Losing Weight and Feeling Great

‘stress and losing weight’

Is your cry, “Why can’t I lose weight”?  If you find it terribly hard to lose even a pound or two, here are three things that may be hold back your weight loss.

Getting Your Sleep

If you don’t get enough relaxing sleep on a continual basis, your body is going to go into defensive mode and will try to conserve calories.

Whoops!  Exactly what you don’t want!  You want your body to metabolize those calories, not hoard them.

What is the amount of adequate sleep you need?   If you’re under 50 years old, it  means at least eight hours of good sleep.  Over 50, you’ll need at least seven hours.

Stressed About Stress

With today’s world, we’re all under stress.  And while you might not be able to do anything about the causes of the stress, you can do something about its effects on your body.

You see, just like lack of sleep, stress triggers  “survival mode” for your body.  Once again, it tries to hoard calories as a defensive mechanism.

Fight back by finding your own ways to de-stress, that don’t involve food.  It could be yoga, relaxation techniques, spiritual guidance, talking with a trusted friend — anything to help you cope with the stress in your life.

The “M” Word — Metabolism

The term metabolism includes all the chemical reactions that occur in the body. This boils down to how your body handles burning calories.

Your body needs a certain amount of energy (in the form of calories) every day to regulate temperature, repair damages and make the various hormones, vitamins, enzymes, etc. that help keep your body healthy.

Did you know that your liver uses 27% of this daily energy, the brain 19% and the heart only 10%?  Plus there’s all the other organs and muscles.

Your metabolism fluctuates from day to day and even within a day.  While you can’t have “no” metabolism (otherwise, you’d be dead), your metabolism might not be functioning as efficiently as it should.  And that means that you need fewer calories to maintain your body’s daily functions.

Why Can’t I Lose Weight

So the above are three things you might be facing if your battle cry is why can’t I lose weight.  As your take-away from this, make sure you:

• Get enough restful sleep.
• Find a way (not related to food) to deal with your day-to-day stress.
• Boost your metabolism; strength training exercise is the best way to do this.

Here’s to your weight loss!