13 reasons why you are not losing weight
Have you ever had the feeling that your body is fighting back when you are trying so hard to lose weight?
If so, I think you might be doing one or more of these mistakes that prevent you from losing weight as fast as you should:
1-Not tracking your calories
A large number of people who have trouble losing weight are simply eating too many calories without evening knowing it.
You may think that this does not apply to you, but keep in mind that studies consistently show that people tend to underestimate their calorie intake by a significant amount.
If you are not losing weight or it slowed down, you should try weighing your foods and tracking your calories for a while.
You can use a food tracking app such as Myfitnesspal, which you can find at the app store or google play.
It will help you set your goal and keep track of the number of calories you are getting from your food.
It is generally not necessary to count calories and weigh everything for the rest of your life. Instead, try this app for a few days every few months to get a feel for how much you’re eating.
2-Not eating enough protein
If you think that protein is only important for someone who wants to build muscle, think again!!
Studies have shown that eating protein at 25–30% of calories can boost metabolism by 80–100 calories per day and make you automatically eat several hundred fewer calories per day.
Protein also can reduce cravings and desire for snacking by the effect on appetite-regulating hormones, such as ghrelin and others.
Not only that, but a high protein intake also helps prevent metabolic slowdown, which is a common side effect of losing weight. Additionally, it helps prevent weight regain.
3-Not lifting weights
One of the most important things you can do when losing weight is to do some form of resistance training, such as lifting weights.
Not only because it will burn some extra calories from the workout itself, but it also will help you maintain muscle mass, which is often burned along with body fat if you are not exercising.
Lifting weights can also help prevent metabolic slowdown and ensure that your body stays toned and muscular.
4-Eating large amount of healthy food
Cutting junk food and sticking to healthy food is the best approach to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.
But some people overdo it and eat a large amount of healthy food, often much more than your body needs.
This is a significant problem for many dieters. Even if something is healthy, its calories still count.
Some of these healthy foods include nuts, nut butter, dark chocolate, cheese, etc. Depending on the volume, eating too much of them can often ruin an entire week’s worth of dieting.
Therefore, try to limit your intake of these foods and keep track of your body’s daily requirements of calories.
5-Not doing cardio
Cardio or aerobic exercise is any type of exercise that increases your heart rate. It includes activities such as jogging, cycling, and swimming. It is one of the most effective ways to improve your health.
It is also very effective at burning belly fat, the harmful “visceral” fat that builds up around your organs and causes disease.
So, make sure to do cardio regularly. 3 to 5 sessions per week for 30-45 minutes is more than enough.
It helps you burn fat, especially the fat around your belly.
6-Drinking healthy Sugary beverages
Sugary beverages are the most fattening items in the food supply. Your brain doesn’t compensate for the calories in them by making you eat less of other foods.
This isn’t only true of sugary drinks like Coke and Pepsi, it also applies to “healthier” beverages like Vitaminwater, which are also loaded with sugar.
Even fruit juices are problematic, and should not be consumed in large amounts. A single glass can contain a similar amount of sugar as several pieces of the whole fruit.
7-Not sleeping well
We all know the benefits of a good night of sleep in terms of physical and mental health.
As for weight loss, A sleep-deprived body will produce more of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol triggers the reward center in your brain and makes you crave food.
Also, You produce the most growth hormone while you’re sleeping, which helps burn fat as well as repair and build muscles so you can increase strength and lose weight.
These claims supported by Studies showed that adults and children with poor sleep have a 55% and 89% greater risk of becoming obese, respectively.
Therefore, you need to get between 7-9 hours of sleep per day to stay healthy and keep up the weight loss progress.
8-Not limiting carbohydrates
If you have a lot of weight to lose in a short period of time, you may want to consider a low-carb diet or keto diet.
In short-term studies, low-carb diets such as the ketogenic diet have been shown to cause up to 2–3 times as much weight loss as the standard “low-fat” diet that is often recommended.
Low-carb diets can also lead to improvements in many metabolic markers, such as triglycerides, “good” HDL cholesterol and blood sugar.
So, consider trying a low-carb diet as It may be the best approach to lose weight fast and effectively.
9-Eating too often
It is a myth that everyone should be eating many small meals each day in order to boost metabolism and lose weight.
Studies actually show that meal frequency has little or no effect on fat burning or weight loss.
It is also ridiculously inconvenient to be preparing and eating food all day, as it makes healthy nutrition much more complicated.
On the other hand, one effective weight-loss method called intermittent fasting involves deliberately going without food for extended periods of time (15–24 hours or more).
10-Not drinking enough water
Drinking water is good for your general health, but it also can be used as a trick to aid in losing weight. Here is how…
To reduce your calorie intake, drink a glass of water before and between each meal. Drinking water may also increase the number of calories you burn.
In one 12-week weight loss study, people who drank half a liter (17 ounces) of water 30 minutes before meals lost 44% more weight than those who did not.
Drinking water has also been shown to boost the number of calories burned by 24–30% over a period of 1.5 hours.
That being said, not drinking enough water can slow down your progress with weight loss or even stop it.
11- drinking too much alcohol
If you are following a calorie-restricted diet and still drinking too much alcohol, this must be why you are struggling with losing weight.
Alcohol has about 7 calories per gram, which is high compared to carbohydrates and protein (4 calories per gram).
Therefore, if you are not tracking how much you drink per day, you might in a caloric surplus without even knowing it.
If you like alcohol, but want to lose weight, it may be best to stick to spirits (like vodka) mixed with a zero-calorie beverage. Beer, wine and sugary alcoholic beverages are very high in calories and you must avoid them.
12- Starving yourself for too long
If you’ve been losing weight for many months and you’ve hit a plateau, then perhaps you just need to take a break.
Following a diet consistently is how you can lose weight effectively, but It may not be a good idea to diet for too long.
This happens due to the fact that your body metabolism slows down with eating too little for a long period of time.
It’s a defensive mechanism to prevent your body from losing energy with this low caloric intake.
So, taking a refeed day or a cheat meal once a week might be a good idea to bring your metabolism up and running.
13-Having a medical condition
There are some medical conditions that can drive weight gain and make it much harder to lose weight.
These include hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and sleep apnea.
Certain medications can also make weight loss harder, or even cause weight gain.
If you think any of these apply to you, speak to your doctor about your options.
Losing weight is not always easy and there are many things that can be missing up with your results without even knowing it.
So, make sure that you took care of all the mistakes that I mentioned above to reach your goal as soon as possible.
References
1-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1454084
2-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10617957
3-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18313427
4-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11838888
5-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19640952
6- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16002798
7- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20847729
8- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16400055/
9- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16469977
10-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19927027/
11-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23446962
12- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14710168
13- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18356845
14- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21951360
15- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1829363/
16- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10878689
17-https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/diet-exercise-and-sleep
18-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2398753/
19-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12679447
20-https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1464-5491.2007.02290.x
21-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1325029/
22-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19099589
23-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26226640
24-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26024494
25- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19661958
