10 Reasons You Might Not Be Losing Weight - Part 1

It's springtime, and with summer just around the corner, you've decided it's finally time to shed a few pounds and get into bikini body shape. You've started hitting the gym regularly, cutting back on your calories, and doing your best to limit your drinking and late-night eating.  Despite all of this, for some reason, you're just not losing the weight you were hoping for. So what gives? Read on to find out the top ten mistakes you might be making when it comes to losing weight, and how you can stop making them. 

You're relying too much on numbers.

 
Sure, the scale seems like the perfect place to start looking when you're hoping to peel off the pounds. On the contrary, however, the scale isn't always an accurate representation of how much weight you've lost. It's important to keep in mind that muscle does weigh more than fat, so if you shed some of the fat but have built muscle in the process, that success won't reflect on the scale. "The scale can devastate the most committed people into thinking they cannot lose weight," says Valerie Berkowitz, a registered dietician and author of The Stubborn Fat Fix. "I've had clients lose three dress sizes but are ready to quit eating healthy because the scale has not budged." Water weight can also affect the results on the scale, so make sure you go to the bathroom before weighing yourself.

 
You're not watching your food intake.

While cutting down calories when dieting is important, it's also important to watch what you're putting into your body. Counting calories that you can consume a day will definitely aid in your weight loss, but it's typically more important to cut out refined sugar and refined carbohydrates in order to get your body moving in a healthy direction. Your body will process these refined foods quickly, so even if you've had a full meal, before you know it, you'll be hungry again and tempted to snack. "When I was in high school and tried to lose a couple pounds, I didn't know that much about dieting, so I thought that just eating less would make me lose weight," says Tabitha, a junior at Southern New Hampshire University. "I was eating white bread and sugary snacks, and I would feel hungry again about a half hour after eating. Instead of the bad carbohydrates, opt for whole grains, Berkowitz says, to keep yourself satisfied for longer and more likely to resist snacking. 

You're not eating enough. 
Sure, drastically reducing your food intake seems like a quick fix to rid yourself of that extra flab you've acquired recently. But while strategies like this will work in the short term, in the long term, they are ineffective for losing weight (not to mention seriously dangerous), says Alyse Levine, registered dietician and the nutrition consultant for Livestrong.com. When you don't feed your body enough, your metabolism slows because your body is trying to adapt to the low food intake. You could end up losing muscle, Levine says, and when you finally do start eating a normal amount again, you'll gain weight back quicker. While it's different for everyone, Levine recommends about a 1200 calorie per day minimum for most women. 
 
You're focusing too much on low fat and non-fat. 
Low fat doesn't always mean the food is good for you, and foods that claim to be low fat typically contain other ingredients to counteract the fat. One of the most common hidden ingredient in low-fat foods is high fructose corn syrup, and while that doesn't add to the fat content, it makes the sugar content go through the roof, which equals lots more calories. "These foods are often times not healthy and are not always low in calories or satiating so you end up eating a lot of them," Levine says. "Even more, they are usually just a source of empty calories with no nutritional value." Make sure you read the ingredients and nutrition label before eating any low or non-fat foods.

You're cutting out fat completely.

 
While too much fat is certainly a bad thing, cutting out fat completely won't help you lose weight. A certain amount of fat is important to have in your diet, and when you cut it out completely, it can leave you still feeling hungry. "Cutting out bad fats can help, but eating healthy fats, like fish, olive oil and coconut can help keep you full and avoid a snack attack." Avoid proceed foods and fats and stick to the healthy fats instead. "I usually stick to a few whole grains and lots of fruits and vegetables during the day," says Reagan, a sophomore at Trinity College. "Then, to fill me up for the night, I'll have salmon or a salad with healthy fats like avocado."