We have all the information at our fingertips. We have access to good quality food, and fitness training opportunities abound: From fun dancing classes, to social sporting groups, to gyms filled with modern toy-like equipment. And yet, collectively, the modern world seems to find it almost impossible to lose weight and keep it off. What’s going wrong?
Weight tends to creep on gradually, a kilo here and a kilo there, almost imperceptibly, until, shockingly, you have to buy larger clothes. You know that a crash diet may work, but those kilos will bounce back on when you return to ‘normal’ eating. Here are some reasons you may have gained weight:
- You became malnourished in the vitamins and minerals that help your body create muscle rather than fat. Your body’s ability to build muscle relies on the presence of protein and important minerals that are often lacking in a modern diet full of processed food. Without these substances, your body creates fat instead of muscle.
- You stopped moving: Perhaps you gave up that regular team sport because of an injury, but never got back to it, or didn’t replace it with another sport. Regular exercise boosts your metabolic rate and promotes the formation of muscle (which will burn energy 24 hours a day). Your muscle turned to fat, which expends no energy at all to be stored. Goodbye toned shape. Hello flab.
- Your portion sizes increased: Perhaps you purchased a new dinner set with larger plates, and your dinner enlarged as well.
- You began eating mindlessly, because you’re busier. Eating on the run while driving, watching TV, checking emails? It’s hard to hear your stomach shouting “enough - I’m full” when your mind is occupied elsewhere.
- You stopped planning ahead for meals, because you’re tired. So you opt for the ‘quick & easy’ instant or take-away meal instead of a home cooked meal. Preparing healthy food does take time. Somehow, the easy meals appear on the table more often, and your waistline is showing the effects of all that extra fat and sugar.
- You embarked on several crash diets without extra exercise, then returned to ‘normal’ eating, and the kilos returned. With each round of dieting it seems to be harder to lose the weight. It is. You’ve lost a little more muscle with each diet (without exercise, you will lose muscle rather than fat when you withhold calories), and your metabolism is now in ‘starvation’ mode, rigorously sparing every possible calorie in case you ‘starve’ again. Increase your exercise first, then reduce your food intake.
- You’ve aged, or you’re stressed, so your endocrine system needs support to create metabolism-boosting hormones. Stress and aging seem to promote fat deposits particularly on the abdomen. You may need professional help to address this.
Recognise yourself in any of these? If so, try ‘undoing’ what has been done for more effective, long term weight management.
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