7 Habits That May Be Stalling Your Weight Loss
We all know that there are certain things that we should or shouldn’t do when we are trying to lose weight or improve health; but sometimes even things we may think of as good or healthy can be a problem. We all know we probably shouldn’t be diving face first into the box of donuts or digging into that bag of leftover Halloween candy if we want to lose weight; but there are some other things that can halt progress that may not be so obvious.
Not getting enough sleep
Sleep is usually the first thing we sacrifice when life gets crazy, but that's the last thing you want to do if weight loss (or improved health) is your goal! Sleep is when the healing happens and is also the time when so many important body functions take place. Like organ and tissue repair, fat burning, muscle building and memory consolidation.
When it comes to fat loss you can have everything else dialed in but if your sleep is off you are just not going to see the best results. Lack of sleep can make you more insulin resistant, can increase hunger and cravings, and make you more apt to make poor food choices as your body is searching for quick energy from carbs.
Dealing with too much stress
This one is hard to get away from - it seems we are just bombarded with stress from every direction. But like lack of sleep, stress is a real fat loss killer. Stress, particularly the chronic kind, can increase cortisol, raise blood glucose, and affect your sleep. All of which can cause you to store and hold onto more belly fat. Stress has also been shown to contribute to leaky gut which affects not only weight loss but overall health.
Chronic cardio
I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s when cardio was the end-all-be-all. If a little was good, more was better...or was it?
We tend to think of cardio as a high calorie burn making it a natural go-to when you are wanting to lose fat. But that can actually be counterproductive to fat loss. Too much cardio, or chronic cardio, can raise your stress hormones - are you seeing how this kind of all comes full circle? It can cause oxidative stress and trigger the body to break down muscle - we don’t want that! When we do a lot of cardio (or for some exercise in general) we tend to use that to justify eating more or eating something that may not be supportive of our efforts. That whole I’ll eat this donut and just work it off in the gym, thing. Or maybe its I deserve this cookie after this morning's run. Chronic cardio can also make you hungrier - particularly for carbs - as your body searches for more fuel to refill your glycogen stores.
Snacking
We are often told to eat every few hours to help keep blood sugar stable and to boost the metabolism - but this is really flawed advice if you think about it.
Snacking doesn’t keep blood sugar “stable” it keeps blood sugar elevated, which is the opposite of what we want when we are trying to lose fat. When blood sugar is elevated, so is insulin, which just causes more fat storage and locks up the body fat that we already have making it impossible to access it for fuel.
Also, our body's are just not meant to spend the whole day digesting food - which is what you are asking it to do when you are constantly snacking or grazing throughout the day. It needs a break so it can use its energy to work on other things such as healing!
Consuming too much fructose
Fruit is one of those things that we tend to think of as a “free food”. We’re often told we should eat a lot of it because its healthy and is full of antioxidants. Fruit isn’t inherently bad, but the quantities that we are eating, thinking its good for us may actually be detrimental.
Fruit is high in a sugar called fructose - which is processed a bit differently in the body than other forms of sugar. Its metabolized by the liver, which when we eat a lot of fruit can tax the liver and has been linked to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Fructose can also raise ghrelin which is a hormone that can increase hunger.
If you are eating lots of whole or dried fruits, or drinking fruit juices (even fresh pressed), you could be getting more fructose than you think.
Drinking alcohol
No, I’m not going to tell you never to drink, but if fat loss is your goal it's definitely an area that you want to keep in check. Alcohol is a toxin so the body needs to deal with it before anything else. In doing so, it will turn off fat burning in order to prioritize getting it out of the bloodstream.
This is something to be particularly aware of if you are eating and drinking at the same time. Since the body will have to metabolize the alcohol first. This makes it more likely that you will store more of the energy that you get from the food you eat.
Alcohol can also affect sleep (going back to the vicious cycle), and lower inhibitions about making less than ideal food choices.
Eating late at night
Sometimes it's not just about what you eat but when you eat. Eating right before bed isn’t really a great idea for several reasons. It means that your body is forced to have to work to digest food when it is meant to be resting and repairing. Eating too close to bedtime can also affect your sleep, which again takes us back full circle with what we talked about above.
Ignoring food intolerances
If you have a food sensitivity or intolerance and continue to eat those foods it can trigger inflammatory response in the body. And many of us do this, whether consciously or unconsciously. I work with a lot of folks that know that they have issues with dairy, but they just have a really hard time giving it up.
These can even be foods normally considered healthy for most, but if your body is sensitive to or intolerant of that particular food it can be problematic for you. When your body is inflamed and feeling like it's constantly under attack - this perceived danger can cause your body to want to hold onto fat as a protective mechanism.