3 Reasons why you might gain Weight

Patience is not always our greatest strength; we want to see results immediately. But what if the desired results are missing or even worse, you gain weight instead of slimming down?

In last week’s post, I focused on the topic „weight or fat loss“. This week I want to target some obstacles on the way to a leaner and healthier body.

Here are 3 reasons why you might gain weight instead of losing it!

Reason 1: Salty food

Processed food often contains high amounts of sodium. We don’t even realize it because our taste buds are so used to it. One downside of the salt content is that it retains fluids in our body. Fluids equals weight on our scale, we feel big, swollen, uncomfortable and our pants are too tight! 9g of salt can lead to a weight gain of 1 kg because our body tries to dilute the sodium content by retaining water. You often find 9 grams or more salt in soups, gravy, soy sauce, fast food, chips and instant noodles.

The easiest solution is to reduce you salt intake. A first step could be to not add extra salt to your food. It’s just a question of habit; the same way you got used to salty food you can re-train your taste to adapt to low salt. If you feel swollen after salty food, drink plenty of plain water to help your body flush out the excess salt, even if it may sound counter-intuitive to fight excess water with more water.

Reason 2: Overestimation of energy requirement for your Training

After a hard workout we are exhausted and it feels like we at least burnt 1,200 calories. We would be surprised how little energy we actually had burnt during a hard session. 1 hour or strength training or running only burns about 400 to 600 calories. If we run slow or rest a lot during training, then we burn even less. While it requires a lot of effort to burn those calories off, it’s not difficult to eat them.

A doughnut with chocolate requires you to run about 30 min to burn the calories. For a snickers bar you have to run nearly 5 km to neutralize the calorie intake! Did you know that a Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha with cream (venti) contains 613 calories, which equals 1 hour of hard workout! Maybe next time you think about ordering one of these sugar bombs, you choose a drink with less calories like a Café Latte or you make a deal with yourself that you can have one if you can squeeze in a good hour of proper workout or a run.

Reason 3: Inactive lifestyle

Our modern world makes life easier for us, in terms of physical demand. Imagine on how many things we save time and effort: Delivery service, escalator, scooters, Red Mart, MRT, Grab. In addition, we spend hours daily in front of our computer, Facebook and Play Station. But as a downside overweight, diabetes and back pain are on the rise.

Let’s just do a simple calculation: I assume you are a motivated person and spend 2-4 hours each week for your training. There are still 164 hours left each week. If you spend 66 hours of these (considered 7 hours of sleep & 7 hours of office or school) with moderate activity like walking (to get from A to B), household, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning etc. you burn 13,000 calories more each week compared to spending this time sitting. This equals a weight loss of 4 pounds of fat. It’s just the difference between an inactive lifestyle and incorporating normal physical activity besides training that makes a difference.

Looking forward to my FREE TALK at Alphafit SG (Bukit Timah) on May 26^th from 11:30 am to 12:15 pm! You are invited to join me and to learn how to avoid the most important traps on fat loss. Book your space @alphafitsg because the slots are limited! Hope to see you there!

If you are intersted in Weight Loss Coaching, Stress Management or Performance Testing, you can book a FREE 20-min consultation with me at City Osteopathy & Physiotherapy! Book your appointment today!