Simple reasons why you are not losing weight.

Reasons you may be sabotaging your diet and not even know it!

1."The Drinker"  Drinking your calories! This was a big one for me, I had no idea how fast the calories can add up JUST by having a coffee drink in the morning. A LOW FAT coffee drink at that! I used to drink those Starbucks  drinks in the glass bottle----SO BAD FOR ME! I stopped drinking those and lost weight simply from cutting those out! This goes for soft drinks and diet soft drinks also! If you are a big soda drinker or even fruit juice drinker those are diet crashers! Throw em out! ;) You will thank me.

2. "The Snacker" You may even be a healthy snacker, but over snacking will cause you to put on the pounds! We rarely think about it but even healthy choices have calories, and over doing it can leave its impact. Remember even bananas can pack 180 calories! Same goes for a handful of almonds which equal out to 80-100 calories per serving. Now these things are great for our bodies, IN MODERATION! But snacking on almonds all day long like they are "freebees" will leave us discouraged! What to do if you body is hungry between meals? First assess, am I hungry? Or am i bored? A lot of times you may find it to be "boredom induced hunger." When this happens find something to get your mind off of it, take a walk, read a book, write an email, whatever it takes!  When you find that your body truly is hungry between meals, have a snack! Make it a healthy one and follow the serving size if you are still hungry after one healthy snack drink water! Many times we confuse hunger with thirst! A snack and a nice tall glass of water should hold you over until the next meal!

3. "The Human Garbage Disposal" This one is probably most prominent in wives and mothers. As a wife I have often times found myself eating practically an entire meal as I am preparing my husbands meal and THEN sitting down and eating a full meal WITH him! So basically I've eaten practically 2 meals (double the calories) without even thinking about it! A little taste here and a little taste there before the meal while cooking for your family can really add up! Another culprit is leftovers off the children's plates! That one last chicken nugget needs to go in the trash not on your waistline! It seems like a innocent chicken nugget but those bad boys----55 calories each! WOW

4. "The Night Owl" When you allow yourself less that 6 hours of sleep your body produces an excess amount of ghrelin which is a hormone that stimulates appetite particularly for high carb high cal foods. In addition to excess ghrelin running through your body lack of sleep will also raise your cortisol (stress hormone) levels. Stress= weight gain. Do yourself a favor and treat your body to some sleep! A well rested body is one of life's most inexpensive pleasures :)

5. "The Bird" Many women get so fed up with trying to lose weight that they resort to starving themselves. THIS IS NOT THE ANSWER! While this may work for a time it will not last forever. You can not survive on a few saltines and banana a day for any length of time. Eventually your hair will start to fall out, you'll have no energy, you will begin to look gaunt and skeleton like and  you will get so frustrated and hungry and straight up tired of it and end thus end up going straight back to your old ways and by this time your body will have gone into starvation mode and will then hang on to every calorie you put into your mouth. Which will then backfire and cause you to gain even more weight than before. Sound like fun? Didn't think so. Instead do the right thing. Give your body what it needs keep it active and you will soon find your body shaping into the physique you desire. There are very few people who find sickly attractive...sickly may seem simpler and perhaps faster to achieve (starve yourself get skinny) But to really get what you want (a shapely attractive figure) you must work hard and eat right. Nothing good comes for free! Slow and steady will win the race. 

6. "The Breakfast Refuser" Many people seem to be under the impression that if they don't eat breakfast they are cutting out a meal and thus "cutting calories" and will lose weight. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Think of breakfast as gasoline to rev up your metabolism. When our bodies do not get the proper nutrition to jump start them in the morning we can't expect our bodies to function at their fullest potential through out the day! Do yourself a favor and get your day off on the right foot! Don't have time? Do what I do, make a large batch of oatmeal sunday night and keep it in the fridge all week and just scoop out a portion size each morning. Add fruit and cinnamon WA-LA! Healthy breakfast in a hurry!

7. "The Late Nighter." Snacking or meals after 7 is a big one. Consuming calories before sleeping for 5-10 hours is a killer! During these hours your body is sedentary and thus not able to burn calories the way it does during the day. People for some reason are under the impression if they are going to have a large meal or treat have it at/after dinner! I tend to disagree. If you are going to treat yourself to a larger meal or dessert or a treat ( which you should every so often) If you can do it earlier during the day so that your body will have time to burn those calories consumed. You are burning calories even if you are not "working out" simple everyday life burns calories, but you burn at a significantly slower rate while sleeping.

8. "The Gym Rat." This one is a big one for me. Sometimes we get into the habit of over estimating calories burned at the gym. We figure "I worked hard I deserve X, X and X!" NO!  You are not a dog. Do not reward yourself with food! Spending an hour and a half at the gym and then stopping at Mc D's for dinner means you just ate all those hard calories burned! While spending time at the gym burns a lot of calories be careful not to over compensate with food!