5 reasons why you may be struggling to lose weight
Do you find yourself losing and then regaining the same 10 kilos every year? Here are a few reasons why you may be struggling to lose weight and keep it off.
1. You're eating the wrong foods
Unfortunately, with the popularity of the low-fat era, many poor food habits were set up – including an increased reliance on processed foods.
We are all individual and what works for you might not work for someone else – however, one thing we can all benefit from is eating more whole, real food. Plenty of fresh vegetables need to be the basis of as many meals as possible, with more concentrated foods (these are low water content foods, such as proteins and starchy vegetables such as kumara) making up a smaller proportion of the plate. Really explore how you can incorporate more vegetables in your diet.
2. Your emotions are sabotaging your progress.
You may be progressing well with your new health and wellness plan, only to have a stressful afternoon at work. Through no conscious decision you then miss your gym session, get home late and buy takeaways. You pair it with a bottle of wine to "soothe" your stress. Then you're so disappointed in what you call your "lack of willpower" you sleep in the next day and skip your early morning walk.
When you make changes to your lifestyle there will be times you may make choices that aren't necessarily nourishing – the most damaging thing you can do in this instance is judge yourself.
You are not a failure and you have not compromised everything in making these choices. Be kind to yourself as you make these changes. It's the harsh judgement that makes you not return to your more healthful ways.
3. You're losing weight for someone else.
As with any goal, the reasons for wanting to lose weight must be for you. If your goal is externally driven, for example, "because my partner would appreciate me more if I weighed xyz" or "because my daughter is always telling me I need to lose weight", the internal motivation or drive is not there.
Conversely, if you decide you need to lose weight because you feel lethargic and you want more energy, or you have elevated blood glucose and want to prevent type 2 diabetes, it is far more likely any changes made will be sustainable – because they are adding to your life.
4. Snack foods are compromising your otherwise healthy diet.
Many people manage to eat well during the "main meals" but let themselves down with poor snack choices. Often this is due to "convenience" and availability as it can be difficult to find nourishing snacks in a hurry – it's much easier to find high sugar, high (poor quality fat) snacks.
Being prepared with healthy snacks is the best way to avoid this. Having an afternoon snack can be helpful to regulate your blood sugar – and ensure you don't walk in the door after work and engulf anything you see!
5. Underlying health issues.
If you have tried everything and are unable to lose weight, it may be beneficial to visit an experienced nutrition professional. You may need tweaks to your health and wellness plan, or you may need some blood tests to shed light on your biochemistry.
There are nine factors that can be interfering with the body getting the message that it needs to burn body fat. These include: stress hormones, sex hormones, thyroid function, insulin and gut bacteria.
Written by Dr Libby. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz
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