Skip to content
Health
Link copied to clipboard

Weighing in on why you aren’t losing the weight

Are the only gains you are making in the gym on the scale? You are exercising regularly and eating well, however your excess weight is clinging to you like a suffocating salesman at a used car lot. Here are the top surprising reasons that your bulk won’t budge:

Are the only gains you are making in the gym on the scale? You are exercising regularly and eating well, however your excess weight is clinging to you like a suffocating salesman at a used car lot. While following the roadmap to the healthy highway, don't end up on 21 Plump Street. Be aware of the following potholes that can put a spoke in your wheel. Here are the top surprising reasons that your bulk won't budge:

Too Much of a Good Thing. One of the biggest variables in decreasing your waistline is to surveil the serving size of your meals. Foods such as avocados and nuts are a great source of healthy fat due to their ability to lower cholesterol levels, encourage healthy heart function and aid in weight-loss. Ironically, these foods can secretly contribute to unexplained weight gain. While not all fats and calories are created equally, calories consumed from healthy fats such as salmon, olive oil, avocados and nuts can amass to a hefty number of calories digested daily when not consumed in moderation.

The easiest way to avoid this fatal food flaw, is to abide by the rules of the serving size. Here's the chew on a few sneaky foods that can sabotage the numbers on the scale:

Avocado - Did you know that a whole avocado has roughly 300 calories - holy guacamole! Enjoying 1/3 of this fantastic fruit is sufficient for reaping the benefits of this healthy snack. Try smashing it on some toast with a tomato, sprinkled with some red pepper flakes (spice revs the metabolism).

Energy Bars - Save these convenient crunch bars for snacking on-the-go situations; traveling or a road trip. These bars rarely satiate the appetite and can be loaded with calories, sugar and mystery ingredients. For example, Special K Bars are low in calories, however there are artery clogging partially-hydrogenated oils in each bite. A better alternative would be homemade granola bars, which are made with ingredients you can pronounce and feel good about.

Coffee - We are a country that can't cope without caffeine. Pour your mocha frappe kappa lappa drinks down the drain. Coffee on its on is very low in calories. However, most enjoy these fat-ppuccinos that contain enough sugar and fat to keep a polar bear warm, cozy and conked out throughout their hibernation season. Nix the whipped creams and shots of sugary flavors.

Olive Oil - Olive oil can be a slippery slope. The biggest blunder most people make is laying this product on a little too thick. It is easy to start lathering your salads, pans, pasta and bread with reckless abandon. Long live olive oil they say, well I'm not so quick to extend my olive branch. While olive oil is a far healthier alternative to butter or margarine, use it sparingly - as in one tablespoon not a shovel's worth.

Curbing your calories is a numbers game. While it varies for each person based on their caloric needs, height, weight and age, roughly 30-35 percent of your daily calories should be coming from healthy fats.

Easy Street.  Are you guilty of rewarding yourself with food after a good sweat session at the gym? You are not a canine, therefore you do not need a tasty treat for a job well-done. Further, it is important to not be sedentary the remainder of the day to compensate for the hard work you put in earlier at the gym. Ideally, you should be incorporating as much physical activity into your day as possible. If you'rephysically able to climb stairs, spending 30 minutes on the stepper machine is not a valid excuse to take the elevator up a floor at work. There are three things I loathe when getting a lift on the elevator: 1.) someone who sprays the entire cabin with a septic sneeze, 2.) the guy that dowsed himself in four bottles of Paco Rabanne after he took a shower with Paco Rabanne body wash, and 3.) the person that enters on the ground floor and carelessly pounds the number 2 button because they don't want to walk up a flight of steps. It's simple. The more you move your bones throughout the day, the more calories you will burn baby, burn.

Cut your portions down to size and keep moving in the direction of your goals. Calories count.

----------

Read more Goal Getter for healthy eating, weight loss and more.