4 very common mistakes that prevent you from burning fat and losing weight
4 very common mistakes that prevent you from burning fat and losing weight 7 easy exercises to gain muscle and burn fat without going to the gym Free weights or machines: which is faster and more effective for gaining muscle mass 8 hidden causes that explain why we gain weight The time may have come when you have definitely decided to get down to work to achieve a healthier weight. Or you may have been working for a while and not getting the results you expected. In both cases, whether you are about to change your lifestyle or you have already tried but are not making progress, you need to keep in mind that sometimes the goal is not enough. And it is normal to think that a balanced diet based on healthy food and physical exercise are enough to meet the set goal. But the truth is that they are not because there are always nuances and several decisive factors that intervene in the equation: from what makes us gain weight to what prevents us from losing weight. When it comes to what makes us gain weight, diet and lack of exercise are obviously decisive ingredients, but other factors such as age, lack of sleep, stress, or certain types of illnesses or medications can also play a key role in why the scale tells us we are not on the right track.
Four mistakes that prevent you from losing weight But it is also likely that we do not focus well on how to lose weight and that what we have implemented does not work. In this sense, Sergio Peinado, a graduate in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences and personal trainer, shares some of the most common mistakes we make when trying to burn fat to lose weight, such as obsessing exclusively on the physical routine. “You think that what burns the most calories is training, but let me tell you that you can burn more calories throughout the week with the movement you do in your day to day life, than with the act of training itself. This is known as NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) and if you want to get the most out of it when it comes to burning fat, I recommend that you walk and move more in general and not just exercise,” says the expert. However, it is also possible that you do not approach nutrition in the most appropriate way. “You think that eating healthy is the only thing you need to lose fat, but in reality you can eat a lot of calories with equally healthy food. Remember that to lose fat you have to be in a caloric deficit and no matter how healthy a food is, you can also go overboard on calories,” explains Peinado, who also shares that diet alone is insufficient. Although no, there is no exercise or training that is better than another to lose weight because it all depends on your circumstances and needs, so it is better not to obsess. Sergio Peinado already says it. “The reality is that there is no specific training to lose fat. There are different types of training and exercises that can help you achieve this, whether it is light, moderate and intense cardio, or strength training, which is super important. But there is no perfect training that helps you lose weight,” he says. The personal trainer emphasizes strength training to maintain or develop muscle mass because it helps you maintain weight loss by activating the metabolism, apart from all the benefits that physical activity has for the body. In fact, a diet without exercise can lead to weight loss, but in addition to not being the most advisable in terms of health, it is more than likely that those kilos you have lost along the way will return sooner or later because relying everything on caloric restriction is not usually the most appropriate. Likewise, it is possible that you have become obsessed with losing fat from a very specific area of your body and focus all your efforts on exercising it. Abdomen, thighs, hips or buttocks are usually on the priority list, but it is not possible to burn localized fat. Although it is not impossible, but not in the way you think. Something very related to the last recommendation made by the personal trainer. “Perhaps the most important mistake of all is that the more aggressive your change of habits is, the less likely you are to maintain it over time and achieve results. So do not change your life overnight. Go little by little,” says Sergio Peinado. Building a healthy lifestyle And he is not wrong. One of the main problems when approaching weight loss is thinking that it has a beginning and an end. We can agree that there is a starting point, but it is not advisable to obsess about reaching the goal before time. Losing weight is a long-distance race and you will not start to see results immediately. The most important thing is to create adherence to a healthy diet and physical exercise and for both things to become the norm and not the exception to reach that point where you feel comfortable and, above all, healthy. But it is also about not taking a step back. To do this, you can make adjustments both in terms of diet and physical activity to, for example, maintain that weight that has cost you so much to achieve, but improve your body composition and change fat for muscle. In any case, if you have the slightest doubt about how to approach the process, the most advisable and logical thing is to put yourself in the hands of health, nutrition and physical exercise specialists so that they can treat your case in a specific way and can advise you on the options that best suit your circumstances. Because that is another common mistake, thinking that we know exactly what is best for us. And that is not always the case.