Eating healthy but not losing weight? Here's why.
Summary:
You might be gaining muscle at the same time
You may be holding onto water weight
You're not eating in a calorie deficit
You're not tracking your progress
Now let's go through each one in detail.
1. You're not losing weight because you're gaining muscle at the same time.
If you do regular resistance training - especially if you just recently started (as a beginner, you are the most primed for muscle growth) - then you're likely gaining muscle.
What does this mean?
This means that the muscle gain can mask your fat loss.
Why?
Because muscle is more dense than fat.
This means that your rate of muscle gain can "beat" your rate of fat loss, or balance it out.
As an example, I've worked with people who start to do resistance training while being in a calorie deficit (to lose fat).
What happens?
Many times, their bodyweight actually increases, or stays the same.
But when you look at their waist measurement and progress photos, you can clearly tell that they lost fat and built muscle at the exact same time!
Building muscle is a great thing, so this is just something to be aware of.
Rather than just tracking your weight, try tracking other metrics like your waist measurement and progress photos.
2. You're not losing weight because you're holding onto water.
The number on the scale can be iffy and downright discouraging sometimes!
If you weigh yourself regularly, it goes up one day, down the next, up the next day, and so on.
Why does this happen?
Because of water retention.
Your body can hold onto water when you: eat more carbs, eat more sodium, are stressed, are on your period, are bloated, or have recently exercised.
This means that the scale might not drop (or even increase) because of water retention.
How can you account for this then?
I recommend to weigh yourself a few times a week - first thing in the morning, after going to the washroom, and before eating breakfast.
This keeps variables consistent, and allows for enough data points to really see what's going on with your body fat levels.
3. You're not losing weight because you're not eating in a calorie deficit.
At the end of the day, we need to be in calorie deficit to lose weight.
This means eating less calories than your body needs - in which case, it will burn your existing body fat to get the fuel it needs.
Even if you eating healthy - if you're not in a calorie deficit, then you won't lose weight.
So what can you do?
Continue to eat healthy - that's great!
What you might want to look into is your portion sizes - are you eating healthy but too much?
Or perhaps you're eating healthy foods, but they're high calorie.
For example, 1 cup of almonds has 827 calories. As healthy as it is, it's extremely high in calories!
A good way to double check this is to track your food intake for a few days - without changing anything about your diet - to assess your current calorie intake.
This is exactly what I do with my clients before we have our first call together in my signature program.
Then compare your current calorie intake to your calorie needs to lose weight and make any adjustments accordingly.
4. You're not tracking your progress.
You might actually be losing weight, but not aware of it if you're not tracking your progress.
Here are some ways to track your progress:
Weigh yourself regularly
Take waist measurements
Take progress photos
Notice how your clothes fit
Notice how you look in the mirror
What gets measured gets managed.
Conclusion
And that's it!
If you're eating healthy, but not losing weight, make sure you're:
Not just gaining muscle at the same time
Not holding onto water weight
Eating in a calorie deficit
Tracking your progress
I hope this helps!
And if you want more personalized help with your weight loss goals or you're not sure what to do, click here to book a free call with me.
Until next time!
Helen