Are you putting in all of the hard work but not seeing the
pounds come off? Whether you just started dieting and exercising to get
healthier or you’ve been dieting for a while and the progress has slowed to a
stop; here are several possible scenarios:
1) You’re eating too little…
A lot of people today don’t realize that they actually don’t eat that
much,
 |
" Eat 4-6 Smaller
Meals a day" |
and what they do eat is usually crap. It’s understandable, it’s a busy
world today, some people work 2 jobs, some people have kids, school, and so on;
a lot of the time it’s hard to get a decent meal in, or exercise for that
matter, and many just opt out for fast-food or something similarly unhealthy.
So what happens when you have a primarily sedentary lifestyle (sitting in an
office all day, minimal movement, watching TV), and consume little calories,
and from poor sources (processed foods, foods high in fat, fast food etc.),
overtime the body’s metabolism will slow down to accommodate the lack of energy
(calories). So when a person in this scenario decides to start dieting, eating
fewer calories to lose weight, they don’t realize that they’re only making the
situation worse by slowing the metabolism more. Eventually the body can go into
starvation mode and virtually store and hold all the food you eat, stopping you
from losing weight, and possibly even causing weight gain.
The solution is to
roughly track your calories for a week or so; and if you’re eating fewer than
1,000-1,500 calories a day depending on your size, weight, and so on you could
be putting your metabolism in danger of slowing down severely. What you need to
do is spike your metabolism and get it going again, think of it as kind of like
jumping a car when the battery goes out. To do so you need to gradually up your
calorie intake, and try to make the source as healthy and “clean” as possible.
Another way to help up your metabolism and keep it elevated is to eat 4-6
smaller meals a day anywhere from 400-600 calories a piece, rather than the
conventional 3-meal breakfast, lunch, and dinner routine. This coupled with
anywhere from low to high intensity exercise which gets the heart rate going
faster, will in turn get your metabolism churning again and burning more
calories allowing your body to start shedding some pounds! There are also
special “fat-burning foods” and meals out there that are good for upping the
metabolism and getting you to burn more calories but I’ll get into that another
time.
 |
Fruits are great... In
Moderation |
2) You’re eating too much… Yeah no kidding captain obvious some
of you may say, but today there is so much bull poop surrounding weight-loss. A
magic pill or herb comes out every other week claiming to be the key to burning
fat and losing weight, or people think that they can’t lose weight because they
have some disease or disorder that they heard about on Dr. Philoproz, and so
on. Now for some they may have a genetic disorder or disease that makes them
gain weight and keep it, but I highly doubt that it’s everyone having trouble to
lose weight; simply put you’re eating too much! The mistake that many make is
not considering what they DRINK has calories as well. A 12oz. can of soda has
around 140 calories as well as 40 grams of sugar and caffeine too, which will
only make you feel more hungry; the same with juice. Alcohol as well holds many
calories and it can also suppress the oxidation of fat (use of fat for fuel),
it can mess with your hormones, and it can stimulate your appetite making you
feel more hungry. So when you’re at dinner and you have a couple of glasses of
wine you’re probably going to be inclined to eat more of your food. Another
biggie is snacking, you may not realize just how many extra calories you’re
building up every day by snacking; and also you need to remember that fat has
more calories per gram, 9, while proteins and carbs only have 4 calories per
gram. So if you eat or snack on foods with high fat content you’re going to be
getting in more calories.
The Solution… Cut back a lot if not completely on all
flavored drinks, and replace them with water, try to minimize if not cut off
snacking especially if it’s crap food, evenly spread out and distribute your
meals into 4-6 meals a day at 400-600 calories per meal. Track your progress,
weigh yourself every morning upon waking and take the average every 7 days to determine
if you’re losing weight. Remember no more than 1-3 pounds a week otherwise you
could end up in something similar to scenario 1 up above. If you’re still not
losing weight then continue to gradually reduce your calorie intake and or up
your exercise intensity. Just remember one thing folks, nothing happens
overnight, you have to be patient, I promise you if you take your time and do
it the right way you’ll be way better off and looking better in the long run!
These two reasons are the biggies when it comes to weight loss, but there are many
smaller variables that can affect it as well such as lack of sleep, stress, and
so on, which I’ll get into soon – stay tuned!
Hey everyone so as you can see I've been eating a ton of ground turkey lately, but one problem you might run into I when dieting or trying to eat cleaner and healthier is that certain foods get dull or boring. So because of this you always have to be switching things up even if it means just changing a couple of the ingredients; for this dish I used 99% lean ground turkey breast, favorite seasoning, assorted bell peppers, and canned jalapenos for some tangy spiciness! I love spicy foods and I love jalapenos, they add a really nice unique and interesting flavor and you can even poor some of the juice into the meat for extra deliciousness. 
