Weight gain can be a bit of a mystery. Often it’s hard to put your finger on exactly what’s causing the problem—other than those cream pies you’ve been scoffing! ;-)
But seriously, there are a few others things which can work against your good efforts to get slim. Here are some tips:
1. Lack of zzzzz’s
sxc.hu: hopee
Are you getting enough sleep? If you are, you’re in the minority!
Research indicates sleep is important for weight loss. We think it has something to do with leptin—the hormone that signals fullness, and an increase in ghrelin—the hormone that triggers hunger.
So, this means sleep deprivation may increase your appetite.
That’s a pretty big problem, with a relatively simple solution, i.e. get more sleep!
And, before you start thinking you can catch up on your sleep over the weekend, think again! 7 to 9 hours are recommended every night, if you want to avoid accruing a sleep debt, which can be very difficult to overcome.
Check out this article to help improve sleep quality.
2. Taking medication
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Much of the medication prescribed by your doc will have weight gain as a nasty side effect.
Now, I don’t mean you should stop taking your meds—definitely not—but it’s worth bearing in mind.
Firstly, you should take a good look at your lifestyle. Can you explain those extra pounds? If not, you should begin to suspect your medication, particularly if you recently started a new treatment.
The usual suspects include antidepressants, antipsychotics, steroids, oral contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy, or diabetes, high blood pressure and heartburn meds.
It’s good to know that in almost every case, your doctor can switch you onto another pill, which will be just as good in treating your original ailment.
3. Too much stress
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Most of us get a little stressed from time to time. That’s not really a big deal in terms of weight gain.
But, chronic stress, such as health or money worries, can really cause high levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This in turn increases your appetite, usually in favour of high fat, sugar and salt foods, which can lead to overeating.
Try to manage your stress levels, but do get seek professional help if you find this difficult.
Check out these 15 effective stress banishing tips.
Some of the best strategies for managing stress are:
- Deep breathing practises
- Exercising/stretching regularly
- Laughing/smiling often—even when you don’t feel like it!
- Writing about what’s stressing you
- Eating a healthy, whole food diet
What have you found to be working against your efforts to lose weight? Have you noticed any causes of weight gain which are unusual?
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I think that a lot of people think that they will go on a diet for a while, lose weight and them “go back to normal”. And that normal usually consists of eating unbalanced, unhealthy meals, overeating and lack of exercise.
We need to realize thaat staying in good health and fitness requires a lifetime commitment, and not a 10 day long fad diet.
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Yes, I’m with you 100% on that!
Age is killing me. I’m now 47 and losing weight and even maintaining my weight has become very difficult. I still do the same amount of exercise and I still have the same appetite. Grrr, so frustrating!
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Hi Bobbie,
Have you tried changing your exercise up a big? Sometimes doing something different or adding more intensity to your workout can kick-start your weight loss again.
Check out this article: http://www.dietriffic.com/2009/04/16/weight-loss-plateau/
Never enough sleep – stress is the culprit for me though.
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Hi Jade,
It’s a problem for many, and can be difficult to overcome. Do you try to take time-out away from your work and other commitments regularly? I think that’s important.
Very informative. You have really pointed the very important factors in loosing weight. However, those may sound very simple to others but very hard to those who don’t have any self-discipline and cannot control their eating habits.
.-= Suni@Sole F80 Treadmill´s last blog ..Sole F80 Treadmill =-.
Yes, that’s true. One person may have an issue that someone else perhaps hadn’t even thought about. Everyone is different.
Im a victim of stress and I may be like many but when I am stressed I eat! Maybe thats my cause of weight gain. Have you ever heard of gaining weight from the waist up from sitting at the pc too work. maybe if you work at home but It starts with the stomach, waist line, arms then neck, then face. You suddenly appear to look bigger in the upper body portions.
Have you tried changing your exercise up a big? Sometimes doing something different or adding more intensity to your workout can kick-start your weight loss again.
Alex
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Alex,
I agree, good tip.
Very helpful post. Thanks for putting up this informative article. Good tips. Great layout.
Thank you, I’m glad they were helpful.
Nice article. I will take notes of these things and I try to work on them.
Great article. Looking forward to reading more posts by you. Thanks.
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Thank you :)
I don’t have a major problem with my weight but seem to be unable to get rid of the half stone I would love to lose. I have read recently about this connection between lack of sleep and weight control and I think this may be the reason I am struggling. I never get enough sleep and even though tell myself every night that I will go to bed early I never seem to manage it.
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So, what’s your plan of action to get more sleep? Come on, let’s work on this — you can use my blog for accountability! :-)))
Good tips…
By the way, too much sleep also is not good .
I prefer to do an exercise consistently to maintain my weight.
If we don’t have a stress, we can sleep better….
Azman,
Yes, very true. Exercise really helps with weight loss or maintenance, it also helps us get better sleep. So great benefits all round!
I think controlling your diet and then doing any type of exercise routines on a daily basis can really control your weight. You can’t just eat and not to any sort of physical activity.
Sadly, I used to have a high metab. and didn’t have to worry about weight issues… then came my son… since then.. its a battle with weight and cellulite on the back of my legs. It’s very noticeable but I know its there. I read that you should eat 4 or 5 small meals a day because if you starve your body… it thinks it needs to start storing… so then the whole not eating thing doesn’t actually help you lose weight.
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Yes, it’s important to eat small regular meals to keep your metabolism revved up. Do you exercise? That’s a great way to keep your metabolism high.
I’m with you on everything except the stress. When I’m stressed, my mind works a lot and hence I consume a lot of energy. I the effect of this will be a weight loss for me. It has happened to me a couple of times before.
You think stress is good for you?
I think stress is probably the #1 thing that triggers weight gain for many of us. The worst part about it is that it can lead to other major health issues that you may not be aware of yet.
Although stress is difficult to avoid, when you know that it is so unhealthy, at least you can take steps to overcome it and therefore lessen the effects on your health long-term.
I never thought that sleep deprivation could cause people to gain weight. Actually, I myself have always been lacking those essential hours of sleep but still, I’m not gaining any weight at all. More so, I have been losing some instead. Perhaps this might be some problems in me.
I’m a a professional footballer. But lately things haven’t been going my way, with my family theres been problems and training there has been problems.
I’m not sleeping properly, the last 6 months, i have been waking up about 4 times a night !! I also struggle to fall asleep everynight !
I have put on about 6KG over the last 6months , and that is not good for a professional athlete.. i have also increased in body fat…
I’m trying to eat properly, but i am always, i mean always craving for food and something to snack on !
Hi John, sorry to hear about your health problems. Have you changed your diet in recent days?
It seems that in two of the 3 cases certain things cause us to want to eat more which causes us to gain weight. The only truly uncontrollable one is weight gain due to medication. That one is totally out of our hands. However, I feel that for the other two even if we are stressing or sleep deprived we can still practice self control eat healthy and not gain weight. Am I right or wrong?
Of course, everyone is different. But for some people stress and lack of sleep can certainly contribute to their problem.
Another one = stress!
On the sleep issue, it should be noted that some of that is also caused by when you sleep. Most people I know (and me, before I knew better) have such terrible sleep schedules. Whether they’re working early and staying up late or waking up at noon and staying up late, lack of sleep and not rising with the sun and going down with it (at least around 10:30 or so) has adverse effects on anabolic hormones. For guys, that results in smaller sperm counts and muscle atrophy (forget the weight gain, ha ha!) But yeah, since I don’t take any drugs the stress is the only thing I have to work on. It’s just…this traffic…man! But yeah, seriously, there’s a really eye-opening National Geographic documentary on stress I think you should all watch. It’s on Netflix and even YouTube, and it chronicles not only the ill weight effects of stress, but its ability to actually clog arteries and its implication within hierarchies. It’s called “Stress: Portrait of a Killer;” Czech it out if you have the time.
Awesome, thanks for sharing that doco, Kiko.
This was very intereting to read. I remember the HALT acronym, you are more likely to overeat (or do anything that is damaging to yourself) if you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired (HALT). Just last night I noticed I was roaming through the cabinets trying to find the ‘right’ something to snack on, when I realized how tired I was. 11 hours later, I was refreshed, renewed and ready for a great day.
Fab tip Susan, thanks for sharing that.
Stress is a huge weight loss (not gain) factor for me personally. Every time anything stressful is happening in my life I lose appetite and lose a pound a week. Unfortunately, I become prone to catching a cold or flu, too. But when I’m bored.. I usually end up overeating, I’m sure it’s a factor in weight gain.
We are all so different, aren’t we? I would personally find stress or worry reduces my appetite, too, but I know a lot of others where it is the very opposite.
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