Until now, we blamed wrong dietary choices and lack of physical activity as the major reasons behind weight gain or the inability to lose weight, but no, there’s more to weight gain, and certain things do make losing weight an absolutely impossible task to achieve. Those of you who are struggling with weight issues, it would be prudent to go through these little things that make it quite difficult to lose weight and strike them out one by one. They might be the reason why losing weight seems like an impossible task to you. Can be converted into healthy habits.
1. Get Enough Sleep, More than 7 Hours Each Night: Sleep deprivation is the reason why most people remain overweight and research studies have shown that people who sleep for five hours or fewer tend to gain more weight than those who sleep for 8 hours.
2. You Forget to Drink Water: Do you know what that translates to – your body is mixing up thirst and hunger signals and you are more likely to eat food than drink water to calm the signs. We tend to confuse “thirst” for hunger, and turn to food to curb hunger pangs, adding unnecessary calories that are hard to burn off at the end of the day. Drink a full glass of water upon waking and sip on water through the day. Also, keep a bottle handy at all times and keep refilling it through the day.
3. Eating out More Often: When you are eating out often, you are most probably picking up sugary, high-calorie delights, that are mostly rich in refined carbs, processed and junk food, there’s sharp spike in insulin levels and all calories in excess will most likely get stored in the body as fat, mostly around the belly area.
4. Eating Breakfast in a Rush: When you eat too fast, your brain doesn’t get the signal to stop once you are full. This means that you often eat more than you actually require. Another interesting fact is that the brain takes about 20 minutes to register that you have eaten food and by slowing down, you can actually reach satiation point during the eating process itself and stop yourself from piling on extra pounds.
5. You Rarely Get up from your Work Desk: Working for long hours, in the sitting position for hours at a stretch, can deactivate an essential fat-burning enzyme called lipoprotein lipase and stall its “fat-burning activity.” So, stand up, take a stroll around to reactive this fat-burning enzyme and also to boost a sluggish metabolism.
6. Not Giving Enough Time for Diets to Work: Just as you didn’t gain weight overnight, you would not lose all the stored fat in a single day or week. Give your weight loss diet enough time to work, follow all the instructions religiously, and be patient and you can see the fat melt off.
7. Looking for Sugar-Free Foods for Comfort: Stress eating or emotional eating is a situation where someone eats to feel good, to cope up with trauma, to vent out anger, to deal with stress, than to satisfy hunger. The food we usually pick up in such situations is high-calorie stuff, mostly sugary delights, hight-fat, basically unhealthy food that leads to rapid weight gain. Food that’s high in sugar has a direct impact on the brain. When you eat such food, the brain releases certain “feel-good chemicals” such as endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine that helps to temporarily elevate the mood and calm down nerves. The problem is that this kind of food also causes sharp insulin spikes, providing instant energy but the subsequent drop in blood sugar level can leave one fatigued and craving for more food all over again. In short, people resort to emotional eating to feel better, relieve stress, and cope up with traumatic situations. So, stay away from sugar-free foods and find other ways to deal with stressful situations.
8. Breakfast is Bread and Jam: Bread is a staple in a lot of Indian households and it’s hard to give up bread. Since white bread is made from refined flour and lacks fiber or any other nutrient. And if you are pairing it with jam which is loaded with sugar, it will rapidly spike up insulin levels and insulin will lead to storage of fat if excess calories running in the system. Avoid bread and jam to jumpstart your day and check the weight loss meal plans on the Rati Beauty app instead.
9. You add loads of Creamer to the Coffee: There have been numerous studies that say caffeine does boost metabolism and help with weight loss but when you add high-calorie creamer to your coffee, that can take up your calorie count by 50. So, drink your coffee plain and skip the creamer next time around.
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