Last Updated on November 26, 2021 by Femniqe
So you have been dieting, you have been exercising but the scale show a number, and that number is the same before you started the diet and exercise.
Here are some reasons why you’re not losing weight.
1. Eating too much fruit
Choosing a fruit over a bag of chips is a whole lot better. However, not many persons know that the sugar in fruits get broken down to glucose; any excess is stored as fat in your body.
This should not discourage you from eating fruits, instead opt for the ones with high antioxidants like berries or a banana.
2. Too much cardio and not enough weight training
Weight training helps to build your skeletal muscles and increase your strength.
Even though cardio is very good, it is just not enough. With effective strength training you burn calories, as you burn calories you boost your metabolic rate.
Do the math – the higher your metabolic rate – the more calories you burn even when you do not exercise.
3. Not getting enough sleep
Sleeping energizes our body. In the modern world many persons do not get enough sleep.
Scientific research proves that when persons sleep they increase the hormone responsible for fat burning, leptin. If you’re not sleeping then your not losing weight.
4. Not eating enough fat
You may be a bit confused, but you read correctly. Now you may be thinking “what do you mean?” There are good fats like omega that is very good for heart health.
These fats are in nuts, eggs, fish and avocados. When you consume healthy fats it helps you to burn off fat and convert it to energy.
5. Too much alcohol
So you enjoy a good beer and you drink it ever so often, it could sabotage your weight loss. How? Your body cannot store alcohol, so what happens is that it digests it immediately.
Sounds great right?
But what do you think is happening when your body is working extremely hard to metabolize the alcohol, what about the other foods?
Since your body is focusing on breaking down the alcohol, the metabolism will not do a great job of breaking down fats and carbohydrates, hence why you’re not losing weight.
6. Only relying on exercise
Exercising helps to build your body and most times persons reward themselves with a little sweet treat for exercising. But how will that help your weight?
It won’t.
Balancing your exercise with a healthy diet helps to keep the pounds off.
7. Not consistent
Nobody is perfect, we slip up from time to time when we start our exercise regime.
However, when you are not consistent you’re not going to get the results you desire. When your body is accustomed to regular exercise you will adapt to this routine so the less likely you will be to skip exercise.
It takes a longer time to achieve your desired results if you stop the routine and start over. If you get side tracked do not let that hinder your progress, get straight back to working out.
8. Not eating enough
When you significantly decrease your calorie intake it causes you not to loose weight.
Why? It happens because you don’t eat enough therefore your body will automatically go into starvation, at that time your body has to keep the fat in case of survival.
9. Diet is NOT clean
Many persons struggle to loose weight because they try to eat less but still eating unhealthy foods.
Losing weight will require some changes to one’s lifestyle, if you are going to adopt a clean diet please stick to it.
10. Fan of diet foods
Many foods have the word “diet” on it and persons get fooled by it. Most food contain Monosodium Glutamate (MSG for short) this actually raises insulin levels which results in fat getting stored in your body.
Even if those so-called diet foods claim to be low in calories, they contain extremely high volume artificial sugars. There are many flaws with diet foods. The first is that they do not fill you up. Why? Because they are low in calories.
Take for example a consumer who buys 12 packs of 100 calories diet snacks. The next day she munched on 1, and then 2 or 3 hours later she eats a second diet snack and then another 2 or 3 hours she eats a third.
So we are looking at 300 calories. It makes better sense to have had a more filling meal that contained 250 calories. Second flaw is that diet foods are highly processed.
Did you know that natural fats are replaced with fillers? Additionally, sugars are replaced with artificial sweeteners, and to make the food taste better a lot of flavoring is added and what we do not know is that some of these ingredients make us crave more.
Lastly, diets foods burn less calories than whole food.
How so? In a case study a small group of people were fed whole food and another group was fed diet food. The group that was fed whole food burned 50% more calories than the group that was fed diet food.
Basically whole foods are harder to digest therefore the body puts in more work.
11. Keeping your fat clothes
Once you have lost the weight try to get rid of all those fat clothes. You must be asking why? The question should be why not?
When you get rid of them you will feel more motivated to keep the excess weight off.
12. Eating without thinking
Scientists have proven that when eating and watching TV or using the phone, people tend to eat a lot which causes them to pile on the pounds.
When your mind is busy with these activities you don’t realize what you are eating. How many times have you gone to the movies and ate a bag of buttery popcorn and the movie was just 15 minutes along?
A good way to focus on your meal is to sit around a table and avoid technology that way you can feel more satisfied and aware.
13. You don’t allow yourself a cheat day
Wondering why you should have a “bad” food when you are trying to loose weight right? There is a trick to it. Allowing yourself a sweet treat actually helps with weight loss.
Consider it as a reward for loosing the weight; one day may come when you crave everything that is bad and you might just eat more than what you feel comfortable with. Do not deprive yourself, take a snack!
If you’re doing everything right and not seeing results then this could be the reason why you’re not losing weight.
14. Not enough Water
Recommended daily intake for men is 2 litres and 1.2 litre for women.
Water is good for weight loss and also to keep your body hydrated. Having a glass of water before a meal will fill you up so it will help you to eat less. Cold water is best because it speeds up metabolism. Do you need anymore reasons to drink water?
15. Fan of fad diets
Ditch the fad diets! They do not work. Fad diets help you to lose excess fat in the initial stages but when you stop, fat gets piled back on. To avoid this you need a clean diet and a good effective work out regime.
16. Your family isn’t supportive
When you start your journey to a healthy lifestyle it can be difficult with your family to stick to your diet. No one is forcing your family to change their diet, however, a little support from them goes a very long way.
It is possible to stick to your diet but it can be difficult when everyone is chowing down the sweet treats. Always remember the aim for the diet!
17. You are stressed
We all go through stress at some point in our lives.
When we are stressed our body produces cortisol, if too much is generated it interferes with testosterone.
Another hormone responsible for building muscles and once this happens it can then lead to a low metabolic rate hence your body burns calories slower and make it a bit harder to shed some weight.
18. You are expecting too much too soon
Ever so often we see commercials about some fancy diet and some world class gym equipment promising immediate results.
We are motivated when we get started, however, losing the weight takes time, you might be expecting too much too soon as well.
A healthy meal combined with a consistent exercise routine can make it happen. Do not get discouraged when you go on the scale and you have not seen a difference; when you start seeing results that will be enough motivation.
19. Not counting calories
Have you ever heard the quote “you cannot lose what, what you can’t measure”? It’s the same thing when it comes on to losing weight. Most persons who are successful with losing weight count their calories. With the use of smart phones we can now count our daily intake of calories. Get counting!
20. Not lifting weights
Lifting weight helps to speed up your metabolic rate. A high metabolic rate is good to ensure you do not pile on too much fat. Lifting weights help to maintain your muscle mass which normally burn calories.
21. Not eating mindfully
Mindful eating is all about eating without any form of distraction, slowing down and enjoying each bite while listening to a calm and peaceful music will tell your brain when you are full. A number of studies have proven that mindful eating lead to weight loss.
If you find it difficult, here are a few tips on how to be mindful. Number one – eat by yourself, no form of technology – only you at a table. Number two – try to be aware of the smell, color and texture of your food – chew slowly! Thirdly – when you feel satiety- pause and get a glass of water- it make you more full.
22. The use of prescription antidepressants
Since 1988 the use of antidepressants have increased by 400%, can you believe it? To add to that 11% of those were 12 years old.
One of the side effects of these drugs is weight gain; and up to one-quarter of those people gain the least 10 pounds. Some of these drugs include: Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac and Celexa.
23. Your credit card
In this new millennium persons most likely carry their credit cards rather than a pocket full of cash.
According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research people who use credit cards tend to buy more unhealthy foods and those who pay by cash buy more health conscious foods.
The logic to this is that with the credit card, users give in more to impulse buying since they are not hit immediately in their wallet, outlined by co-author Kalpesh Desai PhD, associate professor at Binghamton University.
24. Too quiet at work
Did you know that when you sit for a couple of hours your body stops make fat inhibiting hormone called lipase?
In a research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition proved that standing and stretching each day can boost your metabolism by 13%. Tap your feet or bounce you chair and you can increase your calorie burn by 54%.
25. You think walking the dog is enough
15 minutes of walking won’t get rid of fat immediately, but that is better than none at all. Try to turn it up a little, do at least 30 minutes of running, hiking or swimming.
26. You overeat healthy foods
Even when you start a healthy diet you will still have to watch what you eat. Even the healthiest of food has calories (nuts, chocolate, avocado, wheat pastas, olive oil).
Take for example an avocado – filled with a ton of health benefits, however, an entire avocado contains 200 calories. Always best to educate yourself on the recommended servings, check out the servings below:
Avocado – you should stick to eating only half of the fruit even though it is filled with essential oils for heart health, it only contains 114 calories.
Whole grain pastas – fiber, protein and vitamins are very good but not a plate full. Bare in mind that a half cup of pasta is around 200 calories – so it always best to learn what serving size looks like.
Energy bar – a single bar can contain 300 calories, they are healthy and convenient, however, it is best to check the ingredients just so you can be aware of which bar should be eaten as a meal replacement or which should be eaten as a healthy in between meal snack.
Yogurt – filled with protein and calcium and a lot of sugars – so stick to the ones with less added sugar.
Wine – you read correctly, red wine has health benefits, even so you should not drink an entire bottle, one glass can provide you with 123 calories.
Nut butter – excellent for fruits and sandwiches. Just a spoon and you have 200 calories already. It is packed with protein and healthy fats, this can be irresistible so you should control your serving when you buy individual servings for example Barney Butter Squeeze Packs.
Spreads – spreads like hummus, pesto, or cream cheese can be over eaten and can run up your calorie intake even though they are an excellent source of protein and healthy fats.
Eggs – 2 eggs contain 160 calories and that is a lot, so what you can do is add half to a salad to balance things out.
Cereal – 2 cup servings of cereal with milk contains 200 calories, a bowl of cereal is the perfect way to start your morning, what you can do is add some fruits to top it off.
Fruit smoothie – a smoothie is packed with a lot of vitamins but very high in sugar as well. Just so you maintain a balance you can have smoothie as an afternoon snack and also be sure to add vegetables to balance your diet.
27. You exercise on an empty stomach
Research has proven that when people work out on an empty stomach, you burn calories from your muscle not fat.
So the next time you go to the gym eat a balance meal so you can fuel your body and avoid loosing your muscle mass.
28. Your partner is not on the same healthy road
When you and your partner are on the same path you achieve your goals faster. Communication is key, inform him/her of your plans for weight loss goals.
So instead of take out, stay home and cook up a healthy meal, instead of sleeping in the day, encourage each other to hit the gym up, instead of individual appetizers when you go out – you can split it in half.
29. You are addicted to condiments and toppings
Most persons when they do salad they go large with the toppings – from bacon, cheese, dried fruits, ranch dressing or nuts.
All this can double your calorie intake. Always be mindful of your calories.
30. You are always dining out
Going to your favorite restaurant is a very good way to unwind and relax, since there are no labels it is difficult to track your calories when you have huge meal with appetizers.
Even so you do not have to give up your night outs, you can select a more healthy option like a salad bowl with grilled chicken and a glass of wine.
31. You haven’t overcome bad habits
Try to be honest with yourself when trying to find reasons why you’re not losing weight. Identify bad habits, make plans and disengage them, it will take some time to get rid of them all but nothing is wrong with starting.
Start good habits and stick by them, you can go public so you don’t end up loosing. The guideline is – identification- planning then publication.
32. Low will power
Just like muscles when they are not being used they become atrophy.
You can start out by going for a walk, but you will need motivation to fuel your body. If you do not have the push head to the gym then, your body will tell you when you need some rest.
33. Too much dairy
Dairy can be good and bad.
Excellent for body builders and athletes at the end of their training. On the other hand it can have unintended effects on body composition for persons who have removed dairy from their diet and then reintroduce it.
34. Same workouts every day
A routine exercise is very good to keep your body in shape.
However, try to change things up by trying a different gym equipment, go to fitness or yoga classes, work out different parts of your body different ways – just so your exercise regime can be interesting.
35. Incorrect form when training
Always good to check your form now and again even if you know it inside out. You can get a personal trainer or watch yourself in the mirror.
You may not be getting a good workout if your doing the wrong moves – like doing momentum instead of muscle strength.
36. Your Cardio isn’t intense
One of the ultimate ways to lose weight is when you do cardio that makes your heart pumps. A leisure biking or brisk walk on the treadmill will not get you the results.
Turn the heat up and get running on the treadmill or sign up for swimming classes.
Sprinting intervals is excellent to add to your workout routine – it can and will help to loose the belly fat. 60 minutes cardio five times per week is all you need to drop the unwanted pounds. Try it!
37. You don’t keep a food journal
Get a journal and write down what you have eaten – it is a great way to track your calories.
A study from the Journal of the Academy of Dietetics and Nutrition recorded 123 women who were successful with loosing weight when they recorded their calorie intake. Still think it is impossible? Try it!
38. Insulin resistant
If after you have had you healthy lifestyle and you realize that you are not losing your target weight then you may be insulin resistant or suffer from a metabolic syndrome.
Persons who are resistant to insulin store the calories instead of converting it to fuel. Such a bummer when you pile on pounds eating a well balanced meal when someone with a healthy metabolism eat the same and has no consequence at all.
39. You don’t chew
Mindful eating plays a significant role with weight loss.
Slow down, eat less and enjoy what is on your plate. It is not hard to do, all it requires is concentration, focus on something concrete and chew slowly.