We’ve seen it all in our years of providing online coaching services. Additionally, there are three frequent reasons why you may still have difficulty losing weight despite your best efforts.
A harmful misconception regarding weight reduction and “starvation mode” has persisted for years. If you just read one line from this essay, remember this:
Eating too few calories will not cause weight growth.
Several misconceptions circulate about the link between eating too little and gaining weight. However, several scientific studies have demonstrated that this is physically impossible.
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Then why do so many low-calorie diets fail to provide the desired results and, all too often, lead to weight gain?
Dietary misrepresentation arises from three leading causes. However, it must first be noted how dieting may lead to overeating.
Dieting’s Most Difficult Challenge
When you diet, your body works against you by making it simpler to regain weight. This is because fluctuations in hormone levels (especially leptin) control your hunger. If you keep losing, you’ll eventually start to starve.
Because of the subtle effects hunger may have, this is important. It’s easy to overeat when your mind tells you you can get away with it (mainly if you’re working out and telling yourself that you deserve those additional calories).
The fact that your body probably has a “set point” adds another layer of complexity to the situation. This is the weight at which your body is most comfortable, and shifting away from this set point can be challenging since your body will actively work against you.
Combining the brain’s need for food with the body’s desire to maintain a constant weight makes weight reduction painful for most individuals.
When anger sets in, you may try to outsmart your body and achieve your weight-loss goals by cutting back on calories once again.
So then what? There’s either no change in your weight, or it seems like you’re gaining.
To the point that you think something must be physically wrong with you. Or maybe you have concerns about your weight, and you’re unsure if it’s the gluten, dairy, or artificial sweeteners. You make yourself even more miserable by cutting out stuff you enjoy.
While you may feel justified in your anger, know that your body is not damaged and that artificial sweeteners and dairy probably do not cause your issues.
Here are Three Unexpected causes of Weight Gain
We’ve seen it all when it comes to customers for online coaching. Moreover, even if you’re doing everything correctly, there are still three frequent reasons you might need help to lose weight.
Ultimately, it all comes down to how much food you consume. Calories in minus calories out (or energy balance) is the primary process through which weight changes or stays the same.
We’ve established that you can’t gain weight by eating too little. However, it is possible to fake a low-calorie diet while secretly packing on the pounds.
For your convenience, we’ve compiled a list of the most common diet traps to help you avoid falling for them and wasting your time and energy on a diet that won’t provide results.
Calorie-Dense Foods
Whether you’re a seasoned dieter or have no idea what a carbohydrate or protein is, hidden calories are a pain and may be found just about anywhere.
Oils used in food preparation and salads are a great illustration of this. Most of us underestimate the number of “stealthy” calories a tablespoonful of sugary spread may contribute to our daily diets.
Weight gain or maintenance, despite your best efforts, maybe the result of a painfully easy accumulation of hidden calories day after day and week after week.
Instead of obsessing over calorie counts, focus on identifying the familiar sources of hidden calories.
Check out the image below to give some food for thought before you eat. All of these meals with hidden calories are challenging since they are calorie-rich. That’s why it’s so easy to eat far more than you thought you would, even if some of them are good for you. Even a modest dish delivers a significant punch of calories.
The Fallacy of the 2,000-Calorie Diet
The average person probably has no idea how many calories they consume daily, as few of us try to measure and weigh our meals (and rightly so).
Evidence from studies confirms this disheartening fact. Most people are off by around 30 percent when estimating their calorie intake, and they can be off by as much as 45 percent. That’s a significant change.
Even professionals need help gauging the quantity of food in a dish, even though many attribute this problem to a lack of education.
That exact problem has arisen for me as well. It doesn’t even have to be a big deal. The amount of Justin’s Maple Almond Nut Butter included in “1 spoonful” is closer to half of the jar. Even if your mind loses track of time, your body always knows.
Now what? Although calorie counting is unnecessary, remembering what you eat for a few days can be a practical (and eye-opening) activity.
Analogous to how keeping track of your weekly spending may help you identify areas where you can cut costs, learning about calories can help you make minor adjustments to your diet that have a significant impact without resorting to severe deprivation.
One common misconception is that sweets and other indulgences must be eliminated. But if you take that attitude, you’re more likely to abandon your goals.
Instead, you may achieve more independence by treating the situation as a leaking bucket and fixing its small holes. And a great deal greater output as well.
It’s Hard to Get a Grip on Calories In, Calories Out
While we did stress that calories remain the most critical aspect, counting them is optional. The concept of “calories in” and “calories out” is not as straightforward as you may think. Let’s work to alter it.
“Calories-in” and “calories-out” refer to more than simply the food you consume and the amount of activity you get.
The equation is susceptible to change due to the following variables:
- The balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats in your diet influences your metabolic rate.
- The shape you’re in
- The ratio of muscle mass to fat mass
- Hormonal balance
- Your Family Tree
- Place you are in
- Description of last night’s sleep
- How stressed out are you
Take just a straightforward instance. Each macronutrient (proteins, carbohydrates, and fats) contributes a unique “thermic effect of food” (TEF) to the body during digestion. This is how quickly your digestive system breaks down food into energy—the number of extra calories burned after eating a particular cuisine.
The TEF for protein is between 25% and 35%, making it the highest of any macronutrient.
TEF for carbohydrates is just 6-8%, whereas TEF for fats, the least metabolically active macronutrient, is only 3-5%.
This implies that even if two persons consume the same total number of calories, the “calories-in” model may seem different since one person may consume more protein while the other consumes more fat.
In summary, several variables influence how much energy your body stores (or expands). Don’t give up on yourself, don’t attempt to be flawless, and remember that there’s no use in trying to outwit the system if you’re feeling frustrated.
It’s not that we want to fool ourselves or others about our consumption habits (though it happens occasionally). The biggest problem is that we need help estimating serving sizes and calorie intake.
This is more challenging than ever in today’s ever-larger dishes and quantities. Energy-dense, delicious, and cognitively rewarding “foods” are easily accessible, inexpensive, and socially promoted.
Find a diet plan that you can stick to instead. And when you begin to adhere to it, incorporate safeguards to ensure your accountability and reinforcement to free you from the burden of “perfection.” And there are more methods to prevent unintentional weight gain.
Our online coaching service might be ideal for you if you’re having trouble finding the correct diet or need someone to help keep you honest. Each customer is given the benefits of not one but two coaches. Read this to learn more.
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