10 Reasons Why Your Waistline Is Increasing

Isn’t it frustrating when you cannot seem to get a trim waistline even with hours of intense workout and extreme cutting down of calories. Have you given up everything that reads “fat” too? Even though you might have lost considerable amount of weight, belly fat is considered as “stubborn fat” which takes its own sweet time to melt away. But what if you are seeing an expansion of waistline despite all your weight loss efforts? Now don’t start to lose your sleep over the expanding waist because even sleep deprivation would add to the layers of belly fat. Do not fret, because in this post, we list down 10 alarming reasons why your waistline is increasing in spite of your best efforts and what to do about them.

# Too Many Refined Carbs

These unhealthy carbs can reach your daily diet through many ways, from white bread, candies, chocolates, pasta to even processed breakfast cereals that you consider healthy. Food items such as sugar, candies, white bread, pizza, donuts, cookies, burgers, chocolates, etc. have refined carbs that spike insulin levels and have loads of calories that quickly add up and get stored as fat in cells. Refined carbs can sabotage fat burning, especially tummy fat. In fact, cutting down refined carbs can give faster results than going low fat. The solution would be to use complex carbs instead of refined carbs. Starting out on healthy weight loss diets such as on the Rati Beauty app will also accelerate the whole weight loss process. Read about Best Carbs to Eat for Weight Loss.

# Going Low Fat

When fat content is ripped from food, that makes it absolutely tasteless. To bring back the taste, a majority of food companies add loads of sugar and other artificial flavours that add a high amount of calories to the body. Most food items that are marketed as “low fat” and “fat free” replace fat content with loads of carbs that when not used as energy, get stored as fat in the body, particularly, around the waist, resulting in belly fat. Therefore, choose healthy fats such as omega-3 fatty acids instead of going low fat.

# High Sodium in Processed Food

More than the table salt in home-cooked food, a lot of people are unaware that they get high sodium through processed and junk food. If you want to lose weight, go low on salt and sodium levels.

# Not Drinking Enough Water

Apart from leading to water retention, dehydration can compromise and lower metabolism. Enough water in the body would curb appetite and flush out toxins too. Make it a point to drink at least 2 liters or more in a day to rev up the metabolism and burn fat.

# Sleeping for Less than 7 Hours

Sleep deprivation can play havoc on hormones levels that play important roles in weight loss, notably insulin, cortisol, ghrelin – all of which have to be in the lowest range and leptin and human growth hormone – both of which need to be high for weight loss to happen. When you sleep well, the body rejuvenates, repairs, and balances out these hormones. You can do nothing, sleep for 7 hours, and yet wake up with a robust metabolism that would torch up calories.

# Gulping Down Food instead of Chewing

Studies have shown that people who eat quickly without chewing food properly tend to put on weight more rather than the ones who eat slowly. It is essential to chew the food thoroughly and avoid gulping it down your throat. When you eat quickly, you are unknowingly eating more food whereas those who take a good amount of time to chew their food, will always eat less quantity because they reach satiation point during the eating process.

# You have a Secret Snack Drawer

So, you have a secret snack drawer where you keep potato chips, granola bars, biscuits, chocolates, cheese crackers, and other such goodies stocked to consume when you are watching your favorite web series or when just plain bored. All these snacks have unhealthy carbs, loaded with sugar, sodium, and fats that quickly add to the belly fat. Switch to healthy snacks such as these instead.

# A Diet High on Transfat

Here’s an interesting fact – transfat in processed food not only increases overall weight, they in fact, move fat from other areas of the body to the belly area! Read labels and completely eliminate transfat from your diet.

# Hormonal Imbalances

Fluctuations in hormones, especially estrogen, insulin, PCOD, are all responsible for that paunch, so unless you correct these hormonal issues, the belly fat isn’t going anywhere.

# Too Much Stress

High stress can trigger a lot of health issues, including type 2 diabetes and inflammation. The stress hormone, cortisol, can in fact, encourage accumulation of fat around the tummy area.