5 Reasons You Aren't Losing Weight

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Steve N.1

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Do you feel like you're doing everything possible to drop those pounds, but they just don't seem to be coming off? It's like all of your work is for nothing...like everything you've been doing is a waste of time.

Sadly, if you aren't doing the right things, this may be the case.

There is a right way and a wrong way to sustainably lose weight. Sure, there are diets that will get those pounds off for a short period of time, but then (seemingly overnight) you gain the weight back.

In this article, I want to give you practical advice as to why those pounds may not be coming off, or why they won't stay off once you've lost them.

Here are the five reasons you most likely aren't losing weight.

1. You Are Starving Yourself

Sure, in order to lose weight, cutting calories is a good idea. The problem is, many people cut too many calories or the wrong types of food.

This may cause your body to go into starvation mode, packing on as much fat as it can from the limited food it receives.

In order to get past this, try limiting your calories in smaller doses, allowing your body the time it needs to adjust.

2. You Aren't Getting Enough Water

Some so called "diets" and workout programs promote immediate weight loss by doing things that dehydrate you.

Sure, you can quickly lose water weight, but as soon as you start rehydrating yourself, you'll immediately gain the weight back.

This isn't even mentioning how dangerous it is to go through prolonged periods of dehydration. Avoid these diet and workout programs at all costs.

3. You Aren't Varying Your Exercises

Believe it or not, doing only one thing will actually slow down your progress. A lot of people see weightlifting as counterproductive to their weight loss efforts because they think they'll gain weight from it.

First of all, weightlifting also burns calories...a lot of calories. Second, you most likely won't gain weight from lifting unless you are putting in serious work at the gym for months. It's harder to gain weight from muscle than you'd think.

Strength training is an important part of any workout routine and shouldn't be skipped if you intend to drop pounds.

4. You're Psyching Yourself Out

I know you want to see progress, but looking at the scale every day is only going to depress you. You may feel like you are putting in a ton of work and you just aren't losing the weight.

Worse, you may sometimes see that you are gaining weight!

Our weight fluctuates from day to day and just because you didn't drop any pounds that day, it doesn't mean you didn't burn fat. Keep in mind for most adults, two pounds a week is average and healthy.

Weighing yourself every day won't do anything but cause you to feel inadequate and give up.

5. You're Trying to Hard

A lot of people get it in their head that they want to lose weight, so they go crazy trying to get into shape overnight.

They hit the gym hard, they eat nothing but salad and they stare at the scale every day, telling themselves they haven't done enough.

This is actually counter-productive and causes most people to quit. Allow yourself to slowly work your way back into being healthy, instead of jumping in head first.

I hope these tips help you on your weight loss journey!
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Help please! I'm 5'9" and 310 pounds. I have been busting my butt for the past year working out. Since November I've been training for a sprint triathlon. I haven't lost any weight. I do know that I have lost some inches, but with how hard I'm working, I don't feel like I'm really making the progress that I should. I'll admit that I fit into most of the categories listed in your post. I'm not trying to do any kind of strict diet, I'm more concerned with making better choices with food, like more proteins and vegetables and less junk, but I'm constantly hungry. According to my smart watch I'm burning between 3000 and 4000 calories a day. Another post I read said to calculate my weight by 14-16 for calorie expenditure which puts me at burning between 4300 and 5000 a day. Doing quick guesstimates on intake, I feel like a pig if I eat more than 2500 calories. Am I actually starving myself and thus not losing weight? I know I psych myself out, but it's been so long and I'm getting really frustrated. To add to all this, some blood work shows that my cholesterol has come down a bit, but still high, but what is weird is my triglycerides have gone up which means I'm intaling more than burning: this doesn't seem possible and I'm definitely going to talk to my doctor about it. I do vary my workouts a bit (swimming, biking, running, walking, weight and resistance): it this not enough? I do know my fitness level has gotten a lot better, but I don't feel like it's transferring to my body. I don't know what to do and feel like I've wasted the last year. Sorry this has run on and maybe I'm just venting my frustration, but any advice would help. Thanks
 
Do you feel like you're doing everything possible to drop those pounds, but they just don't seem to be coming off? It's like all of your work is for nothing...like everything you've been doing is a waste of time.

Sadly, if you aren't doing the right things, this may be the case.

There is a right way and a wrong way to sustainably lose weight. Sure, there are diets that will get those pounds off for a short period of time, but then (seemingly overnight) you gain the weight back.

In this article, I want to give you practical advice as to why those pounds may not be coming off, or why they won't stay off once you've lost them.

Here are the five reasons you most likely aren't losing weight.

1. You Are Starving Yourself

Sure, in order to lose weight, cutting calories is a good idea. The problem is, many people cut too many calories or the wrong types of food.

This may cause your body to go into starvation mode, packing on as much fat as it can from the limited food it receives.

In order to get past this, try limiting your calories in smaller doses, allowing your body the time it needs to adjust.

2. You Aren't Getting Enough Water

Some so called "diets" and workout programs promote immediate weight loss by doing things that dehydrate you.

Sure, you can quickly lose water weight, but as soon as you start rehydrating yourself, you'll immediately gain the weight back.

This isn't even mentioning how dangerous it is to go through prolonged periods of dehydration. Avoid these diet and workout programs at all costs.

3. You Aren't Varying Your Exercises

Believe it or not, doing only one thing will actually slow down your progress. A lot of people see weightlifting as counterproductive to their weight loss efforts because they think they'll gain weight from it.

First of all, weightlifting also burns calories...a lot of calories. Second, you most likely won't gain weight from lifting unless you are putting in serious work at the gym for months. It's harder to gain weight from muscle than you'd think.

Strength training is an important part of any workout routine and shouldn't be skipped if you intend to drop pounds.

4. You're Psyching Yourself Out

I know you want to see progress, but looking at the scale every day is only going to depress you. You may feel like you are putting in a ton of work and you just aren't losing the weight.

Worse, you may sometimes see that you are gaining weight!

Our weight fluctuates from day to day and just because you didn't drop any pounds that day, it doesn't mean you didn't burn fat. Keep in mind for most adults, two pounds a week is average and healthy.

Weighing yourself every day won't do anything but cause you to feel inadequate and give up.

5. You're Trying to Hard

A lot of people get it in their head that they want to lose weight, so they go crazy trying to get into shape overnight.

They hit the gym hard, they eat nothing but salad and they stare at the scale every day, telling themselves they haven't done enough.

This is actually counter-productive and causes most people to quit. Allow yourself to slowly work your way back into being healthy, instead of jumping in head first.

I hope these tips help you on your weight loss journey!
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Just asking, what do you mean by varying the exercise? I'm on my self program and I'm using an app which guide me throughout this.. From you POV, is it good enough to rely on this app? Since I can't go to the nearest gym because of the virus..

Usually I do the 30 days full body challenge and leg day guided by the app..
 
Help please! I'm 5'9" and 310 pounds. I have been busting my butt for the past year working out. Since November I've been training for a sprint triathlon. I haven't lost any weight. I do know that I have lost some inches, but with how hard I'm working, I don't feel like I'm really making the progress that I should.

You cannot exercise away a poor diet, however, you are making progress with your measurements, so you are on the right path.

I would suggest you start a thread in the diary section of the forum https://weight-loss.fitness.com/forums/weight-loss-diary.9/ where you can get support and help from other member.
 
Just asking, what do you mean by varying the exercise? I'm on my self program and I'm using an app which guide me throughout this.. From you POV, is it good enough to rely on this app? Since I can't go to the nearest gym because of the virus..

Usually I do the 30 days full body challenge and leg day guided by the app..

The biggest aspect of exercise is to do exercise you enjoy, it becomes hard to stick to exercise if it is not enjoyable. however if you do the same exercise at the same level all of the time your body will become more efficient in the movement and you will use less calories over time.

There is no way of judging your exercise without knowing more about you or the exercise you are doing. As I suggested for Timgambit, you should start a thread in the diary section.
 
You cannot exercise away a poor diet, however, you are making progress with your measurements, so you are on the right path.

I would suggest you start a thread in the diary section of the forum https://weight-loss.fitness.com/forums/weight-loss-diary.9/ where you can get support and help from other member.

I'm not really trying to exercise away a poor diet. I've made a lot of changes to my diet. Working on making healthier choices. When I stated that I'm not trying to stick to a strict diet, I meant I'm not doing like a paleo, or keto, or other fad diet, I'm more concerned about eating better.
 
You cannot exercise away a poor diet, however, you are making progress with your measurements, so you are on the right path.

I would suggest you start a thread in the diary section of the forum https://weight-loss.fitness.com/forums/weight-loss-diary.9/ where you can get support and help from other member.
Also when I mentioned that I feel like a pig if I eat more than 2500 calories, it was more to say that I'm not regularly consuming more than 2500.
 
I'm not really trying to exercise away a poor diet. I've made a lot of changes to my diet. Working on making healthier choices. When I stated that I'm not trying to stick to a strict diet, I meant I'm not doing like a paleo, or keto, or other fad diet, I'm more concerned about eating better.

This is the approach of many members here, small changes over time make a big difference.
 
I'm not really trying to exercise away a poor diet. I've made a lot of changes to my diet. Working on making healthier choices. When I stated that I'm not trying to stick to a strict diet, I meant I'm not doing like a paleo, or keto, or other fad diet, I'm more concerned about eating better.
That sounds sensible to me. You definitely didn't waste a year if you got fitter and lost inches (awesome job!) but it may be time to count your calorie intake exactly for two weeks, weighing yourself before and after (same time of day, state of (un)dress, fullness of bladder, etc.) to see if your body is doing medically surpring things or if you're maybe underestimating how much your eating or overestimating what you're burning. I know calorie calculators often give me ludicrous numbers for calories burned on days when I've been active for long periods of time. I do need to eat more for those days but nowhere near what they say. Best of luck with your plans and I hope to see your diary here soon.
 
....Weighing yourself every day won't do anything but cause you to feel inadequate and give up....

of course it will ... because it is a well known fact that everyone is the same.
if good news is all you can ever deal with, you have bigger problems than weight control.
 
The biggest aspect of exercise is to do exercise you enjoy, it becomes hard to stick to exercise if it is not enjoyable. however if you do the same exercise at the same level all of the time your body will become more efficient in the movement and you will use less calories over time.

There is no way of judging your exercise without knowing more about you or the exercise you are doing. As I suggested for Timgambit, you should start a thread in the diary section.

Yes I do enjoy it! Although sometime the exercises are weird, e.g. hindu push ups(???). All I know is.. an AI teaches me how to do things.. instead of a being. It affects my performance tho.. in positive way of course.

P.S. I realized, I made critical grammar mistake..
 
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