Trying to lose weight? Having trouble? Women often find it harder than men to shed excess pounds. In part that's because women's bodies have a tendency to "hold on" to a certain amount of fat. But in some cases the problem can be traced directly to certain habits and lifestyle traps - including many that can easily be remedied.

Being over-weight makes you conscious about how you look and at times it hurts your self-confidence. But weight is not always about how you look. Excessive weight brings with it greater risks of cancer, heart disease, premature aging and untimely health.

These problems are not small. And that is why a lot of people make efforts to lose weight. The struggle is said to be the most beautiful part of the story. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.

And what can be better than your struggle bearing sweet fruits? But at times women struggle a lot but their struggle brings no effects. Losing weight is an art. It has several dimensions and all of them are to be taken care of. It is one thing where hard work doesn’t pay unless accompanied with smart choices.

So if you have tried everything and still couldn’t see the desired result then lets your eyes spark with hope now. Take a look at this article to know about what you might have been doing wrong or what problems could be there and rectify it.

Here are five reasons why women might struggle to lose weight:

Wrong Eating Habits

Choosing processed food over fresh food, drinking your calories, eating things with a dearth of essential nutrients, skipping breakfasts are some major mistakes that one might make. Make sure that your plate consists of natural foods and not the processed ones.

Processed fake foods will make your body famish for essential nutrients and will give you no benefits. Develop a taste for fresh organically grown healthy fruits and vegetables. Not eating is not how you lose weight.

Eating enough and healthy is the new cool. Your breakfast should be your heaviest meal of the day. If weight loss would have been the language then breakfast would surely be the ABC’s of that language. Keep in mind that healthy breakfast is essential to enhance the metabolism.


Thyroid Trouble

Some women have trouble losing weight because of a hormonal problem. The thyroid gland, located in the neck, pumps out hormones that control body metabolism. If the gland's output isn't high enough, a condition known as hypothyroidism, the pounds can pile on - and stay on. If you think thyroid trouble might underlie your weight-loss difficulties, a doctor can test your hormone levels via a simple blood test. If you have a deficiency, effective treatment is available.

Oprah Winfery is just one of many celebrities to suffer from hypothyroidism. She wrote that the condition "slowed down my metabolism and made me want to sleep all the time. (Most people gain weight. I did! Twenty pounds!)"

Competing with Others rather than Yourself

This is the era of competition. Competition keeps you motivated, active and focussed. But the quest is to choose whom to compete with. At times you have to compete with others. But for weight loss competing with others will either give you non-existential happiness or sadness.

When it comes to weight loss, your real competition must only be you yourself. Each human is different from other. What works for one might not work for another or might work totally different from some other person.

Every time you look into the mirror, know that you love yourself. Adore the entire struggle that you’re doing now. Take pride in how far you have come and keep working harder to reach where you have to go.

You are one of a kind and very much pretty yourself. You need not look better than others. Because everyone is different and everyone is beautiful. All you need to work for is to look better than what you looked yesterday. That is how you will win the weight loss battle.

Certain Medications

Some medicines like anti-depressants, birth control pills and steroids that treat certain allergies can make you gain unwanted weight. These weight-gaining side effects of such medicines initiate within a few weeks.

If it is because of medicines that you’re gaining weight then you should probably talk to your doctors to suggest you some other alternatives. They could probably suggest you some alternatives that will help you to lose weight or at least won’t make you gain more weight.

If that is not possible then make sure you monitor your food and also the amount of exercise that you indulge in each day.

Your Medicine Is to Blame

It's true - pills can make you fat. All sorts of prescription medicines can cause weight gain, including steroids, which are commonly used to treat asthma and other inflammatory conditions, and certain antidepressants.

What to do? If you think a drug might be contributing to your weight problem, ask your doctor. If he/she can't suggest an alternative drug, you might simply have to be extra-vigilant about what you eat and how much exercise you get.

Not Understanding the Importance of Salt

It is the world known fact that many processed foods contain an immense amount of salts which is one of the reasons why they taste so good. And this is one of the reasons why people who want to lose weight, avoid processed foods.

But many people are not aware that in the case of salts, less is always more. People reduce their intake of salt thinking that it will make them lose weight but what they not know is that unnecessary curbing of salt can have negative repercussions and at times causes blood pressure and metabolic problems too. Too much salt can be dangerous but too less salt doesn’t do any good too. Make a wise choice!

Not getting Enough Sleep

Leptin and ghrelin are the hunger hormones which are affected by sleep. The dearth of proper sleep also hinders and slows down your metabolic processes and therefore it might be taking you far away from your weight loss goals.

Leptin instructs your brain to stop eating while ghrelin stimulates hunger. Improper sleep reduces leptin and increases ghrelin and thus makes you gain unwanted and undue weight.  You are also losing weight while sleeping.

While sleeping, your body is working hard to burn those calories. So for those who think that waking up is the only way to work hard, it is time to change your thoughts a bit.


Skipping Breakfast

Your metabolism is like a car. If you don't put gas in the tank, it won't run. And skipping breakfast helps ensure that your fat-burning metabolism never gets out of the driveway.

Marisa Sherry, RD, a registered dietitian in private practice in New York City, recommends eating breakfast one hour after waking up. What's on the menu she recommends to her clients? Oatmeal with berries and crushed walnuts is a great choice.

So these were some common mistakes that most of us make. Weight loss has its own intricacies that need to be understood before heading on in a direction.

You may know where you want to go and you must be working hard but if you are not aware of all the dos and don’ts then sorry to say but your journey will not make you reach your destination. So know what you’re doing and make sure you do it right. Then there is nothing that can stop you.