7 reasons why it's hard for you to lose weight

1. Eating too much after exercise

The reason why exercise doesn’t help us lose weight is because it makes us hungrier, which leads to more eating. And unfortunately, it’s much easier to burn calories than it is to store them. You can go for a 30-minute walk and burn 200 calories, but then immediately replenish those 200 calories by drinking an energy drink afterwards.

Another finding is that the more we exercise at one time, the less we tend to exercise later. In one study, thirty-seven obese young adults exercised at different intensity levels (high intensity, low intensity, and resting) on three separate mornings. As expected, the young adults burned more calories during exercise than at rest. But in the afternoon, calorie expenditure dropped significantly after the high-intensity workouts. Regardless of how much the participants exercised, their total daily calorie expenditure remained the same.

2. Your body has a natural 'tipping point'

One of Dr. Ludwig’s first studies, with mice, explored the complexity of the systems that control body weight. The results were striking. If mice were starved for a few days, they would naturally lose weight. But when they finally had access to food, they would eat until they regained all of their lost weight.

The opposite was true. If you force-feed mice to gain weight, they will avoid food until their weight returns to normal.

Based on this experiment, it is clear that this is evidence that animals are aware of what weight they want to be. It also supports the idea that we humans have a natural tendency to adjust our daily food intake to reach a subconscious “set point.” Similar to how a room thermostat works.

When you change your habits, your own biology will fight against the new habit, just as when you restrict your food intake, your body immediately responds with hunger pangs. In the long run, the idea of weight control is to change your own biology to create a completely natural adaptation.

So try to focus on what you eat rather than the calories. The biological effects of food make all the difference in whether you feel hungry or full, have high or low energy levels, gain or lose weight, and live a healthy or disease-ridden life.

3. Skipping breakfast

Not all breakfasts are created equal. In a study published in the journal Ludwig's, twelve young men were given three different breakfasts on three different days. Each breakfast contained the same number of calories, but differed in the type and amount of carbohydrates.

The first breakfast consisted of instant oatmeal, which was high in carbohydrates. The second was rolled oats, which were low in carbohydrates. The third breakfast was a vegetable omelet with fruit, which was high in protein and fat, low in carbohydrates and free of starch. At noon, the volunteers were allowed to eat as much as they wanted from plates of bread, bagels, fruit, sweets, etc.

People who ate instant oatmeal for breakfast ate the most (1,400 calories), followed by steel-cut oats (900 calories) and finally eggs with fruit (750 calories).

And that's a 650 calorie difference at your next meal.

4. You're on a low-calorie diet

Most weight loss recommendations support the simple notion that 'a calorie is a calorie'.

But the truth is, consuming fewer calories isn’t what your body needs, and it’s not what will help you lose weight. When we’re extremely hungry, we can’t focus on anything else, and we get weaker and weaker, eventually succumbing to our hunger. If this vicious cycle is repeated often enough, it can slow down your metabolism, making weight loss nearly impossible. Calorie restriction isn’t the key to weight loss – what matters is what you eat.

5. Sweeteners are not as harmless as we think

Some sweeteners contain saccharin (a chemical sweetener) instead of sugar and do not contain fructose or glucose. Although sweeteners have no calories, they still have many effects on our bodies.

The synthetic chemicals in sweeteners stimulate the taste buds to perceive sweetness thousands of times more strongly than natural sugar. This is a harmful agent for those who are on a diet. People who regularly use sweeteners may find naturally sweet foods such as fruit unappealing, and find it impossible to swallow foods that are not sweet at all, such as vegetables. Sweeteners have also been found to cause hunger because they cause the body to secrete insulin and send calories to fat tissue.

The best way to satisfy your sweet tooth is with fresh fruit. When you want something sweeter, try maple syrup or honey instead of sugar. If you give up sweeteners, you may find that fresh, seasonal fruit actually tastes much better.

6. Hunger Controls Your Life

When your blood is low on calories, your brain automatically turns on the warning system that leads to hunger pangs. That’s when we crave carbohydrate-rich foods like chips, cookies, and candy because they make us feel better in the short term.

The problem is that these foods bring more harm hours later, creating an addictive cycle. By limiting and eliminating these foods, you will see a sudden improvement in your food-related behavior. Try chickpeas, olive oil, and parmesan cheese.

7. Misunderstanding the uses of salt

Most processed foods contain a lot of salt to make them taste better.

Limiting these foods also helps reduce salt intake. But Dr. Ludwig, who led the study, raises a question: When it comes to salt, is less really better?

Excessive salt restriction can have negative effects. A recent study of one hundred thousand people over four years published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people who consumed about 3 to 6 grams of sodium, which is higher than the recommended amount, had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease or death. Of course, these findings need to be interpreted with caution, but the risk of these common diseases outweighs the negative effects of salt.

But we know that reducing salt from moderate to low levels has negative effects on blood pressure and can even cause metabolic problems. We can control blood pressure by limiting sugar and processed foods high in carbohydrates, reducing stress and increasing physical activity.