There’s nothing more defeating than stepping on a scale after eating right and doing hard workouts, only to realize that you haven’t lost a single pound. Perhaps you were able to lose weight for a bit, but then you reached a plateau. How do you find the will to continue on your health journey if you don’t see positive results? Well, for starters, there may be other factors that are preventing you from losing weight.
First of all, any efforts to improve your health are noteworthy. Weight loss requires self-awareness and determination, and there is no need to give up hope if you encounter an obstacle. If you want to continue losing body fat and keep it off, you may just have to take a closer look at other factors that influence your ability to lose weight. What are some common culprits? Skimping on sleep and allowing stress to snowball, or not choosing the most nutrient-dense foods are common culprits. Continue reading to know why certain things prevent weight loss and what you can do to achieve success.
You Are Stressed
If you don’t keep your stress levels in check, you may not achieve your goal weight. Cortisol, the stress hormone, increases your appetite and can cause you to seek unhealthy comfort foods that are high in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats. Stress causes you to eat emotionally, not mindfully.
Managing stress can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. You can tame your tension with a simple meditation practice, a great audiobook, your favorite music, or even a workout. A small study from 2018 monitored adults who engaged in an eight-week stress-management program. The program involved visualization, deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation. The adults who took part in this program lost more weight than adults who did not take part in it.
You Are Not Getting Enough Sleep
Sleep deprivation not only leads to tiredness and crankiness, but also unhealthy cravings. Failure to get sufficient sleep night after night can start to affect your weight. A 2022 study found a link between getting fewer than seven hours of sleep per night and a higher risk of obesity. Sleep deprivation increases appetite-bossing hormones, causing you to crave high-calorie food that leads to weight gain.
It can be difficult to get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night. If you stick to a healthy sleep schedule, you may experience a big difference in your sleep. Overweight adults who increased their sleep from 6.5 hours to 8.5 hours per night ended up eating 270 fewer calories per day than people who didn’t get that amount of sleep, according to a 2022 study.
You Have An Underlying Medical Condition
If you are not losing weight with proper diet and exercise and you have your sleep and stress under control, an underlying health condition may be the culprit. Hypothyroidism, for example, makes it very difficult to shed weight. Cushing syndrome or Prader-Willi syndrome can also prevent weight loss. Certain steroids, antidepressants, anti-seizure medications, antipsychotics, and beta blockers can also make weight loss more difficult.
If you are struggling to lose weight and feel that a medical condition may be preventing weight loss, consult your healthcare professional. In other cases, you may need to pay closer attention to your food intake. Most patients with medical conditions are never “stuck” at their current weight; rather, they need to take extra steps to promote weight loss.
You Are Choosing Less Nutritious Foods
Highly processed foods, such as white bread, packaged snacks, processed meats, and fried foods may satisfy you in the moment, but they can cause you to eat more. A small 2019 study found that people who could eat as much as they wanted on an assigned ultra-processed food diet ended up eating 500 more calories per day on average than people assigned an unprocessed food diet. Processed foods are engineered to make you eat more. That’s why you can eat a bag of chips, not feel full, and still crave more.
Aim to fill your plate with whole, minimally processed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and lean protein at each meal. These foods fill you up and keep you satisfied for longer, so you won’t be as tempted to eat processed snacks.
You Are Gaining Muscle
If you notice that you are losing inches but not weight, you may have put on some muscle. That is especially true if you are exercising regularly, incorporating a mix of strength training and cardiovascular workouts. Your body composition is changing, so even though your weight may be the same, you are likely stronger and leaner.
If you stick to smart eating habits and exercise regularly, your health and fitness are improving, regardless of the number on the scale. Don’t focus on pounds; rather, track your progress in other ways. You can measure your waist size, for instance. A smaller circumference generally indicates fat loss, even if your weight reads the same.
