy percent all comes down to how you eat.
Wow, so if I eat like crazy while training like crazy, the training's basically wasted?
Pretty much. You slog through an hour of running, and one cup of milk tea puts it all right back.
Now that you mention it, the gym membership I signed up for last month seems to have been a total waste.
Haha, gym memberships are the "idiot tax" a lot of people pay — full of confidence when they sign up, go twice, and never go again.
You nailed it. What about crash dieting? A lot of people just skip meals — doesn't that make you lose weight faster?
Absolutely don't — that's the biggest trap. Once you get too hungry, a really scary thing happens, called "revenge eating."
Revenge eating? It sounds like taking revenge through food.
Haha, that's basically it. You starve yourself too hard during the day, and the moment you relax at night you eat like a maniac, making up for everything you skipped.
Oh, I think I've done that. One time I skipped lunch, and at night I wolfed down two burgers and a side of fries in one go.
That's a textbook case of revenge eating — in the end you not only don't lose weight, you actually eat more.
So losing weight by starving yourself is actually a lie?
Right — you can't keep it up on hunger alone, and once you crack and rebound, you end up heavier than before.
I understand "rebound" — it's like a rubber ball: you press it down and it bounces right back.
Perfect way to put it. The thing you fear most in dieting is the rebound — you finally slim down, relax a little, and gain it all back.
Hearing all this, dieting really is a war of attrition.
Exactly. It's not about who loses weight fastest, but about who can keep it up the longest.
Speaking of keeping it up, how long does it usually take an average person to see results?
Don't rush — you don't get fat from one bite, and it's the same with dieting. Losing weight healthily, a kilo or so a month is already great.
Let's get back to "moving your legs." When it comes to exercise, do you have any good recommendations?
Honestly, you don't have to jump straight to a gym membership. The simplest exercise is just walking.
Walking counts as exercise? Isn't that a bit too easy?
Don't underestimate walking. Half an hour of brisk walking a day, kept up over time, works really well.
I can accept that — at least you don't have to wear yourself out drenched in sweat.
Right. The worst thing in dieting is going too hard at the start — run ten kilometers on day one, and by day two you never want to move again.
Haha, isn't that just an upgraded version of "can't move your legs" — straight to lying flat.
So you have to find exercise you can stick with — aerobics, swimming, cycling — whichever one you enjoy, do that.
Speaking of which, I've noticed a kind of dance is really popular here — a big crowd of people dancing together in the square.
Haha, you mean square dancing. But that's mostly the uncles and aunties. These days young people prefer to follow along with videos at home.
I see. I have another question — why can some people eat whatever they want and never gain weight, while others put on fat just from drinking cold water?
That brings us to a term — "a body that gains weight easily." Some people are born with a fast metabolism, so no matter how much they eat, they don't gain weight easily.
Metabolism? Could you explain that word a bit more?
Simply put, metabolism is the speed at which your body burns energy. Fast metabolism means the food you eat burns off quickly, so you don't put on fat easily.
So someone like you — do you have that gain-weight-easily type of body?
Ugh, way to bring up the one thing I don't want to hear. I'm probably the type that gains weight just from drinking cold water.
Haha, don't lose heart — even a slow metabolism can be raised bit by bit through exercise.
Right, which is exactly why I need to get moving even more. Just eating less alone, I can't out-fight my own body type.
So when's the best time to exercise? Morning or evening?
That depends on the person. The point isn't the time of day, but whether you can keep it up every day, even if it's just ten minutes at a time.
What about eating — do you have any rules there? You can't just eat nothing.
Of course you have to eat, you just need to choose wisely. Eating your fill either way, but eating the right things, the calorie difference is huge.
Like what?
For example, boiled greens and chicken breast — low in calories and nutritious. Fried and sugary stuff, you should touch as little as possible.
Speaking of which, I've noticed Chinese food is incredibly delicious, but it also seems to use a ton of oil.
That's honestly true. We care about color, aroma, and taste in our cooking — lots of oil, lots of sugar, super satisfying to eat, but also high in calories.
In the UK, people on a diet often just eat a big plate of salad — cold, with a bit of dressing poured on.
I know, but ask a Chinese stomach to eat cold salad every day, and after three days it'll want to cry.
Haha, that's true — you're all used to eating something warm.
Right, so the smarter move is to make Chinese food a little lighter — less oil, less salt — rather than forcing yourself to eat things you're not used to.
I've also heard the term "meal replacement" — what's that?
A meal replacement is something you use in place of a real meal — like a meal-replacement shake or bar, low in calories, and one is supposedly enough to stand in for a whole meal.
Sounds convenient — but does it work?
For the occasional emergency, sure, but relying on it every day — it's neither tasty nor sustainable. Like I said, no one can eat something that doesn't taste good for the rest of their life.
Got it. So the key isn't not eating, but learning how to eat.
Exactly. Rather than restricting your diet until you're miserable, it's better to just eat a little smarter.
What about drinks? I see almost every young person here holding a cup of milk tea.
Ugh, milk tea is the number one enemy of dieting. One full-sugar cup has as many calories as a whole meal, so now I can only grit my teeth and order it sugar-free.
I understand all the theory, but the hardest part is still sticking with it. How do you plan to keep yourself going?
I've decided — today, in front of all our viewers, I'm going to "set a flag."
"Set a flag"? I see that phrase online all the time — what does it actually mean?
To "set a flag" means to publicly declare a goal, let everyone know about it, and force yourself to follow through.
Oh, like planting a flag and telling the whole world, "I'm definitely going to do this"?
Right, that's exactly the feeling. Like, I declare I'm going to lose three jin — about a kilo and a half — this month.
But I should warn you — most people who set flags online end up failing, so everyone's always joking about flags.
Haha, you're right — the louder you set the flag, the faster it falls. But this time I'm serious.
All right, I'll be your witness. And if you fail?
If I fail, then I'll... ugh, let's not talk about that, it's bad luck.
I can tell you're not confident. How about this — I'll be your diet buddy, what do you say?
Diet buddy? Haha, we just talked about "buddies" last time, and you're learning fast.
Of course — putting what I learn into practice. We keep an eye on each other, and whoever sneaks food admits defeat.
Great idea! With someone watching, I probably won't give up so easily.
But let me be upfront — don't sit there eating cake next to me and then "drag my leg back."
"Drag your leg back"? I'm not that mean.
"Dragging someone's leg back" means holding them back and slowing their progress. The moment you eat, I definitely won't be able to resist either.
Haha, okay okay, I'll do my best to control myself and never hold you back.
Then let's add a bit of ritual — check in on our phones every day, logging what we ate and how much we moved.
Checking in is a good method. Keep a record, and only then do you realize how much you're actually eating.
Right — you don't realize a lot of things until you write them down, and once you do, it's a shock.
True. A lot of the time it's not that we don't know what to do, it's that we fool ourselves into thinking "I didn't eat much."
Then let's set up a reward and punishment — stick with it for a month, whoever loses more weight wins, and the loser treats.
Fine, but let's be clear — the treat can't be cream cake, otherwise all that dieting was for nothing.
But after talking so long, I suddenly want to ask a bigger question — why do we have to be thin at all?
You've hit the nail on the head. Losing weight really shouldn't just be about looking good.
In the UK these past few years there's a popular idea — there's no standard for body shape, and health is what matters most.
That's a great mindset. Honestly, blindly chasing thinness until you starve yourself sick just isn't worth it.
Exactly. I've seen people go so far to be thin that their skin turns sallow — is that really healthy?
Not healthy. So more and more people now say dieting is about "pleasing yourself" — making yourself more comfortable, not doing it for other people's eyes.
"Pleasing yourself" — that means doing it to make yourself happy, right? That's a beautiful phrase.
Right. Making yourself happy and healthy first matters more than losing a few pounds on the scale.
Speaking of numbers, I've heard another term — "tie qiu biao," piling on autumn fat — which seems to be the exact opposite of dieting.
Haha, you even know that one. "Piling on autumn fat" is an older generation's saying — when autumn comes and it turns cold, you eat more and put on some weight to get through the winter.
So you diet like crazy in summer and then pile it back on like crazy in autumn — isn't that all for nothing?
Haha, you've seen right through it. That's the lifelong, never-quite-resolved relationship we have with our weight.
So in that sense, dieting is really a lifelong lesson.
Exactly. Rather than call it dieting, it's more like learning to get along well with your own body.
That's a wise line — I've got to write it down.
So really, being a little heavier or thinner isn't so scary — being healthy and happy is what matters most.
There's one thing I'd add — don't always compare yourself to others; everyone's body is different to begin with.
Well said. Comparing yourself to who you were yesterday is enough — a little healthier, a little happier, that's progress.
We've learned so much today, so let me sum it up for everyone.
Go ahead, let's see how much you actually remembered.
First, diets fail because you "can't control your mouth and can't move your legs." The right approach is "eat less, move more," and "thirty percent training, seventy percent diet."
Not bad, not bad — you caught all the key points.
Also, don't rely on starving yourself, or you'll end up "revenge eating" and then "rebounding," heavier than before.
Right, that's the most important point — a lot of people trip up right there.
As for eating, it's not about eating nothing, but eating smart — less oil, less sugar — without forcing yourself to eat things you're not used to.
You're sounding more and more like a diet expert.
Finally, the two of us set a flag and became diet buddies, checking in every day, and no one's allowed to hold the other back.
Haha, that summary was spot on — looks like today wasn't wasted on you.
So starting now, our great weight-loss mission is officially underway. What's step one?
Step one, um... ugh, look at this cheesecake, I made it fresh today. It'd be such a shame to throw it out.
Xiao Yue, are you serious? You just set the flag and you already want to eat?
Haha, okay okay, I'm just teasing you. This slice — let's call it our last meal before the diet.
Fine, then we'll start tomorrow — after all, "I'll deal with it tomorrow" is your specialty.
Caught red-handed again. All right, that's it for today's episode — thanks everyone for sticking with us, two people who "can't control our mouths."
If you're also struggling on the weight-loss journey, feel free to team up with us in the comments and be diet buddies together.
Remember to like and subscribe. Next episode, once I've lost my three jin, I'll come back and see you all.
At the rate you're eating, that might not be until next year.
Haha, that mouth of yours. Come on, let's wrap up — I'll treat you to a sugar-free milk tea, and we'll call it our first "eat less, move more" of the day.
Adapted from a Simply Natural Chinese YouTube episode into a complete three-line website reading. This is not a word-for-word transcript.
The reading may differ from the original video or audio.
Check your understanding
5 questions · up to 50 points
Loading your quiz…