Weight Loss Extends to Your Daily Life
Many people go on diets, eat only certain types of food, and exercise. Sometimes you get the results that you want, which is great! Sometimes you can’t, which can be super frustrating.
This is because there are many things that can impact how much weight you lose – from how stressed out you are to your personal biology. Weight loss actually does involve a lot more than just counting calories and cutting back on certain food groups.
I am going to cover how your biology, your emotions, and the environment you live in can impact your weight. Hopefully being aware of factors that can impact your overall health and body weight, can help you reach your goals with a bit more ease!
Poor Sleeping Patterns
Sleep is the first factor on the list because sleep impacts so many different areas of life.There have been several reasons found as to why sleep loss can impact your eating habits or even your ability to function at a good capacity. You know those lazy days – you need coffee to wake up in the morning, you buy takeout food because you don’t want to cook, and you skip the gym because you’re so tired.
Another reason is our metabolism. Of course, we know this impacts how much we can eat or should eat in a day. But, without enough sleep, our metabolism will slow down to save our energy. When our metabolism slows down like that, a hormone called cortisol will be released into our system to make us want to eat more.
Less sleep will also release more of the hormone that tells us when we are hungry and less of the hormone that tells us when we are full. So the less you sleep, the more you are going to want to eat and continuously eat!
Stressed Out to Stress Eating
I think almost everyone who is trying to lose weight knows about stress eating. Stress eating is a common way to deal with stress – we decide to eat more and more food, often unhealthy food, in order to feel better and not be stressed out.
This isn’t only because eating your personal comfort foods (mmm, chocolate…) can help make you feel better emotionally, but also because stress also releases more cortisol. This means you will want to eat more when you are stressed because your body is releasing hormones that make you feel hungrier, even when you really aren’t.
Another reason why stress can make it so much harder to lose weight is that stress is a more negative emotion. Negative emotions or states of mind are difficult to deal with when you are trying to lead a healthy life because your mind and body will often make you feel more pessimistic or only allow you small amounts of energy.
Pessimism and low energy are the main ingredients in making you lazier and wanting to eat food that isn’t very good for you. Trying to keep your spirits up, having a good support system, or finding the good motivation to keep working out or eating well can help you make it through these times.
Speaking of a support system…
Living Without Supportive People
This is another reason why it can be hard for you to lose weight. After the first two points of this article, you may have realized by now that every aspect of your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing can bleed into another aspect of your life.
So you could have a family that is supportive of your change of lifestyle – but you won’t be able to reach your weight loss goals well if they aren’t supporting you well in other areas. Constant negative critique or pessimism – from your looks to your hobbies – won’t help you on your weight loss journey.
That’s one reason why joining a group full of others who can cheer you on through life or having many friends can help you lead a healthier life – positivity is infectious, after all. It may be difficult, but having a group to turn to for positivity or support can help you reach your goals with a lot more ease than you may expect – especially if you are trying to lose weight.
Happiness
Happiness or unhappiness can make a difference in the amount of weight you can or can’t lose.
Pessimism or unhappiness will make you lose far less weight, typically, because your motivation is gone. You will also have a higher tendency to be unwilling to do anything because the amount of energy you have will be lower.
Positivity and happiness can go a long way. It can help bring your spirits up, even slightly, so you have the energy to do what you need to do and what you want to do.
Something We Can’t Change – Genetics
There are bacteria within our digestive system that has a large impact on how lean a person can be. People with this type of bacteria in their system have a tendency to gain less weight.
So if you are really struggling with losing weight – this could be part of the problem.
You can’t change your genetics. So what do you do? In this case, you can eat more non-processed foods and foods like vegetables or lentils. This will help promote the change of your gut bacteria into better quality gut bacteria, helping you to fight inflammation and aid digestion, which will help you to keep the weight off.
Now that you know the Potential Factors… What Do I Do Now?
I gave a few solutions, but here is a more concise list of the reasons I mentioned that could be preventing you from losing weight.
Sleep Troubles – go to bed at a set time and wake up at a set time (if possible) to establish better sleeping patterns; sleep for at like 6.5 hours every night
Stress – take a break every now and then to relax; try to stay positive; keep in touch with your support system
Support System – talking with them about your struggles; talk to them about everyday life; spend some time together; stay positive together
Happiness – think about how much progress you have made since day 1; do activities that make you happy
Genetics – eat lots of vegetables, fruits, lentils, and other healthy food products
Hopefully, now that you are aware of the potential reasons as to why you aren’t losing as much weight as you want – or none at all – you can at least be more aware of your actions and take steps so you can lose more weight. Best of luck to you!
Need a little extra push in achieving that goal weight? Perhaps it’s time to join my program my Life Transformation Program.