Why am I not losing weight?

Last week we saw the lies about nutrition. This week we are going to see why you cannot lose weight.

Some people cannot lose weight. First of all, you have to find the sources of those extra pounds and know what makes it too difficult to lose it.

Here are the top 18 reasons:

1, You eat without regard to your hunger signals
Many people admit that they hardly ever feel hungry. Which means they almost always eat before a physiological urge arises.
Their reasons for eating are: the time, the emotions (positive or negative), the fear of being hungry, or of missing out,…. When we eat without being hungry, we don't know when to stop.
Satiety is only felt when we are hungry.
This is why it is important to come back to basics, to listen to yourself: listen to your hunger signals to better manage your loss.

2. You too often alternate periods of carelessness and food restriction
During the week you are TOO careful, you eat in small amounts and the weekends or the holidays come and you let go and eat whatever tempts you regardless of your hunger.
So start by eating reasonably 7 days a week, without prohibitions.

3. You have tried all the diets
Drastic diets, you know that! 
Following a strict diet, only a tiny proportion of people who have lost weight manage to maintain this loss. The others, unfortunately regain their starting weight and even more ... This is called the yoyo cycle (weight loss and recovery continuously).
Learn now to eat a balanced diet, without too strict a diet, and you will be able to hold on for the long term.

4. You have a low basal metabolism
From a young age, you tend to gain weight easily.
Your metabolism may be lower than average, so you need to eat a healthy diet and exercise to be able to create a deficit and therefore lose weight.

5. You have too low a daily calorie intake
Eating little does not mean that you will lose weight faster. On the contrary, eat little will mean that you will switch to storage mode: your body has a memory and the fact of giving it little during one or more meals.  will switch to reserve storage mode: in fact it will be afraid of falling back into the restriction  therefore it will store in view of a possible other famine. 

6, You use food as a reward or comfort
Learn to differentiate your hunger from fake hunger. Many people eat when they feel emotions such as sadness, grief, anger… They will nibble to appease their state or even reward themselves after a success or an effort.
In this case, it suffices to congratulate or console yourself other than through food. Make a list of the activities you enjoy and post it on your fridge.
When you want to open your cupboards, following these false hunger pangs, you will know how to replace these nibbles with one of your favorite activities.

7 you lack sleep
Lack of sleep promotes the consumption of foods high in fat. Many studies have shown that 'poor or little sleep' would have negative consequences on our diet.
Indeed, during a short sleep, ghrelin (the hunger hormone) is stimulated (therefore increased food intake during the day), and leptin (satiety hormone) is inhibited (therefore decreased feeling satiety).
When one does not get enough sleep, the area of the brain that assesses satiety is out of order and the area that assesses irrational cravings is encouraged.
When we are deprived of sleep, we tend to turn to caloric foods: we are tired and we think that to reboost ourselves, we need these foods.
To better manage your weight, start by better managing your sleep.

8. You spend too many hours in front of your screens
Whatever type of screen you have in front of you, the weight gain is significant:
For television: The increase in food consumption is linked to the number of food advertisements that are broadcast.
For the computer: sustained mental work generates stress that pushes us to eat beyond our real hunger.
The recommendations are: 2 hours maximum of television per day and question yourself before rushing on a food.

9. You don't cook much
You often tend to eat prepared meals for the sake of speed. However, the best way to control the quality of food is to cook your own dishes.
Avoid processed foods: frozen meals, sugary drinks,…. their sugar, fat and salt content affects hormones, in particular ghrelin.
You don't have to be a cordon bleu to cook well and balanced, join the Easy and Light Recipes: RFL group if you want easy recipe ideas.
You can also follow my Youtube videos.

10. You always eat in big dishes
Since 1960, the size of our dishes has increased by 36%. Today the trend is for large dishes: large square plates, large wine glasses….
These new formats are pushing us to consume more food: since it is difficult to leave food on your plate.
It is therefore preferable to use smaller plates (or even dessert plates) to reduce our ingested portions.

11. You never have a snack
To better manage your weight, it is advisable to have a snack around 4 p.m. It helps to avoid a drop in energy between lunch and dinner and also the big craving before dinner.
Ideally have a healthy, protein-rich snack (eg nuts or fruit) at work or even in the car so you don't rush out on non-nutritious foods when you're hungry.

12. You skip meals
You should not skip meals to lose more or faster. On the contrary, skipping a meal will have a bad impact on the next meal and you can again fall into reserve storage mode.

13. You eat too little
You don't have to have a big breakfast. However, take something even light so as not to affect the increased food intake during the day.
Take a piece of fruit, or a 0% yogurt for example to the office.

14. You are taking medications that prevent weight loss
Some drugs affect our metabolism. This is the case of those who treat depression, epileptic seizures (a few names: Remeron, Megace, Zyprexa,…).
Even if you are taking any of these medicines that promote weight gain, do not stop them but talk to your doctor first to find possible solutions.
 
15. You are not eating enough satiating foods
The food model most associated with a healthy weight is the Mediterranean model. Indeed, consuming fruits, vegetables, fish, seafood, low-fat dairy products, legumes and nuts are favorable to long-term weight loss.
Non-satiating foods will give you no nutritional value and no energy "  useful  ". This is the case with alcohol, refined grains and sugary drinks.

16. You don't enjoy the physical activity you do
Viewing physical activity as a chore has been shown to increase our food intake. Thus, practicing an exercise without pleasure would lead to eating sweets, desserts, less healthy snacks to compensate for the lack of pleasure during the exercise.
However, a person who perceives physical activity as pleasant tends to pay attention to his diet.
It is important to choose an activity that you like: first start by knowing if you prefer group lessons or alone. If you prefer group lessons, opt for zumba, dance, pilates, boxing…. and if you prefer to do it alone: register indoors and find the machine (ideally the machines) that will make you love your sport.

17. You have a high stress level
When we are exposed to stress, the body produces glucocoticoids: hormones that intervene in the release of energy.
The release of these hormones will increase the level of insulin in the blood which is used to push sugar into the cells of our body. This mechanism promotes the conversion of sugar into triglycerides, a type of fat, and the latter accumulates in the abdomen. Thus, repeated exposure to stress combined with consumption of foods high in fat and / or sugar can increase the accumulation of abdominal fat.
To store calories less, learn to reduce your stress.

There is also another reason why stress hinders weight loss:
Cortisol, which is the stress hormone when activated, prevents other hormones (leptin, ghrelin) from working properly.

18. I nevertheless eat healthily
Learn to write as soon as you eat a food, you will see that there is too often a bite to eat at the end of the children's meal, taste it here, etc. By keeping a food journal you will become aware of what you will eat.


In conclusion, several causes explain the difficulty you have in losing weight. Start by managing your behaviors by combining your lifestyle and schedules so that these changes will last over time.