Not Losing Weight On Diet - Things That May Be Stopping You
- josephplatt1979
- Oct 5, 2022
- 7 min read
NOT LOSING WEIGHT ON DIET
Losing weight is a journey with many highs and lows. When you reach your goal, the process will leave you feeling accomplished and proud. But there are times, you may feel frustrated, like you’re doing everything right but just not seeing results.
You have probably heard of lots of things that you should be doing to lose weight.
What happens when you’re watching what you eat, working out regularly, and you still can’t seem to lose weight
there are actually a number of things that might be stopping your weight loss efforts.
Here are some habits and things why your not losing weight on diet.
TOO MANY CALORIES – To lose weight then you need to burn more calories than you consume. Many people who have trouble losing weight are simply eating too many calories.
The number of calories you should eat per day depends on your age, sex, height, current weight, activity level, and metabolic health, among several others.
When trying to lose weight, it’s important to create a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories than you normally do or by exercising more. Some people choose to combine the two, eating a little less while being more physically active.
STARVING YOURSELF – To lose this excess body fat, you need to give your body a reason to lose it and the worst thing you can do to lose weight is starve yourself.
You are missing out on vital nutrients that your body needs to function optimally If you drastically reduce the amount of food you eat. Drastic food drops for a long period jeopardizes your health, can cause organ failure and even death.
Starving yourself will put your body into starvation mode, meaning the body stores fat and starts breaking down muscle for fuel. This is not what you want your body to be doing.
FOCUSING ON THE SCALE - These can be very unreliable as your weight can fluctuate throughout the day and be different from day to day. Scale fluctuations can not only ruin a person’s day but can even end up derailing their diet. Fluctuations come down to what and when you eat, drink, exercise, and even sleep.
Try not to put too much emphasis on scale weight and instead, focus on body measurements, progress photos, how you are feeling and performance with your training.
NOT DRINKING ENOUGH – When the body is dehydrated, it cannot correctly remove waste from the body. When the body is dehydrated, the kidneys retain fluid and will stop you losing weight. Staying hydrated is a good way to avoid retaining waste, which may add a few extra pounds.
When you do not drink enough water, your body is not able to correctly decipher the difference between hunger pangs and dehydration. Thirst can sometimes mask itself as hunger and lead to unwanted munching, when you could have simply done with a glass of water. Staying hydrated can kickstart your metabolism and aid your weight loss.
You should have around 2 litres per day to stay hydrated, this amount will be more on days you train.
AVOIDING FAT – We all believe that if we want to lose weight, then we must eliminate fat from our diet, but this is not true. Healthy fats are important for hormone production, essential for our metabolism and can control your appetite and prevent overeating.
Healthy fats are polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated fats and can be found in foods like fish, nuts, avocado, flaxseed oil and seeds.
You will want to avoid unhealthy, processed junk food as these will contain saturated and trans fats which will put weight on you. Saturated and trans fats can also be very bad for your health.
AVOIDING CARBS – Carbohydrates do have a significant role in weight loss, and cutting down on carbs will help you lose weight. It’s really important for people to understand that the body’s preferred source of fuel for most everyday activity is carbohydrates. So, we must not drop carbs too low as this may affect our body functions and have an effect on energy levels for training or day to day activities. Not enough carbs will eventually lead to fatigue, weakness and even dizziness
Your nutrition for weight loss should have complex carbohydrates that are high in dietary fibre and low in simple sugars. These include foods like oatmeal, quinoa, wholemeal bread, Lentils, black beans, kidney beans, Sweet potatoes, broccoli, green beans, carrots.
NOT LIFTING WEIGHTS – You may think that lifting weights makes you bulk up or go big. But it can actually help you lose weight and slim down if that is your goal. Just know that lifting weights isn't a magic ticket to weight loss
When you lift weights, you build muscle and lose fat. Muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue, so over time, as you build more muscle, your body will burn more calories at rest than it did before you built that muscle. There's a weight training myth that men should lift heavy and women should lift light to avoid getting big and bulky. But lifting heavy weights will not make females huge—you simply don't have the testosterone levels to build big muscles.
PORTION SIZE – This is very important when you're trying to lose weight and keep it off. A portion is the amount of food you put on your plate, while a serving is an exact amount of food. Controlling your portions doesn’t mean you need to eat tiny amounts. But if your eating too much, then you may need to retrain your brains to see a smaller-than-normal portion as satisfying enough
Things you can try to help control portions can be to use a smaller plate, use measuring cups, don't pick at leftovers, check food labels and ask for less.
NOT ENOUGH PROTEIN – The recommended daily amount for an adult is 1gram of protein per pound of bodyweight a day, but active people require more to help with muscle growth and repair. Not eating enough protein can stop you from keeping muscle while losing fat.
Over time when losing weight, a lack of protein can make you lose muscle mass, which in turn cuts your strength, makes it harder to keep your balance, and slows your metabolism. You can get protein from animal products, plants and supplements. Protein supplements are perfect to get that extra protein needed for weight loss and suppress appetite.
TOO MANY LIQUID CALORIES – The drinks that you consume through the day also add up to your calorie-count. Excess liquid calories can tip you over your daily calorie amount and have you putting on weight instead of losing weight.
You want to avoid high calorie drinks like fruit juices, Alcohol, high sugar smoothies and some energy drinks. Drinking the occasional calorie-containing drink is OK, but in general, limit calories in the liquid form and save them for food.
The best drink is of course water as this contains no calories and is essential for helping with weight loss. You can get calorie free flavored water if you need to add taste
NOT ENOUGH SLEEP – If you're trying to lose weight, not getting enough sleep can halt your efforts. A lack of sleep is linked to poor food choices, increased hunger and calorie intake, decreased physical activity, and ultimately, weight gain.
A lack of sleep can affect neurotransmitters ghrelin and leptin which help control appetite. Ghrelin promotes hunger, and leptin contributes to feeling full. A lack of sleep may affect the body’s regulation of these neurotransmitters.
TOO MUCH STRESS – Being under pressure, tired and anxious will cause you to get stressed and stress does not go well with weight loss.
Chronic stress leads to a continued release of cortisol over time. With cortisol pumping through your veins in response to stress, your body holds onto fat and tries to stop it from being released from fat stores. You may feel hungrier and end up eating more and will gain weight.
Find what triggers your stress and learn to deal or find ways to beat the stress.
NOT EATING MINDFULLY - You need to give attention to what you eat, when you eat and how often you eat. When we don't pay attention to what we eat, we forget we've even eaten. Mindful eating focuses on the tastes and sensations of the foods that we eat, helping us feel more satisfied once all the food is gone. It also slows us down when eating, giving our stomachs time to send out signals to our brains that we've had enough for now.
BINGING ON HEALTH FOOD – Just because you are eating healthy food doesn’t mean you can consume lots more of them. Fruit is good! Vegetables are good! Oats are good! But, like anything, moderation is key. Don't overdo it on healthy foods either. Calories from healthy foods still count.
SKIPPING BREAKFAST - Skipping breakfast could be a big factor in the inability to lose weight. Our bodies can’t run on empty just like a car couldn’t run without fuel.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it provides us with the fuel we need to get started. filling up on the right foods can curb cravings and keep you feeling full until lunchtime to minimize snacking and ease weight loss.
Eating a healthy, nutritious breakfast is the best way to jumpstart your metabolism and will help you to reach your weight loss goals.
TOO MANY CHEAT MEALS – Cheats meals are actually a way to make your diet more effective. But one cheat meal can quickly turn into two, and before you know it, your entire weekend has become one big cheat meal.
Throwing a cheat meal into the mix tricks your system into thinking food is plentiful and that it's ok to burn through fat stores.
A cheat meal does not constitute a whole day of cheating, A cheat meal is just one meal to incorporate to your weight loss plan to help reset hormones responsible for metabolism and insulin regulation. A cheat meal will also replenish glycogen for increased energy and keep calories brining and fat torching mechanisms high.
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