If you notice your weight starting to creep up once you hit 40+, it’s not always just about food (although if you spend all day eating crisps and chocolate it will have something to do with it, let’s be fair), your LIFESTYLE could be having more effect than you think. We all know the obvious triggers such as eating too much and not doing much exercise but there are some sneakier factors that can play a big part in weight gain. Here are some of the most common ones to avoid so that you can keep your tummy trim and within a healthy weight range.

 

1 – The Dreaded Stress 

Struggling to keep your stress levels under control? They could be internal (ie you don’t quite realise) or external (you’re screaming at the tv / telephone / kids / partner). There’s a good chance that it’s affecting your weight – especially for women, just to make you feel more stress. Your body releases the stress hormone, cortisol, during stressful periods and this can send your blood sugar levels haywire. According to studies, high cortisol production leaves you craving sweet foods and means you’ll probably eat more of the ‘not so good’ foods and more of them.

Cortisol also changes how your body uses glucose (sugar), makes it harder to burn fat and makes it easier to store fat – ugh!!!! Women are more likely to store fat on their stomach (how lovely) but this can also be true for men. Abdominal fat has been linked to health issues so it’s definitely something you want to keep to a minimum!

 

 

2 – Falling Into Emotional Eating Habits

Not taking care of your wellbeing can mean that you eat in line with your emotions rather than when you’re genuinely hungry. Feeling sad, stressed, lonely, bored or disappointed can lead you to eat to fill an emotional void and crave particular foods (usually the unhealthy kind!).

You might feel a little bit better (we’ve all been there) in the immediate aftermath but in the longer term, this type of emotional eating can have a big effect on your weight. Most of the time, you won’t get a signal to say that you’re full and it’s all too easy to find that you’ve eaten a lot more than you planned in a very short space of time, how many times have you looked down and the chocolate bar you were only going to have one square of is now GONE! And you probably won’t feel any better afterwards. In fact, you may well feel a whole lot worse as it’s common for emotional eating to make you feel guilty and ashamed of your food choices.

 

 

3 – Not Sleeping Well 

Poor sleep quality makes you more likely to eat more and gain weight. This is because it disrupts hormones that control your appetite. Lack of sleep increases production of ghrelin (hunger hormone) and decreases leptin (‘I’m full’ hormone) levels, which means it’s harder to manage your appetite.

Sleeping well is one of THE MOST underrated ways to keep your weight in check as your levels of these hormones will be a lot more balanced, and that means you can stay far more in control.

 

 

4 – Not Building Muscle Mass

If you spend a lot of time sitting down and aren’t very active, you probably don’t have much muscle mass. This might not seem like a big deal but it’s a common weight gain trigger.

Lean muscle boosts your metabolism and makes it that little bit easier to burn calories. If you don’t have much lean muscle, your metabolism doesn’t get this benefit and it’s harder to burn calories.

One of the best ways to build more muscle mass is through strength training. Don’t worry- you won’t end up looking like a bodybuilder! The idea of strength training is to build a toned body with minimal body fat rather than the bulky look we often associate with weights.

 

 

5 – Not Eating Enough – yep seriously!

Being on a diet more often than not means you’re definitely going to lose weight, right? Not always! Restricting your calorie intake too much slows down your metabolism and encourages the body to go into “starvation mode” so that it can run on fewer calories. This also means you burn fewer calories too as your body uses most of your intake to survive.

I come across this with ladies all the time. Sometimes we do actually have the increase their good food intake. These kind of diets are also very hard to stick to in the long term. Chances are, you’ll go back to a less restrictive way of eating but your body can still be more likely to store fat, we don’t need that now do we! This is why many people find that they gain weight after coming off a low calorie diet.

 

 

6 – Eating “Low Fat” Foods – think Chemical Shit Storm

Just because a food claims to be “low fat” doesn’t always mean that it’s going to help you to stay in shape. A lot of supposedly “low fat” options are often high in sugar and salt to make them more tasty and can also contain a lot of calories. Eat too many of these “low fat” foods and you’re probably going to put weight on!

Next time you are in the supermarket, pick up the same product but the low fat version and the normal version and check for Carbohydrates (sugars), you’ll most likely find the lower fat one has a higher % of sugars, which we certainly don’t want. Check also the ingredients for sweeteners in the low fat one – chemical shit storm, let’s not do there!

 

Tips for Avoiding These Triggers

So, what can you do to avoid these common triggers and get / keep your body in the best shape?

 

• Eat a healthy, balanced diet that isn’t too restrictive, move away from the calorie count and stay away from “low fat” foods that can promote weight gain

• Be physically active and help your body to gain a bit more muscle mass, you will not look like Arnie!

• Get plenty of sleep to keep appetite hormones in balance

• Make stress reduction a big part of your self care routine and finding healthier ways to manage your emotions that don’t involve emotional eating

• Adopting a more mindful approach to eating so that you don’t eat on autopilot

 

If you need any help with ANY of the above, click the CONTACT ME tab at the top of the screen and get in touch, whatever way works for you. That’s it, simple!

 

Have a wonderful day.

xxxx