Why You’re Not Losing the Weight

Have you been constantly dieting over the years and haven’t been successful keeping the weight off?

Here are a few of the top reasons I’ve seen that prevent people from losing weight:

1. Guessing instead of measuring and tracking your food intake

   • It’s pretty typical for most people to underestimate how many calories their food is by quite a bit. You might grab a baked potato thinking it’s 150 calories when really it’s 250. Or a spoonful of peanut butter thinking it’s 50-60 calories when really it’s almost 200! Weighing a measuring your food while in a weight loss phase can really help you stay on track and make sure you’re staying in a calorie deficit. The more you weigh, the more aware you’ll be of how much portion size matters when it comes to weight loss.

2. Bites, licks, and tastes

   • Grabbing a few bites of licorice here, a small spoonful of peanut butter there, having a few tastes of a recipe you’re making. These can all add up over the day to a lot more than you think. When weight loss is your goal, this can sometimes make the difference between losing weight and not. Bites, licks, and tastes can add up to 200-400 calories pretty quickly which can easily pull you out of a calorie deficit.

3. Not prioritizing protein

   • Protein helps you stay full longer, makes meals more satisfying, and helps you keep on lean muscle mass so your body prioritizes losing fat. Making sure you’re getting enough protein (one of our dietitians can help you with this!) can make or break your weight loss journey.

4. Eating lots of calorie dense foods

   • There are a lot of delicious, high fat foods that are very high in calories. These definitely aren’t off limits, but eating too much of them can hinder your progress with weight loss. It’s important to eat low calorie foods like veggies and fruits to that you can eat MORE. Having a big bowl of fruit and some stir fry and veggies vs. a hamburger can make a big difference because you’re able to eat more food. When you’re eating lower calorie foods you can have a higher volume of foods which will help you stay more satisfied and full.

5. Not planning ahead

   • Planning your meals for the week ahead of time can really help you stay on track. This helps you plan out your calories and protein for each meal and helps you plan for treats or other things you’d like to eat. If you just wing it, you’re likely to go over your calories, under your protein, and eat less healthy. I recommend starting with planning your high protein meals to make sure you’re hitting your protein. Then leaving some extra calories for some fun foods that you enjoy. This will help you stay on track and still allow for some fun foods.

6. All or nothing thinking

   • Diets are all or nothing. Don’t think of it as dieting, think of it as changing your eating habits to something that is sustainable. Instead of following your meal plan either 0% or 100%, remember the 80/20 rule. Eat 80% whole foods and 20% fun foods. Have 80% of your diet be rich in protein, veggies, fruits, whole grains and let the other 20% go to fun foods like cookies, ice cream, or other treats. This will help you so much mentally to know you don’t have to start over if you have a candy bar.

7. Eating the same things over and over and not planning exciting foods

   • If you’re eating the same boring chicken, rice, and broccoli every night, you’re bound to get sick of it and crave something sweet and calorie dense. Switching up your meals from week to week and including new exciting recipes can really help you stay on track.