There was a lengthy period of time in my life when I “tried really hard” to lose weight, yet lost none. I thought it was because there was a weight loss pill, trick, or secret I just hadn’t found, and I was determined to make the magical discovery. I tried all the diets out there – from popular weight loss systems and marketed diet programs, to my own crackpot dieting schemes – in pursuit of lasting weight loss.

During my quest, I only found disappointment and a negative relationship with food. I continued to struggle with my weight because as it turns out, there is no secret. The diets I tried were restrictive, extreme, and soul-crushing. But I’m not going to lie -despite the unnecessary cruelty of some of the methods I tried- I was also not being honest with myself about my weight loss attempts. Was I really giving it my best effort and “trying”?

I’m glad I’ve finally lost the weight I wanted to all those years!

While I do believe there truly are people for which weight loss is especially challenging, hormone issues etc, I also believe cases such as these are few and far between. Many people claim they “can’t” lose weight “no matter what” they try. Most of them, though, aren’t looking at their weight loss attempts honestly.

It’s time to look inward, consider your effort level, and call yourself out with a little – or maybe a lot – of tough love. Are you actually not losing weight because your body defies the laws of science and is immune to a calorie deficit? Or, is the more likely answer to your weight loss woes that you are cheating yourself out of progress by making these three crucial mistakes?

3 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight

Reason You Aren’t Losing Weight #1: You aren’t Properly tracking your food intake.

There’s a lot of mistakes people make while “tracking their food.” Maybe there is simply a flaw in your tracking that is stalling your weight loss.

You don’t track when you get off track

If you’re thinking, “But I do track!”, I get it. I used to say it (and actually believe it!), too. After all, I did track…until I went off the dieting deep end and binge ate everything in sight. I didn’t track that, and I certainly didn’t realize just how much of an impact that one moment had on my weight loss efforts.

You might think, “It’s only one night, no big deal”, but that one night could easily, (and did for me!) knock your calorie deficit up to weight maintenance or weight gain levels when you average it out over your week. Let’s take a look.

Say you eat 1,300 calories per day Sunday through Friday. 1,300 x 6 = 7,800. On Saturday you eat a whopping 8,000 calories (been there, done that). 7,800 + 8,000 = 15,800 total calories for the week. 15,800 / 7 days = 2,257 average calories per day. See? Even if you eat in an aggressive calorie deficit 6 days per week, going overboard one time on day 7 can bump you right out of your weight loss calorie range.

This moment only constitutes a small percentage of your week. You might believe your tracking effort is accurate because of your tracking efforts the other 95% of the week, however, it constitutes a significant percentage of your weekly calories. So you don’t lose anything.

If you are being honest with yourself and truly want to get to the bottom of your struggle to lose weight, you must take these untracked instances into account. Better yet, track those binges and you will get a better picture of what is really going on with your weight loss.

You track almost everything

It doesn’t have to be an all-out binge to ruin your progress, either. Sometimes it could simply be a little snack, drink, or sauce here and there that you don’t track. It all adds up! Take cream and sugar in coffee, for example. Neglecting to measure and log milk, sugar, or creamer could add up to a solid 100 extra calories…per cup of coffee! I don’t know about you, but I drink 2-3 cups of coffee per day. That could easily put you into maintenance calories.

I also used to mindlessly take bites off my kids’ plates and taste baked goods (for quality assurance purposes, you know) throughout the day and not track it. Then I was super confused at the end of the week when the scale hadn’t budged.

It’s obvious to me now that all these little untracked items add up because when I finally started logging them I realized how many calories those little bites amounted to in a day. They were stealing my weight loss! And they might be stealing yours, too.

You eat healthy so you don’t track

Some people don’t track their food intake at all, and they don’t understand why they aren’t losing weight because they eat healthy foods. And they probably do eat healthy – way healthier than me, in fact…but I’m the one who is losing weight. Why? Because even “healthy,” “clean” foods contain calories – some more than others, and they can add up quickly!

Unless you weigh or measure your food, and track it, there’s just no way to accurately know what your calorie intake is. Too much of any food will result in weight gain. This includes healthy fats and brown rice, as well as sauces and dressings added to otherwise light meals and salads.

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links and other affiliate links. I will receive a small percentage of the sale, at no additional cost to you, if you purchase through my link. Thanks for your support!

You track but don’t use a food scale

If you rely on your eyes to determine an appropriate serving size, you will definitely underestimate how much you consume, and sabotage any weight loss progress you are hoping to make. Underestimating is bad but, in my opinion, overestimating can be just as bad.

By accidentally under eating day in and day out, you’re setting yourself up for a major binge when your body decides it’s time to give into its hunger and satisfy its cravings. Thus ruining any short-term progress you’ve made.

When you measure and track your food, you know how much you are eating and can make adjustments based on how your body and the scale react. Also take into account how you feel emotionally and physically when trying to find the sweet spot amount of calories for weight loss. You won’t be able to figure any of that out without properly measuring your food. Pro-tip: Get yourself a food scale.

Tracking can be tedious at times, but if you keep at it, it will pay off. Check out this post to help you get started.

Reason You Aren’t Losing Weight #2: You put too much focus on exercise

This was the trap I was stuck in for SO. MANY. YEARS. I’m the person who trains for half marathons, running X miles per week, and doesn’t lose a pound. Actually, I’ve even gained weight!

You can’t out train a bad diet. It’s depressingly true. Believe me, I’ve tried. Unfortunately, food tracking apps like WW, MFP, Lose It, and Noom promote this kind of thinking. They’ll add calories burned during exercise back to your daily calorie goal for your eating pleasure! Noom only gives you half your exercise calories back – well done Noom – but regardless, DON’T DO IT.

Sorry, if what I’m about to say makes you uncomfortable, but don’t eat your “bonus” exercise calories. It creates an unhealthy dependence on exercise for weight loss. The concept of “earning” food, or “making up” for what you ate by burning calories is twisted and has a negative effect on your relationship with both food and exercise.

Instead of eating back my exercise calories on the day I workout, I take my physical activity into consideration when setting my goal calorie intake for the week. I look at my week as a whole and eat the same amount of calories from one day to the next, whether I run 5 miles or sit on the couch all day.

I lose weight because my average daily calorie intake compliments my weekly exercise routine and results in a calorie deficit. I’m still eating more calories because I exercise, but by averaging it out through the week, weight loss feels less dependent on my exercise routine.

Separate the two

Exercise because it is healthy for you and you enjoy how it makes you feel. Don’t make weight loss it’s sole focus or purpose. Exercise tones and shapes your body, helps your mental and cardiovascular health, and can curb your appetite. Sadly, though, unless you’re within your deficit calorie range, exercise will not result in weight loss.

Don’t Get me Wrong, I love exercise.

Exercise is extremely important for so many reasons, but without the right mindset, it can majorly get you off track when it comes to weight loss. In the past, I would run X miles and automatically think I could eat whatever the heck I wanted. Don’t think like that! It’s only setting you back.

Making one small habit change at a time is a smarter plan than trying to tackle multiple things all at once. Focusing on eating healthier while also attempting to establish a fitness routine can be overwhelming. For some, just going from being completely sedentary to walking 20 minutes per day can be a huge challenge. Pile that on top of restructuring your eating habits, and it can be hard to keep up!

When you constantly feel overwhelmed, and you’re flailing to keep your head above water, there’s a good chance you may give up altogether. This scenario is all too familiar to me, and I struggled for years to successfully accomplish both. I would successfully exercise, but lack the energy to consistently eat right.

**Focus on nutrition FIRST if weight-loss is your goal.**

Then slowly incorporate a manageable exercise routine as you get a better handle on your eating. When starting your weight loss journey, start small! Instead of setting a goal to walk 3 miles every day, just try to increase your NEAT, or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogeneis. That’s just a fancy way of saying your physical activity outside of sleeping, eating, and formal exercise. Increasing your NEAT can seriously help you lose weight and it won’t be overwhelming! Win-win!

Reason You Aren’t Losing Weight #3: You Give Up Too Soon.

We all want the quick fix, the fast results, and instant gratification. That just doesn’t happen in the realm of weight loss, so the sooner you accept that the better. In order to find out if a dietary change will work for you, you need to give it time. I’m not talking days or even weeks, either – I’m talking months.

It can take a solid 1-2 months of consistent effort focused on the same nutrition goals to see any progress whatsoever. Jumping ship too soon can rob you of the weight loss and progress you’re so close to realizing, if you would just have a little patience.

Unfortunately, a lot of us – my old self included – don’t give a diet the time it needs to prove it’s working. We are often so desperate to lose weight that we become far too drastic with our methods, which breeds impatience because we are completely miserable.

Expecting quick results will sabotage your efforts

With the unreasonably high expectations of quick results, I used to cut out my favorite foods, reduce my calories to the nutritional needs of a toddler, and follow programs that made absolutely no sense. Results, quick or otherwise, never came because I’d straight up quit by the third day. I couldn’t take the torture any longer, regardless of how skinny the diets promised to make me.

Weight trends can be weird. I know that from weighing myself daily. Some months I’ll lose 3-4 pounds in the first couple weeks, and zilch for the rest of the month. It doesn’t mean my diet stopped working! My body just needs time to adjust and react.

I discovered these correlations by tracking my weight loss patterns using the method available to you in my Live Free planner. Understanding how my calorie intake directly corresponds to my weight has increased my self-awareness and ability to be patient immensely. I am eating all the foods I love, and more of them, while still losing weight – I can afford to be patient! Plus, I get to hang out with the coolest people on the internet in the process. What’s not to love?

Pro-tip: If you are finding it hard to be patient with the diet you are on, maybe you are eating too little. Perhaps you hate the foods you are being forced to eat. Is it too hard to live your life while you are on this particular diet? If any of that rings true, it’s time to ditch the diet and check out how I lose weight.

So WHat are you going to do?

If your weight loss has stalled, or hasn’t even started, perhaps one or more of these reasons is the culprit. If you tighten up your tracking, get completely honest with yourself about your effort level, become laser focused on staying within your calorie range (instead of focusing on getting your exercise in), and have patience, I guarantee you will finally start to see results.