5 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight

weightloss

Now this is an interesting post topic for me, because in my Health Coaching, I stress the importance of, and strongly believe in, not focusing on the number on the scale and that, ultimately, finding true balance and peace in your life and body is NOT about being a certain size or weight.  I also believe that when we are treating our body’s and ourselves right and paying attention to our non-food needs and desires, our body will arrive at it’s own ideal weight where we feel comfortable and confident.  However, as a Health Coach, I do get asked by people why they can’t lose weight when they’ve been being so “good” and exercising regularly and eating all their vegetables.  While my belief’s still stand about diet and restriction, I do want to address a few reasons why these people may be “stuck” despite their efforts.

As we all know, maintainable and long-term weight loss does not happen over night.  It’s not just about calorie allotment, exercise and vegetable intake.  While all of those things are important, they are not the bottom line.  If they were, we’d all be at our “perfect” weight and the diet industry would be out of business (wouldn’t that be nice!). If you’ve been focusing on self-care, mindful eating and filling up your life with things that bring you joy and happiness and you’re still stuck…here are a few topics for you to reflect upon and consider:

1.You’re Too Stressed 

Bottom line here….too much stress = the release of cortisol throughout your body = the storage of body fat (despite your efforts).  Now a lot of people automatically think, “well, I don’t have a stressful job so this doesn’t relate to me” and move along the list.  But before you do that, you need to realize that this does NOT just refer to the common high stress triggers such as work, illness and finances.  The body does not distinguish between those stressors and more common stressors such as relationship issues, kids’ crazy schedules, over-scheduling your days, not taking rest days from the gym, chronic cardio, traffic jams and running late for something.  All of these things create a state of “fight or flight” in the body that sends cortisol racing through your body which worsens insulin resistance, catabolizes muscles and promotes fat storage.

What To Do:  Take a few moments to step back from your life and notice what the highest stress factors are and come up with a plan to alleviate as much stress as possible.  Whether that’s better prioritizing your day, arranging carpools for your kiddos, creating a budget (and sticking to it), allowing extra time for commutes or scheduling in rest days it is important that you hash these things out in order to re-ignite your body’s normal metabolism.

 2.You Aren’t Eating Enough Fat

Low fat, no fat, reduced fat – the dizzying suggestions and ever-changing advice on fat have left so many people straight up confused, which unfortunately, translates into them avoiding fat like the plague, especially if weight-loss is their focus.  This is unfortunate because in addition to being highly satiating, healthy fats are your body’s preferred fuel choice for daily activities – walking, working, etc.  (why do you think we store excess on our bodies?).  Fat is an essential macronutrient and is the densest source of fuel you can provide your body.

What To Do:  Start upping your healthy fat intake.  Now I don’t mean for you to go and eat pounds of butter every day, but definitely look for ways to add them into your diet.  This can look like cooking in Olive Oil, Grass-Fed Butter of Ghee, adding avocado to your meals, pairing that afternoon apple with some almond butter, a piece of organic cheese or a handful of nuts and seeds.  The options are endless, and even better news, fat makes everything taste better.

3.You Don’t Get Enough Sleep

We’ve all heard it before….get 7-8 hours of sleep a night.  But how many of us still aren’t hitting that quota?  You may think you’re fine and that it’s nothing a little afternoon coffee can’t help you with, but friends, that is SO not the case!  While the importance of sleep would be best summarized in it’s own post, I cannot stress the importance of this one enough!  Not only does sleep deprivation deprive you of vital cellular and tissue repairs and overall re-charging, but it sets you up perfectly for those afternoon sugar cravings, overeating at meals and choosing the less “healthy” option at snack time.  On top of all of that, it also releases our favorite friend, cortisol, into the body as well…and well, we all know what that means….

What To Do:  Make it a priority…effective immediately.  Make sleep a non-negotiable.  I know what you’re thinking – “but my time after the kids go to sleep is when I get everything done around the house” or “that’s the only time I can catch up on e-mails without distractions” or “but that’s when my favorite TV show is on”.  Well, I am going to bust out my “reality check” cap for a second and call your bluff.  All of those things (no matter how true they feel) are excuses.  If you are serious about changing your relationship with food and about making healthier choices in your life, you need to figure sleep out, and soon.  How can you split up chores more with you husband and/or family so there is less to do at night?  How can you better prioritize your work day to have time to catch up on e-mails in the morning or afternoons?  How can you schedule your week so there is time for you to catch up on your TV shows without sacrificing sleep?  It’s all possible, it’s simply a matter of preparation and prioritization.

4.You Aren’t Eating Enough “Real Food”

If most of your meals and consist of things that come in packages – this may be your problem.  Your body was designed to live and function off of actual food and nutrients, not packaged “consumable” items.  Not only do most all packaged things contain an obscene amount of sugar, sodium and un-recognizable ingredients, but they are FAR from any actual food item you would find in nature.  Now don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for all food – even those more categorized under the “consumable item” label (because life is meant to be enjoyed), but this should not be where the majority of your calories are coming from.  A lot of these items are hard for your body to recognize and therefore, to digest.  A lot of times these items are also “empty calories” meaning they don’t really satiate you and leave you wanting more shortly after consuming them which equals more snacks, more calories and less usable fuel for your body.

What To Do: Slowly start implementing real food in place of these packaged goods.  A lot of people grab these items because they are quick and easy and readily available.  If that is true for you, try meal prepping meals on the weekends.  Here are a few ideas for breakfasts and snacks:

Breakfast:

-Egg casserole, make it during the weekend, cut it up and individually freeze the slices (or refrigerate for use that week)

-Individual Egg Muffin Cups

Overnight Oats or Overnight Crockpot Oats

-Hardboiled eggs & leftover protein from dinner

-Smoothie (pre-prepare smoothies by putting your ingredients all in individual bags and freezing – i.e. frozen banana, berries, kale/spinach, chia seeds – simply dump in a blender with almond milk and transfer to a travel cup

Snacks:

-Hardboiled eggs

-Avocado toast

-Apple with nut butter

Homemade Trail Mix

5.You’re Already At Your Body’s Ideal Weight

I mentioned up above that if you are eating mindfully, paying attention to your non-food needs and desires, being filled up with positive, life-giving things in your every day life, your body will find it’s ideal body weight on it’s own.  Now note that your ideal weight and your preferred weight, are most likely two completely different things, especially if you are a woman.  Most women tend to have an ideal weight that is higher than their preferred weight – why’s that you ask, well just take a look at the media – no further explanation needed. 🙂 Holding yourself to the media’s body standards is unrealistic and will keep you in the ever dreaded diet-cycle as you try to attain an elusive goal.  Your ideal body weight will be where it is relatively effortless for you to maintain it.  It will be where you can enjoy your food, exercise and life without calorie restriction, binges or both.  If you’ve been fighting that last “10-15 pounds”, perhaps you have reached that ideal body weight.

What To Do:  Take a step back and take an unbiased look at yourself.  Are you truly not happy with what you see in the mirror because of what’s actually there, or because of what you are comparing yourself to on social media, in magazines or on TV?  Make it your mission to start loving your body as it is….no strings attached.  Start dressing in things that make you feel confident and sexy, spend a little extra time getting ready in the mornings, pamper yourself with a at home manicure and pedicure, treat yourself like you “would have” at your preferred weight today!

There you have it….5 reasons you may be stuck in your weight loss efforts!  Again, I believe all of these things have to be considered in conjunction with our primary food (non-food areas of life) and lifestyle to reach a healthy balanced place with our body, and I know this can be a tough road to travel alone.  If you feel like you’d like guidance in this area, I’d love to schedule some time to chat about it with you!

POST BELOWDo you struggle in any of these 5 areas?  If so, what can you do today to start making changes?

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Stephanie

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