5 Habits That Are Keeping You From Losing Those Last 10 Pounds
Make these small changes and you’ll finally hit your goal weight
Nothing’s easy when it comes to weight loss, but dropping those last 10 pounds can be extra difficult.
Why is that? "As you lose weight, and especially if you’ve lost a significant amount, your metabolism slows down," says Dana Hunnes, Ph.D., R.D., an adjunct assistant professor and senior dietician at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health.
As you probably know, "metabolism" is expert shorthand for the energy—or calories—your body burns during the day. The more your metabolism slows, the harder it will be for you to keep shedding weight. (Try these 6 ways to keep your metabolism revved as you get older.)
Why does your metabolism downshift? Dieting deprives your body of energy it’s accustomed to getting, says Bahram Arjmandi, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at Florida State University. Sensing that your calorie intake has dropped, your body may slip into a kind of energy conservation mode, he says. That explains why those first 10 pounds fell off in jiff, but the last 10 have proved stickier.
You can counteract the roadblocks your body and metabolism throw up between you and your target weight by changing these habits.
Your only exercise is cardio.
The time you devote to running or the elliptical machine is time well spent. But if your exercise routine doesn’t include a resistance (or strength-training) component, you’ll eventually struggle to lose weight.
Muscle keeps your metabolism running at a high rate, Arjmandi says. But as you lose weight, you may be losing muscle in addition to fat. This can supercharge the metabolism-slowing effect of cutting calories.
Start lifting weights or incorporating bodyweight resistance training into your weekly workouts, he suggests. Aim for three to four times a week if you want to work on building muscle. (Don’t have time to get to the gym? Break a sweat in your living room with Metashred Extreme from Men’s Health, a series of metabolic workouts designed to help you shed fat and build muscle.)
Most of your meals are liquids.
Smoothies tend to slip through your digestive system without putting up much of a fight, which means your body doesn’t have to burn many calories to break them down and absorb them.
Fiber-rich foods, on the other hand, require more energy to digest and absorb, Hunnes says. "They’re also high in nutrients," she adds. If you really need a quick meal on the go, these 20 healthy, protein-packed smoothies are filled with nutrients.
Whole fruits, dark leafy greens, and non-starchy vegetables are all foods that can help increase your post-meal calorie burn. (Here are 5 ways to sneak more fiber into your diet.)
Related: 12 Superfoods You Should Be Eating
You’re not eating any fat.
Yes, dietary fat is calorie dense. But healthy fats—the kind in nuts, avocado, olive oil, and whole-fat Greek yogurt—can help shift your body away from fat-storage mode and into fat-shedding mode, says David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health and author of Always Hungry? (These are the high-fat foods nutritionists say you should eat more of.)
He points out that, for almost 40 years, most popular diets focused on limiting fat, and Americans just got heavier and heavier. While Dr. Ludwig calls for a diet heavy in healthy fats, adding even small portions of good fats (like these fatty foods with health benefits) can help reverse your body’s fat-clinging reflexes.
You’re not pushing yourself when you work out.
High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, involves short bursts of intense exercise—think hard running or sprinting, instead of jogging—followed by shorter periods of rest.
"There's a lot of research now that shows individuals who do HIIT training can really boost calorie-burn after a workout," Hunnes says.
If the number on your scale won't budge, it may be time to trade your leisurely morning two-miler for a more-intense aerobic workout. So if you run hard for one minute, take a 30-second break.
You’ve stopped counting calories.
The whole concept of counting calories has taken a big hit in recent years as more and more research has shown that not all calories are created equal.
But Hunnes says paying attention to your calorie intake and portion sizes is still important. Why? “Most people underestimate how much they eat and overestimate how much they burn through exercise,” she says. (Try these 20 ways to cut 500 calories a day.)
Especially when it comes to snacking, you may be eating a lot more than you realize—which in turn may be stalling your weight-loss progress.
Start paying closer attention to exactly how much you’re eating, particularly during those mid-afternoon breaks and after-dinner TV viewings.
The article 5 Habits That Are Keeping You From Losing Those Last 10 Pounds originally appeared on Prevention.
Why Grapeseed Oil Should Be Your New Cooking Tool
Is Algae Oil the New Fish Oil?
Why Does My Weight Fluctuate So Much?
6 Signs You're Losing Muscle, Not Fat
