It can be very frustrating when you spend all your time dieting, counting calories and restricting the finer things in life, only to find that you have not lost a single pound. This frustration makes you want to give up altogether and reach for the chip bag. Why would your body not shift weight if you are feeding it all the right kinds of health? The likelihood is that while you may be eating right, other habits are getting in the way of your weight loss progress, leading you to plateau in weight.
Try considering you behavior to see if you do any of the following things that may limit the amount of weight you lose.
- Thinking too thin
The brain is a very powerful tool and while you may think that your body is grateful from knowing that each meal you eat is healthy, in fact when you limit yourself, your brain likes to tell the body that it is hungry. For example, if you only eat a salad and you keep telling yourself how healthy you are being, your body releases a hormone called ghrelin. Ghrelin is the enemy of weight loss as it slows down metabolism and tells your body that you are still hungry. If you want to get that feeling of fullness to prevent too much calorie intake, concentrate on the more luxurious items on the plate like the meat or the cheese.
- Sitting down all day
While you might be switching your mocha choca latte for a skinny black and switching out the lunchtime hamburgers for a salad, you can find that you still aren’t losing weight. If you are a pencil pusher who sits at a desk all day, this could be the problem, especially if you eat lunch at your desk. Sitting down all day compresses the food down, and slows down the digestive system, meaning that it doesn’t metabolize all the food you eat. This also contributes to you feeling tired in the afternoon. Try doing a little exercise a couple of times a day, taking a small walk around the office, or eating lunch outside.
- Impulse buying
When you go grocery shopping, use cash. By using a card, studies show that you are more likely to buy impulse purchases as you do not feel the immediate hit from the spending, no matter whether you calculate the costs or not. Impulse buying tends to be related to food near the counter or on offer, which usually attracts your brain due to bright colors and exciting artificial flavors. These marketing ploys are indicative of unhealthy foods. You rarely see a wholegrain loaf wrapped in pink and yellow paper with a picture of a humorous squirrel on! That belongs on bad chocolate cereals.
- Not enough sleep
Not sleeping enough leads to overeating the next day. Studies have shown that people who only have limited sleep tend to eat more calories the next day and indulge in higher levels of saturated fats. Try to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep a night. This will help you feel much more recharged in the morning, which will help the body to metabolize better.
- Focusing on cardio
Despite what people think, cardio alone is not the way to lose fat. By combining cardio with a few strength workouts, it helps to build lean muscle and drop fat from the body in a more effective way.
If you are looking to target your weight loss to your belly area, try combining these tips with ‘Flat Belly’ supplement to lose more visceral fat.
