Sensible eating and adequate amount of physical activities play vital roles in life. Maintaining a healthy weight is an important part of life long well-being, but it can be challenging to find the right balance and navigate all of the myths and false promises out there about diet and weight loss.

Apart from knowing that food is delicious, exercise is hard and time is always limited, there are many other factors affecting weight loss, and many of us don’t even know we fall victim to. Let’s zoom in the reasons so that we could avoid common weight loss pitfalls, and break endless cycle of weight loss resistance.

We often fall into the trap of “1 pill a day to melt the fat away”, and strict diets such as keto or paleo, or fad diets (trendy weight-loss plan that promises dramatic results without backing by solid science) that promise quick weight loss. However, how many of these plans succeed in maintaining the healthy weight in the long-run? I would say NONE of them!

It seems a hard truth. The minute you stop these unsustainable programmes, you end up gaining more kilograms than before. There are no quick fixes or magic pills to buy online.

We simply cannot adopt this eating habit for the rest of our lives.

You refrain from all (literally all!) processed foods: no pasta, no rice,  no cheeses, no bread, etc. and basically existed on chicken breast, vegetables and berries. This was doing good to you until it wasn’t, because you can’t hold on eating the same plain diet everyday. You ran for all the chocolates, potato crisps, cheese sticks on your cheat day. You’d ruined your diet, you would eat as much as you could physically handle, because “why not? I already ruined it”.

This goes hand-in-hand with self-loathing. You feel bad about the snacks you ate, and return to overly restrictive diet the following day. This mindset keeps you in a perpetual cycle of lose-gain-lose, shame and guilt.

Your body weight is a result of many different physiological factors that need to be nourished with the right, healthy food to function very well in the way it was intended to. Shift your perspective on food. Stop hating yourself for the bad food you had. Instead, look forward to refusing your body from food as punishment for weight gain. Begin to ask yourself how you can heal your body with delicious, nourishing food as medicine.

By chronically restricting food, you tell your body that it’s in starvation survival mode. So stop making your body so great at storing fats!

Supportive friends, family members and significant others are critical to successful weight loss.

It’s not fun to be ridiculed or scoffed at family gatherings and social outings, when you get comments like, “That’s all you’re eating?” or, “You’re really not going to eat any dessert?” or, laden with sarcasm, “Next time we’ll have a salad potluck.”

This is why a solid support system is key to long-term weight loss. Without it, the journey can feel lonely and intimidating.

If you currently feel you lack a support system, try having open conversations with your friends, family and partner about it. You can make it clear that they don’t have to change their eating habits if they don’t want to, but that your health means a lot to you and you’d appreciate it if they didn’t mock or downplay your hard work.

If you are at all receptive to the fitness industry, you will know this saying: “Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.” Even if you are not into forming a six-pack abs, this is still very relevant. You just can’t simply out-exercise a poor, bad diet.

Undoubtedly, exercise should definitely be part of your overall weight loss approach because it is proven to aid weight loss. not to mention a long list of other health benefits. However, it is very difficult to lose weight from exercise alone. Many people overestimate the amount of calories they could burn from their workouts. In reality, it is probably a lot lesser than you think.

Focusing on only exercise can lead to a destructive cycle of exercising extra to burn off calories you feel you shouldn’t have eaten. Or you may end up feeling like you need to “earn” your calories through exercise. Either way, taking this approach can lead to a strained relationship with food and exercise, as well as hindered weight loss.

There are exceptions to all rules. Some people, such as those who have spent years putting on muscle mass, can eat lots of calorie-dense food and not gain weight — but even if you can eat whatever you want and lose or maintain your weight, that doesn’t mean it’s healthy for you.

A diet high in fibre, vegetables, healthy fats, lean proteins and some whole grains will serve you best in terms of sustainable weight loss and health. Combined with a consistent exercise routine, you’ll experience sustained weight loss and weight maintenance once you achieve your desired weight.

Losing weight is not equivalent with getting healthy. Illness may make you lose weight, but you obviously won’t be healthier. There are many skinny people with heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

You have to get healthy to lose weight, not lose weight to get healthy. Stop seeing weight gain as a cause and start seeing it as a symptom of something else going on in the body and the mind. Sustainable weight loss will be a natural byproduct of regaining health. If you get healthy, you will look great on accident.

The truth is, nutrition and exercise are only two components of a healthy life that can lead to weight loss. While important, too strong of a focus on nutrition and exercise to lose weight can cause you to overlook other factors that are just as important, i.e. sleep and stress management.

Oftentimes, people have done everything right and still can’t lose weight. That’s where functional medicine steps in. Underlying hormonal imbalances, thyroid dysfunctions, gut conditions, adrenal fatigue or toxicity issues can prevent the most dedicated person from ever losing weight.

When you are struggling with these stressful issues you could look at food as a resort to de-stress. This is not your fault. Clinically investigating your hidden causes of stubborn weight loss resistance provides answers to your years of struggle. When you finally find out the root cause, you can then be addressed.

You got to accept this bad news that even the evidence-backing appetite suppressor – Saxenda, or other fat burner medication isn’t going to do the work for you without your primary effort to start a healthy and balanced diet. While certain medicine and supplements may help in your initial weight loss, you have to work to make your supplements work. No supplements are proven like the method that no one wants to take: healthy eating habits and a balanced diet.

You may also consider some treatments which could help you achieve your goal.

Call Us or WhatsApp Us to speak to our body contouring specialist team.