Why are you not losing weight and your friend is

You and your friend have decided to get fit. Both of you joined a gym, started dieting and now are consistent. After sometime you notice that you are hardly seeing results whereas your friend, who is doing the same workout with you is showing results. You are baffled because inspite of doing the same exercises and more or less following same diet, how can your friend get results and not you.

So what is the reason?

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The reason is metabolism. Metabolism is basically the total of chemical reactions that take place within our body. Through metabolism, our body converts what we eat and drink into energy.

Two people with the same size and body composition can have different metabolic rates. One can consume a huge meal and gain no weight, while the other has to carefully count calories to not gain weight.

What factors affect our metabolism?

Amount of lean muscle (more amount of muscle means faster metabolism)

Amount of body fat ( higher body fat means lower metabolism)

Age of person ( metabolism slows down as per age)

Gender (women have a slower metabolism as compared to men)

If your are dieting or not ( dieting slows down metabolism since slimming involves muscle loss and since the body is smaller, body does not have to work that hard to keep functioning)

Resting Metabolic Rate

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 It is the rate at which your body burns energy when it is at complete rest. Most of the calories burned throughout the day are through this process only. Resting metabolism is the energy required by your body to perform the most basic functions when your body is at rest. These essential functions include things like breathing, circulating blood or basic brain functions. 

There are several online calculators through which you can get a rough estimate of how many calories you burn throughout the day. You have to enter your age, weight, gender and level of activity. https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/rmr Here you can check your Resting Metabolic Rate for free.

Do not just blame metabolism for not being able to lose weight

Before blaming metabolism solely for not losing weight, check these mistakes which you might be making and your friend might not

Less Activity

Even if you and your friend follow the same diet and workout routine, the amount of movement throughout the day can make the difference. It is completely possible that you may be following a sedentary lifestyle whereas your friend may be having a more active routine which makes them burn more calories throughout the day.

Excessive snacking between meals

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Snacks are another thing which often get overlooked and slowly keep adding on in calories consumed. You and your friend might be following the same diet but if you unknowingly consume snacks between every meal, then they can be adding towards the calories consumed which often get unnoticed.

Stress and less sleep

Stress and less sleep can affect your workout performance and can play a role in slowing down your weight loss. Researches have shown that stress can be detrimental towards your weight loss and sleeping less than 6-7 hours a day can also have negative affects on your weight loss chances.

Conclusion

After reading this article you have become aware about metabolism and how it works. Do not straight away blame your metabolism for not being able to lose weight, but if you have checked the other mistakes and are sure you are not making them, we will soon publish an article about how to increase our metabolism.