Do you wonder why all that exercise and healthy eating doesn’t end up with the scales telling you that you’re losing weight? There are a number of reasons for this:
THE DIET MINDSET
There is a common assumption that people make about exercise and food when it comes to losing weight ie. that exercising more and eating less leads to weight loss. This is what we call The Diet Mindset and it’s been imprinted on a lot of us (especially women) from a very young age. In fact, whenever we reduce our intake of food our body will hold onto fat as a source of energy to maintain everyday bodily functions.
To achieve weight loss, in a manner that is sustainable and healthy, the opposite approach of increasing your intake of the right foods and exercising in shorter more intense blocks, is proven to change body shape permanently because your body no longer feels starved, so it releases body fat.
In additional, adequate rest and recovery between intense exercise bursts allows for muscle repair and growth, which improves your metabolism and in turn changes body shape.
METABOLIC BLOCKERS
Apart from exercise and food, there are other factors that contribute to how effectively or ineffectively our body converts the food we eat into energy, rather than storing it as fat. Irregular sleeping patterns or lack of sleep, stress, prescription medication and the regular consumption of alcohol, all inhibit our metabolic function.
Alcohol has the effect of making us eat more eg. that platter of cheese and crackers before a meal or that greasy burger the next day. Did you know that the body looks for the most efficient way to convert what we eat to energy? When we consume foods or beverages containing lots of sugars, like alcohol, it will take what it needs from this food source first as its easier to absorb, and leave the other foods for later, as fat.
Emotional eating, arising out of stress, will make you seek out foods that make you feel good or give you that sugar high. Sometimes we tell ourselves we deserve our favourite foods or alcohol as reward for dealing with something stressful ie. the end of the working day. This type of justification is self-sabotaging and can stop you from achieving the weight loss you crave.
Lack of sleep affects your ability to rest and recover from exercise, and negatively impacting your emotional state, which leads to not feeling like eating or exercising when you know you should.
SNACKING AND MEAL FREQUENCY
People who say they eat healthy, often snack on high fat, low protein foods ie. nuts, fruits and vegetables.
A great tip to increase the nutritional content of snacks is to make them a meal…something substantial that is going to fill you up between lunch and dinner or between breakfast and lunch. To do this make sure there is a source of omega 3 fats (eg. flaxseed oil or flaxseed meal) and a source of lean protein (eg. yogurt, eggs, low-fat cheese, milk, protein powder).
By doing this you will increase your meal frequency which will keep your energy levels up throughout the day and reduce cravings…the opposite to how you feel on a diet.
CHANGING HABITS
Often it is our habits that trigger us to eat certain things, skip that workout or drink a bottle of wine on a Friday night. In order to change your body shape permanently you need to identify which habits are holding you back. It might be what you put in your shopping trolley when you’re at the supermarket. It might be ducking into the bottle shop after the shopping is done. It might be not eating breakfast or not getting 7-8 hours sleep per night. It might be that sneaky chocolate chip biscuit every time you have a cuppa. Or it might be not getting in 30mins of exercise per day…even if it’s just a walk surrounded by nature to de-stress and relax.
Being able to identify these habits and create alternative behaviours driven by your goals and your “why”, is a huge part of changing your lifestyle to achieve permanent weight loss. Don’t expect it to happen overnight…address one habit at a time and be gentle with yourself.
CONSISTENCY
Consistency is about maintaining a set of good habits for the long term. It’s not about being perfect, but rather feeling happy that most of the time you have a sustainable routine that suits your lifestyle, and ensures you complete your workouts and eat enough of the right foods to enable your metabolism to work for you and not against you.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability is a powerful motivator alongside your personal reason for wanting to improve your body shape (your WHY) and your personal goals. Have you ever made a new year’s resolution and not shared it with anyone, because you don’t want people to know if you fail? I think we’ve all been there. We make ourselves accountable to achieving our goals as soon as we share them with someone else. The more people you tell about your goals, the bigger your support group becomes to help you get there and the more your motivation increases. So don’t keep it a secret…share you goals with people you know will support you on your journey, and they will push you along.
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