This Is Why You Are Not Losing Weight

Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight can attest to the fact that it is a struggle. Not only do you have to train yourself to do all the right things, you have to be able to filter through all the diet and weight loss misinformation floating around out there. Luckliy, BuzzFeed reached out to  Dr. Holly Lofton, director of the Medical Weight Management Program at NYU Langone Medical Center and registered dietitian Brian St. Pierre, director of performance nutrition at Precision Nutrition, and had them shed some light on the subject. Not only do they tackle common problems people face but they clear up misinformation and tell you what you CAN do to start dropping weight!

1. You’re not eating enough.

Losing weight requires you to consume less than you ordinarily do but that doesn’t mean you should start skipping meals. If you cut calories to the point where you are constantly feeling hungry, you are opening yourself up to overeating. If you are too dramatic in your calorie reduction, your body will believe it is in starvation mode and hold on to fat as an energy source making it even more difficult to shed pounds.

2. You’re not eating the right things.

Lofton recommends a diet that’s about 40% protein, 30% carbs, and 30% fat as being ideal for fat loss. If you are unsure how this will translate to your meals, you can use one of the many macronutrient calculators available online to help break down your personal calorie intake.

3. You eat whatever you want on weekends.

If you are really great about your diet and exercise all week long, it can be frustrating to see your efforts disappear after a weekend of indulging. Lofton recommends trying to keep your calorie intake consistent throughout the week. If you find you are struggling with food cravings, give yourself a slightly higher calorie leeway during the week so you won’t feel tempted to overdo it come Friday night. Besides, that see-saw diet action is only making it more difficult for you to stick to a plan.

4. You’ve been exercising the same way for too long.

As you get better at exercising, your body will adapt to the workout. The fitter you become, the fewer calories you will burn doing the same workout. In order to see results from your workout, it is important to mix things up. Something as simple as adding intervals of high intensity can start to yield results. So, if you’ve been doing the same old cardio routine, try mixing in some HIIT workouts or some strength training.

5. You eat most of your calories at night.

If your heaviest meals happen at breakfast and lunch, odds are good you can burn the majority of those calories over the course of the day. If your biggest meal, or the majority of your snacking, happens at night, there is less of a chance to burn those calories because you will be sleeping before long. Those calories will be stored as fat!

6. You overestimate how many calories you burn in workouts.

Exercise helps to produce a caloric deficit that can produce weight loss but just because you are feeling tired doesn’t mean you’ve burned thousands of calories. “Even if you do intense intervals for 30 minutes, you’ve only burned a couple hundred calories,” says St. Pierre. So, don’t load up at your post-workout snack or meal.

7. You get less than 7 hours of sleep a night.

Not getting enough sleep can create havoc with your circadian rhythms and cause a release in hormones that make you feel stressed and hungry. To keep all those rhythms and hormones in order, Lofton recommends getting seven to nine hours of sleep in a comfortable, dark environment.

8. You eat quickly.

It takes your brain 20 minutes to get the message that your body is full. So, if you are just scarfing down your food, chances are you’ve eaten too much before you even get the chance to register that you are done. Time your next meal. If you are done in a matter of minutes, try to stretch the next one out to 10 minutes. Keep building on that until it takes you 20 minutes to eat a meal, says St. Pierre. He suggests putting your fork down between bites or taking sips of water to slow yourself down. If you are eating with other people, he suggests trying to match your pace with the slowest eater at the table.

9. You try all kinds of different diets, all the time.

It is really hard to find a diet that will work for you. If you find yourself frequently making sweeping and dramatic changes to the way you eat,  Lofton recommends you resist the pull of fad diets. Simply stick to a meal plan that works for you. If you are having a hard time figuring out what that meal plan looks like, consult a doctor or a dietitian.

10. You haven’t given it enough time.

Real, actual, sustainable weight loss takes time. While losing a pound or two a week is totally do-able, there is no magic number that can be used to measure success. Everyone is different and every body responds differently. You have to be realistic about the amount of weight you can lose in a given amount of time.

Integrating all of these elements into an effective weight loss plan can be difficult. Just remember to listen to your own body. Make sure the actions you are taking are consistent with your goals and that your goals are attainable for you and you alone. For help addressing most of these issues, check out the BodyRock Meal Plan! We take the guesswork out of clean eating. Why make it any harder than it needs to be?

 

Source: BuzzFeed 

 

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