Why has your weight loss stalled or not started at all? Many times just a few small changes can get your metabolism fired and start that fat burning away. I’m going to give you a few of the most common reasons that people have trouble losing weight.
1. Too many calories. It’s pretty simple most of the time. If you take in more calories than you burn you’ll gain weight. If you take in less, than you’ll lose weight. With all of the high carb, low carb, high fat, low fat information getting tossed around it’s easy to forget that you just may be eating too many calories. Start a food log and you’ll really start to see where you’re going wrong. People that are trying to lose weight almost always underestimate their caloric intake.
2. Too much cardio. Are you one of the people on the treadmill for 45 minutes watching TV? If so, stop right now! Doing all that cardio actually slows down your metabolism, making it harder and harder to lose weight in the long run.
3. Too little resistance training. The best way to start your weight loss and maintain it in the long run is to increase your metabolism on a permanent basis. The best way to do that is to add lean body mass. The best way to do that is to do resistance training.
4. Too many carbs. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that it’s really easy to pack on the calories when eating carbs. Another is that when you eat carbs, your body uses them for fuel instead of what you want the body to use: fat. Try to eat carbs mainly within a few hours after exercise.
5. Not enough water. Water does a lot of great things for your body. In terms of weight loss, it’s very important to stay hydrated to keep your metabolism up and also to keep up a host of other functions. Drink lots of it.
6. Poor preparation. I know you’re busy. We’re all busy. So what happens when you get home late, or not at all, and you’re too tired to cook something healthy? Pizza, McDonalds, TV dinners? Not good. Take a little bit of time and cook a mess of good food and put it in the fridge. That way on a night like that, you‘ll be able to stick to your diet.
7. Not enough effort. You’ve got to give your body a reason a pretty compelling reason to change. It doesn’t want to. If you go through your workouts without much intensity or you’re only sticking to your diet when it’s convenient than you can’t expect results. Weight loss takes effort and commitment. There’s no secret pill or easy way. You’ve just got to do it.
Let me know if you have any questions. If you want some more great information on speeding up your metabolism, just go to http://fast-metabolism.com to get a great free report.
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach
510-754-7113
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