7 Ways You May Be Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Goals

New Year’s Resolutions: Jari Love’s List of 7 Ways You May Be Sabotaging Your New Year’s Weight Loss Goals

Many of us make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. We exercise and eat right, but sometimes we don’t see any results. The reason may be that you are unknowingly sabotaging your results. Jari Love has a list of 7 ways you may be getting in the way of your own weight loss goals. The good news is once you know what’s is impeding your progress they are easy to fix and you can fast-track your New Year’s goals.

1. Eating Simple Carbs

At Jari Love’s Get RIPPED! program participants know they should choose complex carbs over simple carbs. Simple carbohydrates like any processed food, or high sugar foods like candies, bagels, and cookies, wreak havoc on your metabolism. Not only do they create dramatic fluctuations in your blood sugar levels, but they leave you hungry and craving more thus perpetuating the cycle of poor food choices. Simple carbs are also deficient in the minerals, vitamins, and fiber that your body needs to run efficiently.

2. Drinking Too Little Water

Our body needs water to function properly. Drinking 6-10 glasses of water each day keeps our metabolism running smoothly, flushes toxins out of the body and helps your body retain the vitamins and minerals from your food. Dehydration also contributes to lethargy and mental fogginess and thirst can be mistaken for hunger. So drink up and keep those cravings at bay.

3. Stressing Out

Stress not only causes you to binge eat, it also weakens your metabolism. When you’re worried or anxious, your body is in a constant state of “flight or fight.” Accordingly, its secreting metabolism-killing hormones like cortisol. If you’re stressed out, do some stress busting exercise like taking a Get RIPPED! class.

4. Skipping Meals

Skipping meals may sound like a good way to cut calories, but it doesn’t work and you may even gain weight. When you skip a meal, your body holds on to calories and lowers your metabolic rate to conserve energy. You may also overeat at the next meal to make up for the calories you missed. This combined with a lowered metabolism is a recipe for weight gain not weight loss. To keep both your metabolism and your mood in tip-top order, be sure to get at least 3 meals per day.

5. Eating Processed Foods

Processed foods are typically high in calories and sugar. Sugar interferes with your body’s production of lipase, an enzyme you need to burn fat. Processed foods often contain metabolism-suppressing additives and hormones, including MSG. Processed foods also do not contain easily absorbable vitamins and minerals. If your body does not receive these nutrients, it will feel starved and you will crave more food even if you are full. The Get RIPPED! Program advocates for natural, whole foods for every meal.

6. High-Fat Diets

High-fat meals are bad for your metabolism because they are so hard to digest. If you’ve ever eaten a high-fat meal and then felt full for hours afterwards, then you know first-hand how long it can take for your body to process fats. Also, your body can only use so many calories at one time. If you eat a high calorie meal, then your body will only store the extra calories as fat.

7. Skipping Sleep

Skipping sleep is just as bad for your metabolism as skipping meals. In fact, sleep directly affects three of the main hormones that regulate both your stress and appetite levels: cortisol, leptin, and grehlin. Get in at least 7 hours a night to keep your stress levels down and your metabolism up.

Adapted from: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11009/7-bad-habits-that-are-screwing-up-your-metabolism.html