When you are trying to lose weight, it can feel like the hardest thing in the world. It’s all very well knowing that you absolutely must lose weight to benefit your wellness and wellbeing, but it doesn’t automatically make it an easy thing to do. If you are trying to lose weight and not succeeding, there may also be other factors at play that are working against your best efforts.
First of all, an irregular body clock can actually mess with your metabolism. When your body clock is working normally, it means that your metabolism goes quickly when you are awake, and thus food is digested faster and the energy in it is used more efficiently. Then, when you fall asleep, your body temperature drops and your metabolism becomes much more sluggish. Any disruption to your sleep patterns – such as travelling or working night shifts – alters your metabolism, and leads to lack of muscle mass and weight gain
.
If you regularly starve yourself to try to get results, you may also be seeing a disappointing lack of results. This is because fasting actually does harm to your metabolism. You may see some weight come off, but in truth it is usually water that comes off first, and then lean muscle, followed by a very small amount of fat. This leaves your body looking unshapely and overweight, even if the numbers on the scales are down. Fasting also sends your body into starvation mode, which lowers your metabolism and means that your body clings steadfastly to any morsel of fat that comes its way, making it harder to lose weight.
Family support is also a big issue in dieting. If your family are not supportive of your attempts to lose weight, it can be much harder. Families should offer encouragement and motivation, and should try to eat healthily alongside you rather than making it more difficult for you by eating high fat foods in your presence.