What could be more frustrating than not seeing the scale drop despite days or weeks of doing everything right? After all that hard work—all the cookies you didn’t eat, all the willpower you maintained, all the time you logged at the gym—how could you not have lost any weight? It’s enough to make even the most determined person throw in the towel.
Before you swear off exercise and declare yourself as someone who “will never lose weight,” stop, take a deep breath, and remember this: Weight-loss may seem simple (eat fewer calories than you burn), but often, there’s a lot more going on than a simple calorie equation.
What’s more likely is that you’ve made some innocent mistakes in your quest to lose weight. Don’t feel bad about it—it’s extremely common. These bad habits may be preventing you from getting the results you want. Instead of giving up, make some of the smart changes outlined below, and you’ll see that scale drop in no time!
1. Going “on a diet” in the first place.
Since when did the word “diet” refer to something good? The word itself implies restriction, limitation, and a short-lived effort to get some quick results and then return to a “normal” way of eating. Surveys have shown that people who consider themselves to be “dieting” lose less weight and encounter more problems (such as plateaus and a lack of motivation) than people who are trying to lose weight by creating a lasting healthy lifestyle. Plus diets usually mean giving things up: favorite foods, dining out, desserts—even your social life. You don’t have to be a psychology expert to know that when you tell yourself you can’t have something, you usually want it more. This way of thinking could directly be sabotaging your efforts.
Solution: Ditch the diets for good and focus on creating a healthy lifestyle with your RBMA nutritionist that is based on nutritious foods and small, realistic changes that you can live with for the long term.
2. Overhauling your eating habits overnight.
How many times have you gone crazy eating all the “bad” foods you know you shouldn’t, only to promise to swear them off starting next week or next month or next year? How often have you decided to suddenly clean out your kitchen, throw away all the “junk” and then shop for only healthy food?
No one can expect to change a lifetime of eating habits overnight—and no one should have to! To lose weight successfully and keep it off, you have to adopt a way of eating that you can stick with for the rest of your life.
Solution: Eating healthy isn’t about taking food away; it’s about eating MORE of the things that are good for you. To be successful, you have to implement small and realistic changes to your diet. Once you get used to small changes or substitutions, you can set a small goal like eating one serving of fresh fruits or vegetables each day. The point is to start small with changes that fit into your lifestyle.
3. Giving up certain foods altogether.
We’ve already touched on the idea that labeling certain foods as diet no-no’s can make you crave them even more. Whether you feel out of control when you’re around certain foods or you’ve read about a certain diet plan that promises results if you were to just cut out wheat, gluten, carbs, sugar, or dairy, a lot of people think that to lose weight they have to give up specific things—including foods that they love.
A truly healthy diet that you can stick with forever will include all the foods you love. Unless you plan to give up ice cream or bread forever, then don’t cut anything out temporarily. Generally, people can give up foods like that for a while and see some weight loss success (usually because they’re eating fewer calories, not because anything about that specific food causes weight problems). But as soon as that food is let back into your life, the weight tends to come back with it.
Solution: All things in moderation. Instead of focusing on the foods you can’t have, set goals to eat more of the foods that you know are good for you. This is a much more positive way to think about your goals and get results. Plus, allowing yourself portion-controlled servings of the food you’re thinking about banning will keep you happy and content, but also prevent binges that can occur when you’re feeling weak.
4. Only caring about calories.
Calories are key to weight loss. In fact, balancing your calorie equation (what you eat and what you burn) is what results in successful weight management. However, there is more to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle than calories alone. Some foods that may be higher in calories per serving are actually healthier for you than foods that may be lower in calories (think a heart-healthy avocado vs. a processed 100-calorie pack of pretzels). So while calories count, nutrition matters, too.
Solution: While tracking your calories, don’t forget to look at other key nutrients like protein, fiber, and healthy fats (all of which can keep you full) and key vitamins and minerals that are important for your overall health. Using a free tracker (like MyFitnessPal or SuperTracker) can help you get an idea of how many calories you are consuming and expending each day. Matching that to your daily calorie needs from your RBMA nutritionist can help you reach and maintain your weight goals.
5. Focusing on the scale.
You want to lose weight, so you weigh yourself, right? Yes…and no. Weight is an easy way to measure your progress, but it doesn’t tell you the whole story. Even if the scale isn’t budging, that does not mean that you’re not making major progress toward losing weight and getting healthier. You can lose inches, get fitter, gain lean muscle mass, drop body fat, become better hydrated, look better and feel more energized without the pounds budging at all.
Solution: Remember that the scale tells you only one thing: the total mass of all your body parts at a given moment. Don’t put too much stock into it. Weigh yourself less frequently (about once every 1-2 weeks), and track all the other signs that amazing changes are happening in your even if the scale doesn’t move. This is the best way to stay motivated for the long haul.
6. Only dieting and not exercising.
This may be one of the most common reasons your weight loss is stalling. Yes, you can lose weight through diet alone, but it will be a lot harder. You can only cut so many calories without feeling overly hungry, lethargic or miserable. Yet by exercising along with making dietary changes, you can eat more (and feel more satisfied) and still lose weight. Plus, you’ll get all the amazing physical and mental benefits that come from exercising, including improved appearance, better muscle tone, more energy, improved mood, and a healthier body overall.
Solution: Add exercise to your weight-loss plan. It doesn’t have to be boring, strenuous, or time-consuming either. Even 10 minutes a day can make a huge difference in your results. Ask your RBMA nutritionist to work with you in creating a personalized exercise plan that fits with your individual lifestyle and goals!
7. Trying to eat as little as possible.
If cutting calories is good for weight loss, then eating as little as possible is better, right? Wrong (especially if you’re also trying to fuel your body for regular workouts). You need to eat a certain calorie level to function optimally and get all its essential nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. Eating much less than that can cause serious problems in the long term and damage your metabolism, making weight loss even harder.
Solution: Don’t just guess how many calories you need, and don’t eat what someone else eats either. Your RBMA nutritionist has the technology to measure (not estimate) your individual energy needs, personalized for you and your goals. There is no reason, and it may even be detrimental to your weight loss, to go below your calorie needs. Remember: You have to eat to lose!
8. Giving up too easily.
No person who ever lost weight successfully reached that goal because they were perfect all the time. Setbacks happen to everyone, even the most successful people. We’ve all had days where we made a poor food decision during a meal—or even for an entire day. We’ve all missed workouts, forgot the lunch we packed, or been too busy to cook a diet-friendly meal at home. But those who continue dropping the pounds pick themselves up, forgive themselves from their mistakes, learn from their slipups, and just keep right on going.
Solution: Remember that perfection has no place in a weight loss plan. When you do make a mistake or feel like you’re not making enough progress, don’t give up. Change requires time, and old habits die hard. When you feel yourself ready to give up, reach out to your RBMA nutritionist for some support! You don’t have to wait until your next appointment, and don’t wait until next week or next month to get back on the wagon.
9. Confusing “healthy” with “low-calorie.”
Research shows that when shoppers see “healthy” buzz words or claims on food packages (think: gluten-free, organic, all-natural, sugar-free, low-fat, etc.), they automatically assume the food is low in calories. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Food manufacturers will plaster all sorts of enticing lingo onto their packages, knowing that you’ll think exactly that. But none of these words really tell you much about the healthfulness of a product; and none of them actually have any affect on a food’s calories.
Solution: Read front-of-package labels with a discerning eye, and always turn over the package and look at the nutrition facts (and INGREDIENTS) to get a full picture of what a food is really like. This goes for restaurant menus, too. Don’t let healthy-sounding words make you think a food is actually low in calories. Ask your RBMA nutritionist for tips on reading nutrition labels and ordering healthy meals when dining out.
10. Unrealistic expectations.
These days with news stories, weight loss advertisements, and reality shows alike touting fast and extreme weight loss as the norm, it can be easy to think that you are capable of those kinds of results, too. But in truth, these are extreme and abnormal results that most people cannot expect to replicate. If you’re expecting to drop a lot of weight fast—and to do so consistently—these unrealistic expectations could be setting you up for failure. There’s nothing worse than expecting to lose 10 pounds in your first week, but to only lose one.
Solution: Change your expectations and your mindset. If you expect to lose 10 pounds in one week, then losing 1 pound is a major letdown. But if you expect to lose 1 pound and you did, you feel successful and inspired to keep working toward your goals. Losing 1-2 pounds per week—even half a pound—is major progress that should be commended. This is a healthy and realistic rate of weight loss that you can expect if you’re sticking to your nutrition and fitness goals.