Food and exercise is the key to losing weight, right?
Of course it is.
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out eating a boat load of donuts and drinking soda throughout the day is going to make your pants tighter.
But being active isn’t going to hurt you in any way either.
Then why does it appear that some people lose weight easier than others?
It could be a number of reasons…
…it may be lack of effort on your part…
…or it may be something else.
Believe it or not, there are a number of factors that may contribute to your weight loss/gain.
Muscle – Here’s a riddle for you: which weighs more, a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks. Answer? They BOTH weigh a ton. So, when you hear someone telling you muscle weighs more than fat, some people may interpret this differently and take this to be false statement if they translate it to a pound of muscle to a pound of fat. However, if you were to look at a pound of muscle and a pound of fat side by side, the fat takes up more volume. Why? Muscle is denser than fat. So to clarify, what is really meant is that muscle weighs more than the same volume of fat. A pound of muscle needs about 50 to 150 calories a day to sustain itself so even at rest, muscle will help you burn calories.
Gender – So, what’s the relationship between gender and weight? Men generally have more muscle, less fat, and heavier bones than women. With more muscle mass, men tend to burn calories at a higher rate when at rest.
Activities – Are you active? The more physically active you are, the more you benefits you get. Increasing your activity increases muscle strength, and metabolism, all which help with weight control. Sitting around being a couch potato is not going to help. Even if your job consists of sitting, stand up every so often. If you can, get up and walk around. When you’re at home, do some exercises to get your heart rate up or if that’s too much, do some yard work. Don’t just sit around.
Life Events – Pregnancy, stress, smoking (quitting), relationships, family, and a whole other list of life events can affect your weight. Depending on the event itself, people will either eat more or simply lose their appetite.
Environment -Your environment can easily be a factor affecting your weight. For example, if you have to get to the second or third floor of a building, you’ll have the option to take the stairs, elevator, or even an escalator if one is available. Try to skip the escalator or elevator and take the stairs. If you can, park a little further away so you can walk to your destination. Don’t let convenience make you lazy.
Stress – Stress can be affect you in a lot of ways including your body, behavior, and mood. Your behavior may directly affect your eating habit which may cause you to eat more or not at all. That’s why many people experience either weight loss or weight gain during stressful periods in their life.
Food Portions – Some may say your eyes are bigger than your stomach. If you’re one of those people who can’t help themselves at the Vegas buffets and have a bit of a weight problem, then this definitely applies to you. Whether you have will power or not, portion size appears to contribute to some people’s weight. Some research has shown people to eat 30% more when served with larger portions. Ease off the portions and drink more water to fill your stomach.
Age – When you’re young, you can eat what you want, when you want, and as much as you want. This is not a green light for young adults to veg out on McDonalds but being young certainly has its advantages when it comes to weight. Young adults don’t go through muscle loss as they are typically more active. It’s because of this activity they typically burn more calories than older adults. Now, if you’re young and overweight, you may want to consider no. 3 on this list.
Of course there are other contributing factors that indirectly affect your weight.
Illnesses, injuries, and maybe simple lifestyle preferences…
Whatever the reasons may be, there are solutions but to identify the factors that are contributing to your weight problem is key to losing weight.
This list identifies eight factors that are the most common.
