Healthy & Clean Diet? Yes. Regular Workouts? Yes. Food Journal? Yes, Indeed. Still not losing weight! It’s so frustration, no matter how hard you try, your pounds clung to you like your codependent friend. Less motivation to move forward! Take a few minutes break and think; Why You Are Not Losing Weight Instead Of Trying So Hard. Here are some of the reasons that your efforts haven’t been showing up on your size:
1. Are You Sure About That Calorie Count!
Did you count the cookie, you grabbed from your colleague’s desk or the dressing you put on meals? Sometimes, we forget to consider the calories we take in small portions and hence end up in eating as much as 100+ calories more than our calorie count. See the below small portions of our favorite snacks that we forget to add but are high in calories:
- 1 ounce of French fries: 88 calories
- Average burger: 700 calories
- 1 piece of Italian sausage pizza: 370 Calories
- Two pieces of fried chicken (breast and wing): 700 calories
- Hot dogs: 460 calories
- 1 Twinkie: 150 calories
- 20 potato chips: 162 calories
- 12 peanut M&Ms: 125 calories
- 5 donut holes: 100 calories
- 3 Oreo cookies: 160 calories
- 3 Hershey kisses: 75 calories
- 15 tortilla chips: 142 calories
Another factor to consider is mindless eating. While watching television or talking, we eat a lot more than we should and still count lesser calories. So other than being accurate at the calorie count, one should also kick off the mindless eating habit. While sitting or relaxing, try a cup of green tea, a glass of water, or a small piece of sugarless gum. If you have cravings for some specific snack then portion it out as per your goal. Even if you are taking healthy snacks like a handful of walnuts or almonds then eat “A Handful” only not the whole bag.
2. You Don’t Drink Enough Water!
You must have heard about the importance of H2O when it comes to shedding pounds, however, do you know how much water you should be drinking. Eight-cup-a-day? Yes, if you’re the sedentary woman who weighs 128 pounds. Not you! If you consume a hardline amount of fiber, then add 16 more ounces a day to your water consumption. Yes, you read it right- 12 cups a day, minimum.
Water helps to suppress appetite and hence controls your overeating mindset. Moreover, if you consume less water, you’re dehydrated. In that case, the Kidney fails to function properly and turns to the liver for some support. And when the Liver works hard, rather than burning off the fat, your body stress the fat you consume. Before each meal, fill up yourself with a glass of water.
3. You Think Of Work Out A Lot!
I know, I know. How thinking of an exercise routine may affect your scale numbers? For starters, dieters tend to eat more when they exercise or work out, either because they’re overestimating how many calories they’ve burned – they feel they’ve earned it- or both. When you think of work out a lot, you start craving for fatty foods or junk foods and fill yourself with more calories than your diet. It especially happens in the early stages of your road to shedding a pound or getting fit, when your body is initially getting used to the increase in calories burned and the decrease in calories consumed. Stay well-hydrated, active and eventually off the scale.
4. You’re a Stress Case!
Are you one of those, who turn to food and pack on pounds when under pressure or in stress. Stress hormone “Cortisol” triggers an appetite stimulant that produces a brain chemical that enhances the cravings for carbohydrates. Moreover, the high quantity of Cortisol slows metabolism and eventually makes harder for you to lose weight. You can do a lot of things to reduce stress including exercise. Delicious, nutritious and balanced meals can repair the damage that stress does to your body.
5. You Sit at a Desk All Day!
You have a desk job and you spent all sitting in front of a computer! The report says that even if you do a solid hour of exercise every day, workouts simply can’t compensate for being sedentary the rest of the time of the day. As per a recent research, walking for 2 minutes during each of those hours would burn an extra 59 calories a day.
Set a reminder to your computer to move every hour. Moreover, you should also follow the recommendations you would have heard million times, “Park far away from mall”, “Take stairs instead of elevator”. To some exercise while brushing teeth or watching Television. Try to log at least 10,000 steps a day before hitting the bed.
Beyond Scale:
- You’re Skipping Meals! Research says that breakfast eaters shed more pounds than breakfast skippers.
- Too many Liquid Calories! Liquid calories from alcohol, coffee with cream and sugar, sweetened juices, and sodas can really contribute to your weight gain.
- Choosing Unhealthy Add-on! Make sure the dressing you are opting is lesser in calories and is healthier.
- Oversized Portions! Use small bowls and plates to control the portions you eat.
- Not Getting Enough Sleep! Try to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep a day.
- Evaluate what you are doing! With an evaluation, you can find the error. Keep Up With The Goal No Matter What.
