Weight loss is a piece of cake.
While that statement is sort of ironic, it really isn’t true. For anyone who’s tried it, losing weight is full of pitfalls, temptations, fears and failures.
Oh, and one more: frustration; particularly the frustration of making major changes to your diet and lifestyle to shed the pounds only to have little or nothing happen.
We’ve told you before about some of the reasons that you’re not losing weight even though you’re trying. Not only did a recent article in Cosmo reinforce all of the points we made before, it reminded us of other reasons why your weight loss might be stuck.
1. You’re on a Weight Loss Diet
While we outlined the dangers of crash dieting, being on any weight loss diet could be why you’re not losing weight. According to a study titled “Does Dieting Make You Fat?”, people who diet tend to be more overweight than people who don’t.
The other pitfall with dieting is that what works for one person may not work for another. An Israeli study of 800 dieters who followed the exact same diet found that each person processed the foods they ate differently and had different blood sugar levels.
The Answer:
talk to a nutrition consultant who can devise a meal plan suited to your body type and goals.
2. Your Sleep is Inconsistent
We also told you before about how consistent sleep habits help you to lose weight, Cosmo points out that, even if during the week you get the recommended amount of sleep and go to bed and wake up at the same times, disrupting the pattern with later nights and sleeping in on the weekend could still ruin your weight loss.
The Answer:
Stick to your sleep schedule all week long.
3. You Think You’re Doing Better than You Are
Sure, you’ve made the switch to diet pop from regular versions to reduce your sugar intake. Until you realize that diet pop can be just as bad for losing weight. Studies have shown that even though people feel they are eating well, over half were not getting enough essential micronutrients to maintain healthy weight loss.
The Answer:
Track everything you eat, including things like calorie counts and nutrient content.
4. You Eat From Big Plates
Regardless of the size of the plate, people tend to eat about 90% of what’s on it. That means you’ll eat more food from a larger plate – and put on more pounds.
The Answer:
Reduce the amount of food you eat by using smaller plates.
5. Your Diet isn’t Balanced
This can relate to being on a weight loss diet, but many people avoid carbs and fats for health reasons in addition ot losing weight. But lots of the negative press that carbs ad fats get is misleading.
In both cases there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ versions of both. Without the right proportion of ‘good’ versions in your diet, it can be out of balance and not give you the complete nutrition you need to lose weight.
Complex carbs, the ‘good’ ones, include fibre that slows digestion and keeps you feeling full for a longer time, so you eat less. Healthy fats include poly- and monounsaturated fats, which deliver lots of nutrients and help turn stored fat nto energy.
The Answer:
Get more fibre-rich carbs in your diet, including from whole grains and legumes. And you’ll find healthy fats in most nuts, seeds and fatty fish.
6. You’re Stressed Out
This is where regular weight loss dieting can be a self-defeating exercise. You try the latest fad diet, it doesn’t work, or at least not for long and your stress levels go u because of the emotional and physical rollercoaster that dieting puts you on.
7. Put the Right Stuff on Your Kitchen Counter
According to Cosmo, a 2015 study showed a correlation between what’s on your kitchen counter and obesity. While this one might sound a little far-fetched, consider that the kitchen is where you keep all your food, healthy or not. The cues you get every time you go into the kitchen can affect what eat while you’re there.
The study found that people who regularly kept fizzy drinks visible on their kitchen counters were on average 25 pounds heavier than other participants. Those who kept breakfast cereals out were 20 pounds heavier on average. At the other end of the spectrum, those who kept fruit on the counter were 13 pounds lighter on average.
The Answer:
There are visible and invisible hurdles to losing weight. Keeping the wrong foods in sight might derail your weight loss without you even knowing it. Even if keeping your weight-loss sanity means you must have an emergency stash of cheesies somewhere in a cupboard, keep healthy snacks visible and within easy reach.
8. You Fight Alone
For some strange reason, while healthily losing weight might be the biggest physical and mental transformation we undertake in our lives, we try to do it alone. While that might be because of the fear of others witnessing our trials and tribulations, the benefits of building a support system around you while you try to lose weight include increasing your chances of success.
Seeking the advice of a nutritional consultant, dietician or doctor should be your first step in any weight-loss program. Sharing the journey with friends and family will also help as you talk through some of the issues you face.
Interestingly, the Cosmo article cites a study whose results show that even sharing your weight loss successes on Twitter can help you lose weight. In fact, the study was able to correlate the posting of 20 tweets about personal successes, nutrition and exercise tips, to one pound of weight loss.
The Answer:
Don’t be afraid to get the support that will help you through the tough times, and share your wins to reinforce your successes.
9. You Eat Too Fast
Unfortunately, your body doesn’t keep track of what or how much you eat in ‘real time’. In other words, it takes about 20 minutes for your body to realize you’re full. Until that time, it doesn’t tell you to stop eating, no matter how much you eat. The faster you eat, the more food you’ll pack away before your body says “Stop!”
The Answer:
Do anything you can to slow down your eating. Try switching the hands you use for your knife and fork. Take smaller bites. Put your knife and fork down and have a sip of water between every bite.
10. You Make Excuses
Sorry, you’re not overweight because you have a slow metabolism (a slow metabolism is actually more efficient than a fast metabolism, which has to work faster to do the same job). And there’s no known ‘fat’ gene so you didn’t get your excess weight from your parents. Using misguided excuses for your extra weight only leads to more weight gain.
The Answer:
Take responsibility for your weight and overall health.
Getting off to the right start is very important to improving your chances of ultimate success in your weight-loss journey. Call or visit your local Herbal One Centre where a nutrition consultant is ready to help you start your transformation.