Losing weight is a simple formula, right?
You eat less, you move more, you drink more water and hey presto! You’re on your way to your weight loss goals.
But if you feel like you’re doing all that but still struggling to lose weight, it could be time to review your lifestyle to try and solve this annoying roadblock in your weight loss journey.
But WARNING – it could make you face some hard truths about weight loss.
You’re overeating at weekends & holidays
Contrary to what you might tell yourself – calories at weekends do actually count and your body doesn’t recognise ‘treats’ – it only recognises calories, and if you’re overeating at the weekend, it will add up and contribute to weight gain.
Think about it this way – there are 52 weekends in a year. 104 days.
That’s just under a 3rd of the year ‘treating’ yourself just because it is the weekend!
If you treat yourself in holidays too – that’s another roughly 28 days that you are not ‘on-plan’.
Throw in birthdays, weddings, parties, and more throughout the year, you’ll soon find it adds up to a LOT of days ‘treating’ yourself.
Scheduling when you are going to be off plan in a diary can help limit the number of times you are treating yourself.
Plus, it makes it a real treat when it is less often!
You’re overestimating how many calories you burn
Went for a walk at lunchtime? Had a run or joined an exercise class – that is wonderful, well done!
Exercise or increased movement is KEY to weight loss.
However, we do have a little bad news to bring you, particularly if you find yourself sat for long periods of the day.
If you are in a sedentary job, or you’re sat for long periods of the day and you’re in bed for 8 hours a night – that is about 16 hours of 24 where you are not moving, and your body isn’t burning many calories.
Even if you do 30 minutes of activity a day – as brilliant as it is – it sadly doesn’t override those 16 hours of sitting and doing nothing.
Getting up for a few minutes every hour and moving your body can help.
And if you want to know a bit more about how many calories you burn each day – you can try this energy expenditure calculator:
You’re underestimating how much you’re eating
Coffee with milk and sugar, that ‘small’ glass of fizzy pop, just a couple of biscuits with your elevenses.
It all adds up!
If you’re tracking your calories and not adding EVERYTHING you eat, these small calories do eventually start creeping in and can affect your weight loss journey.
Remember to add on everything you are eating – yes, even that little 10g of cheese you snacked on whilst making dinner!
You might be surprised how much you’re over-eating.
You’re eating back your exercise calories
Yes, you might have burned 300 calories in that spin class earlier, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve ‘earned’ the right to eat 300 calories more, especially if you are looking to lose weight!
Whilst you might have burned extra calories, the trick to losing weight is to not eat back your exercise calories – especially on foods that aren’t great for you.
When eating back exercise calories, we tend to use them on unhealthy snacks or meals that will naturally not help our weight loss!
Plus – it is really easy to overestimate the number of calories burned in exercise.
Unless you have medical-grade technology that can tell you the EXACT amount you’ve burned, it is hard to know what you have actually burned off in exercise.
Fitness trackers are great but can be highly inaccurate so what they tell you you’ve burned off, is often not the case and you could find yourself eating way too much.
You’re not sleeping enough
Most of us can’t remember the last time we got 8 hours of sleep in a night.
But sleep deprivation is a nightmare when it comes to a weight loss journey.
It is thought that a lack of sleep stimulates your hunger hormone, ghrelin, and causes you to snack or eat more throughout the day.
You also tend to have less willpower when you are sleepy – meaning you’re more likely to reach for the unhealthy comfort foods, than a balanced meal.
Shutting off tech devices and simply going to bed earlier, no matter how hard it might be, are great ways to start getting better sleep for weight loss.
Find out more about sleep and weight loss with our blog post:
You’re weighing yourself too much
Weighing yourself every day has its advantages. It helps keep you accountable for what you eat day-to-day and can be motivating to see the scale go down.
But, if you see the scale go up for a few days in a row, it can be really upsetting and frustrating, especially when you have been in a calorie deficit for weight loss.
There can be many reasons for weight gain over the course of a few days – water retention, food still in your tummy, a high carb meal the day before, but if it over the course of a few days, it is usually temporary.
When you have been seeing your weight go up steadily for a few weeks, that is when you need to review your lifestyle and eating habits.
We recommend weighing yourself once a week, at the same time on the same day of the week, to get your truest weight loss results.
So what is the answer if you’re not losing weight?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to weight loss.
We are all different and we all need different things in order to reach our weight loss goals.
But some starting points if you are finding that you are not losing weight, but believe you’re in a calorie deficit:
- Find out your MAINTENANCE calories from the energy expenditure calculator
- From this number, create a daily calorie intake for you by removing 10% of the number that the expenditure calculator says
- Stick to this number for at least 4 weeks, noting down every.single.thing you eat and drink in that time
- Weigh yourself once a week
- If you are still not losing weight, it could be time to review your lifestyle and daily habits
- Remember – don’t eat too FEW calories. Your calorie deficit should be no more than 500 less than your maintenance for safe, healthy and maintainable weight loss results.
If you are really struggling to lose weight, don’t continue alone and don’t give up!
The Slimming Clinic weight loss doctors are here to support you to your weight loss goals.
With our 30+ years of experience in the health and weight loss industry, we know what it takes to help you lose weight successfully.
Our doctors are experts and are here to guide and advise you on the best way to lose weight for you, and will be there for you through any struggles and celebrate little victories with you too!