5 REASONS YOU DON’T LOSE WEIGHT

Weight loss will be followed by fatigue and constant tiredness.
Because no - it's not just about cutting calories and increasing the amount of exercise! 

.

There can be many different factors that keep you from losing weight, and these often interrelate to each other. My experience is that if one of them is out of service, the others are most likely out of service as well. 

.

And all of these also affect your overall health, energy, glow, your hormones, your mental health and also - your weight! 

.

So let’s dig in! 

.

1. YOU ARE EATING TOO LITTLE

Yes you read that right. If you eat too little over time, then several different things happen in your body that make it difficult to lose weight:

.

• You get increased hunger and cravings, and your brain is focused on food because it is experiencing hunger and food shortage.

.

• You get extremely hungry, your energy drops throughout the day, you get a lot of cravings over the course of a few days and the quality of your thoughts gets worse. Suddenly you lose focus of your goal and act on autopilot by putting something unhealthy in your mouth.

.

• If you cut too many calories, you will not get enough proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. Thus, your body does not recover, your energy is low and you get minor injuries. You wear yourself out and drive straight towards the famous wall! 

.

• The nutrients from your diet are what you depend on to lose weight and get healthy. Therefore, eating too little will negatively affect your body, messing up your hormones and metabolism from too little nutrients. This in turn affects whether you are able to burn fat and lose weight. You scale a hormonal "shitstorm" on the inside making you press the brakes. 

.

2. YOU EXERCISE, BUT YOU EAT TOO MUCH

Many people exercise constantly when they want to lose weight, but they completely overestimate how much extra food they need to eat when they exercise. So even if you exercise hard, you still need to eat a lot. And even though you could be focusing on eating healthy, eating a calorie deficit is still too much for you when you want to lose weight. 

.

There are also many forms of exercise that actually increase your appetite significantly, thus resulting in you eating more than you burn, and still not helping you lose weight. 

.

3. YOU JUMP FROM DIET TO DIET AND HAVE NO CONTINUITY OVER TIME

You are constantly on the lookout for "the holy grail of all diets", and therefore you never stick long enough to "a diet plan" so that you actually get results.

.

This only makes you even more uncertain about how you will be able to lose weight, while also making you lose confidence in being able to find something that works for you. 

.

On top of that, it usually only leads to a strained relationship with food. At the same time, you lose touch with your freedom and social life when you are trying not to abandon the plan and feel like you "ruined the diet".

.

All in all, there is nothing good about doing "diet plans".

.

In order to make something so sustainable that you get all the way to the goal and stay there permanently, you have to make things happen regularly over time, without feeling limited or afraid of making mistakes. It is THEN you feel that you have the freedom to "do and participate in life". All this while eating the way you want and feeling satisfied with your quality of life. 

.

4. YOU DON'T GET ENOUGH SLEEP

Sleep is the most important factor that must be in place to lose weight and improve your health. Shocking, right?

.

This is why it does not work to squeeze in an extreme diet and a hectic exercise program in an already busy everyday life where you are overworked, over-stressed and sleep too little in the first place. All you have to do is put your foot on the accelerator pedal to get to the famous wall even faster.

.

Sleep is even more important than exercise for your weight to go down - you actually have to make sure you sleep enough.

.

Too little sleep leads to many negative effects on the body and a potential weight gain:

.

• It leads to water retention so you feel swollen and "fluffy". 

.

• It increases the levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn makes it easier for you to store body fat from the calories that you eat.

.

• Over time, you become less sensitive to insulin - or rather insulin resistant. Thus, you probably store extra carbohydrates and energy from the food you eat, such as fat mass on the body. 

.

• Too little sleep leads to a change in your hormones which in turn leads to increased appetite. Consequently you get increased appetite and extra cravings, without the need for more food.

.

• When you have eaten too little, you recover worse, and the quality of your thinking gets worse. Therefore, it is very unlikely that you will choose a quality meal when you have a craving for food, making it easier to eat something really fat-rich and carbohydrate-rich - aka unhealthy, rather than a lean chicken salad.  

.

In other words, you gain weight more easily due to lack of sleep.

.

5. YOU'RE STRESSING TOO MUCH 

If you stress too much in everyday life while you also get too little sleep, the levels of stress hormones in your body increase. When the levels of the stress hormones cortisol, adrenaline and nor-adrenaline become chronically high, it makes it easier for you to store fat. At the same time, you may experience a reduction in muscle mass which in turn is not helping you lose weight because you need more muscles to burn fat. It is also very likely that there will be an increased storage of fat around and in your abdomen, which is the most harmful fat for your health.

.

Chronic stress can also come from mental stress, such as feeling overwhelmed and overworked at work, always rushing, never finishing tasks, never feeling that you are getting better or that you are good enough. Negative emotions also generate the same stress response in your body, and too much mental stress will directly affect your ability to lose weight. 

.

Thus, chronic stress makes it even harder to lose weight, and you can do EVERYTHING right with diet and exercise, but your body wouldn't lose an ounce of weight and you think "I only have to look at chocolate and I gain weight." 

.

SO WHERE SHOULD YOU BEGIN?

So in order to be able to lose weight in a way that benefits your health, your body and your well-being and ability to function in everyday life, all these factors must be in place:

.

• Eat good quality food in balanced meals.

.

• Exercise properly, but not too much, and be aware of how your appetite is affected by all the exercise. "Just enough" is a great place to start with your exercise. This helps you lose weight without creating more stress response in your body from all the exercise. 

.

• Do not think "diet" when you think of your food, but eat proper foods and make your meals from scratch. Start with food you like and put the meals together in a smarter way that will make it more likely for you to want to eat. This will make it work in the long run.

.

• Make sure you get enough sleep, and aim to get an extra hour as often as you can. It can actually ease the whole process and speed up the fat burning in your body. 

.

• Learn to deal with stress by building strong emotional fitness. If you do not have emotional fitness yet, then this is the first thing you need to prioritize. Emotional fitness is the mental key that is crucial for you to be able to build good habits, make good choices and not be a reactive emotional lump from the storm of emotions in your everyday life. This is crucial for the quality of your thoughts and the choices you make in the short and long term, and thus it is absolutely crucial that you are able to do the right things for the right reasons in the long run so that you reach your goals!

.

These are just a few of the things I work on in Wholehearted Transformation. A transformation from the inside out,where we start upgrading you on the inside, followed by your outside, and creating long lasting results. To be able to change habits, you have to change your thinking, because your habits do not upgrade until you upgrade yourself.

.

You are therefore most welcome to book a discovery call if you want to know more about how I can help you. Book a call here .

.

Welcome!