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Stress and weight gain (or lack of weight loss) go hand in hand. Though you may not be aware of it, being under constant stress can increase production of the hormone cortisol which can cause an increase in appetite as well as extra fat storage around the abdominal region--a big no-no since abdominal fat is linked to diabetes, high cholesterol and other health problems.

 

 

Dealing with stress can be as simple as taking a few minutes a day to relax, scheduling a massage as often as you can or cutting down on work hours and increasing play time.

If you're not tracking your calories each day, you may be eating more than you think. Portion control is one culprit, especially with restaurants providing enough food in one meal to feed several people.

 

If you're really serious about losing weight, you need to get serious about you're eating. Start by keeping a detailed food journal for one week, without changing any of your eating habits. Be as specific as possible, measuring when you can, looking up your calorie and nutrient content and adding up your calories for each day. You'll be surprised how those calories can sneak in when you're not keeping track.

 

Women tend to lose 1% muscle mass every year after 25-30 yrs of if not training. Leading to a drop in BMR, if muscle is not preserved . Some estimates show that muscle mass declines about 4% each decade from age 25 to 50. If you're still eating the same number of calories as your metabolism drops, your weight may creep up over time. Start exercising and lifting weights NOW to keep your metabolism in check.

 

If you find your workouts are hit-or-miss and that you give in to temptation a bit too easily, your weight loss may hit the skids. For exercise to work, you have to do it on a regular basis. Once your body adapts to your program, you then need to change it to keep your body challenged. If you skip too many workouts, it's almost like starting all over every time.
 

 

Sticking with exercise starts with finding a program you enjoy and that fits in with your lifestyle, goals and needs. That means being realistic about what you'll really accomplish each week rather than going by what you think you should be doing.


 

Having some treats now and then is fine, but if you find you do very well during the week only to eat yourself silly on the weekends, you may be hurting your weight loss goals.

 

To lose one pound of fat in one week, you would need to cut 500 calories with diet and exercise for 7 days. If you only follow that for 5 days, then eat way over your limit for two more days, you're taking two steps forward and one step back. The trick is to plan your indulgences so that you can have some fun while staying on track with your weight loss goals. Try these tips for a healthy weekend:

• Avoid a free-for-all weekend. Instead, choose one or two treats to enjoy and continue eating healthy the rest of the time.

• Avoid rewarding yourself with food. If you've been eating healthy all week, it's natural to want to reward yourself with a yummy treat. That kind of thinking can set you back (much like a smoker who rewards himself for staying smoke-free with a cigarette). Instead of food, reward yourself with a calorie-free treat--a trip to the movies, a massage or a new pair of shoes.

• Keep moving. If you like to rest on the weekends, why not make your rests more active? Spend time taking a long walk with your family or tossing a football in the backyard.

 

While experts generally recommend losing 1-2 pounds a week, most of us probably don't get that close. Remember: to lose one pound, you have to create a 500-calorie deficit every day for a week. It's fairly easy to cut calories from food since you can keep track by reading labels and measuring. The problem comes in when trying to determine how many calories you're burning with exercise. You can use a calorie calcuator, but that's often overestimated. How many calories you burn with exercise often comes down to things we can't measure such as how hard you're working and your fitness level.

 

Add to that the fact that there are many factors that affect weight loss which, again, can't always be measured or accounted for with the tools we have to track progress. In that sense, your body may be making changes that can't yet be measured with a scale or a tape measure.

 

 

Give your body time to respond to what you're doing. It may be weeks or months before you see significant changes so don't freak out if you're not seeing results after only a few weeks. Being patient and taking it one day at a time will allow you to enjoy the journey instead of focusing on the destination.
 

Some medical conditions and medications can contribute to weight gain. While not everyone will find this to be true, it's important to explore every avenue if you're genuinely following an exercise program and a clean diet and still not losing weight.

 

One condition known to affect weight is thyroid disease. A thyroid deficiency can cause a decrease in metabolism and may lead to weight gain. 

There are any number of drugs that may have weight gain as a side effect for some people. Some common ones include hormonal medications for birth control or menopause, oral steroids, some anti-depressants, diabetes medications and anti-psychotic medications.

 

You should get a diagnosis from a professional in order to determine whether your weight problems are medically-related.
 

Almost everyone reaches a weight loss plateau at some point. As your body adapts to your workouts, it becomes more efficient at it and, therefore, doesn't expend as many calories doing it. You may find that after your initial weight loss, your progress will slow down and eventually stop.

 

Some common reasons for plateaus include:

• Doing the same workouts over and over. Your body needs to be challenged to progress, so make sure you're changing some part of your program every 4-6 weeks.

• Not eating enough calories. If your body doesn't have enough fuel to sustain your level of activity, you can actually stop losing weight.

• Overtraining. If you exercise too much, the body sometimes responds by decreasing the amount of calories you burn during the rest of your day.

Learn more about whether you've hit a plateau by keeping an exercise calendar and tracking your workouts, how often you change them and whether you're working too hard or need to boost your intensity.
 

Despite what you hear on the news or read in popular magazines, not all of us need to lose weight. In fact, many of us have unrealistic ideas of what a healthy weight and body shape is. We all have different shapes and, though we can make changes to our bodies, we can only improve on the bodies we have--not turn them into someone else's body.

 

Take away all the reasons you want to lose weight that have anything to do with how you look. Now, look at what's left...are there any other reasons that you need to lose weight? Are you at risk for medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease? Is your BMI in an unhealthy range? Are you within your ideal weight range? If you're at risk, losing weight may be important for staying healthy. But, if you're very close to your goal and can't seem to get rid of those last few pounds, ask yourself if you really need to lose them.