The most common question people ask is, “Why am I not losing weight when I exercise and diet? You may have tried everything from crash diets to calorie counting or high-intensity workouts, but the number on the scale remains the same or goes higher.
The answer is that weight loss is not a linear path. Everyone loses body fat at different paces. How much weight you lose depends on your current health status, calorie intake, gender, age, and activity levels. Although you do not have control over some of them, there are still lifestyle changes that you can make to have better health outcomes.
This article examines nine factors that affect weight loss and how you can manage them to achieve your weight loss goals.
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9 Factors That Affect Weight Loss
Weight loss is not just about eating less and moving more. If you have been struggling to lose weight, check out these eight factors that may influence your weight loss.
#1. Diet
What you eat significantly determines your weight. Eating highly processed and sugary foods and not checking your portions may increase your risk of being overweight or obese. Furthermore, yo-yo dieting, where you lose and gain weight rapidly, may also make it harder to lose weight.
To lose weight, you need to eat about 500 calories less than your body needs. This creates a calorie deficit, and your body will have to burn fat stores to provide extra energy for body functions.
Doing this consistently results in gradual weight loss. However, extreme calorie restrictions like the 1200-calorie diet are not sustainable. It is important to determine your exact daily calorie needs and then reduce them by no more than 500 calories.
Also Read: What Are The Top 10 Best Foods For Weight Loss?
#2. Physical Activity levels
Exercise is a good way to burn body fat. You don’t have to do extreme workouts to lose weight. People who are more active tend to maintain a healthy weight than those who are sedentary.
Some of the best workouts for weight loss include walking, strength training, and High-Intensity interval training (HIIT). You need to choose a workout plan that works for you and your current fitness levels.
Try to get as much movement as you can during the day. For example, alight one stop before your destination, park your car at the furthest corner and walk the rest of the way, or use stairs instead of lifts and escalators.
Also Read: How to Start Working Out for The First Time for Beginners (7 Easy Steps)
#3. Health conditions
Some conditions can affect metabolism and how the body stores and uses body fat. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, people who have impaired thyroid function (hypothyroidism), metabolic syndrome, or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) may find it more challenging to lose weight.
Such health conditions disrupt hormonal functions that help your body lose weight and may cause unintentional weight gain. It is recommended that you seek advice from your doctor if you suspect or have any of these conditions before you start any fitness or diet programs.
#4. Sleep
Sustainable weight loss takes time and effort. It is not enough to eat healthy and exercise. Other factors, like your sleep patterns, can influence how much weight you lose.
Research suggests that sleep deprivation affects the hormones that control appetite and hunger and may make you hungrier and more likely to overeat. Furthermore, when you are sleep-deprived, you tend to crave high-calorie and high-sugar snacks to provide quick energy. Therefore, sleeping less than 6 hours regularly may make it harder for you to lose weight.
Solution: Ensure you get about 7 to 8 hours of sleep daily to manage and regulate your hunger hormones and make it easier to lose weight.
Also Read: Why is My Metabolism So Slow? 9 Causes of Slow Metabolism
#5. Stress
Stress eating is a common cause of stress-induced weight changes. Chronic stress may trigger your body to release stress hormones such as cortisol, making you eat more. The hormone keeps you in a constant flight or fight mode, which increases your appetite so that you can get the energy it needs in that state.
Solution: Instead of reaching for comfort foods, manage stress with mindfulness activities such as journaling, meditation, yoga, and deep breathing. If you’re unable to manage stress, consider speaking to a trusted friend or seeking professional help from a therapist.
Also Read: How Does Exercise Improve Mental Health? (9 Surprising Ways)
#6. Genes
Have you ever met people who can eat whatever they want and never gain weight, while some gain weight even if they don’t eat much? Some people may have a high risk of being overweight or obese due to their genetic predisposition. If one or two of your parents are overweight or obese, you may have a high chance of obesity.
Genes may affect how your body stores fat, your appetite, metabolism, satiety, body fat distribution, and your relationship with food. In addition, your environment and how you were raised can also influence your eating habits and how you cope with stress.
Solution: Adopting a healthy lifestyle, such as healthy eating, drinking more water, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep, may overrule genetics and help you maintain a healthy weight.
#7. Age
As we age, our energy expenditure declines, leading to a slow metabolism, making it harder to lose weight. Studies reveal that as we age, our bodies tend to store more fat, especially around the midsection.
Moreover, muscle mass declines with age, reducing the amount of calories your body burns daily and may contribute to weight gain from age 30 onwards. That’s why it may be harder to lose weight in your 30s or 40s than in your 20s.
Solution: To counteract these effects of aging, prioritize exercise to build muscle mass and replace high-calorie foods with protein-rich foods to help preserve muscle mass.
Also Read: How Much Weight Can You Lose In A Month? (7 Expert Tips)
#8. Gender
Men tend to lose weight faster when on a calorie-deficit diet than women because they tend to have more muscle mass. This means that they burn more calories at rest than women.
In a 2021 Study published in the International Journal of Obesity, men experienced more weight loss changes than women. Some of the factors that contributed were adherence to the program and how differently the body stores fat and muscle mass for men and women. Other reasons could be hormonal factors, as women tend to have fluctuations in hormones through the menstrual cycle.
#9. Medicine
Some medications may have weight gain as a side effect. They disrupt the function of hormones that control hunger and may make you crave and eat more food.
Some of medications that may cause weight gain include antidepressants, antipsychotics, birth control pills, insulin injections and beta blockers used to treat high blood pressure. However, the effect is different for different people.
If you notice uncontrollable weight gain when taking such drugs talk to your doctor because they may give alternatives that have less effect on your weight.
FAQs
- What are the biggest factors in weight loss?
One of the most important factor in weight loss is your diet. What you eat, how much you eat and when you eat determines how much calories your body will burn and how much it will store as body fat.
- What is your biggest challenge to losing weight?
Some of the common challenges people face when trying to lose weight is that they think they don’t have time to exercise or cook healthy meals. To resolve that have a day to prepare your meals and do high intensity workouts that only take a short time.
- What is the big secret to losing weight?
The biggest secret to losing weight is to eat fewer calorie that the body needs to create a calorie deficit from healthy foods such as whole grains, fruits, lean protein, healthy fats and vegetables.
- How do you speed up weight loss?
Some of the things you can do to speed up weight loss is increasing the activity levels, eating healthy foods, getting enough sleep and managing their stress levels. A healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 1kg (1 to 2 pounds) every week.
Final Thoughts
Losing weight is hard. You may be controlling your diet and exercise, but other factors like sleep, medications, or genetics may influence how much weight you lose. For sustainable weight loss you need to pay attention to all the factors that affect weight loss and take measures to put them in check.
The good news is that adopting healthy lifestyle habits can triumph over all other factors. Therefore, eat healthy foods, get enough exercise, get adequate sleep and manage your stress levels. If you have underlying conditions or medications are making it harder to lose weight seek help from our doctor.
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