Why is it so Hard to Lose Weight?

Losing weight is easy. After all, it’s basically a case of eating less, moving more, and eating healthy produce. Except in reality losing weight is not that easy. If it were, everybody out there would have a healthy BMI and the diet and weight loss industries would not be raking in millions upon millions every single year.

Losing weight is tough both physically and mentally, but the good news is that it can be done with the right mindset, knowledge, knowhow, and determination.

Forget about what social media “influencers” and online PTs tell you about how easy it is to lose weight, and certainly pay no attention to what weight loss commercials and supplement company adverts have to say about how easy it is to lose weight because it simply is not true.

Weight loss is hard, and in this article we’re going to look at exactly why it is so difficult, along with what you can do to get back on track.

Here’s a look at three reasons why it’s so hard to lose weight.

You’re battling your own body

One of the main reasons why it’s so difficult to lose weight is simply due to the fact that you are literally battling your own body every step of the way.

Why is it that it can take days, weeks, or even months, to lose a couple of pounds yet one or two days off plan and we can gain that weight back? Well, it all comes down to your hormones.

You see, when you lose weight, natural levels of a hormone known as Leptin are reduced. Leptin is a hunger hormone which signals to the brain that you are feeling full.

Just to make matters even more unfair, weight loss also promotes an increase in the production of a hormone known as ghrelin, which is a hormone responsible for hunger. The more we produce, the hungrier we feel and the more we crave junk food and foods we shouldn’t be consuming.

Weight loss is a long process

Wouldn’t it be great if we could take a magical pill before we went to bed at night and wake up in the morning having lost a significant amount of body fat by doing absolutely nothing? Well, as great as that would be, it simply is not possible.

There are no quick fixes for weight loss so if you do need to lose weight you need to resign yourself to the fact that it is going to take a long time.

It takes a significantly longer amount of time to lose weight than it does to gain weight, and while that can be disheartening, that’s just the way it is unfortunately.

You can’t out train a poor diet

Just to add insult to injury, it turns out that all of those long workouts you’re doing in the gym to try to lose weight are absolutely pointless if you’re eating junk on a regular basis and are refusing to clean up your diet.

Okay, exercise is never pointless as it provides health benefits that stretch way beyond losing weight, but if you are trying to lose weight, exercise alone will not burn fat if you are eating junk and consuming too many calories.

One hour-long bike ride for example, may burn off around 360 calories yet one small sandwich or energy bar will put those calories right back inside you.