Reasons Why You Might Not Be Losing Weight

“I just do not understand why I cannot seem to lose weight. The number on the scale will not budge! I feel like I have been on a diet forever, and I am exercising at least 5 days a week. I am so discouraged.” Does this sound familiar? I hear something along these lines from clients on a regular basis. What I say next usually surprises people. What are the reasons that they (and you) may not be able to lose weight in spite of your hard efforts?

YOU ARE NOT EATING ENOUGH. Say what? “Rachel, I thought that in order to lose weight I had to eat less and exercise more?” Yes, this is true to a certain extent, but most of my clients have been following diets for most of their adult life, severely calorie restricting. Chronic dieting/calorie restriction will slow down your metabolism.   Our bodies were not meant to be on long term diets, and they will adjust to the number of calories that they are given. When we restrict calories, our body senses that there is some type of emergency (famine, drought, etc.) In the initial stages of calorie restriction, we will most likely lose weight. This is why most people have success in the beginning then start to “plateau” as time passes. As weeks go by, our bodies adjust to not getting enough food by slowing down our metabolism (aka our hormones that burn fat.) Our bodies do this as a survival mechanism in order to preserve nutrients for the future. Remember, our bodies cannot distinguish between the South Beach Diet and a famine. Both put your body into survival mode! Active thyroid hormone (responsible for how efficiently we burn calories) will decrease in response to long-term calorie restriction. So what is the solution? Well, it depends how long you have been dieting. That is why it is so important to work with someone who can develop an individualized program for you, taking all aspects of your health into account. For someone who has been chronically dieting (for years of their adult life), it will take time to fix your metabolism. It will require you eating more foods that nourish your body, sending signals to the brain that you are not in starvation mode. It could require looking at your current hormonal state (thyroid, cortisol, sex hormones) and addressing those.

YOU HAVE AN UNDERLYING HORMONE IMBALANCE Our hormones have a significant influence on our body composition. Are you making too much estrogen, insulin, or cortisol that is causing you to gain weight? Are you not making enough testosterone? Is your thyroid sluggish and keeping you from seeing results? There are many factors that influence our hormones that are beyond the scope of this blog post, but know that they greatly impact how efficient the body is at losing/gaining weight. The great news is that hormones CAN be regulated and balanced with diet and lifestyle changes!

YOU ARE NOT GETTING ENOUGH RESTFUL SLEEP. You can have the perfect diet and exercise program, but if you are chronically sleep deprived, weight loss will be a challenge. Numerous studies have shown that there is a connection between sleep deprivation and obesity. Leptin, a hormone that signals feelings of fullness, is decreased when someone is sleep deprived, and what’s worse, ghrelin, a hormone that promotes hunger is increased! One study found that ghrelin was increased by 24% in test subjects that only had 4 hours of sleep. Taking a deeper look into why you are not sleeping is important. Is your stress hormone cortisol surging at night? Are you being stimulated by blue light from electronics? Again, there are diet and lifestyle changes that you can implement that can have a beneficial impact on sleep.

YOU ARE OVER EXERCISING. This is a similar problem to not eating enough. When we exercise, we put stress on our body. This is good stress that causes our muscles, bones, heart, and lungs to get stronger. Our bodies are intended to adapt to that stress and get more resilient. Exercise is a very good thing. When we do certain types of exercise, we create a hormone called cortisol in response to stress. Again, this is a normal physiological response and is not bad. Too much cortisol is a big problem, though. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol will lead to weight gain. How do you know if you are overdoing it in the gym? Here are some things to consider:

• You are always sore and you do not recover well from exercise. You feel exhausted after a workout versus energized. Adequate rest from exercise is very important, so if you are experiencing soreness every day, you are not resting enough.

• You have weight gain following a workout. Your body is holding onto water due to inflammation.

• You are not sleeping well in spite of working your butt off at the gym. Waking up in the middle of the night can be indicative of elevated cortisol.

YOU ARE LOSING FAT AND GAINING MUSCLE. My weight has changed 3lbs since starting Crossfit in a 2 year period. Before participating in Crossfit I was a long distance runner, and I did not have much muscle mass. My biceps were the size of my wrists! My biceps are now double in size, my leg muscles have significantly increased, and I have a hard time finding shirts that fit my shoulders! The number on the scale has changed by 3lbs. If I were only focused on the number on the scale, I would feel as if I were failing. If you are doing any type of strength training and not seeing significant changes on the scale, you could very well be that you are gaining muscle and losing fat. One of the best ways to determine this is to take your measurements. Do not trust the number on the scale. It can be affected by several factors that vary from day to day.

Bottom line: There are numerous reasons that you may not be losing weight in spite of your hard efforts. If you have been restricting, dieting, calorie counting or over-exercising long term, then you need to start focusing on nourishing your body with adequate food and rest.

Sources:

Sharma, S., & Kavuru, M. (2010). Sleep and metabolism: an overview. International journal of endocrinology, 2010, 270832.