Are your high-intensity workouts and diets not showing any dramatic results on the weighing scale? Not being able to lose weight despite regular workouts is one of the common problems that most people experience. The main reason for this is your habits, which are sabotaging your efforts to lose weight.
Let’s take a look at the factors that are hindering your weight-loss journey:
Food intake: Not keeping check on your daily food intake is one of the primary reasons for ineffective weight loss. Maintaining a daily food journal can help you control the calorie intake.
Ignoring proteins: Proteins have high satiety value and protein-rich foods like eggs, chicken, fish and soy can reduce overall calorie consumption.
Skipping resistance training: Resistance training helps you develop muscle mass and burns fat at the same time.
An exercise rut: Doing the same exercises over a period of time and not increasing their intensity can cause you to hit a plateau. It is important to challenge your body by trying different combination of workouts.
Lack of sleep: Sleep deprivation affects both our physical and mental health, which in turn hampers the weight loss process.
Drinking habits: Good water intake helps boost the amount of calories we burn by 25-30%. Alcohol provides 7 cal per gram. Avoid beer and wine especially, as they are high in calories.
Medical reasons: Some medical issues like PCOD, hormonal imbalance, depression, and thyroid can interfere with weight loss.
Weight loss is a slow process. Follow a healthy diet, exercise regularly and give your body enough recovery time to achieve your target weight.
(The author is cosmetic dermatologist, anti-ageing expert at Aayna Clinic)
Published 20 October 2017, 16:22 IST