To successfully lose weight, it’s important to follow a healthy diet routine, be more physically active, get into a calorie deficit, and implement effective techniques. Although the process can be gradual and may take weeks and months, sticking to the diet plan and incorporating physical activity into your daily routine (as simple as taking a brisk walk) will yield results. In this article, we’ll explore the 5 top reasons why weight loss becomes difficult and some mistakes that can hinder weight loss efforts for some individuals.
1. Losing Focus, Motivation, and Consistency: Staying motivated is key to succeeding on the long journey of weight loss. It’s important to keep your mind focused throughout the process. One way to do this is by looking at the amazing benefits of shedding pounds and once you reach your goal. For instance, slimming down would allow you to wear almost anything you desire, without restricting your options to “plus size” sections. Additionally, you can look forward to better sleep and renewed energy levels. Losing weight can also boost your strength, confidence, and overall health by encouraging you to eat healthier. With so many benefits to gain, it’s crucial to find your own reasons for losing weight and work towards achieving them with determination and focus. When it comes to exercise, many consider it a punishment, and lose interest after a few days. Consistency is key, so try to make exercise a habit by scheduling regular workouts into your calendar and committing to them. Hitting the gym or spending hours doing cardio is not necessary – brisk walking, yoga, dance, find an activity that you enjoy that can also help you stay motivated and engaged in your routine. So, keep a focus on your goal, stay motivated and consistent till you achieve what you desired. Also read: “14 Weight Loss Rules that Are Making you Gain Weight Instead.”
2. Exercising More Without Following a Diet Plan: If you are not eating healthy and clean, the ugly truth is that you will never be able to lose weight. Diet plays a larger and more important role compared to exercise as you can spend only an average of 70-80 minutes at the gym and can burn just as many calories in that time frame. Following a calorie deficit plan while indulging in healthy and nutrient-dense food would help you loose oodles of weight and exercise would supplement and boost your efforts. You can find such diet plans on the Rati Beauty app. Download the Rati Beauty app for more details.
3. Depending on Cardio Alone Will Not Help you Reach your Goal: A lot of people have this wrong assumption that doing cardio is the only way to get lean but it may not be enough on its own to create a calorie deficit required for significant weight loss. It is essential to create a significant calorie deficit to lose weight, and this may require more than just cardio. If you do too much cardio without resistance training, you may also lose muscle mass. Muscle helps to maintain a robust metabolism and burns a lot of calories, and losing it can make it harder to lose weight. So, include resistance training as well because it can increase your metabolism for hours after your workout. This is due to the repair and growth of muscle fibers. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn at rest. Notably, even being physically active through the day would also do wonders and burn significant calories than just a few minutes of cardio.
4. Still Eating Outside Food More Than Home-Cooked Meals: Spend more time preparing meals at home rather than buying from a restaurant because eating outside food more can have a negative impact on your weight loss goals. Restaurant and fast food meals are often larger than what you would typically eat at home, and these larger portions can add up to more calories than you need. When you eat out, you have little control over the ingredients that go into your food, and restaurants often add ingredients like butter, oil, and salt to enhance the flavor of their dishes. These additions can add extra calories and unhealthy fats to your meal, making it more difficult to lose weight. So, cut down the frequency of eating out, and switch to more home-cooked meals, check out the diet plans to find easy-to-cook meals that can be made within minutes – they are all about developing healthier food habits and following it for the rest of your life.
5. Giving in To Temptations: There are no excuses! At college/work/events/parties/functions/get-togethers, there may be so many temptations, but you need to resist those temptations and need to focus on your goal. Tempting foods like high-calorie snacks and desserts can quickly add up to extra calories and make it difficult to maintain a calorie deficit. Resisting these temptations helps you avoid overconsumption of calories and stay on track with your weight loss goals. Temptation often arises when we are stressed, bored, or emotional – so find effective solutions to tackle such situations. Resisting temptation is crucial for weight loss as it helps you maintain a calorie deficit, build willpower and self-control, reduce emotional eating, encourage healthier food choices, and boost confidence. Of course, you can have a cheat meal every week where you can indulge in your favorite food without any guilt and still reach your goal weight.
Most importantly, you would not see any change in weight if you are following a proper sleep routine. Every person needs at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night, more so for people who are desperately trying to lose weight. Studies have shown that people who manage to sleep for 7 hours or more tend to shed weight rather quickly than people who do not. This happens because sleep deprivation raises hunger and stress hormones, lowers metabolism, and encourages accumulation of fat around the belly region. You can do everything right but if you are depriving your body of rest and good-quality sleep, fat-burning process will not take place efficiently. So, do make quality sleep your top priority if you want to reach your goal weight soon.
I hope this article helps you identify the reasons that are hindering your weight loss progress, so you can effectively lose weight and maintain your fitness.
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