How to Overcome Common Roadblocks in Your Weight Loss Journey
For many of us, it feels like weight gain happens so rapidly. You might feel like you gain weight quickly for a variety of reasons that depend on the needs of your body. Some people gain weight quickly when they are consistently staying up late and not giving their bodies the rest they need. Others find that they have an excessive amount of stress in their lives, due to work or other personal reasons, that make weight gain happen so quickly. Some of the other reasons people tend to gain weight quickly include:
- Not eating sufficient amounts of protein
- Working out excessively or not enough
- Suffering from a recent injury
- Overeating
- Dehydration
- Intaking excessive amounts of sodium
- Thyroid issues
- Depression
- Certain medications
As you can see, there are many different reasons weight gain could be happening so quickly. We recommend meeting with your healthcare provider as well as with our team to learn more about what is going on in your body and establishing the best plan for you. We know that weight gain can be quite easy, but why is it that losing weight can be so hard? Below are some of the top obstacles individuals run into when trying to lose weight:
- Your body puts up a fight during the weight loss process.
When you are trying to lose weight, it means breaking old patterns and building new ones. As we know, old habits die hard, and this is the case for biological factors that take place in your body as well. When you lose weight, your body decreases the hormone leptin that is responsible for letting your brain know that you are full. Instead, your body increases the amount of the hormone ghrelin, which stimulate hunger. This issue makes it difficult for those who begin to lose weight to continue their journeys, and it might be one of the reasons it is so easy to fall back into old habits.
- You are only exercising without changing your diet, or only changing your diet without exercising.
We can’t necessarily control the hormones in our body, but we can control our personal choices. Healthy dietary habits and exercising are equally important parts of weight management. If you are only doing one or the other, it will likely catch up to you and cause weight gain. Those who need to lose significant amounts of weight should be active at least 30 minutes every day, and they should make sure to follow a diet plan that is both healthy and keeps them on track to meet their fitness goals.
- You are not keeping a positive outlook or you are exposing yourself to harmful environmental factors.
While many of the factors regarding weight loss journeys occur inside our bodies, these are two factors we can work actively every day to control. In order to lose weight and to feel good about our bodies, it is important to feel good about our goals as well. This means holding ourselves accountable and believing we can actually achieve them. Keep reminding yourself why you wanted to lose weight in the first place. We often find that simply “looking better” is not enough to keep people going. Instead, think about all of the health benefits, the elevated mood, and the positive impact you are making on your overall quality of life. In the meantime, avoid putting yourself in situations that you know will impede your weight loss journey. It is okay to indulge every once in a while, and some experts might even recommend it, but constantly going back to the same places that made you unhealthy, like the bar or the junk good aisle, will not help you get healthy. Making habitual changes and keeping a positive attitude will serve you well in life and in weight loss.
To get more weight loss tips from Soza Weight Loss, and to find out how we can help you along your journey, call us at (504) 475-9817 or contact us online.