Factors Affecting Weight Loss

When trying to lose weight, there is a variety of factors affecting your progress. The monotony of "eat well, exercise daily" you drill into your head day in and day out can start to have a negative effect on the number on the scale. When starting out on your weight-loss journey, keep both the food you eat and the physical activity you do in mind along the way. However, never lose sight of your goal.

Food Matters

• Even if you kicked the caffeine and stay away from dessert, you are still not losing weight. Why? Though fruit, vegetables and lean proteins are excellent choices, it is possible to get too much of a good thing. Downing an entire bag of grapes or five breasts of chicken in one sitting will add just as many–if not more–calories than a candy bar. When trying to lose weight, be wary of portion sizes, even if what you are eating is considered a healthy, good-for-you food. When you pay attention to both quality of the food you eat along with the quantity, you are well on your way to a smaller waist.

Exercise

• Regardless of the diet you choose or the method of weight loss you select, one piece of the puzzle that will always be front and center is physical activity. Running, cycling, lifting weights, playing tennis or any other activity is important to strengthen and tone muscles and burn calories. Some believe that they have to sweat it out in the gym for hours on end to lose weight. That is not true. When it comes to exercise, always think quality. A tough, rigorous 3-mile run that takes you 35 minutes and really pushes your cardiovascular system will burn just as many, if not more, calories as walking on a treadmill for an hour. Plus, you saved yourself 25 minutes. Be sure to drink plenty of water and take rest days. A rest day after 5 tough days of exercise is very important in order to allow your body to rest and repair itself from a week of hard work.

Frame of Mind

• If you have a negative outlook on your progress, all of your working out and eating well might end up being more of a burden than a blessing. The weight-loss journey is a roller coaster. You will gain weight some weeks and you might eat an entire bag of cookies at a low point. If one of these things happen, a negative frame of mind may result in throwing you completely off the weight-loss train. Always keep your long-term goal in front of your face, literally, and post your goal in places you see every day, like your refrigerator, coffee maker or bathroom mirror. A positive mindset will help you jump right back on track after you have a bad day and allow you to chalk it up to just that, a bad day.