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4 Weight Loss Options for When Diets Don’t Work
At one time or another, everyone has wanted to lose weight. Whether it’s for a special event or to look better on the beach, slimming down is nothing short of challenging. In fact, for some people, it can feel hopeless, even when they’re doing all the right things. Read on to learn five things you can do when diets don’t work.
Start Weight Training
Cardiovascular exercise is still one of the best ways to lose weight. However, weight training can help you lose weight even faster. In addition to performing 150 minutes of cardio a week, you need do strength training two to three days a week as well. Not only does this burn more calories, but it also builds strength and gives you muscle definition.
Shake up Your Exercise Routine
Exercising every day is optimal, however, if you’ve stopped seeing results, your exercise routine may be to blame. When you first start exercising, you kick your metabolism into overdrive, which results is weight loss. However, as your muscle memory increases, it’s not uncommon to stop seeing results.
You can reignite your metabolism again by changing your exercise routine. For example, instead of jogging every day, take a spin class or try kickboxing. Also, don’t forget to give yourself rest days in between intense workouts.
Stop Dieting
When diets are too restrictive, your body goes into survival mode and tries to hold onto body fat. Your metabolism may slow to the point that you stop losing weight, even if you’re eating very little. While following a low-fat diet is part of the losing-weight equation, sometimes is actually better to stop dieting. Living a healthier lifestyle is easy by making better choices and not trying to starve yourself into being thin.
Consider Surgery
When diet modification and increased exercise doesn’t yield results, surgical intervention may be warranted. These usually involve reducing the room inside your stomach, like in a mini-gastric bypass, in order to reduce calorie intake. As with any type of surgical procedure, there are risks involved, so you should only pursue the surgical route after you’ve tried everything else without success.
With so much emphasis on body image, it’s easy to understand so many people want to lose weight and feel better about themselves. And while it’s perfectly normal to want to feel better about your appearance, it’s never okay to think you’re not good enough. Just remember that losing weight is a process. You didn’t gain the weight overnight, so it’s going to take time to lose it as well.
