8 Reasons Why You arent Losing Weight

You’ve been cutting down on fat, controlling carbs and exercising five days a week. So why aren’t you losing weight or even worse, Why are you gaining?

1.      You overcompensate for exercise
Many of us reward our 1hr morning jog with a big bowl of icecream and feel justified(you’ve just burned off all those calories, right?),  Or is it the other way around? We eat a whole round of pizza with the intention of Burning it off later. however, it may be that by increasing your calorie intake to fuel or reward your sessions you are actually undoing all the hard work of your workout. In fact, as we often overestimate the calories we burn through exercise, you may even be taking in more than you have actually worked off, leading to weight gain rather than loss.

2.      You rely on exercise alone.
Yes, exercising can help you lose weight (and it has so many other health benefits) because it helps you create that calorie deficit needs to drop body fat. But here's the truth: Exercise alone will not help you lose weight. For emphasis, I'll say it again. If you are relying on exercise alone to lose weight, you are fighting an uphill battle. The best way to lose weight is to cut back on what you eat and increase your burn through exercise—not one or the other.

3.      You take/drink too much sugar/sugary drinks
Did you know that 2 cubes of sugar equals a slice of wheatbread? You watch what you eat, cut back on fatty foods and don’t snack between meals, but have you considered the amount of calories you may be drinking every day? While we all know the main calorie culprit when it comes to our drinks is alcohol, you should also consider the calories in fruit juice, smoothies, soft drinks and many hot drinks. Every calorie counts towards your daily intake, so don’t forget about the liquid ones!

4.      You eat large portions
If you’re eating low fat, healthy meals but are still not losing weight, it may be worth looking at your portion sizes. While you may think that you’re only eating three meals a day, with the increasing portion sizes many of us consume you could actually be eating the equivalent of 6 or more standard serving sizes each day. It is worth remembering that although the food you’re eating may be healthy, it should still be eaten in moderation, as eating too much of anything will cause you to gain weight.

5.      You eat too little
While eating too much food can cause you to gain weight, eating too little can also make it surprisingly difficult to shed those pounds. Your body has a natural instinct to protect itself so when it is not given an adequate amount of food it will automatically go into starvation mode, causing the metabolism to slow down and the body to hoard fat and calories. As a result of this it will become much more difficult for you to lose weight.

6.      You are not consistent
Perhaps even worse for your metabolism and waistline than eating too much or too little is flitting regularly between the two extremes. If you constantly go through a process of starving yourself one minute and bingeing the next, you will play havoc with your metabolism and cause your body to store more fat. As eating too little causes the metabolism to slow down, following this period with a binge will cause your body to quickly pile on the pounds
 

7.      You think you are living health but you are not
      If you still do "the-more-the-merrier with mayonnaise or butter, or pipe down palm oil in the vegetable soup, you are Joking! You may be eating one slice of Bread but your mayonnaise has enough calories for 3 slices. A table spoon of Palm oil has 120 calories. So watch out, you may be doing all things right but ignoring the little things that matter

8.      You haven’t given it enough time.Some people get instant results from dropping carbs, grains, sugar, and vegetable oils, while others have to take a month to get acclimated and only then does the weight begin to slide off. Also, the scale doesn’t always reflect your weightloss, so chill out!. You’re in it for the long run. Approach it with the right mindset and you won’t get discouraged. 

lose weight at a buffet

Cook: How many pieces of roasted chicken do you want?
Me: How many do you give per person?

It was almost like a party every afternoon, a big hall, world continental buffet, appetizer and desert, how a company would feed its staffs this much and still make profit eludes me.  It was a 2weeks temporary job I took and every lunch hour was a feast, I would see food had only eaten in my dreams, lovely meals with names that the alphabet can’t spell, a dream come true. My first day at lunch hall went like this…

“Let me have the Spanish casserole, with the minced meat sauce and Chinese rice...ok no! Please replace it with that red thing, duck chili sauce? Yes and errmm…is that afang soup? You know what, just give me a little of everything…Thank you"

All these things spell “CALORIES!!!” but mehn, I had lost all the power and will to resist, na once is a life time o and the menu changes every day. No wonder when I first stepped in, I thought I had fallen into Giant Island, everyone looked so big! Except I wanted to change my week wardrobe within a week I either had to stay away from this hall or find a way around it.  I can’t tell you hold your breath every time you go for lunch, but I can give couple of “been there, done that” that works if you are fortunate/unfortunate to work with companies that feeding is their primary objective

Eat Breakfast: people that skip breakfast are often more vulnerable when faced with a mountain of food. Eating breakfast may reduce your hunger later in the day, which may make it easier to avoid swallowing the buffet table. Also choose a healthy breakfast.

Eat desert first: like the company I worked for, fruits or yogurts are usually in the mix, try eating your apples, yogurts first, it would fill up this space in your stomach and make you feel less hungry

Avoid fried: anything that has fried as a preface is a “no no”

Target the vegetable: if there is a vegetable option, go for it, it will help you fill up easily

Portion/plate size: a smaller plate will make you think you are eating more, a larger plate will make your plate look empty, so if you have an option use a smaller plate, remember it’s not about what you eat, it about the size of what you eat. Eat just a little, remember, there is always a tomorrow

Water Water Water! Try to take loads of water, the less inclined you’ll feel to eat more

Indulge once in a while: pick a day that you’ll allow yourself to eat without the guilt; it will give you a day to look forward to

Make healthy choices: do you have roasted potato and bread roll on the menu?, pick potato, fried or roasted fish, roasted is better, subtle changes can go a long way

Avoid a buffet if you can, but instance when you have no choice the least we can do is be smart about it. So go forth and eat and remember, all you can eat does not translate to all you SHOULD eat.

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