These 10 things Are Preventing You From Losing Weight

Your special transformation plan not working?

Our bodies are incredibly efficient at storing and preserving energy. So, when you’re trying to lose weight, it’s natural for your body to fight back. This can be especially disheartening if you’ve managed to lose quite a bit to begin with, without even putting much effort into the ordeal. But now, your weight loss has slowed down.

You’ve hit a plateau. Did you do something wrong? Is your diet not working anymore?

Here are 10 things that might be preventing you from losing weight:

If you are serious about the whole weight loss business, you will need to put some limitations on what you can eat. In general, the things that you should avoid consist of:

• Fast food — pizza, burgers, fries and the likes. Grabbing a quick bite with your friend every now and then is fine. Having your entire diet consist of them is not.
• Soft drinks — soda, Coke and the various popular energy drinks need to go. Not only do they contain obscene amounts of sugar and unhealthy ingredients but drinking them when thirsty will just make you crave more and more liquids. You’re better off replacing them with good old tea or plain water
• Junk foods and snacks — snacks and crisps need to go. You might think you’re in love. Life might seem unbearable without them. But, as with all ‘good’ things this one’s time has come.

Getting your diet straight is essential, both for your physical and mental well-being, but you should never go overboard. Instead of going cold turkey, start by slowly limiting the bad stuff. Not only will it be much easier to achieve, but you will also feel much better. And remember that you don’t have to completely drop your favourite snacks, but simply limit their consumption. Eating a burger or two per week is perfectly acceptable.

You don’t need a special ‘magical’ diet. Yes, there are plenty of popular fad diets that claim to achieve rapid results, but unless you’re aiming to become a professional athlete or bodybuilder, you don’t really need them. Counting calories, having meals at specific times of the day or completely cutting out certain foods is not necessary unless your doctor says so.

Instead of buying fast food, focus on cooking at home. Not only is eating what you’ve made yourself healthier, but you will also get a confidence boost and a sense of achievement out of learning how to prepare new recipes!

While most certainly better than sitting around all day, a quick fifteen-minute stroll is nowhere near enough exercise to achieve good weight-loss results. If you want the whole endeavour to be beneficial for your health and well-being in the long run, you’re going to have to turn it up a notch.

If your work and personal life don’t give you many reasons to walk around, do your best to find at least 30 minutes per day for walks.

And if you’re interested in bigger calorie burners, there’s always running, swimming, hiking, and, of course, the gym.

Stress and weight gain often go hand-in-hand. Not only are a lot of people prone to stress eating and binges, but stress itself has a lot of negative consequences for your health, such as:

• Increased cortisol production — the more stressed you are, the hungrier you will feel.
• Sugar cravings — chocolate and junk foods are known as comfort foods for a reason! Higher stress levels will make your cravings much worse
• Stress decreases your motivation — being ‘too stressed out for this’ is one of the most popular go-to excuses

Getting in a good night’s sleep is one of the most important factors for being healthy. Not only that, but there are numerous studies that link lack of sleep to obesity. Just like stress, lack of sleep increases cortisol production, leading to more cravings.

As you probably know by now, the various toxins in your day-to-day life are very bad for your health. What you might not know is that they’re indirectly making it harder for you to lose weight. But since it’s not an option to live in a bubble in order to remove the external chemicals you’re exposed to when you go outside, you should try your best to limit what you control.

Store-bought cleaning products and plug-in air fresheners mess with your hormonal balance and can end up causing you all sorts of nasty weight-related problems. Instead of using them, try sticking to natural alternatives. Vinegar, baking soda and citric acids are just as potent as a store-bought brand cleaner!

As with all things in life, real success comes with hard, consistent work. This is especially true for dieting and weight loss. If you were to begin implementing small changes in your daily life today, you would get to enjoy the benefits for the rest of your life!

Rome wasn’t built in a day. You don’t need to do everything immediately. Take your time and slowly build to where you want to be. Don’t get overzealous, drop your hobbies or leave your friends behind because of your new weight loss goals. Being healthy and having fun are not mutually exclusive!

Originally published at https://lifestyletipsbyantoaneta.com on January 9, 2019.