What To Do If I Can’t Lose Weight
You’ve dieted, you’ve exercised, and you feel like no matter what you do you can t lose weight. Many people say that no matter what they’ve tried they can’t seem to drop any of their unwanted pounds. Though the problem is the same, the reasons for having so much difficulty losing weight usually vary from person to person. Just like the same way of eating might not work as well for some people as it does for others, the problems associated with weight loss are bound to be different for many different people, too.
If you’ve been following a diet plan and still can t lose weight, you need to look very carefully at the diet and see if it’s really one that can work. You’ll need to look at things like how many calories you eat a day on the plan, and whether your diet seems to be heavier in things like fat or dairy products, or whether it leans the other way and focuses mostly on fruits and vegetables.
If the amount of calories you’re eating every day seems reasonable—enough to keep you healthy but low enough to let you burn fat—yet you can t lose weight while eating this way, it’s likely that the type of diet just doesn’t suit your metabolism. If the diet is calorie-focused and allows things like white bread, flour, potatoes, pasta and sugar, trying cutting down on those items. Maybe the diet is too high in carbohydrates for you and that’s sabotaging your efforts. Experiment to see if you start losing weight.
If the diet is already low carb and you can t lose weight on it, then maybe it’s gone too far in the other direction. Are you eating lots of red meat, fried foods, oil and other fats like butter? Some low-carb diets claim you can eat these foods in almost unlimited amounts, but that’s simply not true. All that fat adds up to hundreds of calories, and no matter how few carbs you eat, a calorie is still a calorie. It can be very easy to eat too many calories per day if you’re eating fatty meats, nuts or if you have lots of oil in your diet.
If your diet really seems healthy, with lean meats, lots of vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables, some diary and little sugar or flour and you still can t lose weight, then you could be eating too few calories and causing your metabolism to slow. Or you’re eating much more food than you think you are. Look at all the little snacks you have throughout the day, no matter how healthy they are.
Try keeping a journal and writing down everything you eat each day, including anything you drink that has calories in it like soda or coffee with cream. If you can t lose weight because you’re eating more than you think, a week or so of logging the details of your diet should start to show you where those extra calories are sneaking in.
Depression & Anxiety Treatment Options
Most doctors will prescribe antidepressant medications to help treat depression and anxiety. They are not a cure though. These medications can treat some of the symptoms of depression and anxiety; however they have no effect on the underlying stresses contributing to your depression and anxiety. Therapy is necessary when lifestyle changes are in order.
There is research that proves that therapy can be just as effective at treating anxiety and depression as some medications. In fact, therapy can often help where medication cannot. Antidepressants only work as long as you are taking them. Once you have weaned yourself off of them, if no changes have been made to your lifestyle, then the stressors and other contributors remain.
This can actually cause a relapse. Therapy offers coping mechanisms, emotional insights, and the skills required to change your lifestyle and get rid of the contributing stressors. Sometimes medication is necessary in severe cases of depression and anxiety. This will help boost your mood so you can gain the energy to seek out and focus on effective therapy.
Therapy and medications are not the only forms of treatment available. Other effective routes include support groups, meditation, exercise, stress management, techniques for relaxation, and taking steps towards self-help. These types of treatment involve more effort than others, but their advantages usually outweigh any of the negatives. They can boost mood and energy levels just as effectively as medications in milder cases of depression and anxiety.
Recovery from depression and anxiety starts with making positive choices in your daily lives. Eating healthy and exercising can have a huge effect. Research indicates that exercise helps people feel more in control, increases self-esteem, offers a distraction, improves overall health, helps cope with stress, and decreases the chance of sleeplessness. It is hard to get motivated to start exercising when you are depressed or anxious. However that is exactly what you need to do. Exercise can offer a more immediate relief to how you feel than any antidepressant medication.
Depression often makes you feel like you have no energy to even get out of bed, let alone do exercise. By taking easy steps it is possible to add activity to your daily routine. Remember to keep it simple. Set your first goal of the day to get out of bed, get outside, and walk around the block. You would be surprised what a little sunshine can do for your mood. Then add a little more each day. Also, take it easy. Your body may not be used to physical activity and the last thing you want to do is overexert yourself and cause injury.
Feel good about what you have accomplished, no matter how little. The best way to add some activity is by doing what you enjoy. If you like to do yoga, then do yoga. Do not force yourself to go to the gym if that is not enjoyable. This would defeat the whole purpose of exercising to feel better. Sometimes, exercising with a friend makes it easier. Just make sure it is someone who is supportive and encouraging, and someone whom you can talk to.
The best treatment is found by working in conjunction with your doctor. S/he will be able to help you monitor your depression and anxiety and make necessary recommendations. They can also help you to work out the positive lifestyle changes needed to regain control over these illnesses.