It’s amazing how many people wonder, “Why am I not losing any weight? I’m dieting, exercising, sleeping better, and managing my stress, but I’m just not seeing results!”
Well, it’s important to note that your body is designed to STORE added fat, but it resists BURNING that fat. It sees fat as something vital to protect you from future food scarcity, and stores it incredibly easily. But when it comes time to let that fat go, it fights tooth and nail to resist your fat-burning efforts.
If you’re wondering “Why am I not losing any weight?” you might be surprised by just how many reasons there are for that result—or lack thereof! Below, we’re going to take a look at the most common reasons that your efforts aren’t working. Read this page carefully, and you might just find the answer you’ve been looking for!
Why Am I Not Losing Weight?
You’re not eating right. Let’s be honest: there are A LOT of diets that promise weight loss by forcing you to drastically cut calories or eliminate healthy macronutrients. Some diets use a lot of fancy, chemically-produced supplements to encourage weight loss.
None of these diets are really going to work long-term. You will usually see some short-term weight loss, but that’s typically the “easy to lose” water weight and initial body fat. Once your body senses that you’re losing real fat, it’s going to resist your efforts to diet. If the diet isn’t a long-term, sustainable one, you’ll either quit the diet (due to cravings or serious hunger pangs) or find it doesn’t work.
The key is to eat a little bit less (200-300 calories fewer) than your body needs every day. That puts you at a slight caloric deficit, one that your body is able to cope with without going into “starvation mode”.
But that deficit isn’t the only thing that matters! You should also be drastically increasing your intake of protein (particularly lean proteins with very little fat), decreasing your fat intake, and getting high-quality complex carbohydrates (fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, seeds, etc.). Quality matters as much as quantity, so it’s absolutely vital that you get enough nutrient-rich food in your diet!
You’re not exercising right – There are really only two wrong ways to exercise to lose fat: 1) exercising in a way where you risk injury or overtraining, and 2) focusing too much on cardio.
For #1, you’re putting your health at risk, raising the possibility of back pain, joint injuries, and muscle tears. You’re also more prone to burnout, which will lead you to lose motivation at the gym—making it harder to work out.
But, more than likely, it’s #2 that’s at fault. Focusing too much on cardio encourages fat-burning, but it also causes your body to burn muscle mass. You end up being “skinny fat”—with a lower body weight, but also low lean muscle mass and thus a higher body fat percentage. In order to see real fat-burning results, you should do about 75% weight training and 25% cardio training.
Not tracking what you’re eating – You might think you’re eating a healthy number of calories, but because you don’t track what you’re eating, you end up eating far more than you realize. For example, did you know that just one tablespoon of salad dressing has 120 calories and 13 grams of fat? That’s enough to make that “healthy” salad a fat-increasing meal!
Tracking your food intake is absolutely vital for weight and fat loss, as it’s the only way to get a truly accurate picture of what you’re putting in your body.
You’re drinking extra calories – Think about all the fluids you put in your body: if any of them have sugar, you’re consuming a lot more calories than you realize. Soda, fruit juice, fruit “drink”, and other sugary beverages have a ton of calories, none of which provide any benefit to your body, and all of which are very likely to encourage fat gain. The same goes for all the creams and sweeteners you put in your coffee.
Limit yourself to water and unsweetened tea and coffee for a few months, and you’ll see amazing results!
You don’t drink enough water – Water is very important for the weight loss process. Not only does it help to suppress your appetite and keep you full, but it will aid in digestion, speed up your metabolism, and help your body to burn fat more effectively.
Your goal should be to drink no less than 3 liters of water per day (4-5 liters for larger people). Not juice, not soda, not anything else—just plain water! Add to that the fluid you get from other drinks (coffee and tea) or from the fruits and veggies you eat every day, and you’ll get enough water to see real weight loss results.
You’re losing slowly – Weight loss—the real, healthy, sustainable type of weight loss—happens gradually over long periods. The “ideal” weight loss is around 1 pound per week MAX. Any more, and you risk putting your body into starvation mode. That may not seem like a lot if you’ve got a lot of pounds to lose, but over time, you’ll get much healthier and feel better all along the process.
Why Am I Not Losing Weight? Find Out With Get Yoga Lean
If you need help losing weight, give Yoga Lean a try! We’ve come up with a simple yet highly effective Yoga-based training program that will help to get your weight loss on track and deliver real, measurable results. It’s not some fad diet or max-intensity program—it’s a new way of living, eating, moving, and thinking that will change your life for the better. You’ll never wonder “Why am I not losing weight?” because you’ll see the scale consistently moving downward every single week until you finally hit your fitness goals!
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