6 Reasons Why It’s Hard to Lose Fat

If volumes of weight loss literature and heaps of weight loss products are any indication, it’s that losing weight can be as easy as eating this and not that, and doing this and not that.

While a few are successful, for most, it’s a constant struggle between losing weight and then gaining it all back, with a few extra pounds on top. If you wonder why losing weight can sometimes be a losing battle, it’s because of the following reasons.

1. The human body is designed to hoard fat
 
From an evolutionary perspective, hoarding fat results to the body having energy reserves in case of famine. This is why women have higher body fat percentage than men; in case of famine, they would have enough stored fat to nurse their young.

Ironically, this mechanism works against women when they start trying to drastically lose weight, and explains why weight lost is often gained back when calorie consumption is not kept in check. This rebound fat is often the most stubborn to eliminate by exercise unless procedures are performed in an aesthetic laser clinic.

Drastic diets trigger the body’s defense mechanisms by slowing down metabolism. So the body won’t starve, it kicks off into hibernation mode once it senses that there are too few calories to go around. As a result, dieters become physically and mentally sluggish, and may even become depressed.

2. Fat loss means decrease in hormones that signal your brains you are full

As the first to go away in weight loss attempts is fat, this also means that the hormone leptin, which signals the brain that the stomach is full, goes awry. Worse, the hormone gherlin, the one that stimulates hunger, pumps up, resulting to frequent hunger pangs and faulty “I am full” detector. This chaos results to a “hangry” dieter who couldn’t sustain the diet over the long-term.

3. There’s no one-diet-fits-all

If volumes of weight loss literature and heaps of weight loss products are any indication, it’s that losing weight can be as easy as eating this and not that, and doing this and not that. While a few are successful, for most, it’s a constant struggle between losing weight and then gaining it all back, with a few extra pounds on top. If you wonder why losing weight can sometimes be a losing battle, it’s because of the following reasons.

4. Exercise can’t strip away all fat

Exercise is of course essential in helping you to lose weight and keeping it off, but without watching what you eat, you can easily regain the calories you burned by just one post-workout protein bar. This is because losing a pound of fat requires burning 3,5000 calories more than you normally consume. Additionally, some areas of the body seem to be naturally resistant to exercise (like those around the waist and thighs) and there are no exercises that spot-reduces these fatty areas.

Aesthetic clinics in Singapore offer procedures to spot-reduce these problem areas in a safe and non-surgical way. Stubborn fat can be eliminated by cryolipolysis, which uses low temperatures to melt fat. One such fat-freezing procedure is called CoolSculpting, where stubborn fat around the midsection, inner thighs, back and flanks are subjected to cold so fat is broken down and naturally eliminated by the body. Patients of Coolsculpting Singapore clinics normally see results within three months after the procedure is completed.

5. Muscle-building is exceptionally hard work

Increasing your muscle mass should be your goal in exercising, as a pound of muscle burns more calories at rest compared to the same amount of fat. So aside from cardio sessions, make sure you also have strength training incorporated into your workout routine.

6. It’s not just diet you need to change, it’s your lifestyle

Losing weight is never a one-time thing; it’s a lifetime commitment that requires changing your habits, behavior and outlook for years to come. When you’ve reached your goal weight, there is no room to slack off: Once you do, you gain it all back.

If you wish certain body parts to become slimmer but you have had no success with diet and exercise, consider CoolSculpting that is popular in laser clinics in Singapore as a safe, painless and non-surgical way to achieve the shape you want. The results remain stable over the long term if you eat sensibly and exercise regularly.