Tweeted today.
Anyone who has tried to lose weight has experienced the frustration of actually gaining weight after a week of healthy eating and diligent exercise. You spend the week watching what you eat by choosing an apple instead of a bag of chips. You get up an hour early and do an exercise video even though you would prefer to sleep in. You jump on a scale hopeful of seeing the scale reward you. And you have actually gained weight. "How could that be? I worked so hard!!!" It is beyond frustrating, and often times, it actually makes us wonder if it's worth the trouble.
There are a number of different reasons why, after working hard and eating right, we either gain weight or sustain our current weight. For women, a small shift in your hormones can change your body weight by several pounds in just one day. Stress can also affect your weight. The hormone cortisol is a stress related hormone that may contribute to weight issues and can actually slow down your metabolism. So even if you don't eat more food that usual, you still gain weight.
More often, we stop losing weight because of the Set-Point Theory. According to this school of though, the Set-Point Theory says that despite good eating our bodies tend to stay at (or return to) a specific weight. This can be great if your Set-Point is were you want it to be, but if you want your weight to be lower this can prove to be very frustrating.
Many fitness professionals feel one of the best ways to lower your Set-Point is through incorporating a new form of exercise. By either changing your current exercise program or kicking it up a notch is a common way to reset your bodies natural Set-Point. For example, if you are doing Step Aerobics for your cardio, consider finding a workout video that adds intervals of weights tor calisthenics to your Step workout. Or if you are doing a Low Impact workout, consider a Boot-Camp style workout to shake it up. Because to often, when we do the same workout for to long, our bodies kind of "memorize" how to do it and we actually burn less calories for the same workout. So by changing what you do (or how hard you do it), your body will kind of "wake up" and be required to work more effectively...and then burn more fat!
Lastly, if you are struggling reaching your goal weight I suggest journaling your food. Sometimes we are actually eating more than we think we are. A bit here, a bit there and the calories can add up. Think about it, one cookie is around 100 calories. And a handful of chips is another 100. Do that two or three times a day and that going to affect you on the scale by up to a pound a week!
Take an honest look at your life and decide if you need to adjust your calories, diet or lifestyle. If you need to step it up a notch in exercise, try some new workout videos and push yourself just 10% harder or longer. If you're life is full of stress, consider adding Yoga to your exercise program. And if you struggle with your diet, focus on whole foods that nourish your body. But remember, above it all, that weight management is something you will be doing for the rest of your life. So don't stress if one week you gain a few pounds. Just take a few minutes and review what you did well and what you could do better and make the needed adjustments for the next week. Remember, it's a lifelong journey. And any journey that is that long is bound to have peaks and valleys - cut yourself some slack and focus more on living healthfully.
No comments:
Post a Comment