Why Final Kgs are Hard to Lose?

New Delhi : Get the lowdown on what to remember! Many of us come close to losing weight, but never quite get there. The last few pounds can be a challenge to lose, so let’s talk about why that is and how to overcome that.  We’ll look at a variety of reasons “Why” it’s so difficult to shed those last few pounds.

Let’s start with the mental side of things: when we’re getting close to our ‘goal weight,’ we start feeling confident in our appearance and less self-conscious about our weight. The only time we feel truly motivated is right before a week-long vacation, and even then, it never lasts.

Therefore, the first step is to rededicate oneself to a deeper “Why,” one that goes beyond superficial concerns about appearance and encompasses striving to become a better, more disciplined person overall. Having a coach or mentor you can trust and working together on a specific plan can be very helpful.

At the moment, enthusiasm levels are low. Let’s figure out how to circumvent a certain bodily function by learning how it normally operates. To ensure our continued existence in the event of a food shortage, our bodies have evolved to store any surplus energy they receive. (like early man could).

So, when we’re down to the last few pounds, we tend to indulge in more cravings, pay more attention to food, become lazier, and question our methods and outcomes. That’s because when you diet (eat fewer calories than you burn), your body thinks you’re starving and responds accordingly, making fat loss more difficult.

This is mediated in large part by hormones like ghrelin (which signals hunger) and leptin (which signals fullness). (which signals hunger) The human body is merely becoming more “efficient” in its pursuit of survival.

Keeping careful tabs on what you eat, how much you move around each day (in terms of steps), and how far you’ve come can be a real game changer.

Another thing which might happen during this process(esp. when we have been dieting for a while) is that we get impatient. Like I mentioned, the body becomes efficient, results might get slower and that becomes mentally challenging.

Along with these, if stress and sleep are not managed, that can wreak havoc on our energy levels (and even hunger).
So, special prioritization should be given to mindfulness routine, managing stress (aiming to be in a parasympathetic mode i.e. calm mode for the most part) and having a pre-sleep and morning routine is a must.

Another aspect to take care of while aiming to lose this final bit of fat: We need to ensure that we are in a caloric deficit, not a nutrient deficit. Ensuring that we are having macronutrients(protein, carbs and fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) is a must.

Yes, we need to eat fewer calories than what we burn but the deficit should not be messing up our health or relationship with food.

Coupling that with 3-5 weight training sessions/week and enough daily activity is a must to retain lean body mass, so that when we lose the final kgs, we look: LEAN, not skinny.

Huge focus on health and reinstating our ‘Why’ and why we are doing it is a game changer for most of us.

Coupling that up with trust in process, a plan we trust, being accountable to a coach we trust and working on our psychology around our short term and long term goals is a surefire way of increasing our chances of success.