Found on Facebook. Credited to Anja Paskulin. Her Facebook page can be located here.
1. you are eating too much carbs. too much whole grains and fruit can be actually making you fat. the more training you do and the leaner you are the more carbs you can tolerate.
2. you are eating carbs at the wrong time. limit your carbs to the first part of the day and post workout.
3. you are eating too much fruit. don't get me wrong, fruit is healthy.. but portion control here is a must. fruit is actually sugar and fructose... more fructose than sugar... fructose is processed by the liver or used for energy. when the liver storage is full, the fructose gets converted into fat. yes, you read it right. f.a.t. i'm not telling you to eliminate the fruit from your diet, just limit its intake. stick to berries which are rich in fiber and very low in calories.
4. you are eating too much fats. low carb, high fats diets like the atkins, dukan and so on are a non sense. eating tons of fat will stil make you fat. it's the calorie in, calorie out that counts. fat contains 9 kcal per gram and at the end of the day, calories still matter. your diet shouldn't contain more than 20-25% from fat sources.
5. you are not eating enough protein. usually guys eat to much protein, women too few. you should be eating around 20-30g of protein per meal. 100g/3.5oz of chicken breast contain about 16-18g of protein. this means that you should have about 200g/7oz of chicken for lunch. eating protein will make you burn more calories than eating carbs or fats.
6. you are drinking too many protein shakes. protein shakes are less thermogenic than real food, meaning you burn more calorie to digest a proper meal than drinking a shake.
7. you are eating too much nuts. nuts have a lot of calories and portion control here is a must. if you can't eat it responsibly, keep it out of your house! usually 10-12 almonds is the right portion.
8. you are not training heavy. the majority of people rely on cardio when trying to lose weight, but they don't realize that in this way they are burning muscle tissue. when dieting, strength training is crucial to maintain muscle mass. or do you want to look flabby at the end of the journey? keep working in the 8-12 reps range and maintain the resistance high.
9. you are overdoing cardio. i must say cardio is kinda useless for fat loss.. but it's when it started to be counterproductive that the problem arise. excess cardio rises the cortisol levels which promote fat storage and other health issues. the only cardio i recommend for fat loss is hill walk.
10. you are stressed out. this means your cortisol levels are high. even little things during the day can rise your cortisol levels which promote bodyfat storage. so even if you are working hard and watching your diet, you won't get results if you don't lay back. take it slow and don't worry to much. worrying and stressing won't change anything.
11. you are not getting enough sleep. when you’re short on sleep your insulin sensitivity decreases and your cortisol goes up. you are also missing the growth hormone boost and all this factors prevent you from losing weight. sleep must be a priority like working out or watching your diet. try going to bed 1h or 30 minutes earlier... if you are having a hard time falling asleep treat yourself like a baby.. take a hot bath, chill a little by reading or watching some tv with a cup of decaffeinated tea. make it a routine and eventually you'll fall asleep like a baby ;-)
