8 Reasons Why You arent Losing Weight

You’ve been cutting down on fat, controlling carbs and exercising five days a week. So why aren’t you losing weight or even worse, Why are you gaining?

1.      You overcompensate for exercise
Many of us reward our 1hr morning jog with a big bowl of icecream and feel justified(you’ve just burned off all those calories, right?),  Or is it the other way around? We eat a whole round of pizza with the intention of Burning it off later. however, it may be that by increasing your calorie intake to fuel or reward your sessions you are actually undoing all the hard work of your workout. In fact, as we often overestimate the calories we burn through exercise, you may even be taking in more than you have actually worked off, leading to weight gain rather than loss.

2.      You rely on exercise alone.
Yes, exercising can help you lose weight (and it has so many other health benefits) because it helps you create that calorie deficit needs to drop body fat. But here's the truth: Exercise alone will not help you lose weight. For emphasis, I'll say it again. If you are relying on exercise alone to lose weight, you are fighting an uphill battle. The best way to lose weight is to cut back on what you eat and increase your burn through exercise—not one or the other.

3.      You take/drink too much sugar/sugary drinks
Did you know that 2 cubes of sugar equals a slice of wheatbread? You watch what you eat, cut back on fatty foods and don’t snack between meals, but have you considered the amount of calories you may be drinking every day? While we all know the main calorie culprit when it comes to our drinks is alcohol, you should also consider the calories in fruit juice, smoothies, soft drinks and many hot drinks. Every calorie counts towards your daily intake, so don’t forget about the liquid ones!

4.      You eat large portions
If you’re eating low fat, healthy meals but are still not losing weight, it may be worth looking at your portion sizes. While you may think that you’re only eating three meals a day, with the increasing portion sizes many of us consume you could actually be eating the equivalent of 6 or more standard serving sizes each day. It is worth remembering that although the food you’re eating may be healthy, it should still be eaten in moderation, as eating too much of anything will cause you to gain weight.

5.      You eat too little
While eating too much food can cause you to gain weight, eating too little can also make it surprisingly difficult to shed those pounds. Your body has a natural instinct to protect itself so when it is not given an adequate amount of food it will automatically go into starvation mode, causing the metabolism to slow down and the body to hoard fat and calories. As a result of this it will become much more difficult for you to lose weight.

6.      You are not consistent
Perhaps even worse for your metabolism and waistline than eating too much or too little is flitting regularly between the two extremes. If you constantly go through a process of starving yourself one minute and bingeing the next, you will play havoc with your metabolism and cause your body to store more fat. As eating too little causes the metabolism to slow down, following this period with a binge will cause your body to quickly pile on the pounds
 

7.      You think you are living health but you are not
      If you still do "the-more-the-merrier with mayonnaise or butter, or pipe down palm oil in the vegetable soup, you are Joking! You may be eating one slice of Bread but your mayonnaise has enough calories for 3 slices. A table spoon of Palm oil has 120 calories. So watch out, you may be doing all things right but ignoring the little things that matter

8.      You haven’t given it enough time.Some people get instant results from dropping carbs, grains, sugar, and vegetable oils, while others have to take a month to get acclimated and only then does the weight begin to slide off. Also, the scale doesn’t always reflect your weightloss, so chill out!. You’re in it for the long run. Approach it with the right mindset and you won’t get discouraged. 

The right way to climb Stairs!

 You probably didn’t know there was a right way and a wrong way to climb stairs

  

Most of us go out of our way to avoid stairs, so first, I will give you reasons why you should go out of your way to look for stairs, then I will tell you how to climb.

·        It is totally free and just about all of us can get access to a set of stairs.

·        It leverages gravity and the heavier we are, the harder we're forced to work and the more calories we burn.

·        It is a relatively intense exercise that quickly increases our heart rate and in doing so can greatly improve our cardiovascular fitness.

·        It helps strengthen and shape our most common problem areas like calves, thighs, buttocks and tummy.

·        It actually flattens your Belly

·        It is a very efficient way of burning maximum calories and is great for those of us with limited time to exercise.

·        It can easily be mixed with other exercises, like walking, skipping and weight training, to maximize results and stair climbing workouts are easy to build progression into.

·        It can be done by almost anyone, regardless of fitness level.

·        Because it is weight bearing, it helps build bone strength.

·        It is low impact and safe for the knees (providing correct technique is used and a preexisting condition doesn't exist)..

How to Climb

You probably didn’t know there was a right way and a wrong way to climb stairs, did you?  Typically you just put one foot on the step in front of you, lean forward on your toes, and lift the other foot off the ground to advance to the next step.  WRONG!  You will probably have knee problems if you continue climbing stairs this way.  Instead, stand up straight and push off of your instep – NOT your toes – using the larger hip and thigh muscles to lift you to the next level.  As these muscles become more accustomed to being used, they will become stronger and more supportive, and it will be much easier for you to climb stairs.  Then, skip the elevator, and climb the stairs whenever you can..  You don’t need a stairclimbing machine to get a workout if you learn to climb properly! So get to climbing peeps!

lose weight at a buffet

Cook: How many pieces of roasted chicken do you want?
Me: How many do you give per person?

It was almost like a party every afternoon, a big hall, world continental buffet, appetizer and desert, how a company would feed its staffs this much and still make profit eludes me.  It was a 2weeks temporary job I took and every lunch hour was a feast, I would see food had only eaten in my dreams, lovely meals with names that the alphabet can’t spell, a dream come true. My first day at lunch hall went like this…

“Let me have the Spanish casserole, with the minced meat sauce and Chinese rice...ok no! Please replace it with that red thing, duck chili sauce? Yes and errmm…is that afang soup? You know what, just give me a little of everything…Thank you"

All these things spell “CALORIES!!!” but mehn, I had lost all the power and will to resist, na once is a life time o and the menu changes every day. No wonder when I first stepped in, I thought I had fallen into Giant Island, everyone looked so big! Except I wanted to change my week wardrobe within a week I either had to stay away from this hall or find a way around it.  I can’t tell you hold your breath every time you go for lunch, but I can give couple of “been there, done that” that works if you are fortunate/unfortunate to work with companies that feeding is their primary objective

Eat Breakfast:people that skip breakfast are often more vulnerable when faced with a mountain of food. Eating breakfast may reduce your hunger later in the day, which may make it easier to avoid swallowing the buffet table. Also choose a healthy breakfast.

Eat desert first:like the company I worked for, fruits or yogurts are usually in the mix, try eating your apples, yogurts first, it would fill up this space in your stomach and make you feel less hungry

Avoid fried:anything that has fried as a preface is a “no no”

Target the vegetable:if there is a vegetable option, go for it, it will help you fill up easily

Portion/plate size:a smaller plate will make you think you are eating more, a larger plate will make your plate look empty, so if you have an option use a smaller plate, remember it’s not about what you eat, it about the size of what you eat. Eat just a little, remember, there is always a tomorrow

Water Water Water!Try to take loads of water, the less inclined you’ll feel to eat more

Indulge once in a while: pick a day that you’ll allow yourself to eat without the guilt; it will give you a day to look forward to

Make healthy choices:do you have roasted potato and bread roll on the menu?, pick potato, fried or roasted fish, roasted is better, subtle changes can go a long way

Avoid a buffet if you can, but instance when you have no choice the least we can do is be smart about it. So go forth and eat and remember, all you can eat does not translate to all you SHOULD eat.

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Cheat Your Brain and Lose weight! BE SMART!

Don’t take sugar

Don’t take soda

Don’t eat past 7:00pm

Don’t eat more than a fist full of food…blah…blah…blah…blah

The list is endless, It’s almost like they are asking us blind our eyes and padlock our mouths just so we lose weight.

Losing an enormous amount of weight, I have figured out ways we can cheat our brain, keep the bad habit and still lose weight. First, I’m a drink person, and you all know that one of the rules to lose weight is cutting out the most drinks right?. Think of it this way, what if you don’t have to cut out the drinks? Do I have your attention yet? What if all you had to do is be smart?

The typical way we take our drink/bereavage is with the food right? One spoon, one gulp- atleast that’s how I’ve seen most Nigerians people do it. I’m not about to tell you not to take that coke - which is the right thing to do-for the sake of those who haven’t mastered the act of discipline, I’m going to tell you a trick…

When setting your table of soda and food, include water to the mix, or if you want to have tea with that bread, have a bottle of water close by. here is the trick, if you really must take a drink with your meal, make it your goal to finish the drink before you reach half of your plate or better still drink the tea or coke before you even start eating and drink the water if you still want to, The reason for this is simple. I have said, countless times, that calorie reduction is a easy way to weight loss, by finishing your drink before your food, you will realize that finishing that food will be a problem, there wouldn’t be that much space left in your stomach. By this you have killed two birds with one stone. First, you have satisfied your unhealthy hunger for a drink and you have reduced the amount of food you’ve eaten

Lets do a little maths, assuming on a regular you have a bottle of coke(150 calories) with a plate(1 cup) of white rice and stew(about 300 calories) on the average that’s about 450calories right? Following my trick, you would finish your coke first(150 calories) and about half your rice(150 calories) you have just saved 150 calories, following this trend, you will definitely lose weight

Don’t get too happy, in the end, you will still have to cut out the habit if you want to lose all of that weight, you can’t trick your brain for too long, it will catch on!. This trick will help at your early weight loss stage.

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