WEIGHT HEALTHLOSS
5
Reasons why you may not be losing any more weight
1. Drinking too much alcohol or fizzy drinks. Although there is no fat in most alcoholic drinks they contribute to fat gain because of the calorie content of alcohol. The energy in alcohol must be burned immediately, while your body is busy burning the extra calories from the drink your body will have no choice but to store most of the calories ingested from healthy meals. Alco-pops are even worse they supply calories through the alcohol AND tons of extra energy through the added sugars. Even normal pop or soda should be cut out or at least severely restricted because of the effects on blood sugar levels. You should be drinking more bottled water instead of soda if you want to keep losing fat weight. 2. Too little exercise or less effective routines. We all know we need to exercise in order to stay trim but many people still don’t do enough activity to burn off the energy from food or overcome a slow metabolism. You should strive to be active for the most part of your waking hours, or exercising for 20-30 minutes at least 3 times a week. If you’re very overweight and struggle to exercise then you need to be doing more low level recreational activities. Many people get fed up with going to the gym and doing the same old routine. When a routine becomes boring you should change it as constantly repeating the same routine can ruin its fat loss potential. Our body adapts very well to exercise and repeating something your body can complete easily won’t cause any physical changes. Yes, you will still burn calories but if your body has adapted to your present, daily calorie intake then you’ll not lose any more weight. A great way to boost results is to rechallenge the body by trying different kinds of activities; swimming, ice skating, dancing salsa or even rock climbing. If an activity becomes fun you’ll do it for longer and end up burning much more energy to lose weight. 3. A reduced metabolism
18 - Life and Fitness Magazine - June 2009
Low calorie diets tend to work well during the first few weeks then they become ineffective for losing further weight. The reason is they cause the metabolism to slow down, thus your body adapts to the limited calorie intake. If you respond by lowering your calorie intake further you’ll probably end up losing even more muscle and hitting a weight loss plateau again. This cycle may continue until your resolve finally breaks and you go back to your previous eating habits. The secret is to lower intake slightly while providing good nutrition with plenty of protein to limit muscle loss. Doing some weight training will help boost the metabolism and speed fat loss. Remember the motto “Burn the Fat, but Feed the Muscle!” 4. Skipping meal too often It sounds simple, if we eat less we should lose weight. For this reason many people skip meals but the body responds by going into starvation mode, the muscles break down in order to maintain the amino acid pool, the result is a lowered metabolism. Also if you let your blood sugar drop too low you’ll end up with strong hunger pains and probably end up eating far too much at the next meal. Try to eat healthy, small meals or snacks 5 – 6 times a day, starting with a good breakfast that contains good quality protein. Learn to stabilize blood sugar levels through the G.I. way of eating. 5. Eating too much sugar and salt Excess sugar and salt are often combined together in many processed foods. Eating too much sugar in one meal causes increased blood sugar levels; the body must respond and lower it back to normal. The result is most of the excess sugar is eventually stored as body fat. This is where some people get confused because they eat sugary foods or drink lots of soda which contain little fat content, and don’t realize how it can cause fat storage. Try to reduce sugar intake.