Frustrated at having tried EVERYTHING and still not losing weight?

7 Common Reasons Your Weight Has Plateaued

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say....

'I am doing all the right things, eating well and exercising and I just can't lose weight! I don't understand'.....

Well you know how the saying goes!

We live in a world where there is an abundance of advice, information and often missinformation around how you can best lose weight.

It's confusing, overwhelming and saturated with FAD diets being endorsed left right and centre. It's no wonder why you are feeling confused about the best way forward for YOU and no ones fault that you have tried every diet under the sun to succeed in your weight loss.

Read on to learn why it's likely that you havent yet succeeded in seeing the weight loss you desire as of yet.

Reason #1 - You aren't eating enough

I'm going to tell you a secret. If you want to lose weight, stop starving yourself!!

That's correct, you heard me right! This means that 800cal or 1200cal diets are simply not enough food to meet your basic energy requirement alone, let alone to accomodate any form of movement and exercise in your day. I know, I know they are everywhere, but just trust me when I say, every single client I have helped, has been there right with you in the past. And yet in every case, it has not worked, and that's why they have ended up seeking my support.

Contrary to popular opinion, eating less is not the simple solution to losing weight. Calories in vs Calories out is also not as simple as that. In fact, it is quite the opposite.

Truthfully though, I believe the misconception of eating less food has potentially been miscommunicated for so long, that now it has potentially changed its message.

When we think about reducing food intake, YES we want to reduce alcohol, sugar, highly processed foods, takeaway, too many starchy carbs etc BUT we don't want to in turn end up undereating the nutrient dense foods at the same time.

What might undereating look like for you?

• Not eating enough protein, fiber or healthy fats

• Eating healthy foods ie salads, smoothies, chicken and vegetables BUT not eating enough of these foods

• Skipping meals or snacks or spreading meals out to far- I see you running out the door with a coffee for breakfast!!

Importantly, when we want to lose weight, rather than undereating to the point of

starvation, what is required is a slight calorie reduction to what you would require if

you were aiming to maintain your weight. This comes down to your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and your activity levels. The hard thing with this is that most people just don't know what their energy requirement is at baseline.

Why do we need to eat more food?

Well FOOD IS FUEL and in order to:

• have sufficient energy levels,

• prevent cravings,

• be able to concentrate,

• sleep well,

• have stable moods,

• be productive with exercise,

• balance our hormones and

• maintain a healthy weight,

we need to be EATING ENOUGH FOOD to meet our energy requirement.

More often than not this means people are needing to eat more nutrient dense foods than they are used to.

So what happens when we don’t eat enough food?

There are 3 main things which can happen when we are not eating enough food

1. Over time our metabolism may decrease. You may have heard of people talk about having a slow metabolism. When you don’t eat enough food, our body doesn’t have to work very hard to break anything down and therefore your ‘engine’ runs slowly. The truth is though, your metabolism is never completely ruined, it is more about the rate at which it is working. It can be increased by exercising, eating enough food to meet your energy requirements and by eating regularly to keep your metabolism going.

To keep it simple:

Eat less=Slower Metabolism=Harder to lose weight

2. If we are not eating enough food, over time our body could go into a starvation mode. This is where your body might begins to break down muscle and it stores body fat (hold onto it) in order to give your body energy, as it isn’t receiving the energy it needs from external sources. As you can imagine, this is often counterproductive to what most people are trying to achieve with their goals. Therefore, the key to losing body fat and/or gaining muscle is to be eating enough and more often to meet your requirements.

3. By under eating, you are likely to experience fatigue and low energy levels, cravings and imbalanced moods. Food is literally the fuel to our body the same way petrol is to a car. If we are not eating enough, it’s simple, we don’t have enough fuel and this leads to low blood sugar levels which leads to cravings, low energy, low moods, brain fog and we will look

for quick pick me up foods/drinks to pick our energy back up again.

Reason #2 - Over-exercising

Yes, that’s correct.

I know that most people who are, or have tried to lose weight in the past have been there and done that in terms of busting your ass in the gym every day to help get a result or at least having questioned if you do in fact need to gym more.

For as long as I can remember, there has been a huge misconception that in order to lose weight you have to exercise more and eat less. It's also a huge misconception that in order to lose weight you must do high intensity cardio everyday to achieve this.

BUT I truly am here to tell you that is not the best way forward.

Training every day, not eating enough good food and still consuming unhealthy

processed/packaged foods is just counterproductive to your goals.

Also, it is important that you do a combination of cardio AND weight training. Resistance training in the form of weight training, is important for your maintaining your muscle mass and keeping your bones strong. Ensuring that your muscle mass remains consistent or grows while losing weight is extremely important to prevent that 'starvation' mode I mentioned from occurring, as well as, the more muscle we have, the higher our metabolism is and therefore the easier it becomes to lose weight.

Now that’s not to say that you shouldn’t exercise daily. Exercise has so many amazing benefits both to our physical body and mental health, BUT if you are going to be training at this quantity, there should first be a few things to check off beforehand.

1. The first being, am I eating enough food to meet my energy requirement to fuel my body for this amount of exercise.

2. Secondly am I nourishing my body at least 80-90% of the time with real whole nutritious foods complete with enough protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats vs consuming highly energy dense processed/packaged sugary foods/drinks.

Just be aware that:

More Exercise = Higher Energy Expenditure = Need to eat more food

So, you can see that training 5 days or more a week and not eating enough of the

right foods is completely counterproductive to your time.

If you are purely exercising for weight loss, but have lost the joy for it, feel it is not being productive to your goals and think that you may not be eating enough to match your requirement, aim instead for 3 times a week with a mix of cardio and weights, and on the other days, go for a light walk, do some stretching or a lower intensity movement such as yoga, or even swimming.

Reason #3 - Your eating is inconsistent

"Success comes from consistency over time, not perfection"

The thing is, 2022 may be the year you decided is yours for the taking! You have made a plan to be mindful of what you are eating, reduce your calorie intake, exercise 5 times a week and to stick with it. But yet, life happens right, you have had so many events, birthdays, holidays, long weekends, got sick and well it's just another Friday right so you can relax for the weekend!

The thing is, that inconsistency with your plans is what will continue to stall your success.

What might Inconsistent Eating look like for you?

1. It could be in that you are trying to be perfect every day in your eating, you didn't eat any sugar, alcohol, takeaway, you went to the gym 5 times, you ate healthy foods and yet come the end of the week when you weigh yourself you see no change in the scale, become disheartened and then proceed to eat all the chocolate, pasta, bread, wine you can find.

2. It might be that you had an off day-didn't eat all of your required food because the day was hectic, so you ended up buying takeaway and had some chocolate and then decided well I may as well throw in the towel for this week, I will start fresh again next week.

3. Perhaps 3 out of 7 days of the week you are eating your required calories but the other 4 have been under.

4. It could be that Monday to Friday you are eating everything perfectly, but come the weekend you eat/drink double the amount of highly processed, sugary, takeaway foods and alcohol.

5. It could be the yo-yo dieting-In that you change the way you are eating every single week or every second week because you aren't seeing success.

In all of these cases, there is no consistency. Your body doesn't have the time required to settle in to the routine, to reduce inflammation, to receive the energy it requires, to allow your digestion to work effectively every day, to balance blood sugar levels to prevent cravings, fatigue and encourage body fat loss.

Perfection is not necessary, if it means that you end up bingeing later on.

It isn't productive if you feel you are missing out, or feel like you then need to reward yourself.

Having a bad day is completely normal and ok. But how you respond to this is what helps your success. Don't wait until next week to jump back into routine. Go home, reset and that very next meal, or the very next day, get back to eating how you know best.

Living your life with an 80/20% lifetyle is the aim of the game long term so that you can nourish your body, enjoy on the occassion/holiday etc and be able to maintain, but if weight loss and getting that kickstarted first is your current goal, it does take more consistency at least for the first month. Allow yourself to see that you can succeed first in what you are trying. Having the extra foods/drinks every day or every week at the start of your journey, will slow down your success and make you feel that what you are doing isn't working, when in fact it may just be the extra foods/drinks you have been consuming still.

So be realistic. If having a sqaure of dark chocolate each evening helps you to continue 80-90% on track the remainder of the time then do that. If having 1 wine a night is a huge improvement on the 4-5 a night you had been having previously and helps you remain consistent otherwise, then do that. If having dinner out every Saturday night for date night helps you to feel reset and rested and therefore able to committ the rest of the time, then do that.

BUT whatever it is you are choosing to follow, do so consistently to allow yourself the time to see success.

Reason #4 - Stress and lack of Sleep

It has been well studied and proven that stress and especially ongoing chronic stress, leads to the body producing high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is directly linked to weight gain and inability to lose weight.

• When cortisol is released, your body releases glucose (sugar) into your blood stream which ultimately spikes blood sugar levels, also meaning insulin is released, and encouraging the storage of body fat.

• When the body is in a stressed state, the body looks for quick bursts of energy and so naturally sugar cravings kick in. This then often leads to 'emotional eating' and is the reason why you feel like all things sugary/carby when stressed.

• Interestingly, undereating and over exercising can both put the body under further constant stress therefore contribute to further cortisol production.

So while we may not be able to control our daily stress in itself, we can be in control of how we manage the controllables which is how we eat and look after our body. If we aim to balance our blood sugar levels and prevent spikes and drops in sugar levels from our own behaviours, by eating regularly, eating lean proteins, healthy fats and nutrient dense carbs together at each meal time and eating enough food then we can physiologically prevent cravings, prevent putting the body under further stress and therefore if we find ourself in stressful situations we are already one step ahead.

Lack of sleep, as in less than 6-7 hours a night has been shown to slow weight loss significantly.

• Lack of sleep can impact our hunger cue hormones and can increase ghrelin which is the hormone which signals hunger.

• Lack of sleep can also increase cortisol, the stress hormone mentioned above therefore contributing to potential weight gain.

• Going to bed too late can also increase the chance of late night snacking. If you had dinner at 7pm and are awake until midnight, this is 5 hours past the last meal you ate, meaning your blood sugar levels would have started dropping, leading to cravings and looking for quick energy pick me ups.

• There is also early evidence that lack of sleep may impact your body's ability to break down fat cells, as well as possibly reducing muscle repair and growth, which may also impact your metabolism long term

So if you feel you have been doing all the right things, but know deep down that you are not getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night consistently and you are struggling to lose weight, work on a new bedtime regime for a few weeks and see if that helps.

Reason #5 - Drinking too many empty calories

As much as I hate to break it to you, beverages such as:

• Alcohol

• Energy Drinks

• Soft Drink

• Coffee with Milk

• Juice

Provides your body with additional calories which have no nutritional benefit, hence being called empty calories.

It is very easy for calories to creep up very quickly when drinking these drinks and becuase they don't fill you up as such it is common for people to not realise just how much they are actually consuming.

For example if someone is on a weight loss program, and is aiming to consume their 1600 calories over the course of their day but then also had a medium coffee with milk, 2 glasses of wine and an energy drink in their day, they will consume an additional 500cals. That puts them at 2100cals a day and therefore on what would be their maintenance intake of food and not their weight loss intake of food.

So while the occassional drink is ok, definitely keep note, keep a food journal etc and track if you think you might be consuming too many additional liquid calories.

Reason #6 - Not planning ahead

Being organised ahead of time is crucial to your success in being consistent with your eating.

Daily lives are busy, between kids, work, weekend events, family, friends and trying to fit in exercise and you time, if you haven't put in some prior thought to your food for the following week, I guarantee that you will end up both undereating healthy food, snacking on quick processed foods and buying lunch and dinners out everyday.

Not to mention, end up feeling lethargic, foggy, bloated and with cravings and possibly headaches which is definitely not a nice way to feel, nor is it something you have to settle for.

Take 3o minutes of a Friday night to create a meal plan, write out your shopping list, do an online click and collect order for the next day, if you know your weekend will be hectic and set aside 1-2 hours to prep some nutrient dense snacks and main meals so that when the time comes to eat, you can just grab it and go with no excuses.

Reason #7 - Underlying medical conditions/Some medications

Now aside from all of the above common reasons that your weight may be stuck, in some cases, some people may have underlying medical conditions or be on medications which may be making it harder to lose weight.

As I am not a medical professional, I won't delve too deeply into this, but having a thyroid condition, sleep apnea, or an inbalance of hormones contributing to a condition such as PCOS are all health conditions which are likely to contribute to weight not shifting as easily.

Also, having some autoimmune health conditions, undiagnosed food intolerances, diabetes which isn't well managed and gut health concerns may play a part also.

Some medications can also contribute to making it harder to lose weight or contribute to weight gain.

In saying this though, even though some of these conditions and situations may make weight loss slower, it doesn't in all cases make it impossible. Fuelling your body correctly with food to the best of your ability, ensuring you are minimising gut inflammation, balancing your blood sugar levels, nourishing your body with highly nutrient dense foods and less processed foods, eating enough lean proteins, nutrient dense colourful carbohydrates and healthy fats and ensuring you are eating enough food to support your metabolism naturally instead of starving yourself are all things that will benefit you in many ways and give you the best chance of successfuly losing weight even if at a slightly slower rate.

Lasting Note

So, the next time you find yourself in the cycle of doing EVERYTHING right, not seeing results, getting frustrated and then throwing in the towel too soon, remind yourself of these points.

Ask yourself do any of these apply to me? What could I do differently? Instead of feeling fed up at nothing working.

I can near on guarantee that in all your years of 'dieting' in the traditional sense, that you may never have tried eating more. You might not yet have tried balancing your macronutrients evenly throughout your day, you might not have eaten 6 times a day, you may not have received professional guidance and support/accountability to help you stay on track and keep you motivated beyond the hard times. You may not even have had the chance to know just about much food you individually need to eat to suit your own requirement and goals.

So remember, there is always something else that you may not yet have tried.

Focus on nourishing your body with enough food, minimising sugars and highly processed foods, exercising sensibly, being consistent in your behaviours, minimising stress and get 7-8 hours of sleep, minimise high calorie drinks, get planning and be organised and if you are ever worried, see your gp to discuss further.

And if you feel you need a kickstart in the right direction

with support, guidance and accountability to take the stress out of having to figure it out alone, enquire below to find out some more info on the upcoming 6 Week Purely Peach Nutrition Program beginning on the 23rd May to get you started.

https://www.purewellnessbypeach.com/contact

Health and Happiness

Ash x