Despite complex discipline and a strong will, nothing is happening on the scales? It is quite possible that it could be due to the following eight habits that inhibit weight loss and make the feel-good weight a long way off.
It doesn’t have to be a strict diet to lose a few pounds on your hips or stomach.
Often it is enough if simple, everyday habits are reconsidered and changed. They are starting with the duration of sleep up to the choice of training.
The following points encourage rethinking – to lose weight in the long term and permanently.
Long-Term Lack Of Sleep
The duration and intensity of sleep are decisive for success in terms of acceptance and performance in training. Why?
Those who sleep too little (less than 7 hours) produce more ghrelin, a hormone responsible for controlling hunger and satiety. In addition, it slows down the energy turnover and thus prevents the fat stores from being broken down overnight.
Therefore, it is advisable to establish a fixed sleep routine and treat yourself to seven to eight hours of sleep per night.
Morning Stress
Absolute fan of the snooze function on the alarm clock? But after turning around once or twice in bed, the stress comes, and so it happens that you rush to work ultimately.
This habit should be reconsidered as soon as possible because stress in the morning is one reason for the increased release of cortisol. Only with permanently increased cortisol production can it cause acute damage to the body.
The stress hormone interferes with the body’s build-up of proteins, among other things.
Even worse, it instead pulls proteins from the muscles to convert them into glucose and give the body the energy it needs.
Conversely, this means that muscles are broken down that were previously fought for in hard training.
How do you recognize the increased cortisol level in yourself? Restlessness, you stand a little beside yourself, get annoyed quickly, and have cravings throughout the day.
Better get up a little earlier.
Coffee Right After Getting Up
After the night’s sleep, even if you wake up and take a few sips of water, the body is usually completely dehydrated. And that ensures a good appetite.
But if you reach for a cup of coffee or tea immediately, you are not doing yourself any good. Because drinks with caffeine and tea, in particular, lead to the release of cortisol, even though the body is producing adrenaline all by itself.
More sensible: After getting up, drink a large glass of lukewarm water or lemon water. It makes you fit and stimulates your metabolism simultaneously.
Skip The Lunch Break
Anyone who skips lunch and works through the break is doing nothing good for himself, his body, and his head.
If a meal is skipped a day, the body automatically reduces its energy consumption and slows down fat burning.
The consequences: performance and concentration decrease sharply, mistakes happen—the greatest evil: food cravings in the evening.
Better to have something for lunch, and your body will thank you for it.
Too Few Steps A Day
Taking the escalator or covering short distances by car – these little things in everyday life ensure that you do not achieve the basic movement.
Ideally, everyone should take 10,000 steps a day, according to the recommendation of the WHO. To achieve this, it can help to use the stairs in the subway, at work, and at home, take a short walk around the block during breaks, or leave the car in the garage for a few days a week.
Also ideal: get off the bus one stop earlier and walk home. It’s great to see – these little things make a big difference.
Only Rely On Cardio Training
The myth: The only way to lose weight is through intense endurance sport. Far from it, because strength training is the key to success. By building muscle mass, the body works even when it is resting and thus promotes fat metabolism.
That means the more muscles you have, the more fat you burn. When the body uses more energy than it takes in from food, it is eventually forced to go to its fat stores.
Sugar As A Reward
A week of hard training and a new, healthy eating plan has been successfully implemented – and now you want to reward yourself.
No problem, but at best, you shouldn’t reach for foods and drinks with high sugar content and instead reward yourself with sweet things without white sugar – such as sugar-free chocolate bars or dried apple rings.
Calorie-free aroma drops can also be an alternative so that you don’t have to forego taste: With aromas such as shortbread or raspberry-vanilla, you can quickly refine food and drinks without sugar.
Not Enough Healthy Fats
Many do not eat enough healthy fats! But they can help you lose weight.
At best, your daily food intake should consist of 30 percent healthy fats, with a height of 170 cm and a daily requirement of 1900 calories, approximately —63 grams of fat (570 calories) per day.
Fats control the hormonal balance and keep hormones in balance. Above all, testosterone production is promoted by healthy fats such as omega-3. This, in turn, has an enormously positive effect on muscle building. And the more muscle mass there is, the more calories are burned at rest.
We recommend avocado, almonds, almond butter, walnuts, linseed oil, olive oil, linseed, chia seeds, high-fat fish salmon, mackerel, tuna, and herring containing omega-3.
You should avoid trans fats and too many saturated fats in sausage, meat, cheese, butter and lard, palm and coconut fat, baked goods, and sweets.
In short: without healthy fats, the two goals of losing weight and building muscle cannot be achieved.