7 Reasons Why You May Not Be Losing Weight

There are so many benefits to losing weight and keeping your weight at a healthy level. However, if you have ever tried to lose weight [or been interested in losing weight], you know that it can be a long process that does not happen as quickly as most of us would like. It is also hard work that takes a lot of commitment. While losing weight can take a lot of time, there are some reasons why it may not be going exactly as you envisioned. Some of these reasons may be obvious while others are harder to spot. It is worth considering these reasons to see whether they are hindering your progress.

You Are Not Getting Enough Sleep

Sleep plays an important role in weight loss and not getting enough of it has been shown to contribute to weight gain. Losing sleep can make you feel hungrier and increase the chances of snacking at night. Getting too little sleep can also affect the production of cortisol, a hormone that is critical to the regulation of your appetite.

Getting fewer than the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep can also make you feel tired, cranky, irritable, and confused, all of which can have a profound effect on your activity levels and food choices. There are a lot of things you can do to improve the quantity and quality of the sleep you get, but you should start with making your bedroom as comfortable as possible and avoiding stimulants such as coffee late in the day.

You Are Not Tracking Your Calories

Awareness is very important when you trying to lose weight. The basic concept of weight loss is that you should be utilizing more calories than you consume. If you are not aware of everything you consume and thus not tracking what you consume, it is likely that you do not know how many calories you are consuming in a given period.

If you do not track everything you eat when trying to lose weight, you might end up underestimating the number of calories in the foods you eat which leads to difficulties in losing weight.

Before you start tracking your calories, however, you need to talk to a healthcare professional, nutritionist or dietician if you have any eating disorders, even if you suspect you could have or could develop an eating disorder. This is because calorie counting for those with an eating disorder or who could develop it can aggravate the harmful side effects of the disorder.

Your Metabolism is Slowing Down

There are lots of reasons why your metabolism can slow down including your age, hormones, and medications you are taking. A slower metabolism coupled with muscle loss can lead to difficulties in losing weight. This is because lean muscles burn a lot of calories and losing this muscle mass means you will be burning fewer calories.

With no changes in the number of calories you consume and a slower metabolism, you may see your weight start to go up or have difficulties losing weight. The two best ways to lose weight as you age is to choose exercises tailored for your age and gender as well as lifting weight to increase muscle mass.

You Are Not Consuming Enough Proteins

Proteins are very important for losing weight. Consuming enough proteins can boost your metabolism and help you burn an extra 80-100 calories per day. Additionally, some proteins can make you feel fuller for longer, leading to you consuming fewer calories overall. By making you feel fuller for longer, they help prevent snacking and cravings that lead to overconsumption.

These effects are caused by the effect protein has on hormones that control appetite including ghrelin and many others.

Consuming high amounts of proteins can also prevent metabolic slowdown that happens as the day progresses, which is quite common when trying to lose weight.

One concern you may have is the number of calories in the proteins you consume. Meeting your daily protein needs, and surpassing these needs when you have to, is often accompanied by additional calories.

To reduce the calories while consuming enough protein, you should consider reduced calorie protein. Reduced calorie protein can be found in products such as ioProtein, which helps keep your daily protein intake at the right levels while delivering fewer calories. IoProtein is developed by Ingredient Optimized, which has created other protein products to improve how we consume proteins. All their products are tested and have undergone human trials to ensure they not only work but are safe and effective.

Taking Weekend Breaks

For people who work, the working week gives them some structure, and this is why it is so easy to work out and eat right during the week. However, as soon as this structure is removed, people tend to fall into bad habits. It is common for people to relax in their diets and exercise during the weekend, but if it happens too often you may be undoing all the progress made during the week.

A common factor in losing track is rewarding yourself. It is tempting to want a reward after a week of working out and following a strict diet. It is good to have a reward for all your hard work but instead of food, try something wholesome such as a film or a short trip to a part of your town or city you have never visited before.

You Have Hit a Plateau

It is quite common to hit a plateau when trying to lose weight. This is because your body starts to adapt to your new lifestyle, and this means that it will utilize fewer calories for the same exercises and workouts. Doing the same workouts every day or every week means your body is no longer being challenged, and it is this challenge that leads to weight loss, so you might need to change up your workouts to compensate.

The other reason is that your body might start to conserve calories rather than utilize them. This is especially true in cases where you consume too few calories and the body thinks you are going into starvation.

It is important to experiment a little to find out what works for you and what would help you overcome this plateau.

You Are Not Eating Enough Whole Foods

When losing weight, it is sometimes not about the quantity you eat but the quality. Whole foods have been shown to have lots of health benefits in your well-being. They are also great for appetite regulation as they are much more filling than processed foods and do not lead to glucose crashes as with their processed counterparts.

When shopping for healthy foods, do not be swayed by the labels alone. Ensure that you read the ingredients list and try to find all information on the ingredients you do not understand.

Losing weight takes time and a lot of effort. If you are not seeing the results you would like, the reasons above may be why. It is also important to remain patient as you may not see the results you want as quickly as you would like. Also, talk to a healthcare specialist to ensure all actions you take towards losing weight are beneficial and not damaging in any way.