Not exercising regularly? Eating a lot of junk food? If the answers to these questions are yes, then it should be obvious why you are not achieving your weight loss goals. But when you are sticking to your exercising routine – boxing, playing basketball, swimming, etc. – and strictly following your diet and the weight scale keeps going in the wrong direction, you will be perplexed to say the least.
Don’t worry because it is not some unknown anomaly that is hindering your weight loss but some reasons that are common yet surprising:
1. Weight Loss Connected to Sleep
There is a deeper connection between weight loss and sleep, and most people don’t realize it until it affects them.
If you are up late at night and your body is sleep deprived, there will be some serious hormonal changes happening in the body. It will leave your eating habits in disarray. You will not feel full even after a full meal.
Sleep deprivation also causes fatigue, which means that you will not be able to exercise properly and for the right amount of time.
Make sure you get plenty of sleep when you are trying to lose weight.
2. Stress causes Weight Gain
Cortisol is your weight loss plan’s worst enemy.
When you are stressed your body starts to create this stress hormone in a larger quantity. Why is it so bad? It causes hunger pangs and your appetite is increase generally.
It is known fact that people ate calorie ridden food when they are stressed, phenomenon known as ‘stress eating’.
Make sure that life’s demands don’t get you down. The perfect way to relieve stress is to get into an activity, like boxing, that gets rid of your stress.
3. Antidepressants have a side effect
This one is out of your hands. A side effect of taking medication like antidepressants is weight gain.
The medication improves your condition and causes an increase in your appetite. This can naturally lead to an intake of more calories.
If you are exercising regularly and trying to stick to your diet, then your condition should improve and you can ask your doctor to adjust your medication. This could help reverse the effects and your regular routine will take effect.
4. Steroids are Notorious
Another form of medication, steroids, can cause serious weight gain when you are on them.
This is because they cause your body to store more fluids and cause an increase in your appetite. You have to be very careful when taking them because you can’t just stop taking them without causing an adverse reaction.
Consult your doctor and discuss with him in detail how and when you can stop taking them. And try to stick your meal schedule and don’t eat unhealthy snacks during the day.
5. Thyroid can malfunction
People with thyroid gland issues can also face issues when they are trying to lose weight. The problem is that the gland cannot create enough of the hormone needed by the body.
It causes your metabolism to slow down and weight gain is the result.
You have to get proper treatment to fix the problem and the effects of the condition can be reversed. You may have to increase exercise activity to lose the extra weight.
6. Age, Activity and Weight Gain
Aging can slow down your metabolism and your body tends to burn fewer amounts of calories as your grow old.
Another reason is the lack of activity that people take part in when they get older. Lack of exercise and an aging body is a recipe for disaster.
You need to continue your workout routine, decrease the intensity and try less strenuous activities, but never take a break because your body really needs the activity.
7. Giving up Smoking
This is the healthiest decision that people make but giving up nicotine has a negative effect on your body, weight gain.
A healthy lifestyle is never complete with tobacco in the picture, so giving it up is a great decision. You just have to make sure that you keep exercising and don’t give up because of this weight gain because the effects only last a few weeks.
Some of these reasons sneak up on you and you don’t even realize. You should talk to a doctor wherever necessary and don’t make decisions regarding medication on your own. There are solutions to these little known weight gain reasons, so follow the advice and you should be back on track in no time at all.
