If you are reading this article, the chances are that your bathroom scale always seems to be tipped in the wrong direction.

When you can’t attain your target weight even after days spent in the gym, you need to take a good look at a big culprit – your life habits. You may think that it is only the big splurges that affect your weight, but the truth is much different.

While our bodies can be affected by an occasional bout of increased calories, the major game-changers can be just those seemingly docile habits that we never give a second thought about…

Today, I want to discuss some things that make you gain weight and how you can eliminate them to get in the best shape possible.

 

5 Innocent Things That Make You Gain Weight

 

1) Inadequate sleep

 

Life has become increasingly busy, and it isn’t very easy to keep track of time. In such circumstances, everyone wants just a few more hours to get stuff done. To accomplish this, we often stay up late or even pull the dreaded ‘all-nighters’, but hey – we do complete our tasks, right?

However, the one thing that is adversely affected during this process is our sleep schedule. Sleepless nights are one of the things that make you gain weight because they’re known to increase the waistline, apart from affecting your mood and making you irritated.

When we spend our nights with office work instead of sleeping, our bodies release a stress hormone called cortisol which causes water retention, bloating, and weight gain.

So, try to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, and you will soon see positive results.

 

2) Spending time with people who indulge… A little too much

 

You keep pouring water over a rock, and it will eventually change shape. The same principle applies here, and when you see your friends feast like kings & queens every day, you will soon adapt those practices and never even notice it!

If your friends are frequent overeaters, you may keep up with them, and in some weeks or months, your weight can start to increase. Therefore, surround yourself with people who practice healthy eating habits, or get your friends to follow a healthy diet plan like yours so that you can all become healthy together!

 

3) Eating low-fat items

 

I must admit that there is a certain mental peace associated with eating anything labeled as ‘low fat’… We are conditioned to think that fats are always bad, and hence it is a reasonable conclusion that fats will cause weight gain.

However, it’s all wrong! Any low-fat food item reduces calories by replacing the fats with carbohydrates or texture additives, and these can cause more damage than good.

When you eat food loaded with sugars, you will get an immediate sugar spike followed by excessive hunger. And since you just had only low-fat yogurt, your mind finds it reasonable to splurge in one more. Do you see the pattern? Try to avoid buying low-fat items and incorporate wholesome foods with a balanced fat content in your diet.

 

4) Stress

 

Stress has been called the killer because it is! It kills one’s will to live… But that’s just a one side of the story.

The hormones cortisol and insulin that our body releases during stress can increase your appetite, and you can guess what comes next. You’re eating like crazy, and eventually, this makes you fat.

Also, when you are stressed, you mainly focus on comfort food which almost always consists of desserts, salty or fatty items. Even more – you become addicted to this eating pattern, wanting more food, and it’s just a slippery slope from there.

So stress is not just “something all of us experience”… It’s also a dangerous thing that makes you gain weight (and leaves you unhappy!).

 

5) Diet soda

 

Diet soda is considered the lesser evil when we think about sodas. While it is safer than the regular drinks but by no means is it beneficial for your weight. It has been found that two or more diet sodas a day can account for six times increase in your waist size!

Just like low-fat foods, diet sodas give you a false sense of security, and you end up consuming more and more.

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Can you tell me you knew there were so many things that make you gain weight? Most people are unaware of these issues, but now that you know, go ahead and implement these in your plan to attain a healthy weight. Your body deserves it!

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