Why am I gaining so much weight?

While gaining weight may appear to be an uncontrollable occurrence; simply a part of the aging process, it doesn’t have to be!

Why are the numbers on your scale climbing year after year? I would say the majority of American society asks this question, and while the answer isn’t the same for everyone, it really isn’t that difficult to figure out! “Any change in your life circumstances can produce changes in eating and exercise, which leads to weight gain,” stated Edward Abramson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology at California State University, author of Emotional Eating.
Yes, like it or not, we gain weight for different reasons, at different times in our lives, which should explain why the often publicized one-size-fits-all weight loss solutions very rarely produce any real, long-term results! As you have read here before, it didn’t happen overnight, so it won’t come off overnight either, at least not in a healthy manner!

Truth be told, if you took the time to think back to the time in your life when you were at or close to your “ideal” weight, you will notice, you were most likely much more active and had far less stresses! If you are like most, you will probably see a gradual accumulation of pounds over a span years? There are actually times when this is most common, such as…

• College: The college years are some of the easiest for gaining weight. In fact, a recent study by Cornell University found that on average, college freshman gain about 0.5 pounds a week – almost 11 times more than the average weight gain among 17-and 18-year olds and almost 20 times more than the average weight gain among American adults.
• Marriage: There’s nothing like holy matrimony to encourage a barrage of calories to overtake your diet. Late night comfort snacks are always more enjoyable when you have someone to share them with—and who better than the person who pledged to stick by your side through sickness or health?
• Pregnancy: Talk about a great time to gain weight! And we’re not just talking about women here—most men admit that they gained ‘sympathy’ pounds right along with their wife. Hormonal changes along with strong encouragement from everyone you know to indulge in anything their heart desires leave most pregnant women with a feeling of entitlement when it comes to food.
• Career: Though you may not realize it, your career choice plays a major hand in your weight. Those who go from an active lifestyle to spending 8 hours a day behind a desk and another 2 hours commuting almost universally gain weight. Conversely, people who spend their 8 hours in constant motion find weight loss a natural byproduct of the job.

Now, with that noted, if you can determine the period or periods of time when you remember the weight gain beginning or being the most prominent, you will most likely find a change in a few very key, very specific behavioral categories…

Eating Habits: Did your eating pattern change at this time in your life? If your weight gain occurred in college then maybe you went from eating 3 square meals to an all-you-can-eat buffet style cafeteria. Or if marriage was your weight gain trigger, then maybe you went from eating small meals to more fattening comfort food, especially at dinner time, in a family setting. For Women, pregnancy brings on the perfect environment for a change in eating habits. You go from eating normally, to eating ‘for two’, to munching on your baby’s snacks right along with him or her! Your job can also dictate your eating schedule. Long hours and early meetings may cause you to grab a donut or chips from the vending machine.

Stress: Your stress level plays a very important role in your weight management and overall health and well-being! This is an often overlooked area however, because most tend to think that there is either nothing they can do about their stress levels or that everyone has stress and therefore it is inevitable. Not true in either case. Simple things can have major impacts on stress levels and the corresponding hormone fluctuations that affect your weight and/or health. They key is take the time to attack this issue.

Activity Levels: A very good chance, you are less active than you were when you were younger! It is routinely the nature of the beast as life changes from youth to teen to adult. Simply put, what kind of physical activity and how much were you doing before your life changing event and how does it compare to your current levels? Chances are good that you were doing more before your weight gain began; which means that you are doing less exercise today! Go ahead, think back to the exercises or physical activities that you used to do and compare them to your schedule today. Bet there is a change!
As you should very well know by now, weight gain or loss is really not rocket science, but it is not a magic pill or potion either! Now that you should easily be able to recognize, within your own lifetime, when your turn for the worse occurred, you should clearly be able to see the power of such simple, completely controllable behaviors!

And before this crossed your mind…time is NOT the issue! Without even knowing your lifestyle, your responsibilities, we can guarantee, time is NOT the reason, but a simple, easy to justify, excuse that is limiting your personal health and wellness.

Now, the question you need to answer, for you, is…”Is it time to make a change?”
When you decide, hopefully, before that all too common “extreme” health issue mandates you make a change, we are here to help! If nothing else than to answer your questions and get you started off on the right foot! Once the decision has actually been MADE, it doesn’t take much!

And remember, the reason our 24 Day Challenge by AdvoCare is so successful, is quite simply, its focus on providing good nutrition in an affordable, convenient manner, while teaching small lifestyle changes and food choices that can be used for a lifetime, thus not having to deal with the weight re-gain commonly seen after “fad” diets!

Stay Sparked Up!