6 Reasons You Can’t Lose Weight
6 Reasons You Can’t Lose Weight
So you've been dieting and exercising, but you do not see the results. Why does this happen when you're doing everything you know to lose weight? You're watching what you eat; you're exercising every day, and nothing is happening.
Before you lose your motivation, let's break things down to see where you may be missing the mark on your weight loss journey. Motivation is hard to find and even more challenging to sustain. When your weight loss seems to hit a wall, you must find the solution before you throw the towel in on all of your efforts.
Dieting and exercising can be difficult; otherwise, everyone would be lean and fit. It takes courage and determination to get with it and stick with it. When we're on a mission to lose weight, we can be unaware of the small slip-ups that lead to stalling in our weight loss wishes.
Many people walk away from fitness with the feeling of failure and self-defeat. Some may think they're just not capable of losing weight and keeping it off. This couldn't be further from the truth. All of us have the capability of losing body fat, changing the composition of our bodies, and feeling better and more energized.
There are pitfalls and roadblocks along the way, but learning the tricks of fitness and nutrition will help you tremendously when starting or when you've hit a rut along the way. Battling the scale can be daunting at times, but let's start with some simple ways to get the results coming your way.
Keep your weight loss goals realistic and always choose to make memories over being on a rigid diet. Use these tips to help you see where you can do better at dieting and exercising, but not isolating yourself from loved ones when it comes to your plan. You'll have good days and bad days, but showing up consistently with your goals at hand will always lead you to the results you desire.
#1--Portion Distortion
When you begin dieting, you start controlling your portion sizes. You know you need to clean up your diet and watch the amount of food you're consuming. However, many people don't realize they're most likely eating more than they think.
You can't eyeball your portion sizes, especially when starting a diet. If you're new to this, learning correct portion sizes can be very difficult. You think you may have put five ounces of protein on your plate, but without weighing it, you can't know for sure.
It may sound obsessive, but you must weigh and measure everything you eat throughout the day and not just part of the day. Eyeballing the food will come later in your weight loss journey, but for now, you need to know the exact amount of all of your food.
If you're not coming up calorie deficient at the end of the day, you're not going to lose weight. Be realistic with your food portions, and you will see the weight loss begin. If you're guessing at your food amounts, you're not going to lose weight, at least not consistently.
#2--EXTRA "TREATS"
Most of us struggle with a sweet tooth or intense cravings. They come, and they go and depending on the day, we either ignore them or cave to them. Some of us are grazers or complete bingers. If you can't lose weight, this may be your number one culprit.
It makes us feel better to grab just a few sweet "treats" here and there, as long as we aren't polishing off the entire package. When you mindlessly grab a single cookie or a few m&m's, they can't possibly hurt your weight loss, can they? I'm here to tell you, they do. I used to justify these small grabs as no big deal because I was having only a few bites a day, not eating a considerable amount.
It is a big deal when you want to lose weight. Everything you put in your mouth counts towards your calorie intake. Again, if you're not calorie deficient at the end of the day, you're not going to lose weight. I'm not saying to deprive yourself of all the foods you love, but you must allocate for these "treats" in your calorie window.
If you want to have popcorn at the movies tonight, adjust your calories accordingly. Lessen your calories throughout the day, but track your popcorn and know that this "treat," if not counted, will keep you from losing weight. You can't lose weight by being in denial about eating "treats."
#3--LACK OF ACTIVITY
If you can't lose weight, you must be honest about how much physical activity you get a day. I'm not talking about running for an hour a day; I'm talking about getting up and moving. How many hours a day do you sit at a desk? Do you get up and walk around? Do you exercise daily, even if it is just a light routine?
Being real with how physically active you are during the day is vital when it comes to losing weight. You can't sit idle and expect to lose weight. You must push yourself to get up and get moving. Your body requires exercise to give you a healthy life. Your joints and muscles depend on you working them, even if only a little bit a day.
Go for a walk in the evenings or get up a little bit earlier than usual to fit in your exercise. Take fifteen minutes during your lunch break and walk up and down some steps. Go for a walk during your child's evening practice or join a gym. Do anything you can to stay active. Doing so will increase your weight loss and have you well on your way to bettering yourself.
#4--HEALTHY FOOD OVERLOAD
When you want to lose weight, you already know you must clean up your diet and start choosing healthier foods options. Some might think they can eat whatever amount they want, as long as it is healthy. That couldn't be further from the truth.
Calories are calories, and all must be counted. Choosing healthier choices will most likely lower your total calories, but you still can't eat endless amounts of healthy food. You must find a balance in your nutrition plan, so you're incorporating proteins, carbs, and fats.
It goes back to portion control and calculating your total food intake daily. Your body can't survive on all protein, just like it can't function with ONLY carbs. Your body needs all three macros to function correctly, and you must stay within your calorie window to lose weight.
Be cautious when eating endless amounts of healthy food. They are calories just as well and if you're not losing weight, pull back a little bit on the total calories you're consuming in a day.
#5--THE WEEKEND SAGA
Oh, the old weekend diet disaster. You work hard all week, keeping with your diet and exercise plan. You tell yourself all week to keep sticking with it and come the weekend; you can reward yourself. Weekends tend to be when we eat out the most, enjoy family gatherings, or do most of our traveling.
We are exhausted from a week of grinding at work and home — endless amounts of work, deadlines, drop-offs, and pick-ups. You get less sleep, and the stress level is high. You live to get to the weekend, where you can slow down, get extra rest and some well-deserved comfort food. Sounds great, right?
Weekends can be the exact reason you can't lose weight. When we become lax with our diet and exercise on the weekend, we are prolonging our weight loss efforts. Yes, weekend meals do count towards your weight loss. You must stay on course during the weekends and plan, knowing that there will be many pitfalls thrown at you.
From birthday parties to fun cookouts, you'll be tempted by many high-calorie foods that don't keep you within your daily calorie window. It's hard to avoid, but knowing ahead of time that you'll be around a lot of different foods, allows you to plan how to stay on track.
Of course, you'll want to have "fun" food over the weekend and enjoy yourself. Please do. However, it must not be an all weekend thing. Eat it, enjoy it, and get back on board with your goals. You need to understand that these extra foods all weekend long will keep you from losing weight.
#6--STRESS
With us living in a world of social media, text messaging, emails, and competitive kids involved with a lot of traveling sports teams, our lives are incredibly stressful and hectic. We think we are handling it all and doing a great job at it. However, if you can't lose weight, stress may be the culprit.
Chronic stress leads to increased appetites and weight gain. It can cause high blood pressure, diabetes, and a lower immunity system. The hormone, Cortisol, is released every time you feel anxious, leading to weight gain and a tendency to hold visceral fat in the mid-section.
Stress makes us tired and unbearable to be around at times. Being on edge will keep you focused on your nutrition and fitness regimen. We tend to crave more carbs and sweets when we're feeling tired and overwhelmed. Our lives are not pleasant when we are always in a state of stress and worry.
Learn how to unplug from the outside world at times and reconnect with things we love the most. Focus on getting healthier and losing weight so you can release distractions. Being on the hamster wheel of life may be the reason you can't lose weight.
Take time to sit quietly, ignore messages on your phone, and allow yourself to breathe. Look forward to the way you will feel and look when you accomplish your weight loss goals. By doing so, you'll keep motivated and avoid making bad decisions that will derail you from changing your body composition.
You don't have to do everything all of the time. You do need to take care of yourself and live a healthier life. Your body depends on you to tend to its needs, just like we tend to everyone else's needs. Make the time to let stress go and go after something that your body needs; like diet and exercise.
“To Improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”
It's not that you CAN'T lose weight, you need help with tweaking a few things TO lose weight. Everyone is capable of changing their bodies. Being clear on what mistakes you're making so that you can progress forward will be the ticket to reaching your goals.
Start paying close attention to your food, your daily movements, and how much you're letting the outside world interfere with your daily activities. Track your diet, increase your daily water intake, and get yourself moving. Your body will react to these small changes, but it will require consistency. Consistently doing all of this will help you lose weight, quicker and more comfortable than you thought possible.
You don't need to keep jumping from diet to diet or workout plan to workout plan. You don't need to revamp everything you've been currently doing. Take a look at how accurately you're sticking with your plan and your goals. Making a few small tweaks may be the ticket to seeing the body start reacting to your efforts.
Too many people think that the diet they're on or the workout plan their following isn't right for them or they believe their metabolisms are to out of wack to lose weight. In most cases, this isn't true. As long as you know how many calories your body requires daily and you're moving your body out of its comfort zone every single day, you're capable of losing weight.
Use these six tips to see how you can make changes, starting today. Pay attention to how your body reacts and how you feel. You might surprise yourself by how just a little thing you were doing every day was holding you back from losing weight. Take baby steps so you can figure out precisely what it is you need to do to lose weight.
If you need some fun, simple ways to keep you on track and inspired, please sign up below to be on the inside loop of tricks and tools to fast track you to all of your goals. I'd love to be a guiding light on your path to greatness.
Aimee Schwinabart is the founder of The Purely Fit—online workouts, nutrition, and fitness coaching that actually work! She specializes in short (super effective) daily workouts combined with customized nutrition plans to help real people shed excess fat to reveal toned, lean muscles. The Purely Fit approach to looking and feeling great prioritizes small, steady, super efficient workouts and nutrition upgrades to help you stay with it once and for all!
