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Jessica C • October 29, 2021

3 Common Reasons You Can’t Lose Weight On A Diet

Do you ever feel like you keep trying and trying, but you’re just not getting the weight results you want? You tell yourself, “I’ve cut out sweets, some carbs, I exercise 6 days a week, and I’m still in the same spot.” Unfortunately, the fitness industry doesn’t make this easier. The solution is not always to cut out more calories from your diet; it’s not necessarily adding in another workout day. Notice some of the most common reasons why you are not losing weight despite being on a diet:

1. You’re always on a diet or dieting for long periods of time

a woman is sitting on a yoga mat eating food .

The biggest issue I see with being on a diet is being on a diet for too long. If you’ve been chronically dieting and eating below your maintenance calories, you can become metabolically adapted. For example, you could be eating very low calories, but if you eat a few calories above your current calories, you gain weight. You might be killing it at the gym working out multiple days for hours, eating low calories, but you gain weight if you miss a gym session.


If this is the case, you will most likely have a hard time losing any fat and improving your body composition. We should not be on a diet for long periods. Dieting should only be done 2-3 times a year. If you would like to skip the guessing part, as a Nutrition Coach, I can help you find out where you are with your nutrition.


Solution: Reverse Dieting

Since you’re already eating low calories, there is nowhere to cut from; you’ll have to enter a Reverse Diet and slowly increase your calories back to your maintenance calories. The thought of increasing your calories might make you feel anxious, but honestly, this is not the time to be concerned with your weight. Your body and hormones need a break.

If you find that your cycle is absent or irregular, you’re not sleeping well, your hair is falling, you’re always hungry, you’re binge eating, you’re eating extremely low calories but don’t have an appetite or no energy to work out, you’re not in a place to diet. These are all factors that will hinder you from seeing progress, and they should be addressed. A reverse diet will help you reset and prepare your body for a successful calorie deficit.

Solution: Reverse Dieting

  • Since you’re already eating low calories, there is nowhere to cut from; you’ll have to enter a Reverse Diet and slowly increase your calories back to your maintenance calories. The thought of increasing your calories might make you feel anxious, but honestly, this is not the time to be concerned with your weight. Your body and hormones need a break.
      • If you find that your cycle is absent or irregular, you’re not sleeping well, your hair is falling, you’re always hungry, you’re binge eating, you’re eating extremely low calories but don’t have an appetite or no energy to work out, you’re not in a place to diet. These are all factors that will hinder you from seeing progress, and they should be addressed. A reverse diet will help you reset and will prepare your body for a successful calorie deficit.

2. You’re not sleeping enough

a woman laying in bed next to an alarm clock that shows the time as 7:55

Lack of sleep can be the reason for increased appetite. Neurotransmitters, which act as chemical messengers between nerve cells, control our appetite. The hunger  hormones  leptin  and  ghrelin  control when you feel hungry and full. Ghrelin promotes hunger, while leptin makes you feel full. As a result, these neurotransmitters naturally increase and decrease throughout the day, signaling the body to eat calories.

The body’s ability to regulate these neurotransmitters may be affected by a lack of sleep. Sleep-deprived people may experience increased appetite and diminished feelings of fullness due to dysregulation of ghrelin and leptin. Lack of sleep can also affect your ability to make healthy food choices. You might notice that it often leads people to eat foods that are high in calories and carbs. It can lead to less energy for exercise and physical activity, metabolic irregularities, skipping breakfast, and eating sweet, salty, fatty, and starchy foods.

Solution: Create a sleep schedule

  • Maintain a regular sleep schedule : Irregular sleep patterns can lead to unwanted changes in your metabolism and insulin sensitivity, causing blood sugar levels to rise. Try keeping your sleep schedule consistent to the best of your ability. Remember, you can’t undo the damage of lack of sleep.
  • Avoid getting into bed with your phone; disconnect and put it away. The blue light in electronics interferes with your body’s ability to prepare for sleep because it blocks a sleep-inducing hormone called melatonin.
  • Train yourself to get in bed earlier: If you go to bed earlier, you will avoid the late-night cravings that tend to interrupt sleeping throughout the night. People tend to consume more food at night since they tend to be hungrier and more likely to crave high-fat, sugary foods like ice cream, pizza, chips, and cookies.
    • Tip: Try to eat balanced and larger meals throughout the day rather than late at night. You will have time to digest and avoid intense cravings. You’ll be able to go to bed earlier without the strong desire to eat high-calorie foods.

3. You exercise for 1 hour, but you’re sedentary for the rest of the day

a woman is sitting at a desk using a laptop computer .

Working out for 1 hour is excellent for your body and allows you to burn calories. The problem comes in when you work out early in the morning, go to work, and sit for hours without walking or engaging in any movement. Your workout is responsible for burning approximately 10 % of your calories. We cannot simply rely on our 1-hour session at the gym to burn calories.

You can still fall into the sedentary category despite hitting the gym if your day is spent sitting. If your day looks like this, it’s time to make a change: You work out in the morning, head into work, sit in front of the computer for 8 hours, drive home (more sitting), prepare a quick meal, and sit in front of the tv.

The key lies in increasing your NEAT , which stands for  Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. This is the energy expended for all the things we do throughout the day that does not include sleeping, eating, or exercise; and ranges from simple things like standing, walking, fidgeting to moving about. If we were to add a step goal on top of the exercise we perform at the gym; we would be increasing our calorie burn drastically. Using NEAT for weight loss is an excellent way of burning calories without adding stress to your body. It can be done anywhere at any time.

Solution: Increase your steps

  • If you usually answer phone calls during the day, try standing while doing so. Take several 5-minute breaks from sitting at your computer, stretch your legs, and walk. Walk to your coworker’s desk instead of emailing them.
  • Stand while you scroll on social media or if you’re reading.
  • If your watch tells you that your usual step count for the day is 3,000 steps, why not increase it to 4,000. Work your way up, and you will see improvements. This will also create awareness and make you more conscious of how many hours you spend sitting or in a sedentary state.

As you see, losing weight is not always as simple as cutting calories. There are so many different factors that can either make you fail or succeed in this process. The three factors mentioned are usually things that might not seem as obvious and are typically overlooked. Try incorporating these small changes, and when you do, please share your success with me. I’d love to hear more about what you managed to achieve by applying these points.

Don't forget to share!

Jess Chambers

NASM-CNC, BCS, CPT

@Lifthealthybyjess

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