how to lose weight

1. You Might Be Gaining Weight Because of Lack of Sleep
The body functions best when well rested. “When you don’t get enough sleep, your body experiences physiological stress and, biochemically, you store fat more efficiently,” says May.
When you’re tired, you also don’t handle stress as well, so you may reach for food as a coping mechanism. Further, you may be taking in extra calories from late-night snacking. Some people think eating might help them get back to sleep, but all it really does is add more calories to their daily total.
Symptoms that you may not be getting enough rest include fatigue, low energy levels, nodding off easily, and feeling irritable.
Strive to get eight hours of sleep each night.
“Add about 15 minutes to your bedtime and see how you feel,” suggests May. “Continue to experiment with additional 15-minute increments until you find the amount of sleep that is right for you.”
When you develop good sleeping rituals and get regular exercise, you sleep better, she adds.
2. You May Be Gaining Weight Because of Stress
We live in a society that demands we do more, be more, and achieve more. Stress moves us forward and helps cope with life’s demands, but it also affects our mood and emotions.
“Stress response, whether it is ‘fight-or-flight,’ juggling too many responsibilities, or coping with financial pressures, triggers a biochemical process where our bodies go into survival mode,” explains May. “Our bodies store fuel, slow down metabolism, and dump out chemicals [cortisol, leptin, and other hormones] which are more likely to cause obesity in the abdominal region.”
Many people reach for food to help ease the stress. But, of course, this doesn’t work in the long run.
“Food is a temporary fix because it does not deal with the real stressors that must be addressed in order to reduce the trigger for eating and fix the problem,” says May.
Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, assistant director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, says stress eaters tend to prefer high-carbohydrate foods because these foods trigger an increase in the brain chemical serotonin, which has a calming effect. “It is almost like self-medicating,” she says. “Many people binge on starchy foods to make themselves feel better.”
Both May and Bowerman recommend relaxation techniques as well as exercise, which also burns calories and provides other health benefits.
3. You May Be Gaining Weight Because of Medications
Some prescription drugs used to treat depression, mood disorders, seizures, migraines, blood pressure, and diabetes can cause weight gain, from a modest amount to as much as 10 pounds per month. Some steroids, hormone replacement therapy, and even oral contraceptives may also cause gradual weight creep. Your medicine cabinet might be the cause of your weight gain if you’ve gained 5 or more pounds in a month without a change in your lifestyle.
“Every drug works a little differently to cause weight gain, from increasing appetite, altering the way fat is stored, to how insulin levels change,” says May. “And not all drugs have the same side effects on all people.”
In the case of antidepressants, weight gain may not even be related to the action of the drug — feeling better can also result in a heartier appetite. Some drugs can cause fluid retention that shows up on the scale as weight gain, but is not fat, and is usually easily corrected.
There could be very serious consequences if you stop taking your medication without consulting your physician,” says May.
4. You May Be Gaining Weight Because of a Medical Condition
The most common medical condition that causes weight gain is hypothyroidism. A deficiency of thyroid hormone can decrease metabolism, causing appetite loss and weight gain.
If you are feeling fatigued, lethargic, swelling, hoarse voice, intolerance to cold, sleeping too much, or headaches, you should see your doctor for an easy test to determine if you have hypothyroidism,” says May.
Much rarer is a condition known as Cushing’s syndrome — a disorder caused by an excess of the hormone cortisol — that can also result in weight gain.
5. You May Be Gaining Weight Because of Menopause
Women reach menopause at a range of ages, but most are in midlife and are often less physically active than when they were younger. Along with aging comes a natural slowing of metabolism. At the same time, hormonal changes can trigger hunger, depression, and poor sleep.
It is multifactoral. When women go through menopause, they lose estrogen, causing their shapes to change — usually a loss of hip and thigh weight. And they start to gain more in the middle,” says Bowerman. She explains that estrogen favors fat deposition in the lower body, and when you lose this hormone, fat is more likely to be deposited in the midsection (much like men). This spare tire around the middle has been not so affectionately called the “menopot.”
The key to avoiding this extra belly fat is to maintain and increase the amount of lean body mass, which will, in turn, increase your metabolism or calorie burn rate.
Women need to understand how critically important weight lifting and strength training is to their health,” says Bowerman. And don’t worry, doing strength training won’t make women muscle-bound, experts say.
Exercise also helps offset bone loss that can come with menopause. A combination of exercise and a healthy, calorie-controlled diet rich in calcium and vitamin D is the answer to thwarting menopausal weight gain.

1. We Love Chocolate – and It Makes Us Pay The Price

Yeah, we’ll just go ahead and throw this one out here first because it’s the one unfortunate reason why we gain weight we’re not going to care to change, right? There is a never-ending love story between woman and chocolate that is too romantic to ever break up. Face it, ladies, we need chocolate! It’s a fact of life. Ok, don’t indulge to the point of making yourself sick on it, but nibbling here and there is 100% acceptable!

2.  Bad Enough as It Is, Menopause Also Makes Us Gain Weight

Menopouse is another unfortunate reason why women gain weight faster than men do.  We’re all going to go through it at some point in our lives. It’s a fact of life. However, you don’t have to let the weight gain take over. As you near menopause, simply start keeping track of your diet and make the needed changes to eat more healthy meals. Also, a healthy, regular exercise plan, such as daily walking would be a great benefit as well.

3. Slower Metabolism Makes Us Gain Weight Faster Than Men

For some reason, God created woman with a much slower metabolism rate than a man. Maybe it’s because a woman needs more to nourish a growing baby inside her, or maybe it’s just because he intended for women to be more soft and cuddly than man. LOL! I don’t know why, but it’s a fact. One thing that will help speed up your metabolism is to take vitamins and minerals that aid in metabolism. One such vitamin is niacin, which you can find at your local supermarket or health food store. Just take it with every meal!

4. Skipping Breakfast Makes Us Pile Up Those Pounds

From what I’ve personally seen, skipping breakfast is an unfortunate reason why many women start gaining weight fast.  We, women are more apt to skip breakfast, due to our never-ending duties of getting the kids ready for school, getting everything we need to do lined up for the day, doing this for Jr. and this for Susie… next thing you know, it’s lunch time! Studies show that by simply adding a healthy breakfast meal to your day, you can lose some weight!  Why is this? Because the earlier we start out metabolism working, the more calories we’ll burn.

5. “Less Muscle – More Fat” is Another Reason of Putting on Weight

The average woman tends to be much less physically active than the average man (though, yes, there are some exceptions.) Less muscle mass means more fat content. To change the stats, simply build more muscle with a good exercise routine. As you build muscle, you will burn calories, which will in turn, cut your fat. Plus, you’ll get the added benefit of trimming and firming up your figure!  Now, this reason why women gain weight fast seems fixable, but it’ll take a lot of hard work and consistency to get through.

6. Kitchen Work Can Make you Gain Weight Too

If you’re like most women, one of the reasons why you are gaining weight can be the fact that you’re in the kitchen much more frequently than a man. We tend to be the ones responsible for putting lunches together and cooking (and taste-testing) the supper meal. In order to cut down the amount of kitchen time to lower your temptations, try working out something with your spouse to share the kitchen workload. After all, men can be great cooks as well! Why not your husband? Who says he’s any different than your famous (male) chef you enjoy watching on TV? You’ll never know until you put him to work!  So, eliminate this nasty reason that makes you gain weight fast by talking to your other half.

7. Women Gain Weight Fast because of … Cravings

The only time I’ve ever heard a man talk about cravings would be those rare occasions where the man is actually the one craving things when his wife is pregnant. For the most part, it’s a woman who tends to have cravings, and when you think about it, the cravings are never for healthy things. Ice cream, chocolate (which is one great thing to crave!) this sweet, that carb, etc. While I personally believe you should give into your cravings to avoid giving in later and totally ruining your diet, you should take care to eat just enough to satisfy and not over-indulge your body’s struggle with the good foods in life. Being pregnant, one of my recent cravings was salt and vinegar chips, and I ended up eating the entire can of pringles in one 2-hour period! That is definitely not something I want to keep up, that’s for sure!  But what a woman’s got to do?  Cravings are just one of those unfortunate reasons why we women gain weight fast.  And you really need to have a super-woman self-control to eliminate this weight gain reason!

We women have it much more tough than men do, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t beat theseunfortunate reasons why women gain weight fast and keep ourselves trim and fit. Just pay attention to the 7 Reasons Why Women Can Gain Weight Fast and try to avoid these situations as much as possible. If you have any hints or tips to help your fellow women out, please feel free to leave us a comment! We love to hear from our readers – any tricks to stop gaining weight you personally loved!