The Real Reasons Why You’re Still Not Losing Weight

You drank your water bottle dry 8 times a day. You watched your carbs and walked during lunch. You woke up feeling hopeful and stepped on the scale.

You haven’t lost any weight.

Nothing kills motivation faster than a lack of results. Women’s Health has come up with five places to check up and see where the culprit may be hiding.

1. You’re Eating More Than You Think. Pat Salber, M.D., host of the “The Doctor Weighs In” says, “you may simply forget to count calories from alcoholic beverages, condiments, or that handful of popcorn you grabbed when walking past the office kitchen.”

Fix: Keep a journal. Log in everything that passes your lips for a week and you’ll develop a better sense of how many calories you’re taking in.

2. You’re Losing Muscle. Seems like it shouldn’t be a worry if you’re taking note of calories, but with weight loss, some muscle is usually sacrificed.

Fix: Increase strength training. Those muscles help eat up fat!

3. You’re Not Eating Enough. I know, we just said you’re likely eating too much! But diets can be extreme ways of eating and shift from too much to too little even in the same day.

Fix: When trying to lose weight, the average woman shouldn’t go below 1,200 calories per day, Dr. Salber says. Keep that journal!

4. You’re Tossing and Turning. A lack of sleep sends your body into survival mode and that means holding on to fat. According to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, one missed night of sleep can dramatically alter your metabolism.

Fix: Lock in good sleep hygiene and guard it fiercely. Netflix can wait.

5. You’ve Got Something Else Going on. Sometimes a failure to drop weight when you’re doing everything right signals a deeper health issue.

Fix: Be sure you get a check-up before attempting weight loss. And don’t be afraid to go back if you notice changes (or a lack of change) during your program.

Have you stalled in your weight loss plans? What got you back on track?

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