16 Reasons Why you are Struggling to Lose Weight

It goes without saying that to lose even 5 kg of body weight, you need to follow a proper diet and exercise routine. Though you can shed these initial pounds rather effortlessly; moving stubborn fat layers that form a majority of the weight would be an uphill task. Most of the times, the weighing scale would refuse to budge after some water weight is lost. After that, lack of knowledge on what to do and what would eventually work would stall the whole weight loss process. That’s why people on Rati Beauty are able to shed considerable amount of weight and reach their target because the weekly diets and exercise routine are easy to follow, are not based on the concept of food deprivation or crash dieting, and proper guidance is provided at every step. Sustainable weight management is possible only by following healthy diets such as on Rati Beauty app. Coming back to weight loss struggles, as we tend to up the ante and increase the intensity of exercise and cut down calories, the body’s primitive tendency to resist weight loss efforts and to cling to its fat storage kicks in, lowering metabolism, increasing level of hunger hormone “ghrelin,”, throwing hormones out of whack to maintain fat storages. However, if you still feel you are doing everything right and in your might that should help you become a lighter version of yourself, we would like to point out that there are various little known factors that might stall the process. In this post, we will bring into focus some reasons why you are struggling to lose weight.

1. Letting Guards Down on Weekends: If you have stuck to your diet throughout the week, but stretch the cheat meal into a cheat weekend, you are undoing a week’s worth of effort. Do practice mindful eating during weekends and keep a tabs on calorie intake even while socializing or getting together with friends. Most importantly, keep “cheat meal” as a single time indulgence, avoid stretching it into a two-day affair.
2. Overeating Healthy Foods: It’s important to be in calorie deficit even while eating healthy foods (Read – 18 Awesome Tips to Create Calorie Deficit to Lose Weight). This is a common mistake people who want to lose weight commit – they do not count calories with healthy foods – and that includes avocado, oatmeal, and even fruits. Without maintaining calorie deficit, weight loss is not possible, and that’s a fact. Calories in should be less than calories out, but we tend to ignore this formula with regards to healthy food. Oats, almonds, fruits, brown rice are all healthy, but they still have calories in them, which can add up and lead to weight gain.
3. Not Eating Mindfully during Parties/Festivals/Social Gatherings: Since the festive season isn’t over yet and the New Year’s even is just around the corner, do practice mindful eating during on such occasions. Most importantly, do bounce back with the next meal even if you have faltered on the diet because every meal is a new opportunity to restart and get back on track.
4. Forgetting to count calories in extra nibbles, bites, licks, and taste tests: Taking a few bites here and there, nibbling on just one piece of chocolate, licking just the cream off a few cookies, and doing taste tests during cooking – all set off release of the hormone insulin, and every time insulin level spikes, it triggers fat storage. So, do make every bite count along with the licks and the nibbles!
5. Overdoing Exercise without any Rest Days: Exercise is an important factor that leads to shedding of fat layers, but working out on a daily basis without taking any rest days would prove counterproductive because it would lead to lower metabolism, hormonal imbalances, and increase stress – all leading to weight gain.
6. Just One Hour of Exercise and Become Immobile for the Rest of the Day: Working out for just one hour in the gym, and spending the rest of the day at the desk or on the couch will not lead to any major shedding of weight because one needs to remain active through the day and that’s why practicing NEAT activities is necessary. Read How you Can Burn Extra Calories with NEAT activities here.
7. Eating Less But Most of it is Unhealthy Food: Okay, so you do count every calorie through the day, and remain within the calorie count to lose weight, but a major chunk of those calories come from unhealthy food such as transfat, sugar, and oily food. In the long term, such a strategy would not work because transfat, sugar, do not provide any nourishment to the body, and on the contrary, trigger weight gain in all individuals. Switch to healthy, whole foods, check out such weight loss diets on Rati Beauty app.
8. Portion Control out of Hand: To maintain calorie deficit, it is imperative to control portions. Do switch to smaller plates and taller glasses in order to portion control and refrain from going in for second servings of food. Also, avoid eating directly from packets and boxes of food to keep a tabs on portions.
9. Chronic Inflammation: Chronic inflammation affects normal functioning of the body – from digestion to hormonal function, to metabolism and weight gain. When the body remains in inflammation for a long period of time, it can lead to heart attack, stroke, high risk of cancer, digestive issues, type 2 diabetes, etc. With inflammation in the body, it becomes extremely difficult to lose weight, and here’s how you can reduce inflammation in the body.
10. Not Enough Sleep: As we have always maintained, sleep deprivation and changes in circadian rhythm is directly linked to weight gain. The one thumb rule you should follow while trying to lose weight is to sleep for at least 7 hours each night and stay away from blue light from the gadgets to have a sound sleep at night. Lack of sleep throws important fat-burning hormones out of whack and weight gain is a direct outcome of less number of shuteye hours.
11. Dehydration: Since the human body is made of approximately 60% water, it is absolutely essential to run all key functions in the body, from digestion to synthesis of various hormones and enzymes in the body. It is also important for muscle function and for the fat-burning process. One should not limit water consumption at just 8 glasses per day, you need at least 2 litres of water to stay well hydrated and to boost weight loss.
12. Chronic Stress: When under stressful situation, the adrenal gland release a hormone called “cortisol,” which triggers cravings, release of glucose, and further slows down metabolism to cope up with stressful situations. All these factors would make the body gain weight and stall any efforts at burning fat.
13. Gut Not Strong Enough: Fat burning takes place only when the gut is healthy and that’s why prebiotics and probiotics that support healthy bacteria in the gut boosts better absorption and supply of nutrients into the bloodstream. A healthy gut is also the secret behind weight loss, so keep it strong with a good intake of prebiotics and probiotics, and fermented food.
14. Not Enough Protein: It’s an all-important nutrient which has thermogenic effect, keeps one satiated for long, boosts metabolism, and accelerates the fat-burning process. Here are some amazing vegetarian sources of protein that you can include in your diet.
15. Frequent Snacking: Frequent snacking leads to frequent insulin spikes which leads to storage of excess calories as fat, particularly around the belly and hip area.
16. Hormonal Imbalance: More than anything, thyroid, insulin, human growth hormone, leptin, ghrelin imbalances can trigger weight gain because all of them affect metabolism in one way or other. Do check out with your physician on how you can manage these hormones in order to lose weight.