Factors That Can Affect Your Weightloss

There are several reasons why we gain weight of which we will delve into in more detail.

What We Eat – Our Calorie Consumption

When we consume more calories than we burn our bodies store the excess away as fat. As I mentioned before our bodies are extraordinary creations and tend to store away any excess fat we don’t need in case of leaner times that might lie ahead.

However today those times are few and far between and because we live in the developed world rarely are there ever any times when food is truly scarce so we continue to keep storing at away.

Compared with 100 short years ago, you would be hard pressed to find any of our ancestors stricken with obesity because they worked hard in order to eat. They would either have to grow and harvest their own food or go to great lengths to get it. Because there was a certain amount of effort that went into daily survival they burned more calories compared to our readily accessible society where everything we want is at our fingertips.

Even what was considered luxury items such as flour, sugar and chocolate to our ancestors have become everyday fixtures of the modern pantry. Things are too readily available to us that nothing is a treat anymore and we tend to over indulge ourselves on a regular basis.

As a result of this way of living we are left to find ways to get rid of the fat we spent years gaining. If only we could look at our lifestyle and realize the answer is staring back at us from our pantries and not in the bottom of a jar of diet pills or the next fad diet that blows our way.

Understanding how our bodies operate, how they burn fat, what makes them gain weight is all instrumental in your own personal weight loss journey. Educating yourself on how your body works only empowers you to make better decisions for yourself.

Why We Gain Weight

We are all different. It’s frustrating to see people who eat like a horse never gain a single pound. They probably have very active metabolisms which acts like the body’s natural furnace burning calories effortlessly the moment they are absorbed into the body. These people are like the hummingbirds of society, no matter how much they consume their weight remains perfectly controlled.

But like the rest of us mere mortals, we may be disheartened when we experience the exact opposite by having what is known as a low metabolic rate. As you can guess when you have a low metabolic rate anything you eat seems to be directly deposited on your love handles without much effort.

Low Metabolism

Our metabolisms are sensitive to our activity levels and the proportion to lean muscle tissue we have in comparison to fat.

Our muscle tissue burns calories for energy. The more muscle tissue the more fat we burn. The less muscle tissue we have the more fat escapes into our bodies and gets deposited into fat cells for storage. Think of your fat cells as storage space where the excess fat is deposited if not burned. Everything has a destination it is either stored or burned.

If we live sedentary lives and we are not physically active our metabolism reacts by slowing down. When our metabolic rate is slow we lose the ability to properly burn calories and we store the unburned energy as fat. This is why we gain weight if we are not regularly exercising.

People that are more physically active have a greater muscle mass which burns more calories and hence more fat. Some people however are genetically predisposed to having a higher metabolism and will always be able to burn calories effortlessly. I know, it doesn’t seem fair but just because you may not have been genetically blessed with a fast metabolism doesn’t mean you can’t have one.

Little fact:

Did you know that 2 people one with greater muscle mass than the other can be sitting side by side enjoying a movie together. Although they are undertaking absolutely no physical activity for that time period, the person with the greater muscle mass will actually burn off more calories than the one with the lesser muscle mass. Incredible what having a little more lean muscle mass can do.

Here’s How You Increase Your Metabolism

Start exercising more, no matter what type. Any form of exercise will impact on your metabolism. You will burn lots more calories than doing no exercise at all.

Instead of having larger meals, why not try portioning? Smaller meals at regular intervals will keep your metabolism burning steadily rather than weigh it down with heavy meals. Ever feel lethargic after a large meal? Energy is diverted away from the extremities and put into digestion which makes you tired. Don’t weigh down your metabolism with large meals, small is the way to go.

Avoid crash dieting and restrictive calorie control. Starvation will only throw your body into survival mode and will derail you from your weight loss program completely. Remember fad diets only work temporarily, any weight loss is almost guaranteed to return once coming off these programs. So if you want to lose weight, you have to feed your body. Don’t drive your body to the point where it’s so fed up it will force you to binge to get some food.

Try the miracle exercise almost anyone can do and best of all it’s free. Walking is fantastic for exercising all of your large muscle groups while getting your heart rate up. Just walking for at least 30 minutes per day for 3 times per week can greatly increase your metabolism and your weight loss efforts than from just dieting alone.

This is often a hot topic of debate however most doctors believe you should always start the day with breakfast. The results have shown that those who skip breakfast are more inclined to overeat later on during the day which of course diverts precious energy into the act of digestion. It also gives you the energy you need to get through your day. Did you know that you still burn calories as you sleep so that you need to replenish them when you wake? This is why the meal is called “Break” “Fast”.