Frustrating, daunting, impossible? Perfect words to describe weight loss, right?
Good old fashioned diet and exercise are certainly the biggest steps to your healthy weight loss, however what do you do when those excess pounds are just not coming off despite your best efforts?
Don’t give up or quit! There are actually several common reasons why you might not be losing weight.
Here are 10 simple ways to address these issues so that you and your bathroom scale can still keep a healthy relationship…
1. Not Enough Calories
Just like the concept of putting logs on a fire to keep it going, you need a certain amount of calories to keep your body in “fat burning” mode or else it will go into starvation mode. Your body and your metabolism need energy to keep the weight loss fire blazing.
2. Water is Your Friend
Riotous eating has built up a lot of toxins in your body that need to be flushed away. Water not only is a great diuretic, but it also can fill up your body when you are tempted to eat a lot.
3. A Balanced Diet
Too many fad diets will tell you to omit certain food groups, whether it be carbs, sugars, or fats. Your body needs certain amounts of protein, carbs, healthy sugars and fats to aid in the over process of weight loss. Oftentimes when you deny yourself certain food groups, it is easier to binge on those in mass quantities in a moment of weakness.
4. The Most Important Meal of the Day
After a great night’s sleep, your body needs to “break its fast”. What you eat for breakfast can really jumpstart your day and your meal choices in that day. A little protein and some fiber can really sustain your body’s needs and keep that metabolism burning strong all day.
5. Stop Stressing
You know that old phrase that “stressed” is “desserts” spelled backwards? Well, it’s true! When you freak out, your body does the same thing. Exercise can help reduce that stress and give you those endorphins your body needs to calm it down.
6. Fast from the Fast Food
Eating those large “extra value” meals is a lot of fun, but your body pays extra for it as well. Sure it tastes extra good, but all that extra sodium, extra trans fats, and extra chemicals that give your body the need for extra belt loops. If your social life needs to be out, stick to extra salads and extra lean meat options.
7. Kill the Diet Foods
Just because something says “Diet”, it doesn’t mean it is any healthier for you. What is taken out usually is replaced with some chemical that is equally as unhealthy for you. Keep it fresh and balanced, and you’ll be fine.
8. Get Up and Move!
Proper diet is a HUGE part of weight loss, but a good cardio workout aids a healthy heart and a properly functioning body.
9. Lack of Muscle
Although a good cardio workout is great for your heart and certainly can help with weight loss, but if that’s all your workouts are about, then you are missing a key, integral part of the weight loss journey. You don’t need to be a gargantuan body builder, but even a consistent routine of weight training will help you burn those extra calories much faster than no weights.
10. Sleep is Good!
Your body needs to repair from the normal day-to-day rigors. When it gets proper sleep, your body can have the proper energy and metabolism to fight those extra calories.
