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Why You’re Not Losing Weight Eating Healthily!
Are you eating healthily but struggling to lose weight? There are a few reasons why this could happen. While eating healthy foods is an important process of weight loss, there are other factors to think about. These include exercise, portion control and medical issues. Here are some of the reasons why you’re not losing weight eating healthily and what you can do about it.
Control Your Portion Sizes
Your Portion Sizes Are Too Big
This is often the number one reason for weight gain. Just because you eat healthily doesn’t mean you can have as much as you want. Bigger portion sizes mean that you eat more calories, so you could eat more than your body is burning. Remember, to lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than your body needs to use throughout the day. That way, your body takes the calories that it has stored in the past.
Whether you’re eating wholegrain pasta, fruits, or any other “healthy foods,” you need to weigh them out and work out the number of calories in them. If you’re on a dieting plan like Weight Watchers, Slimming World or any of the others, you will need to work out how many points, syns or however the foods are calculated to make sure you stay in control.
It can mean that you feel like you’re on a diet. You look at the plate of food and think there isn’t much there, so you’re disappointed instantly. The trick here is to get a smaller plate. Transfer the amount from the larger plate and it will instantly look like there is much more there. You’re deceiving your brain, so you feel happier about the amount that you eat.
You’re Eating Too Much
This is similar to portion sizes, but involves when you go up for seconds or start snacking on other items during the day. You end up eating too much, and often food that you really don’t need to. Unfortunately, it is just a lot of useless calories that your body is struggling to burn off. For example, you may reach for that extra piece of fruit during the day even though you’re really not hungry. Or you may have the second portion because your stomach hasn’t had the time to tell your brain it’s full.
This can happen for a few reasons. The first is that you think you’re hungry. It could be from boredom or you may actually be thirsty. Before you reach for a snack, get a glass of water and drink it slowly. Not only does the water rehydrate your body, it will also fill your stomach up. If you’re still feeling hungry after that, then there is nothing wrong with reaching for a healthy snack.
A second reason is because you’re not giving the food time to digest. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to realize that you are full, so let your meals take that long to eat. Turn off the TV, so you can really taste your meal. While you have less to eat, you will savor it more and really enjoy it. It’s also worth taking a break halfway through eating, so your food has time to digest a little. This will let you know if you’re full or you still want a little more to eat. Stop once you’ve eaten half of the food that is left and reassess your hunger feelings. You’ll either finish your meal or find that you don’t need as much to make you full after all.
Lose Weight the Healthy Way
The Food Isn’t Actually Healthy
Have you ever considered whether that food really is healthy? Think about the natural sugars in something and whether you can have better alternatives. For example, brown pasta is better than the white or color varieties, but eating couscous and quinoa is much better than that! Sweet potato is better than eating normal potatoes, but it will also depend on the way that it is cooked.
Before you open anything, really consider if it is healthy for you. Fruit is good for you but there are a lot of natural sugars, which can lead to weight gain. You need to think about the type of fruits that are better for you (apples have fewer sugars than strawberries for example) and then think about eating them in moderation.
Are You Doing Enough Exercise?
Exercise is an important part of losing weight. No matter how healthy your diet is, if you don’t do exercise you won’t get the body of your dreams. Exercise helps to tone muscle and burn more calories. Those who love their larger portion sizes may find they can eat them as long as they do enough exercise!
It’s best to start off slow and then work your way up if you’ve never done exercise before or it has been a long time. You want to aim for 30 minutes, five days a week, but you don’t want to injure yourself in the process. Start off with 30 minutes twice a week and then work your way up to the five days.
This 30 minutes of exercise does not have to be done at the same time. Some people find better to do it in smaller bouts, such as 10 or 15 minutes. Others need to do it in much smaller sessions depending on their daily routine. You also want to make sure you’re doing something that you enjoy, so you’re more likely to stick to it.
What's Your Reason?
Why do you think you could be struggling with weight loss?
Is It Your Medication?
Medication affects the hormones and can lead to weight issues. Think about the type of medication that you’re taking and check for any side effects. Water retention is one sign that you may gain weight and you need to find ways to counter that medication. If you have a medical problem, you may also find that you’re gaining weight.
Unfortunately, there is very little that you can do about these. The best thing is to talk to your doctor about your weight loss efforts and your healthy diet. Your doctor may be able to change your medication to suit that or find some medication that helps your current medical needs. It may require cutting certain things out of your diet, but only your doctor is qualified to advise you on these situations.
There are many reasons why you may not be losing weight on a healthy diet. Think about the amount that you eat and the exercise that you do. If all those are good and should help you shed a few pounds, it could be medical problems. Please talk to your doctor if you believe that this is the case.