By Sarah Cowell
Diet, exercise and a positive attitude should be enough to shift those excess kilograms you have been carrying for years, right? Wrong. If you are trying to lose weight but failing miserably, consider these questions. If you answer negatively to any of them then you need to make changes.
1. Portion sizes too big?
Most of us eat way more food than we actually need. A good way to judge the amount of food you are consuming is as simple as this. Your plate should be made up of three basic food groups; fruits and veggies (essential vitamins), meat or fish (protein); oats, wheat, brown rice (good carbs). Each plated portion of these groups should be no bigger than your fist. Also, try eating from a smaller plate. This may sound ridiculous, but we tend to eat until there is nothing left in front of us, so avoid temptation.
2. Not sleeping well?
Studies prove that people who sleep less than 6-8 hours a night tend to be fatter than good sleepers. When we are over-tired we eat to compensate for our bodies lack of energy, the brain craves fuel to function and also you are probably awake for more hours in the day and consume more calories than a person who rests and sleeps well. Improve your sleeping pattern by creating a peaceful and restful sleeping environment. Decorate your bedroom in soothing natural colours, hang heavy curtains to block out light and make time to relax before hitting the sack.
1. Portion sizes too big?
Most of us eat way more food than we actually need. A good way to judge the amount of food you are consuming is as simple as this. Your plate should be made up of three basic food groups; fruits and veggies (essential vitamins), meat or fish (protein); oats, wheat, brown rice (good carbs). Each plated portion of these groups should be no bigger than your fist. Also, try eating from a smaller plate. This may sound ridiculous, but we tend to eat until there is nothing left in front of us, so avoid temptation.
2. Not sleeping well?
Studies prove that people who sleep less than 6-8 hours a night tend to be fatter than good sleepers. When we are over-tired we eat to compensate for our bodies lack of energy, the brain craves fuel to function and also you are probably awake for more hours in the day and consume more calories than a person who rests and sleeps well. Improve your sleeping pattern by creating a peaceful and restful sleeping environment. Decorate your bedroom in soothing natural colours, hang heavy curtains to block out light and make time to relax before hitting the sack.
3. Skipping breakfast?
More studies show that people who skip breakfast tend to be heavier than a person who eats first thing in the morning. This is because ‘breakfast-skippers’ tend to crave sugary snacks mid-morning as the body enters starvation mode and crashes. If the thought of eating breakfast turns your stomach, easy yourself in gently. You don’t have to prepare and eat a massive meal. A simple bowl of wheat-bran or oats/porridge with fruit will suffice. Make sure your choice of breakfast is rich in slow-burning fibre and if you choose cereal, stick to low-fat milk to lower the calorie intake.
4. Not getting enough exercise?
You may think that going to the gym once or twice a week is enough to shift the pounds. It isn’t. You need to make time to exercise properly at least three times a week. You should break a sweat and be out of breath for at least 30 minutes during your training session. Make small changes in everyday life too, by walking up the escalator instead of just standing on it.
More studies show that people who skip breakfast tend to be heavier than a person who eats first thing in the morning. This is because ‘breakfast-skippers’ tend to crave sugary snacks mid-morning as the body enters starvation mode and crashes. If the thought of eating breakfast turns your stomach, easy yourself in gently. You don’t have to prepare and eat a massive meal. A simple bowl of wheat-bran or oats/porridge with fruit will suffice. Make sure your choice of breakfast is rich in slow-burning fibre and if you choose cereal, stick to low-fat milk to lower the calorie intake.
4. Not getting enough exercise?
You may think that going to the gym once or twice a week is enough to shift the pounds. It isn’t. You need to make time to exercise properly at least three times a week. You should break a sweat and be out of breath for at least 30 minutes during your training session. Make small changes in everyday life too, by walking up the escalator instead of just standing on it.
5. Not tweaking your work outs?
If you do work out three to five times a week and your weight loss programme has plateaued, you need to progress your routine. Keep the same exercises but make them more challenging; run/walk further, run/walk faster, devise an interval programme (walk 2 minutes, run 3 minutes on an incline), increase the weight you lift or increase the number of reps you do, hold that plank for longer, do sit-ups while resting a free weight on your chest. Small changes make a massive difference and you will re-engage with your exercise routine.
6. Eating needlessly?
Consider this carefully. Do you snack between meals and eat when you are not feeling hungry? Then you are a thoughtless eater. If you exercise regularly you should eat three square meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and drink 2-2.5 litres of water a day. That’s it. This water intake can include tea and coffee and you may need to drink more water if you exercise vigorously. The odd treat in moderation is allowed but consider what and how you eat.
If you do work out three to five times a week and your weight loss programme has plateaued, you need to progress your routine. Keep the same exercises but make them more challenging; run/walk further, run/walk faster, devise an interval programme (walk 2 minutes, run 3 minutes on an incline), increase the weight you lift or increase the number of reps you do, hold that plank for longer, do sit-ups while resting a free weight on your chest. Small changes make a massive difference and you will re-engage with your exercise routine.
6. Eating needlessly?
Consider this carefully. Do you snack between meals and eat when you are not feeling hungry? Then you are a thoughtless eater. If you exercise regularly you should eat three square meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and drink 2-2.5 litres of water a day. That’s it. This water intake can include tea and coffee and you may need to drink more water if you exercise vigorously. The odd treat in moderation is allowed but consider what and how you eat.
7. Eating the wrong food?
Do you really think about what you are eating? Sugary drinks are the biggest culprit of weight gain for people who think they have a healthy diet. It’s great to eat fish instead of red meat and switch from white rice to brown, but if you drink four cans of full-fat soda a day then your sugar intake amounts to more calories than you can burn off. Even diet drinks should be avoided. They provide zero nutritional value, suck the calcium from your bones and the carbonate leaves you feeling hungry – much like chewing gum.
8. Do you see food as a reward?
After a great gym work out there is nothing better than to reward yourself with a sugary treat or yummy dessert, but consider all the hard work that is undone in one fell swoop. A good way to approach treating yourself is to save it for the weekend. Stick to a healthy, low-fat, low-in-sugar diet during the week (five days) and then at weekends eat some of your favourite things. After a couple of weeks you will notice that you don’t crave sugary foods as much and it won’t be such a big hill to climb.
Do you really think about what you are eating? Sugary drinks are the biggest culprit of weight gain for people who think they have a healthy diet. It’s great to eat fish instead of red meat and switch from white rice to brown, but if you drink four cans of full-fat soda a day then your sugar intake amounts to more calories than you can burn off. Even diet drinks should be avoided. They provide zero nutritional value, suck the calcium from your bones and the carbonate leaves you feeling hungry – much like chewing gum.
8. Do you see food as a reward?
After a great gym work out there is nothing better than to reward yourself with a sugary treat or yummy dessert, but consider all the hard work that is undone in one fell swoop. A good way to approach treating yourself is to save it for the weekend. Stick to a healthy, low-fat, low-in-sugar diet during the week (five days) and then at weekends eat some of your favourite things. After a couple of weeks you will notice that you don’t crave sugary foods as much and it won’t be such a big hill to climb.
9. Are you honest with yourself?
Most overweight people lie to themselves about their food intake or they simply do not understand what certain foods contain. Educate yourself; learn to read food labels and know the difference between labels that say ‘low in fat’ and foods that truly are providing you with essential good fats. There is tonnes of easy-to-understand information on the internet to help with this and remember; the average woman only needs 2000 calories a day to maintain a healthy weight.
10. You’re inconsistent?
If you have answered yes to this then you need to do two things. Firstly, stop dieting; it doesn’t work and secondly, stop seeing a healthy lifestyle as a temporary fix. It should be an approach you adopt forever. Eating well for the majority of the week combined with three to five workout sessions a week of a sport or activity you enjoy should become a routine and a way of life for you. If you see healthy living as deprivation then you will crumble and ultimately fail in your weight loss goals.
Most overweight people lie to themselves about their food intake or they simply do not understand what certain foods contain. Educate yourself; learn to read food labels and know the difference between labels that say ‘low in fat’ and foods that truly are providing you with essential good fats. There is tonnes of easy-to-understand information on the internet to help with this and remember; the average woman only needs 2000 calories a day to maintain a healthy weight.
10. You’re inconsistent?
If you have answered yes to this then you need to do two things. Firstly, stop dieting; it doesn’t work and secondly, stop seeing a healthy lifestyle as a temporary fix. It should be an approach you adopt forever. Eating well for the majority of the week combined with three to five workout sessions a week of a sport or activity you enjoy should become a routine and a way of life for you. If you see healthy living as deprivation then you will crumble and ultimately fail in your weight loss goals.
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