5 Common Weight Loss Struggles

BY Y. SMITTY

I love to eat and I am not ashamed of that fact. I admit with that loves comes a struggle. This is a serious struggle that many women deal with. How do we lose the weight we gain due to our obsessive love of food? We go to the gym and spend an hour on this machine and that machine. We are posting our pics on social media sweating and "getting it in" and six months later the scale looks the same and so does the image in the mirror! Okay maybe it’s just me! Maybe you are ripped up and lean with no struggles at all. In my reality, I struggle with what to eat, what to avoid and portion control among other things. If you can relate to my dilemma I will share 5 common issues that could be the reason we are not dropping the pounds like other women.



1. Eating the Wrong Foods - I had a conversation with a friend who is a trainer she made me realize the foods in my pantry are processed foods and that is part of the problem. Process foods are foods that can sit on a shelf in a box or bag for months or years. They have been processed to remain in the same stated until the customer is ready to consume them. For example, Hamburger Helper is a processed food. It’s in a box with some pre-packaged powder cheese and pre-packaged macaroni. It made me think about what to shop for. I now have very little processed food in my pantry. Do I eat processed foods? Yes, but not as much. Certain things we just simply do not buy anymore. Inspect your pantry and see what you are actually eating. If you are in the gym an hour a day and burning calories and go home and eat trash, you just wasted your time.


2. Doing the Wrong Exercise - If you are on the treadmill everyday for a period of time and you are no longer losing weight and that it your goal, maybe straight cardio is not working for you anymore and you should consider interval training. Interval training can be something such as running as fast as you can for 2 minutes and then walk for 30 seconds and repeat. You want to go from a high intensity training to a low intensity training.

3. Medical Problems - Some women find it difficult to lose weight not for the lack of trying. Medical conditions prevent women from losing weight. Medications such as birth control can cause weight gain. Another common medical condition women experience is hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a condition in which your thyroid does not produce enough of certain important hormones. Over time untreated hypothyroidism can cause a number of health problems, one being obesity. A simple blood test can detect this medical condition.

4. Stress - When some people (myself specifically) stress we tend to gain weight as stress triggers the body to release cortisol which is an appetite stimulating hormone. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to snack when you get stressed? Okay, again maybe it’s just me!

5. Not eating enough - I know this sounds unlikely and you are wondering how you are gaining weight when you are eating less. The fact is not eating enough nutrient rich foods will cause your body to go into starvation mode. You body is holding on to fat because it does not know when you will feed it again. Women should consume at a minimum of 1200 calories per day. Anything less will slow down your metabolism and cause you to burn calories at a slower rate. It’s okay to eat as long as you are consuming appropriate foods which we will discuss in future post.