You are seriously following your workout regime, keeping a track on your calories, eating the healthiest diet and drinking a gallons of water. Even then, why is the number on your scale going up instead of down? Even after your best possible efforts, still not losing weight and getting the unexpected result. Have you ever given a thought to it?
What is the reason behind this seemingly stubborn plateau? May be the answer is hidden in your daily routine.
Today I have decided to talk to you about the most common habits which people may be doing wrong. No matter what is your diet or workout regime, if you are doing any of the following mistakes, you will not lose weight.
OVERINDULGENCE OF HEALTH FOOD
These days people are very much aware of clean eating or you can say healthy eating. Being health conscious, they eat plenty of salad, fruits, veggies, lean protein and healthy fat. But in the race of healthy eating, they seem to forget that all those healthy foods are not free calories. Let’s take an example of Avocado, no doubt it offers number of health benefits but an entire fruit contains over 200 calories. In the same way, nuts are very easy to overeat on but full of calories.
The thing is, diet-friendly foods can pack on the pounds and hinder your progress in losing weight. Protein bars, fruit smoothies, nut mixes or nut butter, cheese, dark chocolates – are common calorie culprits, if consumed too much. So even if we eat healthy diet, excessive calories translates into extra weight for most people. Apart from controlling what you eat, it is important to control how much you eat. “Better Watch Your Portion.”
TOO FOCUSED ON DIETING BUT NOT LOSING WEIGHT
Crash diet helps in losing significant amount of weight in the first few weeks or so but it almost never works in the long term. No doubt, crash diets like chicken soup diet, grapefruit diet or the cabbage soup diet can help you slim down quickly but your leaner body won’t last long. The moment you get back to you regular diet, you will be worse off than you were before. This is because studies have shown that weight you lose through crash diet is unlikely to be 100% fat but weight gained back after diet is fat. So dieting is not at all a good idea as you have a greater amount of fat then what you started off with. Focus on nourishing your body instead of depriving it. “Don’t eat less, Eat right” !!
ALSO READ : GM DIET PLAN : Fastest And Healthiest Way To Lose Weight
DOING ONLY CARDIO
Most people think that they should do only cardiovascular exercises to cut weight. There is no denying the fact that cardio is crucial part of your workout routine as it has got several benefits. Apart from burning off calories, it’s good for diabetic and heart patients.
But if you overdo cardio or rely only on it, thinking it will help in losing weight then you are highly mistaken my dear. Overdoing can actually add to the problem. It can eat away your lean muscle mass which is essential for increasing your metabolism to burn calories. So if you are not getting the desired result, it’s better to change your training schedule and include different form of exercises.
ALSO READ : How To Boost Metabolism To Burn More Calories?
SKIPPING BREAKFAST
Most common mistake is to starve your body by skipping breakfast. It puts you at risk of gaining rather than losing weight. Breakfast is one of the most important meal of the day. Keep this thing in your mind that people who start off their day regularly with a healthy breakfast, lose more weight.
Make sure to include lots of protein as it is the single most important nutrient for losing weight. It reduce cravings and desire for snacking. High protein intake also helps prevent metabolic slow down, a common side-effect of losing weight. If you are trying hard to shed those pounds, make a nutritious breakfast, a mandatory element of your daily meal plan.
ALSO READ : “BREAK YOUR FAST” – And Lose Weight
STILL SIPPING DIET SODA
When counting calories, many of us tend to overlook what is in our drinks. All the beverages can contribute a significant number of empty calories. If you think Diet soda won’t do much harm and will give same sweet taste with none of the calories then you are on the wrong track.
Researches have shown that individual who drink 2 diet sodas a day or more had waistlines that were 500% larger than the non-drinkers. It also applies to healthier beverages like Vitamin waters which are also loaded with sugar. All these increase the hazardous belly fat. Psychologically, it makes you think that you are not consuming any liquid calories, in this way, it might be easier for you to justify that double cheeseburger or extra bars of chocolates.
If your weight loss has stopped, stop the diet drinks and see how you go.
ALSO READ : WEIGHT LOSS SECRET – “Avoid High Calorie Drinks”
WORKOUT WITH EMPTY STOMACH
Our body is like a metabolic engine which yields energy when it is fueled or from the food (fuel) we eat. It is very important to fuel your body before your workout. Not eating anything prior to your exercise routine may cause you to fatigue faster and less energy will lower the intensity of your workout, thereby hinders your progress.
Moreover, when you workout on an empty stomach, the calories burned come from muscle and not from fat. In this way, you will lose muscle and not fat. And in order to lose weight, you need to have a good muscle mass in your body because muscle burns more calories than fat. It would be better to have a healthy pre-workout meal to energise your body.
LACK OF SLEEP
Several studies have shown a great relation between sleep duration and weight gain. Lack of sleep causes a big impact on hormones – Ghrelin and Leptin. These hormones will then stimulate the appetite and leave you to crave for more high-calorie junk foods, resulting in weight gain.
Not only this, if you are sleep deprived, you are most likely to be less energised or fatigued which results in less physical activity, ultimately hinders weight loss. So if you are not losing weight, prioritize your sleep like you would your workout.
CHRONIC STRESS
Yes, chronic high stress can prevent you from losing weight.
Under stress, there’s an impulse to do something, to move, and often, eating becomes the activity that relieves the stress. It’s easy to do and it’s comforting,” says David Ginsberg, MD, a psychiatrist and director of the Behavioral Health Program at New York University Medical Center. High level of stress hormone cortisol increases your appetite and drives you towards emotional eating, making it easier for your body to store fat particularly abdominal fat.
CERTAIN MEDICATIONS AND MEDICAL CONDITIONS
Sometimes even your prescriptive medicines can cause weight gain. Certain drugs like Beta blockers, Antidepressants, Diabetic medicines, Psychotropic drugs and Steroids inhibit your body’s ability to lose weight. But don’t go off them without your doctor’s permission.
Any Medical condition, leading to decreased mobility and less activity will make it slightly tough to lose weight. Hormonal changes because of Hypothyroidism, PCOD and Menopause etc. can lead to unintentional weight gain.
YOUR PARTNER IN CRIME
Spending time with your other half can be a calorific affair. You can’t expect to lose weight if your husband constantly takes you out for romantic dinners, want to spend quality time curled up in front of TV, munching popcorns or other snacks or encourage you to sleep in instead of hitting the gym. It becomes very difficult for you to lose weight if your partner is not on same healthy road. New survey has revealed that being in a relationship is the single biggest cause of weight gain.
So, next time, you go out for a dinner together, offer to split an appetiser or skip a dessert.
I am sure after knowing about all these problems, your journey of fat loss will become much easier.
If any of these common pitfalls sound familiar, feel free to leave a comment here below !!