This
week, nearly half of all Americans will resolve to make 2016 the year
they get fitter, faster and reach their feel-great weights. Indeed,
weight loss and exercising continue to be among the most popular New
Year’s vows, according to a Marist Poll.
It
would be wonderful if the pounds melted off as soon as we ramped up
our workouts and swore off sweets.
But
many people find that weight loss isn’t that simple or that linear.
They
get stuck in a weight-watching purgatory — dragging themselves
through workouts and scrutinizing food labels — while the numbers
on the bathroom scale stall or inch upward.
“I
hear people say this all the time,” says Tom McGlynn, founder of
Runcoach, which trains 1,500 area runners annually for the Marine
Corps Marathon, Historic Half Marathon and Cherry Blossom 10-Miler.
To
be sure, some of the initial weight gain is often due to water
retention, says Jim White, a Virginia Beach-based dietitian and
exercise physiologist.
When
you lift weights or run up a hill, the muscle fibers tear. The body
responds by producing fluids full of white blood cells and nutrients
to heal those fibers so you get stronger, says White.
But
for more people, the forces that drive the weight gain are much more
complex. Here are some common weight-loss traps and how to avoid
them.
You
do too much too soon
Many
people try to overhaul their diets while simultaneously logging
monster workout sessions at a pace that’s unsustainable. “People
get all excited about counting calories, they overexercise and
undereat, and it ends up being too much restriction,” says exercise
physiologist Jenny Hadfield, founder of coachjenny.com.
“Three weeks after they start, they can’t manage it, and the
scale tips the other way.” Without adequate fueling, workouts
become a waste of time; with no energy to push their bodies faster,
harder and longer, people can’t make substantial fitness gains.
And
the body rebels, Hadfield says. “When we drastically reduce calorie
consumption and combine that with higher levels of exercise, the body
adapts by lowering our metabolic rates.” So you may drop pounds at
first, but eventually you regain the weight, and then some. And
there’s new evidence that excess restriction messes with the body’s
hunger mechanism.
In a study published in the December 2015 issue of
eLife, when rats’ meal times were limited, levels of the fullness
hormone ghrelin plummeted and they ate twice as much.
Hadfield
says baby steps are often more effective. With exercise, do a variety
of workouts: short easy aerobic efforts, endurance-building long
sessions, strength and cross-training. And make one to two small
dietary changes at a time.
Give yourslf time to adjust to each change
before making another. “Even just a glass of wine can be the
difference between maintaining and losing weight,” says White.
But
don’t get rid of the pre-workout nosh. White recommends eating a
snack of 100 calories 30 minutes before exercise — say a piece of
fruit, a cup of yogurt or half a granola bar. “You just don’t
want to be hungry, as that can cause you to be weak,” he says.
Experiment with different foods to figure out what gives you a boost
without upsetting your stomach.
You
adopt a diet off the shelf
Many
people hitch their weight-loss hopes to a popular diet, declaring
themselves low-carb, Paleo, or gluten-free without considering their
own likes and lifestyles.
If a diet requires consuming specialty
foods that drain your wallet or make you feel chronically deprived,
it isn’t likely to last. “One-size-fits-all programs can be
effective in the short term,” says White, “but they can be too
hard to follow and people often end up gaining weight back.”
Adopt
an eating plan that you can afford and enjoy. And allow yourself a
weekly treat meal. Just don’t regard it as a “cheat” meal,
White warns, which perpetuates a fear-based attitude about food.
Indeed, research suggests that the idea of cheating can derail your
diet. In a study published in the March 2014 issue of Appetite,
people who associated chocolate cake with guilt reported less control
over eating and were less successful at weight loss compared to those
who associated the cake with celebration.
Your
eating and exercise habits don’t work
Any
diet must support your exercise routine so you get adequate amounts
of nutrients. Coaches say they see a lot of people attempting
low-carb diets while training for endurance events like marathons,
which often backfires.
Carbs are the nutrient the body can most
efficiently convert into energy. So trying to exercise without carbs
“is like trying to drive your car with zero gas,” says White.
“People go to exercise, they have no energy, they hate it and get
discouraged.”
Once you pick a workout routine or a sports goal,
meet with a dietitian to customize an eating plan that will
complement it.
You
go overboard with the energy bars
Grocery
shelves are packed with sports bars that promise to deliver speed,
strength and energy. Snack, nutrition and protein bars have become a
$6.2 billion market, according to Mintel, the Chicago research firm.
And sales of performance bars geared to enhancing fitness and
exercise have skyrocketed by 83% since 2009.
Many of these products
have calorie, sugar and fat profiles that rival conventional candy
bars. Though these foods are designed for refueling during workouts
of 60 minutes or longer, many people go overboard once they start
working out. “People eat those products and figure ‘that wasn’t
real food, now I have to go get a real meal,’ ” says McGlynn.
“Meanwhile they just ate 500 calories.” He encourages clients to
focus on fruits, vegetables and grains for carbs; poultry, fish and
lean red meat for protein; and nuts and avocados for fats.
“Spend
the calories on natural foods that we know have vitamins and
nutrients that are beneficial,” he says.
You
overcompensate for calorie burn
Many
people find that the more they exercise, the more they eat, either
because the increased activity makes them hungrier or because they
feel entitled to a donut after a tough workout.
In a study published
in the May 2014 issue of Marketing Letters, people who were told a
two-kilometer walk was exercise ate 35 percent more chocolate pudding
afterward than those who thought the same stroll was a “scenic
walk.” And it takes only minutes to eat back the calories burned on
a 30-minute run.
To avoid this, before your workout, prepare a
post-workout snack that you can grab when you return — say some
fat-free Greek yogurt and a piece of fruit, or some rice cakes with
peanut butter. And find ways to make your calorie burn fun. Meet a
friend for a run so your workout becomes a social hour.
Download
audiobooks and reserve your exercise time for entertainment. Most
important, find a form of exercise that you genuinely enjoy. If you
dread it, you’re not going to do it.
