6 Reasons you are not losing weight

While these lists are not all inclusive, I want to share 6 struggles I had when I was on my weight loss journey. If you have started a weight loss journey and each time you step on the scale, you are gaining weight instead of losing weight, keep reading. Some people struggle with weight loss due to medical reasons, I would advise that you should seek your doctors advise if you have tried everything and still struggling.

Not eating enough

Why would your run away from food because you want to lose weight? This is the first thing that people do when they start a weight loss journey. You need food for survival and starvation is not the solution to weight loss. When you don’t eat enough, it messes up your metabolism and you would notice that you are gaining weight instead of losing, your energy level decreases and this can cause health problems in the long run.

Eating too much

This is as simple as it could get. Calories in and calories out. If calories in is more than the calories you are burning, then you would gain weight. Best solution is to track what you are eating and know the calories/nutritional facts of what you eat.

Nuts/Healthy fat

I can go on and on about the “healthy nuts” topic. 1 gram of fat =9 calories. So if you snack on 23 almonds, lets say it’s 14 grams, which equals 126 calories. Lots of us don’t consider 23 almonds enough snack. Most of us would eat a whole bag containing about 100 grams and call that a snack, but that’s 900 calories worth of snack. The same thing goes with avocado, cashew nuts, peanuts, coconut oil, olive oil, macadamia nuts and so on. Healthy fats are very good but you have to eat them in moderation so that you don’t consume more calories than your body needs. I used to be that person that would finish a can of almonds or cashew nuts, now i know better.

Smoothie

What do you add to your smoothie?  If you are a smoothie lover, please know that fruits are healthy and could also make you gain weight. Fruits are sugar which is carbohydrates. Common fruits like bananas and apples are very high in carbohydrate. Moderation is key. Keep in mind that everything you add to your smoothie carries its own calories and they all add up.  Next time you make your smoothie, please pay attention to what you add and readjust if necessary.

Sport Drinks

Sport Drinks like Gatorade, Vitamin water, Quench and so on would do nothing but add to your calorie intake. Unless you are a marathoner  or doing high intensity workouts and need those sugar, I wouldn’t recommend sports drinks. For Instance, a bottle of 20oz Gatorade has 34grams of sugar, that’s about 130 calories added to your daily intake. You could easily eat two slices of bread or some oatmeal if you need these carbs.

Vegetables

When it comes to certain vegetables, there is nothing like empty calories. While you are enjoying your vegetables, keep in mind some of the vegetables that are high in carbs; carrots, sweet potatoes, black eyed peas, green beans, peas, butternut squash, corn, etc.

These lists were my initial struggles when I started on this journey. I’m not saying don’t eat or deprive yourself from any of these things; but if we are going to make this a lifestyle, moderation is very important. Next time you are struggling, try and check off the items on this list and see if you can pinpoint what the issue is. So, which of the item on this list are you guilty of? I want to hear from you.

xoxo Forlahkeh