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Are you frustrated because you've already tried countless diets, but success still hasn't shown up? You spend hours on the treadmill and go to bed hungry every night, and it just doesn't add up: why am I not losing weight?
Without knowing your exact diet and training plan, I obviously can't pinpoint the precise reason why you're not losing weight. But from my experience as a personal trainer in Zurich, I've noticed a few causes that trip up my clients again and again. And because these aren't always obvious or easy to spot, I've put together the 10 most common diet mistakes for you. I hope they answer your question of why you're not losing weight.
Why am I not losing weight?
The 10 most common diet mistakes
1. Too many carbs
We'd all benefit from eating less bread, pasta and pizza - no question. But a low-carb diet is no guarantee of weight loss either. Plenty of women and men see early success with a low-carb diet, only to hit a weight plateau again and again - the scale simply won't budge.
Especially those who combine a diet change with weight training often develop an insatiable craving for fat. Because their body is missing carbs, they compensate with fatty, calorie-dense meals and snacks. And even though these might be healthy, people who train still need carbs.
An athletic body can store a lot of glycogen and needs it to build fuller, more effective muscle. If it doesn't get any, it doesn't burn fat - it just pulls energy and water out of your muscles.
So if you train regularly, make sure your body has enough carbs available, especially on workout days.
2. Too little protein
Most people have probably heard that getting enough protein matters for losing weight. Many even know the rule of thumb: 1 gram per pound of body weight. But if you don't track and monitor your macros, you probably have no idea what that amount of protein actually looks like on a plate.
If fat loss is your goal, even more protein would actually be an advantage. Why? Because it's filling, preserves and builds muscle, and has a higher thermic effect than carbs and fat.
So if you're asking yourself: "Why am I not losing weight?" and have never actually worked out your protein needs against what you're really eating, you might already have your answer. Over the next few weeks, keep a food diary and check whether you're getting enough protein - it might even curb your appetite.
3. Too much fat
I touched on this briefly already - many fats are healthy, but they also carry a very high calorie density.
It's good to see that fat isn't automatically condemned anymore. Avocados, coconut oil and organic butter absolutely have their place in our diet. But if you reach for cheese and nuts too often, you'll quickly notice there are limits here too, even if they don't spike your blood sugar the way sugar does.
Just like with protein and carbs, pay attention to how much you're actually eating. Saturated fats are an important part of a healthy diet and provide energy, as long as you don't overdo it. It's best to calculate your individual needs and keep a food diary to help you stay on track.
4. Binges and a guilty conscience
Women in particular tend to have an unhealthy relationship with food, but plenty of men know this problem too.
For days they're incredibly disciplined, work out for hours and give up any kind of indulgence. Then there's stress at work or heartbreak, and nothing helps except a bar of chocolate. And a bag of chips. And a tub of ice cream.
All of that would be only half as bad if it didn't suddenly wipe out every good intention. After one slip-up, many people assume they won't manage it anyway, so there's no point putting themselves through it any longer.
Your relationship with food ends up like a rollercoaster ride, and rollercoaster rides just don't work for everyday life.
It's important to change your diet permanently and gradually. Giving up all indulgence for weeks on end isn't realistic and inevitably leads to binges, which in turn bring on a guilty conscience. And just like that, you're back in the vicious cycle.
If you're still asking yourself: "Why am I not losing weight?", take an honest look at your relationship with food. Don't ban yourself from everything, only to eventually cave and throw your diet out the window. A successful change in diet can only work if you can (and want to) keep it up permanently.
5. Supposedly healthy foods
Supermarkets are full of foods labelled: low-fat, sugar-free, high-fibre, gluten-free, vegan and so on. At first glance, it looks like you're doing something good for your diet and health. After all, these products also cost a lot more, so there must be something to it, right?
Unfortunately, many of these supposedly healthy foods are actually sugar bombs in disguise, ones that really trigger your appetite and send your blood sugar soaring. Manufacturers can list sugar under many different names that you might not even recognise as sugar.
If losing weight still isn't really working out for you, pay attention to whether you often eat these fake health products, and study the ingredient lists closely from now on. Of course, the best option would be to rely on natural, unpackaged foods.
6. Too little sleep
If you want to lose weight, you absolutely need to make sure you get enough sleep. Even a single week of poor sleep can push your blood sugar to a prediabetic level. This often shows up as night-time hunger attacks too, which is obviously an added problem.
Often the cause is psychological or physical stress. Insufficient movement, vitamin deficiencies and alcohol can all affect your sleep rhythm. So try to get enough sleep, and losing weight might just work out better.
7. Focusing on fat loss
Many people make fat loss their top priority when losing weight, and forget how much muscle can help with weight loss. If you're not doing strength training and wondering why you're not losing weight, you might already have your answer right here.
The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns. If you eat less to lose weight, your metabolism slows down over time, your muscle breaks down, and you have to keep cutting your calorie intake further and further. Even if you see fast results at first with a drastic diet, this kind of weight loss isn't sustainable long term.
So focus on building muscle and a diet that supports it. Instead of starving yourself, give your muscles enough nutrients to grow - that means a balanced combination of protein, carbs and fat.
8. Elevated blood sugar
If you're struggling to lose weight, monitoring your glucose level can help. With a blood glucose meter, you can test your fasting blood sugar every morning to see whether your body is producing energy by generating new glucose.
The hormone cortisol is released on a 24-hour rhythm. Right after you wake up, its concentration in your blood and saliva is at its highest (the so-called cortisol awakening response, or CAR for short). Your body uses this to stimulate glucose production, to make sure there's enough energy available for your day.
If your glucose readings fall outside the normal range, this could be why losing weight is harder for you. There can be various causes, which I usually work out individually with each client in personal training in Zurich, since they can be so varied that going into them here would go beyond the scope of this article. Most of the time, though, it isn't down to poor insulin regulation or too many carbs - that's more likely when your levels spike right after a meal. A form of cortisol dysregulation is more probable, which can be confirmed with a blood test.
A raised cortisol level in the morning is normal and important, so we get going. Too much, however, can cause difficulties with fat loss, and it's important to find out what's behind it. Sleep problems are often the reason; for athletes and weightlifters, it can also be inflammation from training too often or too intensely. It's also possible that you're simply eating too few calories.
So precise, regular monitoring of your blood sugar levels might already answer your question of "Why am I not losing weight?"
9. Underactive thyroid
Under point 6, I already mentioned how important enough sleep is when you want to lose weight. Especially if you've cut your calories so far that your body is essentially in a constant state of stress, this could be why losing weight isn't happening any faster.
Sometimes the solution can be as simple as increasing your carb intake in the evening, since this can not only lead to better sleep and energy production, but also improves thyroid function by converting free T4 into T3.
The thyroid, together with all your other hormones, enzymes and so on, helps your body produce the energy it needs. Free T3 is the metabolically active thyroid hormone. Especially with reduced carb and calorie intake, your free T3 level can drop sharply, which leads to difficulties with energy production and fat loss. Persistent fatigue can therefore be a sign of an underactive thyroid.
10. Gut problems
Digestive issues are one of the main reasons behind illness and stalled weight loss. Our body is a complex system that can't function properly without the nutrients it needs - and a healthy gut is essential for that.
An early sign of gut problems can be irregular frequency or consistency of your bowel movements. Both constipation and diarrhoea are bad signs. But bloating, a feeling of fullness or heartburn can also be signs that your body is struggling to process nutrients. Medication often just makes things worse, because it offers short-term fixes for deeper problems.
If you eat healthily and consume few processed foods, you should get tested for bacterial overgrowth, candida and parasites.
Food allergies and histamine reactions are also common causes of gut problems, especially gluten or lactose intolerance. All these digestive difficulties can also be the answer to the question of why you're not losing weight. If these symptoms sound familiar to you, make sure you get checked out.
I hope these typical mistakes made when losing weight have given you a first clue to the question: "Why am I not losing weight?" If you want to find out exactly what's causing your lack of fat loss, just get in touch with me by email. As part of my personal training in Zurich, we can develop a weight-loss plan tailored precisely to you.