You may try to lose weight but do not find any significant result. This is due to some reasons. Your body reacts back when you reduce weight.
You may be losing too much weight at the starting days without effort. But, with the passage of days weight loss may slow down.
In this article I will tell you some common reasons of why you are not losing weight.
1- You are Stressed
We put our attention on 2 things when we are trying to lose weight:
Diet and Exercise
But, management of stress should be priority because it plays significant role in losing weight.
Our body generates a hormone called cortisol when we are stressed. This hormone is also known as the “stress hormone”. Our life is too much stressed, it may be comes from our everyday life, from work, or from our financial situations. If you ignore it, this high stress can become chronic.
Stress hormone cause significant weight gain, especially in the abdominal area. This is because cortisol can boost insulin resistance, which causes high sugar level. Due to tis, your body store more fat.
Stress can also postpone our weight loss efforts by increasing crave of foods high in carbohydrates or sugar. These treats stimulate our brain’s reward responses, which triggers the release of “feel-good” hormones, such as serotonin. When we are chronically stressed, these rewards make us feel temporarily better, so we end up seeking their help on a regular basis. This reaction is known as “stress eating” and can make weight loss even more of a difficult.
Some Tips to Reduce Your Stress
Take Your Yoga Mat: Studies have proved that daily yoga practice helps to decrease cortisol levels.
Try Meditation: Research has revealed that meditation aids in calm the nervous system. Therefore stress levels lowers.
Go on Walk In Nature: Go for a walk or rest in nature for at least 20 minutes a day. This will lower your cortisol levels.
2- You are Not Getting Enough Sleep
If you don’t get at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night, it can be contributing to your weight problems. A study has shown that:
Women who report sleeping less than 5 hours per night are at greater risk of gaining weight and, in general, weigh more than women who sleep 7 or 8 hours per night.
Our hormones are effected by poor sleep hygiene. At first, the stress of not getting proper sleep boosts our cortisol levels, which we know is the cause of weight gain. It also disturbs the hormones that regulate our hunger, making it easier to over eat food the day after a too short night.
Research has revealed that not getting proper sleep can make it difficult to lose fat. One study looked at participants who wanted to lose weight and who slept less than 5.5 hours a night for 2 weeks. They then slept over 7 hours per night for another 2 weeks. During the period of reduced sleep, fat only made up 26% of their weight loss. Comparatively, fat accounted for 57% of weight loss during the period of normal sleep. In other words, the participants lost more fat when they slept longer.
Some Tips for Better Sleep
Power off the lights early: This also consists of your electronic displays! Studies have revealed that blue light from these screens can disturb our sleep and wake cycles, which can cause of sleep deprivation.
Consume less coffee: If you can’t stop caffeine for good, reduce your consumption to 1 or 2 cups in the morning. Do not take caffeine in the afternoon and evening.
Try valerian: Studies have revealed that this herb helps fight insomnia and boosts the quality of your sleep.
3- Your Hormonal Balance is Unsatisfactory
The way of working of our hormones makes a big difference in how we reduce weight. Certainly, hormones like cortisol, leptin, and insulin play important roles in fat loss.
Leptin is a hormone generated by fat cells in your body and sends signals to your brain to tell you that when you are full. That is why it is called the “satiety hormone”.
It Mainly Works Like This
A high level of leptin tells your brain that you have enough fat stored and that you can stop eating, while a low level tells your brain that your fat stores are low and that you need to eat.
Certainly if you have a high level of body fat it is possible to generate resistance to leptin. In this case, your brain stops responding to leptin signals and suppose that you need to eat more, even if it doesn’t. Surely, this can cause cravings and overeating, which can only hamper weight loss.
Insulin is another hormone that can make it harder to lose fat. It is responsible for balancing the level of sugar in our blood, and also affects the storage of fat. When we absorb sugars or carbohydrates, our body releases insulin to help transport these sugars into our cells for use there for energy. If we absorb too much sugar, insulin will convert and store the excess sugar as fat, in order to keep our blood sugar levels stable.
Much like leptin resistance, people with chronically high blood sugar levels due to a poor diet can develop insulin resistance. In this case, our cells stop responding to the effect of insulin, leaving more sugars and carbohydrates to be stored as fat instead of being used for energy.
Some Tips to Fight Hormonal Problems
Visit Your Doctor: Have your hormonal constants checked by your doctor or nephropathy.
Eat Healthy: Eat more foods that help re-balance your hormones and do not eat processed foods.
Do Yoga: The right breathing method and the right postures can help.
4- You are Consuming Too Many Calories
If you want to reduce weight, one of the most important rules is: your energy investment must be greater than the amount of energy you consume. If you take more calories than your body burns per day, the surplus calories will be stored as fat.
When you are following a Paleo diet, it can be easy to absorb too many calories, mainly since we tend to eat too much healthy fats such as those from avocados, coconuts, or nuts. While these foods are healthy and you should enjoy them, it helps to keep in mind that they are extremely high in calories.
Portion control is necessary. Let’s take an example: Eating a small handful of nuts in the palm of your hand will give you with around 180 calories. If you eat mindlessly, you could absorb over 500 calories in the blink of an eye, which is roughly the amount in a meal.
Some Tips to Control Your Calorie Consumption
Focus on Your Size of Your Portions: Divide your snacks into individual sized portions before eating them. Remember to factor your cooking oils into your calculations. They can contain up to 120 calories per tablespoon.
Avoid Liquid Calories: While a ketogenic smoothie or a glass of coconut water may look perfectly healthy, it still contains 100 calories per glass or more and doesn’t help you achieve fullness as easily as solid foods.
Remember: your scale doesn’t tell you everything
Keep in mind that the numbers your scale doesn’t tell you the full story. Muscle have more weight than fat, so if you only depend on a bathroom scale to know if you’ve lost only fat, you might be disappointed without any reason.
Relatively, the best method is to take regular measurements of your waist, hips, and arms to see how many inches you are reducing. These steps are especially necessary if you have started strength training, as this will boost your chances of gaining muscle weight while losing fat.
In conclusion
Not losing weight, even if you’ve optimized your diet, can be terribly frustrating. Before you throw in the towel, consider these 4 reasons that may be why you’re not losing weight and see if some apply. A few changes in your lifestyle could make all the difference and help you achieve your goals.
