A friend of mine started going to the gym 6 months ago when she was 85 kgs and lucky her she is almost down to 65kgs now whereas I have been going to the gym for more than a year and have lost only 5kgs (yes! From 60 kgs I have reached only 55kgs). Why can’t I lose any further? Or why is losing weight so difficult?
This makes us think - Is our body worked up?
You are continuously training and constantly dieting and still not been able to shed last few kilos! You could be falling under either of these categories from below:
Reason 1: Bigger size you are it is easier to lose those extra kilos and smaller body you are, more difficult it gets to lose weight. This is because your body uses the energy from fats very economically. It uses energy from extra fats more efficiently than when you have less amount of fat. In simple words, when you have got massive amounts of fat to lose, it burns that fat easily and faster. However, in comparison, when you have less fat, it takes longer to lose the fat because body reserves the energy from it.
Reason 2: Fat cells hold water, therefore, people who carry considerable amount of fat cells and have extra carbohydrates in the form of glycogen, will have plenty of water to lose. Therefore, initial weight loss also has fluid in it. People who follow a strict 800 calorie diet, lose more weight due to loss of glycogen stores. Each molecule of glucose releases 3 molecules of water. This results in rapid weight loss. Have you experienced losing more weight like 2 kgs or more in the initial weeks? This could be a major contributing factor.
Reason 3: When you reduce your diet excessively, metabolic rate of your body is reduced. This means that your body now functions on lower calorie with slower metabolic rate. This is evidenced by loss of muscle. Did you know muscle are the tissues which assists in burning fat? When you are losing body weight you are also losing these muscle to some extent, hence losing muscle will reduce your metabolism.
Reason 4: Men are lucky ones here. Yes, you read it right. Men will always lose weight faster than women. This is because they are more masculine than females. Aren’t they lucky. Biologically, women need more fat which is required for reproduction.
Reason 5: Muscles always weigh heavier than fat. Therefore, may be you are losing inches and toning up and are slowly decreasing your body fat percentage. When we talk about weight loss, there is no one size that fits all. Everybody is different and it reflects on people differently. Other reasons which contributes to weight loss includes genetics, hormonal imbalances, metabolic disorders, sleep issues, stress and anxiety and many more.
Swati Bathwal is a Dietitian, Nutritionist and Diabetes Educator from Ranchi based in Australia and New Zealand. She can be reached at info@swatibathwal.com and www.swatibathwal.com