Reason Why You're Not Loosing Weight? Tips That Are Beneficial For You

If you are dieting and exercising in order to create a calorie deficit but aren't seeing the weight loss result that you want.

It’s estimated that 45 million Americans diet each year. Let’s take a look at these chronic dieters, they aren’t significantly changing their bodies. Always on a diet, but no sustained results. How defeating! Is this you? If so, take a look at this cumulative list of why you’re not losing weight and what to do, you may just find the answer you’re looking for.

1. YOU’RE NOT GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP 

Chronically getting less than 6.5 hours sleep a night is associated with weight gain and obesity in multiple ways. 

I.    Hormones that regulate hunger are altered with inadequate sleep. Leptin levels are lowered and ghrelin levels are elevated resulting in increased appetite. 

II.    The more waking hours you have, the more opportunity to eat, plain and simple.

III.    You’re tired, therefore you move less to conserve energy. There’s no way you’re going to the gym after work after fighting to stay alert all day. 

2. YOU’RE SNACKING TOO MUCH

When you’re trying to eat healthy, it’s easy to fall into the myth that snacking is good for you. Many of my clients tell me that they try to eat something every few hours to “rev up their metabolism,” but this practice just doesn’t stand up to fact. Instead, I’m a fervent believer that you should eat only when hungry and give up on mindless snacking for good.  

It’s important to let your stomach empty to the point you feel hungry between every meal, and many of us should give up snacking altogether. Trust your body to tell you when it’s hungry, and you’ll take in fewer unnecessary calories throughout the day.

3.  Drinking your calories

Maybe you are eating clean and watching every bit of it to ensure that your weight loss efforts are not sabotaged. But, if you do not watch what you drink, you may end up consuming a lot of calories without even realising. Make sure you check your drinks and the calories in them.

4.  Not enough protein intake

One major reason why you may not lose weight as much as you expect to, despite eating clean is that you are not intaking enough protein in your diet. Protein helps in weight loss. It improves metabolism, reduces appetite, makes you feel fuller for longer and thus keeps you from over-eating and eating too often- which is one major reason for weight gain.

5. Eating Too Often or Eating Too Little

Some say you should snack little and often throughout the day. You need to learn what real hunger feels like and actually get used to the fact that being hungry is actually OK. The other extreme is to eat too little, you become so starving that you end up eating something you know you shouldn't and sting far too much of it. Eat when you really think you need a meal, and make it nutritious. If all you want is a sweet treat, but not real food, then its probably a craving and not hunger. Cravings are a sign of insulin resistance, learn to resist them, reset your metabolism, you will finally gain control of your appetite.

6. Too Many Carbohydrates  

Are carbs starting to sneak back into your diet? Be honest and start tracking everything using a calorie calculator. A little treat here and there adds up. Some are more carb sensitive (or insulin resistant) than others. I know that my carbs have to be around 50g/day to be feeling great and in control of my appetite. Lower than that and I will lose a little bit of weight, above that and I know my weight loss will stall. I generally go between 35-70g/day without too much tracking because I have done it for so long.

7.  Too Many Artificial Sweeteners

I believe diet drinks have a place in weight loss, but certainly not long term. I see them at the start to get over my sugar cravings and to fill up when I was hungry but they should be of short term use. I use sweetners in my baking and desserts, but I don't make desserts and sweet treats a huge part of my life anymore. The whole point is to get off the sugar and the sweet treats. Sweeteners can affect appetite and make you think that if a recipe contains them instead of regular sugar, then it's OK to eat more. If your weight loss has stopped, stop the diet drinks the sweet treats and reassess.

8. You’re Cheating All Wrong

Cheating is fine, but you still need to cheat correctly. During a calorie deficit, your leptin level drops, which is a hormone that controls weight loss and defends against starvation. Low leptin not only makes it harder to lose weight, but can also lead to more fat gain—to restore your leptin, you need an occasional high-carb meal.

But the key phrase is “high-carb,” not “high-fat.” Binging on carb-heavy, high-fat foods will send nutrients to the fat cells and ruin your progress.

 

9. You’re Too Stressed

Mental and physical stress limits fat loss because it elevates your cortisol. High levels of cortisol interfere with testosterone and growth hormone production, which reduces muscle growth, leads to fat gain and even weakens bones.

Take time to relax and decompress from daily life with things like yoga, stretching, mediation and breathing exercises. Also, make sure to take at least one day of rest per week from any exercise to prevent overtraining, which also spikes cortisol.

 

10. Maybe You Are Losing Without Realizing It

If you think you are experiencing a weight loss plateau, you shouldn’t fret just yet. It is incredibly common for the scale not to budge for a few days (or weeks) at a time. This does not mean that you are not losing fat. Body weight tends to fluctuate by a few pounds. It depends on the foods you are eating, and hormones can also have a major effect on how much water your body retains (especially in women). Also, it is possible to gain muscle at the same time as you lose fat. This is particularly common if you recently started exercising.

This is a good thing, as what you really want to lose is body fat, not just weight. It is a good idea to use something other than the scale to gauge your progress. For example, measure your waist circumference and body fat percentage once per month. Also, how well your clothes fit and how you look in the mirror can be very telling.

Unless your weight has been stuck at the same point for more than 1–2 weeks, you probably don’t need to worry about anything.