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6 Reasons Why You Struggle To Lose Weight

I’ve heard many reasons over the years as to why people struggle to lose weight. Before we go in, the first and most important reason is motivation. Whatever weight you are, whatever age you are, look at the calendar along with the scale. It takes a long time of bad habits to result in weight gain; does it wouldn’t make sense for this all to be reversed in four to six weeks. Plus, if you go back to doing exactly what you are doing now after losing weight, the weight will come back.

Keep this in mind as we go over our six reasons you may be struggling to lose weight; over time, little changes can lead to big results.

1. Not Drinking Enough Water.

You may struggle to lose weight because of a lack of hydration. Most diet and nutrition books recommend drinking eight eight ounce glasses of water a day (sixty-four ounces). This helps flush toxins and other things from your body; so please, drink more water. Not water with tea and sugar added to it, not diet soda, not zero calorie fruit drink, just water. Yes, it can help to have some flavour in your water, but the more things that are in your drink, the more things your body has to filter back out.

2. Retaining Water. (Guys included)

Most processed food is high in sodium (salt) which makes your body retain water in order to process it. Start reading the labels of what you are eating and you will see you are probably taking in ten times as much sodium as you thought you were. Seriously. Some foods I thought were healthy had half my daily sodium intake in one serving! High salt is definitely up there with the common reasons many struggle to lose weight.

3. Not Enough Exercise.

Plain and simple, you got to do more. Walking a half hour a day, not a lot is it? but for many, adding in that much walking every day to their normal routine can make a huge difference over time.

For those of you with tightly packed schedules, you can break that up and do it in three ten minute walks if that fits your schedule better. If you want to lose weight and not gain it back, the changes that you make in your routine need to be ones you can keep doing.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Get off the bus one or two stops earlier.
• Park your car further away from the entrance.

4. Burning Off Muscle, Not Fat.

When your body is trying to burn something for energy and there isn’t any food in your system, the fastest way for quick energy is to burn muscle, not fat. Don’t exercise on an empty stomach. Make sure that you are getting enough exercise to maintain your strength and muscles. Eat enough protein to keep your muscles in good shape.

Your muscles will burn calories for you just by being there, and even more calories when you use them.

5. Not Eating Enough.

When you go on a very low calorie diet, your body thinks it is a famine. The first reaction is for your body’s metabolism to slow down to get the most out of what food you have. Eating several small meals/snacks throughout the day keeps your metabolism higher and actually burns more calories than not eating.

6. Poor Control.

Control over what you eat and how much you eat is another common reason many struggle to lose weight.

Did you know: The average restaurant meal in the USA is over twenty percent larger than it was twenty years ago?

Keeping yourself aware of how much you are eating of any food helps you to control it better. Most people who want to lose weight think they need to start on a diet. And as soon as they pick a diet, they also pick their cheat days. I have seen people actually eat more because they are starting a diet tomorrow. Does that really make sense?

Most of these reasons don’t talk about diet. Think about Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity. Doing the same thing and expecting different results. What you have been doing up to now has given you the results that you have right now. If you want different results, you are going to have to change things up!

Best wishes for your success!!!