10 KEY REASONS YOU ARE NOT LOSING WEIGHT

Most of us spend a lot of time trying to lose weight. Wait, let’s try that again. Most of us spend a lot of time THINKING about how to lose weight. Whatever the case, most people are not losing weight.

So, in the hopes of seeing that change, here’s a list of 10 key reasons you are not losing weight, along with some ideas you can use to overcome these challenges. Before you think you’ve heard it all before, you should know you won’t find anything about cutting calories or increasing exercise on this list.

That’s because for most dieters, fewer calories and more exercise is not the problem and it’s certainly not the solution. What else is there? Read on and find out!

#REASON 1 You need instant results.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? Understand that losing 1/2 (half ) kg a week for 20 weeks is a far more successful and sustainable diet plan than losing 10 kgs in 2 weeks using diet plans that focus on restrictions and deprivation.

Take a second and imagine yourself 10 kgs lighter. If someone offers you your favorite food, can you eat it guilt free or will you deny yourself? Is that really a plan you can stay with? Are you prepared to face a life of suffering, struggling, sacrificing and starving to lose weight and keep it off?

Most people simply cannot stay on deprivation based plans. The only worthwhile diet plans are ones that can produce long-term weight loss.

#REASON 2 You demand perfection from your diet or consider it a failure.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? Striving for perfection in weight loss is a guarantee you will fail. Remember, you are trying to lose weight permanently, and that’s a long time! The reality is, some weeks your weight goes down and other weeks it goes up.

It’s okay to be disappointed when you gain weight, but it’s not okay to abandon your plan the first time you gain weight.

The key is to find a plan you like (a plan you love would be even better) that can produce steady results, and phase it in so it gradually becomes part of your lifestyle.

Stop demanding perfection and you’ll find you can achieve steady results over the long haul.

#REASON 3 You don’t use a range to manage your weight.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? A far more realistic approach to dieting than demanding perfection is to operate within a reasonable range. For example, if you weigh 75kgs. and your goal is to lose 10kgs., you could work within a range of 2kgs.

You can consider your plan highly successful as long as you stay within 2kgs of your lowest weigh in. So, once you’ve made it down to 70 kgs, you only consider adjustments to your plan if your weight goes over 72 kgs.

When you reach 69 kgs you work on staying under 67 kgs and so on. Even if you go back above 69 kgs, there’s no need to panic if you like your plan enough to stick to it a little closer and start losing weight again.

Dieting within a range ends the impossible expectations that you must lose weight every week or meet one certain number on the scale to be successful. It’s also an excellent strategy for maintaining your weight once you’ve reach your goal.

#REASON 4 You keep trying the same weight loss strategies over and over.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? If you’re not happy with your current weight loss and fitness level, put EVERYTHING on the table for close examination and elimination. Every food you eat, every bit of exercise you do should be evaluated for its effectiveness in reaching your weight loss goals.

If an element of your weight loss plan is not producing results or you know you cannot sustain it, then you should eliminate it immediately and find an alternative that’s effective and sustainable.

This includes diet and exercise efforts that work for a short time but you find you cannot sustain them. What good is that for long-term weight loss?

Most importantly, there’s little need to go back to a failed strategy in the future if you still have the same issues with it (deprivation, restrictions, etc.), so find something that better suits your lifestyle and get off the merry-go-round of attempting the same strategies over and over.

#REASON 5 You accept the belief that you are an “emotional eater” as an unchangeable fact.

ADDITIONAL INFO – Many people with weight loss issues find themselves turning to food in times of emotional stress, and somehow during these times, it seems only high calorie, high fat “comfort” foods will do.

This “breaks” your diet, which in turn leads to more stress, which ultimately leads to weight gain, yo-yo dieting and a lot of frustration.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? You’re not born with a need to eat whenever emotions are running high. This is a learned behavior. Therefore, ending your need for emotional eating can also be learned. Of course, changing long-term eating patterns is not easy, but it can be done.

Using a realistic, phased-in approach that gradually teaches you eating can be a conscious decision, and using the proper tools, with practice, you can decide what to eat and when you will eat it even under stress.

Of course no matter how good a strategy is, nothing works every time. This is why you should always remember you don’t need perfection to lose weight!

#REASON 6 You think eating is bad and feel guilt, stress and shame when you eat foods you feel are “fattening”.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT Stop thinking this–you are wrong. Eating is good. Metabolically, nutritionally, psychologically, eating is great. Many great things can be dangerous if not handled properly, but that doesn’t make them any less great.

Electricity is great, right? Well, it can (and does) kill people. Does that make it bad? You simply need to learn how to handle it. Same with eating. Trust me, conventional dieting and deprivation is not how to handle it.

#REASON 7 You think exercise is a necessary evil for weight loss.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? Stop thinking this–you are wrong. Most exercise contributes to weight gain because it’s poorly timed or it “justifies” eating that far exceeds the calories burned.

You can greatly improve your chances at weight loss by finding activities and exercises you enjoy and learning how to incorporate them into your weight loss plan to improve your metabolism.

This approach is far more effective than counting the calories you can sweat off during endless exercise sessions that you dread, that often risk injury, and that you probably won’t stay with anyway.

#REASON 8 You buy the hype. You chase the latest fad rather than thinking about what can work for you and your lifestyle.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? Check online for reviews and detailed info about any plan, equipment or weight loss related item you are considering. Almost everything has worked for SOMEONE so see if you can figure out WHY it worked for them and if you share enough similarities that you can be confident that particular diet or exercise plan suits your lifestyle for the long haul.

#REASON 9 You blindly trust experts and studies.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? You should be very skeptical of all current weight loss research findings and claims with a diet and exercise industry that has produced a failure rate of 95-98% and with the highest obesity rates ever.

Many experts cannot even follow their own plans (if they can’t what are the chances you can?). Plus many studies are biased to produce the results their sponsors want produced and are often refuted by other studies that produce the exact opposite result!

#REASON 10: You won’t put any time into learning about nutrition, weight loss or fitness.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? Here is where all that time you are killing yourself at the gym or starving yourself should be spent. You should make learning something to improve your health and fitness a requirement every day.

You need to understand what calories, carbs, protein, fiber and other key elements of nutrition are and how they work.

Compare learning about what creates weight loss and fitness to a builder studying blueprints before starting to build. All successful building projects are started with carefully developed plans, and this should be true for diet plans as well.

Ryan Fernando is an Award-winning celebrity Sports Nutritionist with 2GUINNESS world record and 2 Olympic medals under his belt. His client list include Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar, cricketer Shikhar Dhawan & bollywood superstars Aamir Khan & Abhishek Bachchan. He is Chief Nutritionist at QUA Nutrition Signature Clinics.