Even if you regularly workout and watch what you eat, you may be wondering why your weight is not coming off the way you had hoped. While there a lot of other healthy achievements you can be proud of on your weight loss journey, it can be frustrating when the pounds cling to you like a koala bear to a branch. If this predicament sounds all too familiar to you, one or more of these reasons may be the culprit to your plateauing weight loss attempts.
7) You don’t drink enough water.
Aside from keeping you hydrated, drinking water regularly also helps in other ways when you are trying to lose weight. Filling yourself up with water before a meal will give you a full feeling which helps you control portions. Additionally, eating foods that contain a lot of water like vegetables and fruits fill you up faster and make you eat less. A recent study also found that drinking water can not only rev up one’s metabolism, it also dampens cravings for fattening sugary drinks like juice and soda.
6) You think that walking is enough exercise.
Although it is better than nothing, a 15-minute stroll around the park will not give you dramatic results. If you really want to lose weight, you have got to up the ante and do at least 30 minutes a day of fat burning exercises like running, high intensity interval training and circuit training.
5) You binge on healthy food.
Although dark chocolate, avocados, nuts and whole wheat pasta are healthy and all natural, they are not free of calories. You still need to portion how much healthy food you eat. For example, eating avocado gives you a lot of health benefits, but consuming an entire fruit also gives you over 200 calories.
4) Cardio is your only exercise.
If you sweat it out all the time at the treadmill but never lift weights, you will not get the results you want. Aside from strengthening your joints, weight training also builds muscle mass and speeds up your metabolic rate. Furthermore, a sped up metabolism will make you burn calories long after you have stopped training.
3) You exercise on an empty stomach.
Research has shown that exercising on an empty stomach causes you to burn calories that come from muscle instead of fat. Muscle actually burns more calories than fat, so the more you have muscle mass, the better it is for your weight loss efforts. By fueling your body with food before exercise, you will not only avoid losing muscle, you will also have more energy to power yourself through your workout.
2) Your partner is not on the same healthy road.
You can reach your weight loss goals twice as fast with the help of a partner who is on the same page as you. A partner who is not on board however, can be detrimental to your weight loss goals. Trying to lose weight would be very hard if you have a partner who constantly suggests going out for ice cream or pizza or advocates laying about in front of the TV while eating chips instead of encouraging you to hit the gym.
1) You give up entire food groups.
Leaving out entire food groups in your diet can not only cause nutritional deficiency, it can also trigger major cravings for food that has been cut. Instead of excluding all carbohydrates, try focusing on whole grains and remember to monitor your portions. Generally, it has been proven that it is the extra servings that make you gain weight, not the pasta itself.
