HEATHER MARR
Sometimes, we think we’re eating healthfully, but we still can’t drop weight.
Here are five reasons you're not losing weight that might be the case for you:
1. Juicing
When we eat a fruit or a vegetable, we chew it in our mouths and swallow and the food ends up in our stomach—simple. There, our body has to work to finish breaking the food down. This takes time and energy, both good things. While our body is breaking the food down, we are burning calories. While this is going on, the fruit or vegetable is in our stomach, keeping us nice and full and less likely to reach for more food. That generally results in less overall calories eaten throughout the day.
Unfortunately, when we juice, the food is already broken down for us. The body does not need to do the work to break it down, and so the amount of calories we use digesting is lower. The other downside is that the juice moves in and out of our stomach much more quickly than solid food. This leaves us feeling hungry earlier on and much more likely to eat more food, resulting in more calories being ingested.
2. Not Drinking Water
The only thing you lose when you don't drink water is water weight—not fat. Water helps you lose weight. When your body is dehydrated, a number of things happen that are detrimental to your weight loss efforts: First off, you feel hungry when you’re thirsty, so you are more likely to eat. Workout performance and endurance decreases, so you burn less calories. Your heart has to pump blood to working muscles during exercise and that's a tough job to do when you're dehydrated. Most importantly, your metabolism slows down.
In general, by the time you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Different people with different activity levels and diets need to drink different amounts of water. A good rule of thumb is to check your urine. A pale yellow color is ideal. If you see a dark yellow, start drinking!
3. Fasting
This is a terrible idea on so many levels. When a person fasts, he or she will, of course, see a reduction in weight on the scale. But the majority of weight loss during short term fasts is water. Also, while fasting, the body loses muscle mass, the metabolism slows and hunger is increased (depending on the length of the fast). As a result, when the fast is over, if lifestyle changes to diet and training are not made and regular eating patterns have resumed, the person will gain weight and often end up even heavier than at the start.
4. No Treat Meals
This one is a mistake I see with many of my clients. It often leads to massive junk food and sugar binges. There is no such thing as eating perfectly for the rest of your life. It is not going to happen. You need to be realistic and plan nice treat meals to look forward to and give yourself a mental break from the stress of dieting. That doesn't mean that every day is going to have treat meals, but allowing yourself indulgences in moderation is part of a healthy long-term plan. It will keep you focused in the long run and deter massive binges.
5. Honey as a Sugar Alternative
Honey should not be used in place of sugar in a weight loss plan. Most people do not realize that, in fact, honey is higher in calories and carbohydrates than sugar. There are arguments that can be made for choosing honey over sugar, but the reality is both should be avoided while trying to lose weight. Honey can be used as a treat in moderation to sweeten foods, but the key word is “treat.” The bottom line is that we need to retrain our palates to appreciate the natural sweetness in our food.
The real key to long-term, successful weight loss is hard work, healthy habits and a total lifestyle change. There really is no fast, magic solution; and, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
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