There’s always an obstacle in weight loss, and no matter how hard you try, sometimes it seems like it’s just not happening. I can tell you this firsthand, because even today I’m still trying to lose weight.
Everyone who has successfully lost weight knows how difficult it is, and if they’ve been successful, they’ve likely faced more challenges than you did.
Losing weight is never easy, but it is possible if you give it your all. If you have multiple problems in your life that take a toll on your mind, it can be hard to keep up with. Life can be difficult with work and children, among other things like family change or physical health problems.
It’s easy to give up when it gets tough and over time we tend to lose motivation and are easily tempted by outside influences. What’s more, they can be difficult to cook sometimes. I have faced many challenges in my weight loss journey too.
There are a lot of obstacles to losing weight, but here are 7 of the biggest. And how you can overcome them.
1. Not Eating Enough For Losing Weight
Yes, it may seem counterproductive to you, but the most important mistake of those who want to lose weight quickly is not eating enough.
While drastically cutting calories or skipping meals may seem like a quick fix for weight loss, not eating enough can actually sabotage your efforts to shed those extra pounds.
While an effective way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than you expend, cutting calories sharply and drastically risks sending your body into starvation mode.
When this happens, your metabolism slows down and burns calories as slowly as possible to conserve energy stores. This is why people who cut too fast often reach a plateau and stop losing weight.
Eating too few calories can be the start of a vicious cycle that causes dieting. It’s easy to get frustrated when you stop losing weight, which makes you give up, overeat, and ultimately gain more weight in the long run.
- Top Tip: Achieving your weight loss goal is rarely quick or easy; If you want lasting results. So gradually stick to your routine This means reducing calories to a reasonable level and setting a steady goal of losing 1-2 pounds per week.
2. Cut All Carbohydrate
Many popular fad diets instruct people to cut out entire food groups, such as fat or carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates in particular are a major cause of weight gain, with no-carbohydrate diets becoming so common.
But it is necessary to limit not carbohydrates, but processed simple carbohydrates.
Refined carbs like sugar and white bread can spike your blood sugar and cause weight gain, but complex carbs are great for weight loss. Complex carbohydrates like whole grains and seeds can actually help you lose weight.
Another big problem with eliminating entire food groups is the risk of developing nutrient deficiencies, such as a lack of fiber or protein.
Unless you have a true food allergy, don’t embark on any weight loss plan that requires you to cut out important elements of a healthy diet.
- Top Tip: Instead of cutting out entire food groups, try swapping out some of the unhealthy items from those groups for healthier alternatives. For example, replace white bread, pasta and rice with their whole grain counterparts; replace unhealthy fats in processed foods with avocados and nuts.
3. Hibernating For Losing Weight
If you have a disturbed sleep pattern and are often sleep deprived, it will be difficult for you to lose weight.
One of the most common mistakes of those who want to lose weight is that they do not pay attention to sleep as much as to nutrition.
The evidence cannot be argued as follows: fewer hours of sleep each night leads to weight gain.
An interesting study by researchers from the University of Colorado found that participants who slept an average of five hours each night for a single week gained an average of two pounds.
Lack of sleep triggers changes in our hunger and appetite hormones. After a lack of sleep, your brain has a hard time making decisions about how to eat, so you’re more likely to become impulsive and give in to junk food cravings.
- Top Tip: To improve the quantity and quality of your sleep, make sure you sleep in total darkness and avoid blue light from cell phones and devices a few hours before bed.
4. Focus Only On The Measurement
Despite following a healthy lifestyle, you may feel that you are not losing weight fast enough.
It is important to remember that the number on the scale is only a measure of weight change. Weight is affected by many things, including fluid fluctuations and the amount of food left in your system.
In addition, hormonal changes in women cause excess water retention.
- Top tip: Don’t be fooled by the weighing results. If the number on the scale doesn’t move, you may be losing fat but retaining water. Plus, if you exercise, you can gain muscle and lose weight.
5. Should You Exercise More Or Less To Lose Weight?
You will inevitably lose both muscle and fat during weight loss, although the amount will depend on a number of factors.
Exercise, on the other hand, can help:
However, excessive exercise can also cause problems.
Research shows that excessive exercise is unsustainable in the long term for most people and can lead to stress. It can also negatively affect endocrine hormones that help regulate functions in your body.
- Top tip: Choose a sustainable exercise suitable for your age and do it regularly 3-4 days a week.
6. Snacking Often
For many years, the traditional advice was to eat every few hours to avoid hunger and a drop in metabolism.
However, this can cause you to consume more calories throughout the day than your body needs.
- Top tip: Research has shown that eating just two to three meals a day can have consequences such as reduced inflammation and a lower risk of weight gain.
7. Avoid Eating Too Much To Lose Weight
If you knew the effects of frequent low-calorie crash diets on your body with the desire to lose weight quickly, you would allow your body longer periods of time to lose weight faster, and you would do it in the healthiest way possible.
Crash diets threaten your health, but you already know that, but there are other negative effects of low-calorie diets that lose weight quickly.
You will quickly regain the lost weight
- You will slow down your body’s metabolism
- You’ll make it harder to lose weight next time
- You will start gaining weight faster
- Your body goes limp
Stretch marks may appear on your body.
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- Top tip: When eating healthy, you need to lose 1-2 kilos per week and make a habit of a sustainable diet.
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Wrong Estimation Of Calories Burned During Exercise
Many people believe that exercise will “jump” their metabolism. While exercise can slightly increase your metabolic rate, it may be less than you think.
Studies show that average and overweight people tend to overestimate the number of calories they burn during exercise, often by a significant amount.
People may also overestimate their level of exercise. In one study, 29.1% of participants reported a higher level of physical activity than they actually had.
Exercise is still very important for overall health and can help you lose weight. It’s good to understand how much exercise you do and how many calories you burn.
1. Selection of diet foods
Processed low-fat or “diet” foods are often considered healthy options that can help you lose weight. Many of these foods are filled with sugar to improve their taste.
Stocking up on diet foods is one of the surest ways to fail in your weight loss mission. Eating “low fat” foods can seem overwhelming – but don’t be fooled. To make up for the removed oil, other ingredients are added to make the food taste like its full-fat counterpart.
These added ingredients don’t replace lost nutrients, so you’ll start eating more even if you’ve just finished eating. Even with your best intentions, you may end up eating more calories than if you ate the full-fat version.
Sugar is another culprit in low-fat “diet” products. Diet yogurt or cereal, even foods that are generally considered healthy, are loaded with extra sugar, resulting in greater cravings and often greater consumption.
2. I don’t eat enough fiber
A low-fiber diet can hurt your weight loss efforts along with your overall health
Studies show that a type of soluble fiber known as viscous fiber helps reduce appetite by forming a water-retaining gel. This gel works slowly in your digestive system, making you feel full.
Studies show that all types of fiber promote weight loss. You’ve found that viscous fiber helps you lose weight and reduce your waistline, even without a calorie-restricted diet.
3. I don’t eat enough protein
Getting enough protein is important if you’re trying to lose weight. In fact, protein has been shown to aid weight loss in several ways.
Eating plenty of protein makes the following contributions to your diet;
reduces appetite.
- It reduces the amount of weight regained.
- It maintains and increases the rate of metabolism.
- Maintains your muscle mass during weight loss
- To promote weight loss, make sure that each of your meals contains foods high in protein. Remember that your protein choices are not limited to meat or dairy.
- Beans, legumes, quinoa, and flax seed are also great and affordable options.
4. Unrealistic expectations
Setting other weight loss and health goals can help you stay motivated.
But having unrealistic expectations is common and can work against you.
One study found that the vast majority of participants hoped to lose more than 10% of their weight, which the authors considered unrealistic. Research shows that failure to meet weight loss goals is associated with dissatisfaction and future weight loss difficulties.
5. Do Not Change Your Workout Routine
Your body’s muscles quickly adapt to the sport you do, and after a while this adaptation is achieved. Your muscles get used to the sport you do.
If you want to continue burning calories, it’s important to diversify your workouts and alternate between cardio and strength training days, as well as the muscle groups you work when you start your routine.
Doing the same exercise over and over again conditions your body to stay relaxed and not work too hard to burn those calories and build muscle.
- Top Tip: Incorporating intervals into your workout will help you burn more calories in less time.