Why am I gaining weight when I am eating less
Why am I gaining weight when I am eating less, is the most annoying part of weight loss that we all wonder about. It is so frustrating to be cutting back on our favourite foods, going to the gym, walking mile after mile, doing Pilates and when it comes to get weighed, the needle barely moves!
A healthy, balanced diet must go hand in hand with any exercise programme. Constantly counting, calculating and worrying about the next morsel of food is neither healthy nor balanced.
Many clients join Slim R Us because they have a very disappointing weight loss result, having stepped up their fitness programme, but cut back drastically on food. The easiest trap to fall into when trying to lose weight is cutting back on essential nutrients, on energy to feed the body’s cells. These very cells, needed for survival, are rising at an unearthly hour of the morning and need energy to do the boot camp, or the gym! Eat less and move more, is preached by unqualified fitness and diet gurus the world over. While to a certain extent, that is true, many of these so-called experts advocate starvation and fasting régimes. The reality is, a very low calorie diet can have a detrimental effect on your health as well as your long term weight loss goals.
How many calories should I be eating to lose weight?
First, be realistic. Counting calories, carbs, protein, or counting anything, can become obsessional. Regardless of the ‘diet’, there are so many programmes circulating about weight loss, and they almost all involve counting something! Hence, when you ask, why am I gaining weight even though I am eating less, the answer is actually there in the question!
Being either Perimenopause or through the Menopause can add to your weight woes as well as those hot flushes. A healthy lifestyle and diet is more important than ever in the phase of Menopause.
Perhaps you are eating too little? Going on a very low calorie diet, particularly less than 1200 calories, can have a really negative impact on your health. Apart from the fact, it is very hard to sustain if long-term weight loss is your ambition. The side effects of eating too little cannot be ignored. Symptoms such as dizziness, headache, tiredness, nausea are all associated with starvation and fasting diets. These can have devastating consequences.
Complete the Slim R Us Health Screen. It’s free, and you could learn a little about yourself and your eating habits! Slim R Us is nurse led and a healthy balanced diet, making smart choices, has always been promoted. It is a proven successful way to lose weight and keep it off. There are plenty of examples of clients successes in Real Life Stories.
Why am I gaining weight while eating less and exercising?
One thing I am not, is a fitness expert. Part of the Slim R Us weight analysis includes a muscle percentage breakdown. I love this data as it really helps clients to understand that muscle weight can affect the overall results on the scales. This can be particularly true on a week that has involved extra exercise. Muscle weighs heavier than fat.
It is of course possible to lose weight without exercise, however I am old school. I believe that some form of exercise according to your physical ability is beneficial. It tones the body, aids weight loss, but even for improved mental health, for rehabilitation and simply the prevention of stiffness, there are no downsides.
The key to weight loss is to consume fewer calories than you burn. That is a no-brainer. For the vast majority of my clients, probably as high as 95%, the extra calorie consumption comes from snacking and nibbling in between meals. Chocolate, crisps and bars are the usual suspects! Controlling these extras alone will see a huge difference on the scales.
Can you lose weight just through diet?
Absolutely, but as I said above, try and introduce a little movement into your daily life. You don’t need to join a boot camp or a gym. Just look at your watch, go out the door, walk for 10 minutes, turn and come home. If you did that 3 days per week – that would be an extra hour of movement you hadn’t done in the past!
The Slim R Us life is about having a life and losing weight. It is about normal everyday family food. We don’t promote products or direct you to certain aisles in the shop. Nothing is off the plate, pardon the pun! Yes, we portion control, and we use vegetables to do that. Yes, we enjoy our carbs, potatoes, pasta, rice and noodles. Of course, we love our protein. We are mindful of what we eat and how we cook. There are some simple cookery demos on the Slim R Us YouTube channel! Enjoy this soup recipe. Even in summer, soup tastes great! Slim R Us always recommends making smart choices.
