This may come as a surprise, but we are all gaining fat as a result of our own bad habits. Most of us generally skip making good meals for ourselves given the hustle and bustle of our lives.

We discovered that numerous lifestyle modifications and dietary factors were each individually related to long-term weight gain. So we explored some basic but ongoing behaviours that are causing us to gain weight without our knowledge!

Primary prevention of weight gain is a rising concern since efforts to decrease weight pose enormous challenges. In this blog you can find the 7 habits that are leading causes of weight gain and their solutions.

1. Sedentary Life

• Problem: Individuals with sedentary lifestyle tend to gain more weight because of longer sitting hours. They usually do not exercise enough and end up spending very few calories.
• Solution: A simple 30-minute exercise can keep your body moving. Adults should engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity every day, according to health organisations. Imagine how much fat you could lose if you did this every day.

2. Amnesiac or Absent-minded Eating

• Problem:  This may sound strange to you, but have you ever eaten a full bag of potato chips or cookies while watching your favourite series on any OTT platform and been surprised at how quickly you completed it? Yes, that is 'amnesiac eating,' which is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among the working class. You're consuming foods that are both comfortable and rich in calories, and the sad part is that you're not even aware of it.
• Solution: Try not to consume any comfort food once you get home from work or college. Make a healthy dinner instead. On weekends, you can have a bowl of nuts or seeds and experiment with some healthy snack recipes.

3. Inadequate Sleep

• Problem: A sleep of 4-5 hours per day doesn't burn calories. Furthermore, lack of sleep induces you to consume extra caffeine with sugar, or even sugary snacks or drinks such as energy drinks. You might even end up eating comfort food at home like at 3 a.m. in the morning. All of these behaviours caused by a lack of sleep might lead to weight gain. To top it off, lack of sleep increases fatigue, increasing your likelihood to skip the gym!
• Solution: Sleep on schedule and for at least eight hours. One should sleep early at 10 p.m. and avoid using the technology until around 9 a.m. Yes, that so-called blue light from your phone or tablet can deplete melatonin levels.

4. Skipping Breakfast

• Problem: Skipping breakfast is not a smart idea! Why? Because post dinner, our bodies pass into fasting state after 4 hours into sleeping. The stomach goes into panic state if one skips breakfast after 8-9 hours of fasting. To satisfy the hunger pangs, one ends up snacking food stuffs that are high on calories.
• Solution: Eat breakfast because you need the calories in the morning to function. So while a bowl of sugar-free muesli or an oatmeal smoothie can suffice, skipping the breakfast becomes unhealthy. So remember to eat breakfast before leaving, and try to follow the idiom "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."

5. Fat-Free Foods

• Problem: Contrary to the popular belief, fat-free foods are abundant in calories. Individuals often mistake them to be low on calories and go easy on exercises. As a result, causing you to accumulate fat without even realising it.
• Solution: If you're concerned about nutritional value, stick to low-fat and low-calorie items. Also, why not prepare everything from scratch instead of eating packaged meals like yoghurt or chips.

6. Alcoholic Drinks

• Problem: Alcohol does promote fat gain because of its ability to metabolise ethanol. Ethanol may also interfere with fat metabolism in adipose tissues, causing changes in fat composition.
• Solution: To avoid the risk of alcohol-related problems, experts recommend adults of legal drinking age to refrain from drinking or drinking in moderation, limiting intake to two drinks or less per day for males and one drink per day for women.

7. Portion Distortion

• Problem: Have you noticed that the size of our serving dishes has increased? Yes, it's surprisingly accurate. Because of this, we tend to neglect portion sizes and eat until we have to unbuckle our belts. That is not a good sign.

• Solution: Use a clenched fist system. A clenched fist equals one cup, which is what experts recommend for a serving of pasta, rice, cereal, veggies, and fruit. A serving of meat should be roughly the size of your palm.

Final Note

Now that we've piqued your interest with these basic yet alarming fat-gaining practices. You must make a mental note to start quitting these deleterious habits. Adopting healthy lifestyle practices can go in the long run to yield a perfect body weight!

If you want to learn more about weight gain and weight loss, contact our specialists at Apollo!

 

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Medically Reviewed by Dr. Dhanunjay Reddy B