The average American gains 10 pounds per year, which is a lot when you consider the fact that 1 pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. A person who eats an extra 500 calories per day for one week will gain about 12 pounds from this alone. Sometimes people don’t even realize they’re eating more than what their body needs!
Gaining weight is a problem that many people face. From January to March of 2013, the average American gained 3 pounds. There are many reasons why this could be happening: you may not know how much food your body needs, you might have an unhealthy lifestyle or you may have a medical condition.
If you want to lose weight and keep it off, here are 5 top tips:
- You don’t know how much calories your body needs: In order to maintain a healthy diet, one must understand their calorie intake (around 2000-2500 for women). If not met with enough exercise, excess calories will turn into fat which results in weight gain.
- Too many carbs- Carbs turn into sugar in the body which makes it more difficult for you to lose weight because if there is a surplus of sugar available, then cells will use that as an energy source rather than burning fat.
- Eating too late at night- This will slow down your metabolism and make it harder for you to burn fat.
- You are not sleeping enough. When we sleep our bodies release hormones that regulate hunger and satiety levels, which mean it is important to get 7-9 hours of sleep each night in order for your body to operate at its peak performance level.
- Stress causes a release of hormones that can lead to overeating or eating unhealthy foods. It also suppresses our immune system and leaves us feeling less energetic which makes exercise more difficult.
