13. You’re doing one-speed workouts
Studies from both the University of Guelph in Canada and the University of NSW are among many that have found that injecting bursts of speed into your run or cycle will burn more fat than doing the same distance at one moderate pace.
Solution: Add some intervals to your running route. For example, sprint between lampposts or traffic lights.
14. You’re taking prescription drugs
Some prescription drugs cause weight gain due to their effect on mood, appetite and metabolism. These include many of the new generation of antidepressants, corticosteroids and even some blood pressure medications, according to Professor Garry Egger, co-author of the book Planet Obesity (Allen & Unwin) and a consultant on obesity for the World Health Organisation.
Solution: Check with your doctor if you’re concerned, or simply ask about alternatives to the medication.
15.You’re not lifting weights
Do this to boost fat burning and build muscle, exercise physiologist Joanne Turner says. Every kilo of extra muscle you develop will burn an extra kilo’s worth of fat per year.
Solution: Get a set of dumbbells or resistance bands, pick a weight that has you struggling after eight repetitions and squat, lunge, press-up and pull-up.
16. You’re reading too many magazines
They’re full of celebrities and models with no hips or bottom and promote diets that tell you you need to look like that too, Egger says. Many women become psychologically distressed when they put pressure on themselves to achieve that shape and give up trying when they can’t.
Solution: Go to an art gallery and look at some medieval portraits. That’s the shape healthy women should be – pear-shaped or hourglass shaped.
17. You’re not eating enough calcium
Calcium has been found to spur weight loss, according to Melanie McGrice, chairperson of the Dietitian Association of Australia Obesity Interest Group. Eating sufficient amounts appears to stifle the desire to eat more while not eating enough seems to spur food intake.
Solution: Include three serves of low-fat dairy products or fortified food such as soy milk in your daily diet.
18. You’re making moral judgements
Food isn’t good or bad, junk or rubbish, and people shouldn’t feel bad about food it’s normal to eat occasionally, according to Dr Rick Kausman, author of If Not Dieting, Then What? (Allen & Unwin) and an AMA spokesperson on weight management and eating behaviour. If you label food, you’re often labelling yourself – you’re not a bad person if you eat chocolate any more than you’re good if you eat an apple, Kausman says.
Solution: Classify food as “everyday” or “sometimes” food. It’s fine to have cake or chocolate sometimes, just not every day.
19.You wear high heels
Research shows that 60 to 90 minutes of moderate physical activity a day (such as walking) will maintain weight loss. Wearing high heels may deter you from getting up and walking around.
Solution: Go like Carla Bruni – invest in ballet flats or just pack a pair of trainers to make walking easier.
20. You eat on the run
If you leave decisions about what to eat until the last minute, you risk going with whatever’s available.
Solution: Before leaving home in the morning, prepare a range of healthy foods that you enjoy and take them with you.
21. You eat in the dark
There’s evidence that we should eat during daylight hours because in the absence of sunlight our body doesn’t handle energy as efficiently, Professor Katherine Samaras, head of diabetes and obesity clinical studies at the Garvan Institute, says. When sunlight hits our retina the message is transferred to the liver to start metabolisingm fats more effectively.
Solution: Eat your main meal at lunchtime and avoid having dinner late at night.
22. You eat with the TV on
Researchers from the University of Birmingham found that people who eat in front of the TV were less likely to focus on their meal nor remember what they ate and so were more likely to snack later. Scientists from the Baylor College of Medicine report that overweight children ate 50 per cent of their meals while watching TV compared to 35 per cent of normal weight kids.
Solution: Eat meals slowly over 30 minutes at the dinner table.
23. You’re not getting enough sleep
The US Nurses’ Health Study which tracked 68,000 women found that the less sleep women got, the more likely they were to become obese. Lack of sleep influences a number of hormones, Professor Paul Taylor, exercise physiologist and nutritionist, says. Cortisol and ghrelin levels rise which makes you hungry and lay down fat, while leptin, the satiety hormone, goes down.
Solution: Get seven to eight hours shut-eye every night.
24. Your house is too hot
Studies show that reducing room temperature from 27 degrees to 22 degrees results in an extra 239 calories burned per day.
Solution: Turn down the heat to increase thermogenesis and make the body work harder.
25. You’re bored
Eating when you’re not physically hungry usually comes down to emotional eating, says Kausman.
Solution: Check in with your body – are you really hungry or just bored, upset or lonely? If so, find a healthier way to deal with these emotional states, such as by walking.
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