There are a hundred different ways and schemes recommended to lose weight these days. And may be a thousand different diet regimes being followed. There’s no diet that suits everyone and there’s not one in particular that will make you lose weight suddenly just in a couple of weeks. If you’re on a diet and unfortunately, the results aren’t seen, it could be due to different reasons. Here are some reasons why your efforts aren’t working the way you want them to!
- STRESS CHECK: Losing weight is your goal, but you are not focusing on your stress level check. It can surely interfere in your health journey and will lead to fat deposition instead of burning. Make sure you find ways to de-stress. Do things that make you happy and relaxed from within. It could be as simple as listening to your favorite music, going for a walk, a cup of masala tea sitting in your garden or a long forgotten hobby.
- SLEEP DEPRIVATION: Lack of sleep can disrupt hunger hormones, leading to over-eating and affecting weight loss. This causes a hormone imbalance and thereby weight gain and metabolic syndromes. Adequate sleep on a daily basis is essential. Sleeping for just a couple of hours on weekdays and then crashing out all weekend is not healthy either.
- BE REALISTIC: It’s quite natural to have supernatural dreams about your body. Even I have such dreams; it’s necessary to keep you going but at the same time, it’s important to set goals that are specific, tangible and realistic. Keeping unrealistic health/weight loss goals in terms of duration or number of kilos to lose-can really confuse you with respect to your diet schedule. Remember, whether you lose weight or not, stress is definitely not the place we’re landing to.
- TOO MANY TREATS: It’s a good idea to reward yourself while on a diet, but if it’s happening too often, it’s again not making any difference either. Cheat foods are obviously loaded with sugar, salt and harmful chemical preservatives that can again take you away from your goal. The whole purpose of going on a diet is lost if you can’t stay away from temptation. If you wish to be able to look tempting; like if you want to have an attractive, fit, healthy, happy body, just stay away from the tempting unhealthy foods. That lil cupcake is just a pleasure till it is on your tongue; it’s not making the rest of your body happy. ( it’s about having it while craving for it every now and then, nothing is harmful when it comes under ONCE IN A WHILE category )
- NOT ONLY DIET: Whatever you eat, you ought to burn – this mechanism works in synergy. You can’t just sit and talk about diet control formula. It’s equally important to burn that fat. You may be eating healthy, but if it’s not coupled with adequate exercise, then the diet may not prove to be as effective. You need not become an exerciser overnight. Start off slowly and gradually increase your pace. Don’t stress! But keep your body moving:)
- HOW MUCH? Eating too much or too little can both affect the efficacy of a diet program. Mindful eating is the key. My earlier post says; it’s not about how much you eat, it’s about WHAT YOU EAT. There I’m trying to focus on health quotient of the diet wherein you can’t just keep eating whatever comes your way like a junkie and justify saying ‘I just had a little bit of it’. Here, it’s about keeping a check on the portion as well as quotient because our goal is to lose some extra kilos. Using smaller plates can also help in portion control. Studies say that over a period of time this will train the brain to resist from piling too much food in the plate.
- VARIETY: Do not be on a specific diet for too long. It tends to become boring and monotonous. Also, when you don’t eat something for too long, the craving for it will be difficult to control. It’s all about making lifestyle changes for more sustainable results than just juggling between different diets. Everybody is different and their nutritional requirements differ as well. What works for someone else may not necessarily work for you. You have to achieve your goal but in the process, be kind to yourself as well.
- CHECK LABELS: Not all so-called healthy labelled foods are actually healthy. Read the labels carefully to look for hidden sugars, salt and preservatives as these may hinder your diet from working. Be aware of the ingredients commonly found in packaged foods so that you know what to avoid.
- WRONG TIMING: The key to weight loss is the time of the day the food is eaten. I personally believe timing is super important when it comes to health! Your diet will only be effective if it’s consumed at the right time. Midnight cravings are something that really look fashionable and they are Instagram post worthy as well but they are not that great for your health and it will ruin your diet program. To extract all out of the efforts you’re putting in, just don’t eat at the wrong time. Eating unhealthy food at times can just let you escape from it’s harmful effects if it’s just eaten at a correct timing. It’s that important.
- EAT SLOWLY AND HAPPILY: Just hogging on food like you’ve never seen it—-NO, eating at a speed like you got to catch a flight—-NO, eating so much like a glutton like there’s no tomorrow—-NO, swallowing it directly as if you don’t know how to chew food—-NO, eating with stress—-NO, eating with a grumpy face as if you have lost your world just because you possess some extra kilos and others are all picture perfect bodies—-NO. Please don’t do this. The whole world is running around just to earn a bread. When you sit to eat that bread, why so much of pain, instead of gratitude. Be thankful for every meal you have. Eat with a lot of heart. Chew your food. Eat slowly. Your eating attitude depicts the rest of your health journey. It will take you close to your goal only if you value it. Eat happily (gratitude) and slowly (chew properly).
I hope this post helps. Good luck to all those who are reading this. You’re not that away from HEALTH. It’s simple-just be a little mindful. That’s it:)
My 12th post of the May 2020 Blogging Challenge!
akiraa 