10 Reasons You're not Losing Weight

You're not exercising enough

One thing many people don't understand about exercise and weight loss is this: you have to work hard if you want to change the shape of your body. That means a balance of medium-high intensity cardio exercise along with challenging strength training workouts.

Cardio

For weight loss, you'll need to get about 5 cardio workouts each week at a medium-high intensity for at least 30 minutes. If you're a beginner, it's best to start slow and work your way up but, if you're in good condition and have no restrictions, challenging yourself with harder workouts is the best way to burn more calories. Interval training is a good choice because studies show you continue to burn calories even after you've stopped exercising. Try adding one of the following interval workouts to your weekly routine or come up with your own:

Interval Training 1
Interval Training 2
Interval Training for Beginners

Strength Training

In addition to your cardio workouts, you'll need to lift weights for all your muscle groups at least 2 non-consecutive days a week.

And, by lifting weights, that means using enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired number of reps. For example, if you're doing 12 bicep curls, you need to use enough weight that you can only do 12 bicep curls and not one more. Most people don't lift enough weight to really challenge their muscles. If that sounds familiar, check out Weight Training 101 and my Workout Center to learn how to lift weights and get some workout ideas.

You're not getting enough sleep

Lack of sleep can contribute to weight gain, though experts aren't exactly sure why. In her article, Sleep More to Lose Weight, Mary Shomon discusses a recent study that found that women who slept 5 hours a night were more likely to gain weight than women who slept 7 hours a night.

The reasons? Some studies have shown that losing sleep could affect metabolism by making you feel hungry, even if you're not. Sleep deprivation may affect the secretion of cortisol, one of the hormones that regulates appetite. There's also a theory that we move around less when we don't get enough sleep, which means we burn less calories.

Getting enough sleep is crucial if you're trying to lose weight, not just because of how it affects you physically, but mentally as well.

Sleep deprivation makes you cranky, confused and can even make you feel depressed or angry.

Make sleep a priority by trying to get to bed at the same time each night, shooting for about 8 hours, if you can manage it. Having some bedtime rituals can help you unwind before bed. You can also try power napping, which can be a great way to reduce stress and increase your productivity.

You're too stressed out

Stress and weight gain (or lack of weight loss) go hand in hand. Though you may not be aware of it, being under constant stress can increase production of the hormone cortisol which can cause an increase in appetite as well as extra fat storage around the abdominal region--a big no-no since abdominal fat is linked to diabetes, high cholesterol and other health problems.

Dealing with stress can be as simple as taking a few minutes a day to relax, scheduling a massage as often as you can or cutting down on work hours and increasing play time. Get started with these excellent resources:

stop stress-induced overeating
Exercise & Stres Relief
Relaxation Techniques for Stress Management

You're eating too much

This may seem obvious, but unless you're tracking your calories each day, you may be eating more than you think. Portion control is one culprit, especially with restaurants providing enough food in one meal to feed several people.

If you're really serious about losing weight, you need to get serious about you're eating. Start by keeping a detailed food journal for one week, without changing any of your eating habits. Be as specific as possible, measuring when you can, looking up your calorie and nutrient content and adding up your calories for each day. You'll be surprised how those calories can sneak in when you're not keeping track. These resources can help you get started:

10 Ways to Control Portions
Keep a Food Diary
FitWatch Fitness Tracker

Something else to think about is metabolism, which can drop as you get older if you don't preserve your muscle mass.

Some estimates show that muscle mass declines about 4% each decade from age 25 to 50. If you're still eating the same number of calories as your metabolism drops, your weight may creep up over time. Start exercising and lifting weights now to keep your metabolism in check.

You're not consistent with your exercise and healthy eating

If you find your workouts are hit-or-miss and that you give in to temptation a bit too easily, your weight loss may hit the skids. For exercise to work, you have to do it on a regular basis. Once your body adapts to your program, you then need to change it to keep your body challenged. If you skip too many workouts, it's almost like starting all over every time.

Sticking with exercise starts with finding a program you enjoy and that fits in with your lifestyle, goals and needs. That means being realistic about what you'll really accomplish each week rather than going by what you think you should be doing. Use these resources to learn more about enjoying your workouts and making exercise a priority:

Learn how to Enjoy Exercise
Get Out of Your Rut
Is Exercise a Priority for You?
10-Minute Timesaver Workouts

You blow it on the weekends

Having some treats now and then is fine, but if you find you do very well during the week only to eat yourself silly on the weekends, you may be hurting your weight loss goals.

To lose one pound of fat in one week, you would need to cut 500 calories with diet and exercise for 7 days. If you only follow that for 5 days, then eat way over your limit for two more days, you're taking two steps forward and one step back. The trick is to plan your indulgences so that you can have some fun while staying on track with your weight loss goals. Try these tips for a healthy weekend:

• Avoid a free-for-all weekend. Instead, choose one or two treats to enjoy and continue eating healthy the rest of the time.
• Avoid rewarding yourself with food. If you've been eating healthy all week, it's natural to want to reward yourself with a yummy treat.
  That kind of thinking can set you back (much like a smoker who rewards himself for staying smoke-free with a cigarette). Instead of food, reward yourself with a calorie-free treat--a trip to the movies, a massage or a new pair of shoes.
• Keep moving. If you like to rest on the weekends, why not make your rests more active? Spend time taking a long walk with your family or tossing a football in the backyard.

You haven't given yourself enough time to see results

While experts generally recommend losing 1-2 pounds a week, most of us probably don't get that close. Remember: to lose one pound, you have to create a 500-calorie deficit every day for a week. It's fairly easy to cut calories from food since you can keep track by reading labels and measuring. The problem comes in when trying to determine how many calories you're burning with exercise. You can use a calorie calcuator, but that's often overestimated. How many calories you burn with exercise often comes down to things we can't measure such as how hard you're working and your fitness level.

Add to that the fact that there are many factors that affect weight loss which, again, can't always be measured or accounted for with the tools we have to track progress.

In that sense, your body may be making changes that can't yet be measured with a scale or a tape measure.

Give your body time to respond to what you're doing. It may be weeks or months before you see significant changes so don't freak out if you're not seeing results after only a few weeks. Being patient and taking it one day at a time will allow you to enjoy the journey instead of focusing on the destination.

You have a medical condition

Some medical conditions and medications can contribute to weight gain. While not everyone will find this to be true, it's important to explore every avenue if you're genuinely following an exercise program and a clean diet and still not losing weight.

One condition known to affect weight is thyroid disease. A thyroid deficiency can cause a decrease in metabolism and may lead to weight gain. Visit these resources to learn more about the symptoms and treatment:

Thyroid Disease 101
Quiz: Could You Have a Thyroid Problem?

Prescription Medications

There are any number of drugs that may have weight gain as a side effect for some people.

Some common ones include hormonal medications for birth control or menopause, oral steroids, some anti-depressants, diabetes medications and anti-psychotic medications. Wrong Diagnosis offers a comprehensive list of other medications that may affect weight.

You should get a diagnosis from a professional in order to determine whether your weight problems are medically-related.

You've hit a plateau

Almost everyone reaches a weight loss plateau at some point. As your body adapts to your workouts, it becomes more efficient at it and, therefore, doesn't expend as many calories doing it. You may find that after your initial weight loss, your progress will slow down and eventually stop.

Some common reasons for plateaus include:

• Doing the same workouts over and over. Your body needs to be challenged to progress, so make sure you're changing some part of your program every 4-6 weeks.
• Not eating enough calories. If your body doesn't have enough fuel to sustain your level of activity, you can actually stop losing weight.
• Overtraining. If you exercise too much, the body sometimes responds by decreasing the amount of calories you burn during the rest of your day.

Learn more about whether you've hit a plateau by keeping an exercise calendar and tracking your workouts, how often you change them and whether you're working too hard or need to boost your intensity.

Get more tips at Understanding Weight Loss Plateaus.

You don't need to lose weight

Despite what you hear on the news or read in popular magazines, not all of us need to lose weight. In fact, many of us have unrealistic ideas of what a healthy weight and body shape is. We all have different shapes and, though we can make changes to our bodies, we can only improve on the bodies we have--not turn them into someone else's body.

I have a challenge for you: Take away all the reasons you want to lose weight that have anything to do with how you look. Now, look at what's left...are there any other reasons that you need to lose weight? Are you at risk for medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease? Is your BMI in an unhealthy range? Are you within your ideal weight range? If you're at risk, losing weight may be important for staying healthy.

But, if you're very close to your goal and can't seem to get rid of those last few pounds, ask yourself if you really need to lose them. Would it be possible to be happy at your current weight?

Use these resources to learn how to accept your body and appreciate all it does for you each day:

Beat Negative Thinking
What's Your Body Image?
Losing Those Last Few Pounds