Are you one of the frustrated millions that are doing everything right according to the books your read, magazines and health gurus but still the fat won’t leave you alone?

So you live a healthy lifestyle, you exercise 3 times or more a week either at the gym or an exercise class such as a Bootcamp. You eat healthily, eating protein and vegetables and small amounts of low G.I carbohydrates you let yourself go a little at the weekend with some processed foods and alcohol, BUT still the fat stays!

There does not seem to be any reason for it. FAT should be melting off you. Below I have 7 reasons that it may not be shifting. It’s important to get the lifestyle basics right as getting these wrong can ruin your weight loss efforts, leaving you de-motivated and depressed.

So here we go, the 7 basics that you need to get right on top of your exercise and diet.

STRESS No. 1

Stress can be a massive barrier when it comes to weight loss. I do know people who lose weight when they are stressed. These people usually lose their appetite. This often leads then to putting more eight on than before the stress started due to the shutting down of their metabolism.

Other people use food to comfort them in their stressful situation. People tend to comfort themselves with high calorie foods often high in sugar foods that turn quickly to FAT. This type of food increase the stress on your system and in the long term leaves you more tired and even less motivated!

On a deeper level continued stress plays havoc with you hormones. This in turn plays havoc with your blood sugar making it harder to lose weight and increasing your risk of getting ill.

Lack of sleep

How much sleep do you get? Are you getting 8 hours or are you getting more like 5 or 6?

Ask yourself why you are getting so few hours of sleep. Is it because your life is so full of things that you work right up to the moment you go to bed or are you watching TV when you should have switch the box off and gone to bed. ‘Just until the next adverts, just till the end of this one, I’ll be ok tomorrow I’m used to it’….. What do you say to yourself?

Whether you’re busy or watching TV sleep is a very important to your health. It ties back in with stress and hormone disruption and therefore blood sugar level and your immune system.

Sleep is also important for other reasons as both physical and metal repair happens at this time. Between 10pm and 2am is when your body concentrates on physical repair of the body. After 2am the body focuses on mental repair. A lack of sleep means that you are missing out on parts of the repair system of your body.

Whether you’re watching TV or busy working, not getting enough sleep places STRESS on your body, which disrupts hormone balance, blood sugar levels and immune function. The impact of this will have to wait for another newsletter or blog as you can write whole books on the subject.

Just remember, when you’re tired you are more likely to reach for sugary snack as a pick you up!

Emotions

Do you comfort eat?

Emotions have a big part to play in weight loss and weight gain! Arguing with a loved one, bad day at work, your friend have lost weight again while you struggle or are you pissed off with yourself for failing at your diet again and pigging out!

When you’re depressed, run down or unmotivated do you comfort eat?

Comfort eating does makes you feel better but for how long, 5 mins? Not only do you have the bad day going around in your head you now have the added extra of the guilt of having the comfort food and failing on your diet again! You are also likely to suffer sugar blues on top of feeling bad as 20 to 60 minutes later your blood sugar level drops leaving you with feelings of hunger, irritability and depression. It must be time for another sugary treat!

Low Self Esteem

The way you feel about yourself has a massive impact on the way you act and what you say to yourself. Do you have more respect for others then you do for yourself, care more about other people’s health than your own?

You would never say the things you say to yourself to other people. So why do you think it is ok for you to speak to yourself in that way?

The more you say these things to yourself the more they become true as you will find ways to prove it to yourself! This will lead you to making the wrong choices regarding your food, exercise and lifestyle.

Boredom

I bet you have noticed that when you are busy and focused on the job in hand, you never think about or feel the need to eat! BUT, when you are lazing around and bored you feel hungry and the need to pick, the chocolate or biscuit tin calling your name!

Just like with emotional eating your boredom only subsides for the amount of time it takes to eat the treat, as soon as you have finished your back to thinking about the nibbles again. Often when you start this type of nibbling you don’t stop until there is nothing left, when the whole packet has been consumed!

Social events

Social engagements are one of my client’s favourite excuses for not sticking to a diet plan. Many see it as the ultimate get out!

Not so my friends!

Treating yourself at every opportunity is never going to be conducive to your health and weight loss. I’m not saying that you should never treat yourself but if you a regular social eater then be selective.

• Is it your birthday?
• Is it Christmas?
• A special calibration to mark a promotion or an achievement?

If the answer is no then why are you acting like a glutton? Everybody should have a cheat day but I know people who go out to dinner 3 – 4 times a week and go out for lunch 3 – 4 times a week.

Again I’m not saying don’t go, I’m saying pick your meals more carefully with an eye on your waist and your health. I normally ask restaurants to change things on my plate and very rarely have any problem; I find that 9 times out of 10 they are very accommodating.

The 7^th Barrier

There is only one barrier left to cover today and it’s the hardest one so I hope that you are sitting comfortably. It’s the hardest thing to admit as we tend to hide behind other barriers as excuses but really they all come down to one thing……… YOU!

All the barriers above lead to one thing, the wrong food choices. You are the one making the choices, so the only barrier is YOU!

You can lose weight, improve your health get fit have boundless energy as you have the choice of what to eat and whether to exercise.

Sometimes there are underlying health problems that can get in the way of weight loss. problems that do not allow easy weight loss, but these are for another day!

Committed to your success,

Don’t let YOU get in YOUR way

Keith and Amy