Why am I not losing weight?

Its day 40^th of your diet and the weight/ fat is not moving down the scale. Things are getting tough, and you are getting frustrated why it’s not moving down when you are doing everything right. Frustration makes you believe that you are one of the people with a slow metabolism who can’t lose weight; this belief makes you go back to eating what you did before your diet plan.  Does this sound familiar to you or your family, friends?  We see a pervasive phenomenon , where people blame their slow metabolism for not losing weight , is this true or a myth ?.

Weight loss is a complicated process, yet simple when done right.

Let us understand a few basics of why we are not losing weight/body fat.

Exercising without controlling food:   Many of us start our weight /fat loss journey with exercise, this is indeed a great start. One will get some result from training, A problem arises when you start exercising without controlling your food habits resulting in no weight loss. We burn calories in the gym, we step out and eat everything we want.

Not counting calories: I am a big believer in counting calories, end of the day you might not be 100% accurate in counting calories, but you get pretty close to your target calorie.   A basic principle of fat loss is calorie In calorie out ( CICO). If calorie in < calorie out = weight gain and calorie out < calorie in = weight loss. This principle makes it very important for us to track our calorie. When we are not tracking our calorie, we tend to overeat,  it might be a small number of calories per meal, but the small increment in four/six meals is a good excess calories.  Overeating healthy food is not accepted either in weight loss plan.

Too little calories: Yes, too little calories can be a significant hindrance in your fat loss journey. The body reaches a stage where it needs a certain calorie to maintain its essential body function making it tough to lose weight. Over the period, the body adapts to the calorie that you feed your body.

No diet breaks or too many diet breaks:  Been on a diet for too long without any diet breaks, the theory of metabolic adaptability applies here, Body adapts to the calorie and weight loss plateau occurs. Refeeds are one of the essential tools for fat loss which allows the body to recover and reset. Diet breaks can vary from once a week to two weeks every 4/6 weeks ( but this is planned ). And then we have a particular set of people who are perpetually on diet breaks which mean four days of diet and four days of break. What happens during the break? Eating everything they like, result in not losing weight and getting demotivated.

Important: Diet break is not cheat meals. Diet break means eating more calories than your estimated daily calories for given days with macros( protein/carb/fat)  broken down accordingly.

Snacking: Snacking is a major hurdle for weight loss. Today in the market, there are so many products sold under the umbrella of diet food, making it very difficult to track the hidden calories. snacking on wrong food with hidden calories or over snacking is counterproductive for weight loss. Unless one is good in reading food labels stay away from this. Snacking is very important when done right.

 Fad Diets: There are so many diets available online that we can spend our next ten years on being different diet and not repeat any. Yes, one follows the diet and losses weight quickly but regains it even faster, that’s why they are called fad diets.

Alcohol: Not calculating calories from alcohol, and wondering why you are not losing weight. consuming alcohol over your daily quota of calories is excess calories.

Poor stress management: No diet will help if we don’t manage our stress well. Stress creates an imbalance in our hormones, making it difficult to lose weight/fat.

Lack of patience & adherence : weight loss is a journey, which takes sometime and also depends on how your body reciprocate to your food plan. when the weight loss is on slower side one tends to lose the patience get demotivated and start doing stuff that he is not suppose to do. Sticking to plan needs patience and Commitment.

Summary If you want to lose weight or your weight loss is stalled, you should follow the calorie principle, in vs calorie out.  Weight loss can only occur in a calorie deficit. Keep a balance between exercise and nutrition with good stress management. Take professional help for nutrition and exercise. Eat more homecooked food, where you are not worried about hidden calories. Always give your self allowance of 100 kcal +/- in a day, making it flexible for you to be on a program. Start eating healthy food instead of a diet with a restricted menu, making it more sustainable for a more extended period. Keep track of what you eat, calculate your macros ( protein/carbs/fat ) as per your sport or need.  While doing macro break up, keep protein on priority followed by carbs/fats. Add diet breaks and refeed days in your plan. Stick to a plan for a long time do not fall for diets which your friend did and lost xyz weight in 2 weeks, we all know the repercussion of such weight loss. We are all different, our body reacts differently. Some may lose weight rapidly, and some may lose slower.

 Think long term and sustainability and not short cuts.