 my channel and welcome if you're new here. Thank you so much for clicking on today's video. I have a very good informational aha moment type of video for you today. I get so many questions on why am I not losing weight? What am I doing wrong? I used to lose all this weight on WW and now I'm in a plateau. I'm not losing any weight. It's coming off really slow. What are the reasons behind the fact that I'm not losing weight? So I'm here today to share with you 20 reasons you may not be losing weight. I'm hoping that a lot of these will resonate with you and help you back on the path of weight loss. So without further ado, I'd love to jump into this week's topic. 20 reasons why you're not losing weight is maybe you're losing weight and you don't know it. Sometimes the scale is not our friend. Sometimes we do everything right when it comes to nutrition and exercise and that dang scale just doesn't budge. There are other ways to test whether or not you're losing weight and you know I've mentioned several times that I'm not as concerned about the number on the scale. I'm concerned about eating a good amount of calories that I can sustain long term to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable and somewhat slow rate so that I can keep it off. And that just goes hand in hand with this. Sometimes the scale doesn't like you. Sometimes it doesn't give you the information that you're expecting to see when you step on it. But pay attention to other things such as maybe are you losing fat? Take your measurements, try on some clothes. Maybe some clothes that were too tight at one point and see if they fit you a little bit better. Sometimes the scale won't reflect our hard work and it won't reflect the actual progress that we're making towards losing weight, losing fat. But all of these other things like clothing and measurements can really indicate whether or not maybe you're losing weight and you didn't even know it. Number two, you're not tracking your food or you're not honestly tracking your food. Sometimes we think that we eat a lot less than we really do. And by tracking your food, whether it's in an app with a pen and paper, however it works for you to track your food and doing it honestly will be a really big indicator of whether or not you're eating as little as you think that you're eating. All those bites, licks and tastes add up. So tracking your food and really honestly writing down everything that enters your mouth is a great way to see if maybe you're overeating without thinking that you're eating too much. Most of the time we think we're eating way less than we truly are and by tracking our food we can really see in writing whether it be an app on a piece of paper exactly what we're putting in our mouth. Number three is a huge one and this is something that I have talked about time and time again and that is you're not eating enough protein. Protein is the number one nutrient, macronutrient to eat to help with weight loss. For those in the back of the room, protein is the number one macronutrient that helps with weight loss. Your goals should be to eat about 25 to 30% of your daily caloric intake of protein. Now I eat a little bit more than that but that's a great baseline, a great way to start. You can also use Jordan's science calculation. I'll link Jordan's channel down below. I've talked about him a ton on this channel. You can use his calculation of goal weight times 0.7 or goal weight times one to determine your protein intake. But by eating between 25 and 30% of your daily calories of protein it helps your metabolism burn an extra 80 to 100 calories per day by doing nothing other than making sure that you're eating enough protein. Protein also helps to keep you full and it has proven that those that eat a breakfast containing high protein are less hungry throughout the day. Therefore they're not snacking as much and they're less likely to overeat. Another big reason to up your protein game is by eating a lot of protein it helps with metabolic slowdown which happens naturally as we lose weight especially if we're on a diet or a weight loss or healthy eating journey for a long time. We've talked about this in several videos. Your metabolism can really take a hit and by eating protein it helps make that hit a little bit less. And lastly by making sure you're eating enough protein it also helps your weight not go to a standstill. It helps with plateaus and it makes it a lot less likely that you'll regain the weight that you've lost. Number four you're eating too many calories this kind of goes back to number two. We as human beings will grossly underestimate the number of calories that we're consuming in a day or points you may eat things and not track them. I know a lot of people have certain vices certain foods that they don't track those are still calories that are contributing to your overall caloric intake for the day. And if you are eating too many calories you are not going to lose weight. Calories in versus calories out is how you lose weight and that's why it's important to track your food and that means tracking everything that you're eating. Since I've transitioned over to tracking calories alongside with points I am much better about tracking everything. I have to track all of my produce. This even includes my leafy greens, my spinach for my salad, my carrots that I'm tossing in my salad, my celery that I'm eating with my dip. I have to track everything. So it's made me a lot more aware of the caloric intake of food and it's also made me a lot more accountable. So it's important to track everything. Use a calorie counting app, use your WW app but make sure no matter what you're tracking everything that you're eating so you're not grossly underestimating the amount of calories that you're consuming every single day. Number five, you're not eating whole foods. Yes, a calorie is a calorie but what your body does with food greatly varies between processed foods and whole foods. So it's really important that 80% to 90% of your daily diet consists of whole real food. Whole foods also help regulate your appetite. They are far more filling and of course your body knows how to process and break down whole foods more than they know how to process and break down processed foods. So I'm not saying don't ever eat processed food. In fact, if you wanna eat processed food for every meal that's entirely up to you. I'm just sharing that studies have shown that by eating more whole food you're going to see your weight loss be a little bit more successful and you're not going to be starving all day long in outer points and calories before your appetite is fulfilled. Number six, you're not lifting weights. You're strictly relying on cardio alone. It is so important to do strength training as part of your workout. By adding strength training to your workout routine this is really going to help build muscle mass. And we're not talking about bulking up, becoming a body builder. We're talking about lean muscle mass which will take the place in your body of fat. So you will often find that you will look a lot leaner as you gain muscle. Even if your weight doesn't changes you're going to look a lot leaner because muscle takes up less room in your body than fat does. In addition to that by gaining muscle you're burning more calories throughout the day because muscle burns more calories than fat. So when you end that workout the muscle in your body continues to burn and burn and burn throughout the day where if you do strictly cardio within a half of an hour after ending cardio if you don't have muscle mass in your body the benefits of that cardio are done. They last about a half of an hour once it's completed. Your body does not continue to burn calories all day like it does when you're incorporating strength training and building muscle. And lastly by adding some weights and building some muscle it helps with metabolic slowdown. Another one of the terrible side effects of long-term dieting and long-term under eating. Number seven is your binge eating even on healthy foods. When we think of binge eating we think of 85 McDonald's, Big Macs, fries, shakes, ice cream cookies that's not necessarily the case. A lot of times we can find ourselves overeating or bingeing on healthy foods nut butters, dark chocolate, cheeses things that we deem to be healthy. Zero point foods. We can find ourselves overeating and binging on those foods. And depending on the binge you can outdo all of the progress that you've put in an entire week. You can erase all of the calorie deficit for the entire week with one binge session. So make sure that you are still again weighing, measuring and tracking your food because after all a calorie is a calorie. Calories in versus calories out is how you're going to lose weight. Don't undo everything you've done with one binge session even if it's on healthy food. Number eight, you're not doing cardio. You're strictly focusing on strength training. Cardiovascular exercise is extremely important in a weight loss journey. Cardio exercise or cardiovascular exercise is any type of exercise that increases your heart rate. So going on walks, running, jazzercise, dance classes, walking on the treadmill, the elliptical, anything that elevates your heart rate is considered cardiovascular exercise. When you do cardio exercise you help eliminate the stubborn belly fat, the fat that is around your stomach region, the visceral fat. Cardio really helps decrease that. That visceral fat also builds up around your organs which can cause a lot of health problems down the road. So it's important to do your cardio exercise to burn a good amount of calories to build up your cardiovascular system, implement some strength training and you have a well-rounded workout program. Number nine, you're still drinking sugar. Sometimes we consume calories, sugar in the form of beverages that we don't even realize that we're consuming. These sugary calorie-laden beverages can make a huge impact on our weight loss. Your brain doesn't compensate for the calories in a sugary beverage that triggers it to make you eat less other foods. In fact, it does quite the opposite. You can consume all the sugary calorie-ridden beverages and you still have to eat just as much food because they don't satisfy your hunger and your brain doesn't trigger your body to be satiated from those beverages. Some examples of sugary beverages to try to avoid of course would be soda pop. Also sugary beverages like vitamin water that you think may be healthy for you but is actually loaded with sugar, fruit juices, really watch your sugar try not to consume your calories for the day or your points for the day in sugary beverages. Number 10 is you're not sleeping well. Sleep is so incredibly important on a weight loss journey. There are so many benefits to getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep is one of the biggest contributing factors for obesity in the country. Did you even think that sleep was one of the biggest factors that contributes to obesity? Adults and children who don't get enough sleep have a 55 to 89% likelihood of becoming obese. It is so important to get between six and eight, even nine hours of sleep every night. If you haven't noticed the nights that you don't get enough sleep, you tend to eat a little bit more, your body's a little bit more gravy. It's really important for so many reasons to make sure that you're getting good quality sleep and that you're getting enough sleep every single night. Number 11 is you're not cutting back, not cutting out, but cutting back on your carbohydrate. This doesn't mean removing carbs from your diet completely, but maybe eating, again, hitting that protein goal every single day, really focusing on protein instead of focusing on carbs. A lot of the processed snacks and things, those are what have a lot of carbs. And if you really spend time to strategically plan your day around protein, you're going to find that you automatically eat less carbs. I never hit my carbohydrate goal in a day. I never do because I'm so focused on protein that that is my main target to hit, that I never ever reach all of my grams of carbohydrates. I'm sometimes over my fat that I like in a day, but I don't concern myself too much with fat or even carbohydrates. But when you have a more protein-focused diet, you don't tend to overeat on the carbohydrates. Extra carbs can stunt your weight loss. Number 12, you're eating too often. It is a myth that you should be eating several small meals throughout the day. It doesn't really matter how you get your calories in, whether that's in 10 meals, one meal, three meals. It's all about how many calories you consume versus how many calories you expend during the day. You can even eat a big meal right before bed and it won't affect your weight loss. Now it may affect your sleep, you may not sleep as well, you may have heartburn, you may toss and turn, but as long as you don't overeat your calories during the day, you shouldn't stunt your weight loss. If you eat a lot of meals throughout the day, you often can overeat. And that's why it's important to make sure that you're tracking your food. Also, you could try intermittent fasting, which basically gives you a 12 to 20 hour break between food and then you have about an eight to 10 hour eating window. I've never done intermittent fasting. In fact, I've gotten that question a lot. It's not something that I'm really interested in, but if you wanted to really curb down the excessive eating throughout the day, you could certainly try intermittent fasting. I recommend that you just do a Google search and read about it and see if it's right for you. Number 13, you're not drinking water. And we're talking water. We're not talking other beverages that are liquid like water. It is very, very important for you to be good, excellent, fantastic about drinking your water every day. In fact, there was a 12 week study that was done and people who drank seven ounces, one liter of water 30 minutes prior to a meal had significantly larger weight loss results. Water is important for your body's function. Important to keep you hydrated. My goal is to drink a gallon of water every day, which I generally succeed most days of the week. Make sure you're drinking your water. Set yourself a water goal and don't allow yourself any other beverages until you've hit that water goal. I often have a Xevia, which is a more natural soda at night with dinner or before bed as I'm watching TV because that is my treat for reaching my water goal every single day. So that's a great way to ensure that you're getting in enough water. Is set a water goal and don't allow yourself any other beverages until you've reached that water goal. Number 14, now don't get mad about this one, is you are drinking too much alcohol. Now, if you are going to consume adult beverages, it's great to stick with things like vodka and stay away from the sugary drinks. Even beer and wine and those sugary cocktails like margaritas and Mai Tai's have a lot of calories and a lot of sugar. In fact, alcohol has seven calories per gram, which is actually a lot. Mix your favorite spirits with some low calorie or no calorie beverage options like seltzer water or flavored water and stay away from those sugary, high calorie alcoholic beverages. Now, alcohol in moderation doesn't seem to stunt weight loss but excessive alcohol consumption actually results most likely in weight gain. Number 15, you're not eating mindfully. Now, this is huge. What does eating mindfully even mean? This means slowing down when you're eating and not eating with distractions like your phone or your television and really savoring every single bite. Making sure you're chewing before swallowing, setting your fork down between every bite. Really just enjoying and savoring your food, your meals. Mindful eating also means stopping eating when you're full. Don't overindulge in zero point foods because there's zero points. Stop eating when you feel satisfied and when you feel full and not excessively full but full and satisfied. Just being mindful of consuming your food and enjoying it and savoring just makes it a better experience. You really get to taste all those flavors, those smells of your food and you really just get to enjoy those without distraction. Number 16, you have a medical condition that makes losing weight harder. Some of these include hypothyroidism, PCOS, and sleep apnea. Also, certain medications that we take can really hinder our weight loss. It's really important to talk to your physician or your doctor if you have questions on maybe medical conditions or medication that you take. If you're seeing that your weight loss has stalled or that you're gaining weight, it's important to talk to your doctor or physician to see if some of those underlying medical conditions or prescriptions may be a contributing factor to that stalling or your weight gain. Number 17, you're addicted to junk food. Did you know that almost 20% of the population actually have a food addiction? Whether that be an addiction to something salty, something sweet, to alcohol, to binge eating, at 20% of the world has a food addiction. People who have food addictions, it's very similar to when a drug addict craves drugs. Food addicts crave food. Generally, people with a food addiction are overweight because it's very hard for them to monitor their food intake and to feel full and satisfied. Again, I recommend that you seek help if you feel like maybe you do have a food addiction from a doctor or a therapist. Just ask questions and ask for feedback from your physician if you feel that you do have an addiction to food. This can be a big reason why you're not losing weight because chances are you're overeating calories and you're undoing all of the hard work that you did on the days that you stayed on program, on the days that you go off of program. Number 18's my favorite and this is you've been starving yourself for too long. You've been under eating for too long. It's not a good idea to be on a diet, a diet for a long time. A lot of times when you're on a diet for an extended period of time, you will hit a weight loss plateau. That's because it's your body's way of fighting back for you under eating for so long. If you feel like you've been dieting for too long and that you've seen a metabolic slowdown, there are a few things that you can do to try to reverse your metabolism. Up your caloric intake by a few hundred calories every single day. Maybe add some strength training or some lifting of weights into your exercise routine. Give your body 30, 60, 90 days and see what happens. Now you may gain a little bit of weight when you are resetting your metabolism but that weight will come off. It's recommended that you maintain that weight or that body fat for one to two months before you go back into diet mode or dieting mode or calorie restriction. Make sure that you're eating enough calories. I cannot stress this enough. On WW it is hard to eat enough calories. So it's worth double tracking for a short period to just make sure that you're eating enough so that you're not causing damage to your metabolism and you're not going to be putting yourself in a situation where you hit a weight loss plateau or you may even begin to gain weight just because you're not eating enough. Number 19, your expectations are not reality. This is another big one. Weight loss is slow. That loss is a slow process. The slower you lose the weight, the more likely you are to keep it off. Although we may lose weight really, really fast in the beginning, it is very uncommon for people to sustain that rate of weight loss. Generally, we would lose one to two pounds a week. That is a very healthy rate of weight loss. Another expectation that is not reality is people have a unrealistic expectation of what a healthy diet and exercise will bring. Not everyone is going to be a supermodel or a bodybuilder. And just because you eat healthy and exercise, your body may not look like that. If you find that you are at a plateau and you're not quite where you wanna be, weight-wise you're close, but you're not quite there, maybe that's your body's way of telling you that that's where your body is happy. And you may just have to resign to the fact that that is your goal weight. That is where your body is happy and where your weight is going to stay. Just make sure that your expectations of your body, of your weight loss are realistic. If you're not, you're going to be discouraged and you're going to quit, which is not going to get you to your goal. Even if getting to your goal takes months or years, if you quit, you're never going to get there. And number 20 is you're too focused on dieting. Diets never work in the long term. Restricting or eliminating food groups never works in the long term. Make sure that whatever you're doing to slow and steady wins the race, lose the weight is something that you can sustain for the rest of your life. You can't just lose the weight and go back to eating the way that you did before you lost the weight. If you do that, you're going to put it all back on. That's why it's important not to be on a diet long term, to instead have a healthy approach to eating, have a good relationship with food and do whatever it takes to make however you're losing weight sustainable once you reach your weight loss goal. That is the number one reason why people gain their weight back is because what they did to lose the weight isn't sustainable once they've reached their goal. Instead of focusing on dieting, focus on being a healthier, happier and fitter version of yourself. So the bottom line, weight loss is not always easy. It takes a lot of dedication and devotion. It takes a lot of mindset shifting to really focus on being healthier, happier and fitter. Those are really the three things that you should focus on and weight loss will just be a side effect of those things. Be mindful of what you're eating, track your food, make sure that you're eating a whole base diet as much as possible. And last but certainly not least, be proud of what you've done, whether you've made it to your goal or not. Stick with it, keep trucking along. Weight loss requires dedication, self-discipline, perseverance and resilience. So that's everything, my friends. I hope that these 20 reasons why you may not be losing weight struck a chord with you and maybe one or two or all of these resonated with you. Make sure that you remember that this is a journey not a race. Slow and steady, my friends. The slower we lose the weight, the happier our bodies will be and the more likely that we will be to keep the weight off long term. Be proud of how far you've come and look forward to where you're going in the future. If you're new to my channel, I'd love for you to stick around, hit the little subscribe button and that bell next to it so you're notified when new videos are uploaded. Make sure you're checking out the description box down below where you're going to find my website that features all of my recipes, all of the links and discount codes to my very favorite things. And of course, the link to head over and join my Facebook group. We would love to have you be part of our community over there, so head on over and join us. Thumbs up this video if you loved these 20 tips. I have so many videos coming your way with tips and tricks and maybe a little food for thought when it comes to weight loss. Thank you guys again so much for hanging out with me today and I'll see you all next time. Bye.