Five common mistakes that might be stopping you from losing weight

Weight loss is meant to be a simple process: eat less and move more.

However, if you’re regularly hitting the gym and eating healthily, but not seeing the desired results, you’re probably wondering where you’re going wrong.

So, we’ve called on women’s health platform The Well to give us some tips.

Founded by three experts — former Team GB rower Baz Moffat is The Coach, Dr Bella Smith is The GP and Dr Emma Ross is The Sports Scientist — it aims to break the taboos in women’s health and fitness and support women on their fitness journeys.

Here’s what they had to say…

It’s possible you are underestimating your calories

‘Not all calories are equal when it comes to weight loss and the macro and micronutrient balance of food is as important as the energy balance,’ says Dr Emma.

‘Chicken nuggets and a Coke have about the same calories as some mixed nuts and dried fruit with a smoothie — so, energy is the same, but the nut and fruit snack has an abundance of micronutrients, which help our overall health, whereas the calories from fast food are “empty”.

‘Calories should not be the only focus in a healthy eating regime. Also, if you remove the ritual of eating (sitting down at a table and having a meal), it’s really hard to know how much you’ve eaten and food brands make tracking a lot harder as they supersize everything.

‘We snack and eat on the go more and this doesn’t give our brains the time to register what we’ve eaten, which can be why we overeat. Try using a tracking app like MyFitnessPal.’

You’re not fuelling your workouts right

‘Women shouldn’t train hungry and this includes after an overnight fast,’ says Dr Emma. ‘Our hormones work in a way that relies on having a constant supply of blood sugar (carbohydrate).

‘If we exercise in a depleted state, it triggers our stress response and this leads us to store fat around our middle, as opposed to losing it. If you’re trying to lose weight don’t cut your intake of carbs around your workouts.

‘And don’t be fooled by healthy/sports foods — a “protein” bar can have the same amount of protein and sugar as a wholegrain slice of bread with jam and be ten times the price. Milk or chocolate milk is the perfect post-workout drink and doesn’t cost the earth, like branded recovery shakes.’

You are sleep-deprived

‘If you are working out hard your body will need more time to recover from that workout,’ says Dr Bella.

‘Research shows that if we don’t get a good night’s sleep we produce more ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and less leptin, the hormone that tells us we are full. This is a bad combo for our appetite and eating habits as we’ll tend to feel hungrier and are more likely to eat more before we feel full.

‘Lack of sleep has also been shown to activate parts of the brain that are important in feeling good when we’ve eaten food. When we’re tired, we might increase our snacking, as our body craves high-energy foods, which stimulate these reward centres in our brain. If you’ve had a bad night’s sleep, make sure you eat every two or three hours to keep blood sugar stable and combat the rise of your hunger hormone. High-protein snacks keep you feeling full.

‘We can often misinterpret thirst as hunger, particularly when tired, so stay hydrated, too.’

Your workouts are too demanding

‘Many women love the burn of an HIIT session, but too much is not recommended,’ says Baz. ‘High-intensity sessions activate the stress hormone cortisol and excess cortisol gets stored as fat around your abdomen.

‘Every other day for a hard session is fine but you must fuel your workout. You can’t not eat, which tends to happen when restricting calories. Your body needs time to repair and recover or the workout won’t be effective. If you must train every day then have at least two active recovery days where you do something completely different to restore your mind, body and soul.’

You are not monitoring your workouts

‘Monitoring your workout and aligning where you are in your menstrual cycle will give you information about how your hormones are affecting your mood, motivation, energy levels and appetite,’ says Baz. ‘We’re not machines — there will be plenty of peaks and troughs — so don’t worry if you’re not improving day to day.

‘You should, however, see some changes by weeks six to eight. If you’ve been going to the same class for months with no change, then it’s time to mix things up. It doesn’t have to be anything too drastic, it just needs to be different. That creates resilience, reduces injury risk and gets results over time.’

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