Is weight loss more of a battle for you than anyone you know? It’s frustrating when you’ve been good about your exercise regimen but the scales have nothing to show for it. If you’re someone who just can’t seem to lose weight no matter what you do, you may want to read on.
Things To Be Taken Care Of If You Are Unable To Lose Weight Despite Exercises
The Need For Variety
The mix of exercises and the type of training you do could be causing your weight loss problem. Are you sticking to a pure cardio routine? If you’re only using walking or running to lose those pounds, it may not be enough. To amp up the speed at which you lose weight, strength training is invaluable. Be sure to work each muscle group by rotation so each set gets its turn during a week. Even if your abs are your problem area, you will need to get in a full body workout by the time the week is done, because spot reduction really isn’t that successful, as trainers will tell you. The National Health Services (NHS) suggests 150 minutes (at least) of aerobic exercise and muscle strengthening exercises a minimum of twice a week.
Change It Up
Sometimes, you may also hit what’s called a weight loss plateau. As the name suggests, it happens when you settle at a specific body weight and, no matter what you do, your weight isn’t going down. It could happen after months of steady weight loss where the same routine has worked wonders and now doesn’t seem to shift the scales at all! This may be a sign that you need to try a different kind of workout to shake your system up a little. So if you’ve been jogging or doing Pilates, it may be time to try aqua aerobics or Zumba. Make little changes to your routine on a regular basis as a rule anyway. Some trainers recommend bringing a little change every 4 to 6 weeks or so.
Fuel Up
If you aren’t feeding your body the fuel it needs for a workout, it will try and conserve energy. You won’t lose any weight then because your body is conserving that fat for use during your workouts and after. Don’t skimp on carbs if you’re doing endurance training. An estimated 50 to 60 percent of your energy during an endurance training session of 1 to 4 hours is said to come from carbohydrates. A fruit smoothie, oatmeal with milk, yogurt and berries, or even just a handful of raisins and nuts before a workout can do the trick. The ideal post-workout food is some yogurt and fruit, turkey on whole-wheat bread, or a low-fat chocolate milk.
Insulin Resistance And Weight Loss
When your hormones aren’t perfectly balanced, it can cause problems with things like weight loss. For those with insulin resistance, the body doesn’t respond normally to the hormone, causing your system to generate higher and higher quantities of insulin. This eventually causes prediabetes or diabetes. Because your body can’t process the glucose properly for energy, it gets stored as fat and causes weight gain. An excess of estrogen in the blood too can cause similar problems. This hormone is involved in the regulation of insulin and too much or too little could both cause insulin resistance to develop. The solution? Stick to a low-carb diet (less or no rice, bread, pasta) and watch out for any foods that have a high glycemic index – for instance, very sugary fruit like melons. Switch to foods with lower glycemic index like oatmeal, legumes, lentils, whole-wheat products, broccoli, bell peppers, cherries, grapefruit, apples, and pears to power you up instead.
Slowed Down By A Sluggish Thyroid
An underactive thyroid can slow down your metabolism, making weight loss a struggle. The constant exhaustion and fatigue might also make it harder to keep up the pace of exercise your body needs to lose weight. If your levels of thyroid hormones T4 and T3 are not at normal levels, even your digestion may not be optimal. Consult an endocrinologist for an appropriate course of treatment.
Inadequate Testosterone Levels
Whether you’re male or female, insufficient testosterone can cause your metabolism to slow down, hampering weight loss. You will tend to have lower muscle mass and higher fat mass than is typical for someone who works out as much as you do. That’s because the deficiency of the male sex hormone is associated with higher triglyceride and cholesterol levels as well as insulin resistance, which together cause fat to build up and the pounds to pile on.
Drug-Related Weight Gain
Certain medication can cause weight gain and may mess up your carefully planned weight loss goals. These include hormone medications like those you might take as part of hormone replacement therapy at menopause or even the ubiquitous “pill” for birth control. Oral steroids too are notorious for bringing weight gain, as are some diabetes medications, antipsychotic medicines, and antidepressants. Speak to your doctor about switching to an alternative medication without this side effect.
Consistency And Patience
Working out intermittently isn’t good enough. Nor is a steady weekday routine capped off with a weekend binge on food and alcohol. Be disciplined about your fitness routine and that should help.
Also, could you be expecting too much too soon? Pushing your body too far and too hard can be detrimental to weight loss goals. If your body feels you are exercising too much, it can actually cut down your calorie burn through the day. This is to ensure you have “enough” to get through the normal functions of a day. So avoid overtraining.
According to the weight loss plan suggested by the NHS, a safe weight loss target is about 1 to 2 pounds a week, but not more. This means you will need to be strict about sticking to your daily calorie allowance of about 1400 kcal if you’re female and 1900 kcal if you’re male. To knock off as little as one pound over the course of a week, you will need to ensure you have a calorie deficit of 500 every single day continuously for 7 days.
