Weight Loss Isn’t Always Easy

Losing weight can be rather challenging, as can actually keeping it off, but if you can find out why and understand why you can stop chastising yourself over every little thing and increase your chances of success. The first thing is to forget about all those gimmicks that will never work in the long run, and face some hard facts about weight loss difficulty. 

Much like a slap in the face, your body will actually work against you while you are trying to shed some pounds. Those cravings come for a reason, weight loss decreases the levels of leptin hormones that signal the brain you are full and increases the levels of ghrelin hormones that stimulate hunger. Sadly this hormone imbalance has been found to continue even after reaching goals, making it hard to keep the pounds off. To add to this if you cut too many calories too quickly you can slow your metabolism and end up losing some muscle. Muscle is the engine of metabolism which will contribute to a lower metabolism when lost. Eating too little also sets you up for binge eating and rebound weight gain from overeating due to being restricted for too long. It is recommended to gradually restrict calories for better long term results. This means that it will take you longer, but it will be more sustainable. 

There are no quick fixes or magic pills that will make weight loss happen, other than surgery, and even that is not guaranteed to last over the long haul. Avoiding trying anything too drastic, as quick starvation diets cause chaos to metabolism and will damage weight loss efforts for the long term. Try to be patient and remember that slow and steady will win this race. Most experts will suggest 1-2 pounds a week of weight loss as being the easiest to maintain. 

While exercise will help you to lose weight and keep it off it is nearly impossible to lose weight from just exercise alone, and you can hit a plateau. The National Weight Control Registry has found that those who exercise for at least 60 minutes for most days will maintain weight loss, but without nutrition that weight can easily be put back on. A 135 pound person can burn 369 calories biking for 60 minutes at 12 miles an hour, but all that work can be lost with a post workout protein bar. The trick is to combine exercise with nutrition to effectively lose weight, and when you hit a plateau be willing to change things up. 

All those fad diets, and pills that claim to supercharge your metabolism most likely really don’t work, especially over the long run. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a report finding that liquid diets, fad diets, and over the counter diet pills were not linked with weight loss. However, exercise, eating less fat, prescription weight loss medication, and joining a commercial weight loss and support program did help to promote weight loss. Basically all of those so called miracle diets may work in the short term but they fail to deliver long lasting and sustainable results. 

What works for one person may not work for another as every person is unique. When it comes to weight loss there are many factors to consider like age, gender, activity level, family history, weight, metabolism, and likes/dislikes. Make sure that you don’t completely eliminate all of the not so healthy foods from your diet, allow for some enjoyment so that you won’t feel as deprived and this will increase the odds of you sticking with an overall healthy eating plan. For example allow yourself a few squares of dark chocolate as a treat with an orange as dessert, or a slice of pizza once a week. It is ideal to tailor your diet to your body for weight loss success and accept that one diet is not best for all. 

Physical activity guidelines for Americans recommend that adults should get 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minute of vigorous spread throughout the week, plus 2 additional days of muscle strengthening activities. While these guidelines should help most people to lose weight, those with a lot of weight to lose need to be even more active. Don’t skip out on strength training either, as this helps to support joint health and functioning that you need to do the cardio, and this increased muscle mass will boost your metabolism. Every bit of exercise counts, even if you start off small and work your way up as your endurance builds. Recommendations are to move more throughout the day, even a walk to start with and build up. 

Ladies do not try to keep up with a man eating, men can eat more than women and still lose weight because they tend to naturally burn more calories thanks to their larger size, muscle mass, and elevated levels of testosterone. Men are genetically designed for more muscle mass and less fat than women because men do not have to be able to store energy required to have babies. Once you come to terms with the fact that men can eat more it will show on the scale. 

Perhaps one of the most important things is mindset, if you want to lose weight and keep it off you are going to have to change your behavior even after you reach your goal. If you simply stop with all of these healthy changes you are most likely going to regain all those pounds plus a few extra of its friends that you just worked so hard to drop. The key to being successful for the long haul is to make sustainable lifestyle changes such as making healthy food choices at almost every meal and get plenty of exercise every week. There are no shortcuts, you are going to have to work at it. But you can do it, and you are worth every effort.