Back
"I am cutting calories, I exercise regularly, and I’m doing everything right but my weight just won't budge". Sound familiar?
One of the least motivating feelings is seeing the number on the scale stay the same, or in some cases go up, when you are trying to lose weight. You feel frustrated, confused, and irritated that your weight is appearing to increase or not change at all, despite your hard work.
Tired of feeling like your weight loss efforts have come to a halt? Here are the nine most common reasons why your body stops losing weight and how you can finally break through the dreaded weight loss plateau.
Why am I not losing weight?
"Why am I not losing weight?" is a complicated question with a lot of different answers.
No one answer is going to necessarily explain why you happen to be experiencing a lack of weight loss. However, there are general ways that make it very possible to gain weight or plateau in the short term while sticking to your weight management diet.
The scale can only tell you one measurement - your total body weight. It can't tell you exactly where the pounds are coming from.
Even more disheartening than not losing weight, is the appearance of potential weight gain. There are four different types of weight that can cause the number on the scale to fluctuate. This includes:
- Fat
- Muscle
- Fluids
- Food
Most of the time when people are looking to lose weight, they are aiming to lose body fat over anything else. But depending on a variety of factors, you could be experiencing an increase or decrease in any of the above that will be reflected on the scale.
As frustrating as it may be, don't be discouraged. There are other things that you should be paying much more attention to than your weight. And just because you aren't seeing the scale budge as quickly as you'd like, doesn't mean you aren't losing body fat or dieting correctly.
There are a number of factors at play here, and understanding what's going on in your body can save you a lot of stress and help you to be more successful in the long run.
It's also very important to realize that this is a short-term circumstance, not losing weight long term while at a caloric deficit generally means that something just isn't adding up.
Most importantly, trust the process. When dieting, it can be very difficult to feel empowered. You may feel so irritated to not see progress. However, results do not come instantaneously, they take time.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to stick to your diet, put in the work at the gym, and ask for help! If something doesn't quite seem right to you, reach out to personal trainers or nutritionists to get advice. More than likely they will adjust a few things here and there that may make big differences for you. However, like all great things, results take time! Trust the process, trust the professionals, and relax.
9 Reasons Why You're Not Losing Weight
Here are the nine most common reasons why you aren't losing weight.
- You're Eating Too Many Calories
- You're Eating Out Too Much
- You're Eating Too Much on Cheat Days
- Your Diet and Exercise Routine Aren't Sustainable
- You're Retaining Water Weight
- You're Losing Fat and Gaining Muscle
- You're Not Tracking Weight Loss Correctly
- Your Digestion is Out of Whack
- You Need to Ditch the Scale
1. You're Eating Too Many Calories
Eating a calorie deficit is still the most widely accepted approach to weight loss and the single most important factor in helping you see results (1). Learning how to be precise in your calorie tracking can help you identify sneaky extra calories.
If you are cutting out processed foods and eating plenty of healthy foods, but not tracking your daily calorie intake accurately, you might be eating more than you think.
The smallest pour of cooking oil you didn’t log, the piece of chocolate you had after lunch, or the very small handful of chips you didn’t think should count can really add up.
Consider purchasing a food scale or getting familiar with measuring cups and spoons to weigh and portion out everything you eat. Even if you don't intend on weighing things out forever, it will at least get you comfortable with the correct portions so in the future you can better eyeball these portions.
And remember to track everything you eat and drink using a food-tracking app to help hold you accountable and ensure you are actually hitting your calorie goals. Don’t skip the small stuff or forget to log caloric beverages and alcohol.
It could also be possible that you have estimated your calorie needs incorrectly. Use this calculator to calculate your estimated caloric needs for weight loss:
Use this calculator to calculate your estimated caloric needs for weight loss:
2. You're Eating Out Too Much
Eating out a lot can also create some discrepancies in your nutrition tracking. It can be hard to know exactly what is being put in your meal and the exact portion when you aren’t cooking it yourself.
Consider weekly meal prep for weight loss as a more strategic nutrition approach to your diet. This gives you more control over the menu, portion size, and helps you plan ahead of your hunger.
3. You're Eating Too Much on Cheat Days
You should also be tracking your calories every day - including weekends and cheat days! If you are sticking to your diet during the week but allowing a lot of wiggle room on the weekends, you may be doing more harm than you thought.
Sure, it can be hard to face your cheat day calories head on, but understanding exactly how much you are eating on off days can be a real eye opener. Sometimes it’s just a matter of adjusting the portion size or decreasing the frequency as needed so these days don’t lead to weight gain.
You also don’t want to beat yourself up for inevitably falling off track. Bad days are part of the process and nothing to feel bad about. Instead of beating yourself up for not staying within your nutrition goals on off-days, try using weekly averages.
Even if one high calorie day doesn’t fall within your goals, those calories spread over a weekly average can be far less damaging. This is the trick to learning how to incorporate holidays, off days, and planned cheats into your plan.
4. Your Diet and Exercise Routine Aren't Sustainable
It is possible to be too restrictive in your calorie control and to overdo it at the gym. Starvation diets and extreme fitness plans are near impossible to stick to and won't help you stay on track long term.
Additionally, if you hate your diet and exercise plan, you’ll never stick to it. And if you can’t stick to it, you’ll never see results. Consistency is everything, so find a plan that is sustainable for you.
Learning to love the process comes from finding foods and physical activity you enjoy. And from learning to love the hard work that comes along with improving your health. It is a combination of personal preference and a shift in mindset.
If you can figure out how to stay consistent with your plan, you might surprise yourself with how much you start to enjoy certain things - like pushing yourself harder in the gym or trying new healthy recipes you once turned away from.
5. You're Retaining Water Weight
Water weight is actually a very normal part of fat loss and is more than likely the reason why you're not losing more pounds. You see, your fat cells are pretty stubborn. Because fat is such an abundant source of energy for survival - if you're ever stranded without food for long periods of time, you will eat away at your fat stores.
Fat is a much more desired source of fuel for this over carbs and protein which have limited storage and are needed for other bodily functions, which is why your body wants to hang on to this precious form of energy reserves.
As you lose fat, your fat cells often will fill with water to maintain their shape and in the hopes of acquiring fat to fill it again (2). But have no fear, if you continue to cut calories and lose fat, they eventually give up and shrink.
Additional changes in fluid storage can be caused by electrolyte imbalances, dehydration, increased carb or food intake, hormones, stress, sleep, increased activity, poor digestion, and cutting calories too low.
Water retention can account for a lot of quick weight gain. If you find that you are gaining weight overnight or feeling a little bloated, it is probably not body fat - especially if you are eating better and increasing your physical activity level.
Water weight and fat gain are completely different. Water is gained temporarily and is much easier to get rid of than body fat which requires much more time and patience.
6. Your'e Losing Fat and Gaining Muscle
Gaining a large amount of muscle mass typically takes a calorie surplus. However, it is entirely possible to put on a little bit of lean muscle even while in a calorie deficit. - especially if you are newer to fitness and started incorporating strength training recently.
If you are weight training or have increased your physical activity and protein intake, it could be that you are gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time, causing your weight to creep up or remain fairly stable.
While this is pretty difficult to do in a calorie deficit and takes a lot of time, any muscle gain could certainly impact your overall weight.
One pound of muscle and one pound of fat weigh the exact same. However, muscle takes up a lot less space than fat and is more metabolic - making muscle gain an ideal situation for body composition and overall fitness.
Muscle is the tissue behind the lean shredded look most dieters are going for!
The only real way to tell if you are gaining lean mass is by getting your body fat percentage taken. You may see a dramatic decrease in your overall body composition but not necessarily your weight.
7. Your'e Not Tracking Your Weight Loss Correctly
In a perfect world, you should be able to eat fewer calories and see pounds fall off at a steady pace, but our bodies are much more complex than that. It is actually much more normal to see your weight go up and down as you progress through your diet.
A very important thing to recognize is timing. If you weigh yourself at the end of the day after 3-5 meals and at least 8 cups of water, you might notice a larger difference in your weight than if you were to weigh yourself first thing in the morning.
Also if you are weighing yourself right after your workout, you may notice a slight increase in weight due to the "swelling" of your muscles.
Fluctuations are normal and just because your weight changes from one day to the next, doesn't mean the scale isn't creeping down overall.
Consider plotting your weight each day and using averages each week to measure your progress. And give yourself at least 3 to 4 weeks to see a change.
Even with perfect calorie control and exercise, your weight can be influenced by nutrient storage, hydration status, electrolyte balance, hormones, digestion and much more.
This is completely normal, and with consistency and patience, your weight or rate of fat loss will decrease over time.
-27615.png)
8. Your Digestion is Out of Whack
The types of food and the volume of food you are eating can also be causing excess weight.
Eating a large meal leads to the infamous "food baby" and depending on your overall diet, different foods can contribute to water weight gain. But constipation can also be a factor.
Bottom line if your digestion is out of whack, your weight might be too. If your'e feeling like this might be the case, drink some more water, adjust your fiber intake and wait it out. Or take a laxative to get things moving and see if that helps.
9. You Need to Ditch the Scale
The scale is only one way to measure progress and sometimes it's not the best way - especially if you do not have that much weight to lose.
Many of us get laser-focused on a specific goal weight or number we want to hit and this tunnel vision causes us to miss the other non-scale victories we are achieving.
Here are a few other things to consider when trying to lose weight.
Pay Attention to How You Feel
Most importantly, how do you feel? Do you feel deprived? Do you feel like you have more energy? Is the food enough for you? Is it not enough? Really ask yourself these things because it will give you a good starting point and how you feel physically and mentally is usually a good indicator of how your diet is going.
Take the time to reflect on how you feel through the process. You shouldn't be feeling excessively deprived. You also probably shouldn't feel excessively bloated regularly. A little bloat every now and then is very normal, however, if you are noticing excessive bloat it may be due to something else.
If you find that the diet you're on doesn't make you feel that great, consider changing things up and finding a new approach or meal plan, one that you feel you can stick to.
Track Changes in Body Fat Percent
Consider getting a body composition test done at the beginning of your transformation and repeat the test every eight to 12 weeks to see how much fat you are actually losing. You can also track any potential muscle gain in the process, giving you much more clarity than the scale can provide.
After all, most reasons for dieting are to lose body fat. So pay more attention to these details versus your weight overall.
DEXA scans are the most accurate form of body composition testing and will run you about $50 per scan.
Track Your Physical Measurements
Get out a tape measure and track physical changes in your body. You might be losing inches without realizing it.
Paying attention to how your clothes are fitting is also a great way to measure how successful your dieting is going.
Take Progress Photos
Even though you are likely staring at your body every day in the mirror, the small changes happening before your eyes can be hard to see day to day.
But taking progress photos allows you to visibly see the changes in your body over time which can be incredibly motivating.
Even on days, you are feeling bloated or out of sorts, you might surprise yourself by looking back at where you started.
Consider plotting your weight each day and using averages each week to measure your progress. And give yourself at least 3 to 4 weeks to see a change.
How does weight loss work?
Eating a calorie deficit is still the most widely accepted approach to weight loss - we don't have any definitive research that has disproved this theory (1). It's physics!
If you consume less than you burn, you will use up body stores of energy (either fat or muscle) to support your daily needs, which results in weight loss over time. But as simple as the calorie equation sounds, it is not an exact science.
In a perfect world, you should be able to cut calories and see pounds fall off at a steady pace, but our bodies are much more complex than that. It is actually much more normal to see your weight go up and down as you progress through your diet.
How should you track your weight loss appropriately?
A very important thing to recognize is timing. If you weigh yourself at the end of the day after 3-5 meals and at least 8 cups of water, you might notice a large difference in your weight than if you were to weigh yourself first thing in the morning.
Also if you are weighing yourself right after your workout, you may notice a slight increase in weight due to the "swelling" of your muscles.
Fluctuations are normal and just because your weight changes from one day to the next, doesn't mean the scale isn't creeping down overall.
Don't lose hope just yet! Reaching a healthy body weight range can have major benefits, including decreased health problems, improved blood sugar and blood pressure, and an overall increased quality of life.
Need more help conquering your weight loss goals? Get portion-perfect, ready-made meals delivered to your door each week. Plus get coaching and community support along the way!
