17 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight
Effective, healthy weight loss isn’t only due to the simplistic calories in, calories out paradigm. Nor is it solely reliant on diet and exercise. It’s everything – it’s all the various signals our body receives from the environment that affect how our genes express themselves and thrive. How we approach the subject matters, too. Our mood, our methods, our temperament. Our conscious decisions and our willpower. It’s setting good habits and expunging bad ones. Most of all, it comes down to keeping our genes happy by providing an environment that approximates evolutionary precedent.
1. You think you’re eating healthy, but aren’t.
Does your diet consist of a massive amount of “products”? Low-carb or not, you want to eat real food. Flagons of diet soda, plates of pure fiber in the shape of noodles, and loaves of 1g net carb “bread” do not a Primal eating plan make. You’re just feeding an addiction and consuming empty calories – sound familiar? Disregard the labels and look inside for what you know to be true: this crap isn’t food, and you shouldn’t be eating it. It’s about way more than just low-carb.
2. You’re under too much stress.
The stress response system is subconscious; it responds to stimuli and nothing else. Emotional stress, physical stress, financial stress, relationship stress – I hesitate to even make these distinctions, because the body does not differentiate between sources of stress. They all cause the body to produce cortisol, the fight-or-flight hormone that catabolizes muscle, worsens insulin resistance, and promotes the storage of fat. For 200,000 years, stress meant a life or death situation. It was intense and infrequent, and the cortisol release was arresting and extreme enough to improve the chances of survival. Today, our body responds to a stack of paperwork the same way. Traffic jams are like rival war bands. A nagging boss is like a rampaging mastodon, only on a daily basis. Take a step back from your life and take stock of your stress levels – they may be holding you back.
3. You need to watch your carb intake.
Carbs are key, as always, especially when you’ve got weight to lose. Veer closer to the bottom of the curve, taking care to avoid all processed food (hidden sugars). You might also try skipping fruit.
4. You’re adding muscle.
I always tell people not to get hung up on the scales so much. Those things are useful – don’t get me wrong – but they never tell the whole story, like whether or not you’re adding lean mass. The PB will spur fat loss, but it also promotes muscle gain and better bone density. If you’re feeling good but failing to see any improvements register on the scale’s measurements, it’s most likely extra muscle and stronger bone from resistance training. You wouldn’t know that just from the bathroom scale. If you absolutely need objective records of your progress, get a body fat percentage test (although these might not even tell the whole story) or try measuring your waist.
5. You’re not active enough.
Are you Moving Frequently at a Slow Pace for three to five hours every week? Remember: the near-daily low-level (between 55-75% max heart rate) movement should be the bedrock of your fitness regimen. It’s easy to do (because every bit of movement counts) and it doesn’t dip into your glycogen reserves (making it a pure fat burner, not a sugar burner). If you’re on the low end of the spectrum, crank it up toward five weekly hours and beyond.
6. You’re lapsing into Chronic Cardio.
Of course, you can go too far with the low-level movement – you can begin to lapse into Chronic Cardio. When you stay above 75% of your maximum heart rate for extended periods of time, you’re burning glycogen. Your body in turn craves even more sugar to replenish the lost stores, so you polish off a heap of carbs, preferably simple and fast-acting. You can continue down this route if you wish – I did, for a couple decades – but you’ll gain weight, lose muscle, release more cortisol, and compromise any progress you might have made.
7. You still haven’t tried IF.
Results vary, but if you’ve seemingly tried everything else, intermittent fasting can be a great tool to break through a weight loss plateau. Make sure you’ve fully transitioned onto a Primal eating plan and start small. Skip breakfast and eat a late lunch. If that feels okay, skip breakfast and lunch the next time. Just take it slow and pay attention to your hunger. Eventually, try exercising in a fasted state to maximize the metabolic advantage. If all goes well, your hunger won’t necessarily disappear, but it’ll change. A successful IF tames hunger, makes it less insistent and demanding.
8. You’re eating too much.
Low-carb isn’t magic. It reins in wild hunger and tames insulin, but calories do still matter – especially once you approach your ideal weight. In fact, those last few pounds often don’t respond to the same stuff that worked so well to get you to this point. Eating nut butter by the spoonful and hunks of cheese without regard for caloric content may have gotten you this far, but you’ve got to tighten things up if things aren’t working. And that’s the real test, isn’t it? There is a metabolic advantage to eating according to the PB, but if the weight isn’t coming off, something’s up – and calories may need to come down.
9. You haven’t overcome bad habits or developed good ones.
Be brutally honest with yourself. Do you engage in bad habits? If so, identify them. Make tentative, loose plans to disengage from their clutches, and tell people close to you. Make it public, so you can’t back out without losing face. You’ve also got to develop good ones. Follow roughly similar guidelines as when kicking a bad habit – identification, planning, publication – and you’ll be on your way.
10. You haven’t purged and Primalized your pantry.
Out of sight, out of mind; out of reach, out of mouth. Keep the crappy junk food out of your pantry, if not out of your house altogether. Go down the list and toss the stuff that doesn’t apply. As for the rest of your kitchen, check out the fridge interiors and grocery lists of some other Primal folks for inspiration.
11. You’ve reached a healthy homeostasis.
It may be that your body has reached its “ideal” weight – its effective, genetic set point. Reaching this level is generally painless and effortless, but it won’t necessarily correspond to your desired level of leanness. Women, especially, tend to achieve healthy homeostasis at higher body fat levels. Breaking through plateaus can be hard enough, but plateaus ordained by the body itself can be nearly impossible. It’s probably going to take some serious tinkering with carbs, calories, activity levels, sleep, and stress. If everything else is on point and accounted for, you may be looking at healthy homeostasis. Then, the question becomes: do you want to mess with a good thing?
12. You’re low on willpower.
Willpower is like a muscle. It must be used or it will atrophy. You’ve also got to provide fuel for your will – little victories to start out. Go for a walk if you can’t muster the will for the gym. Take note that willpower, or lack thereof, might actually be an indicator of your body’s needs. If you truly can’t muster up the will for the gym, it may be that your body needs to recover. When that’s the case, overtraining is a bigger danger than lack of will.
13. You’re full of excuses.
If you find yourself having mini self-contained internal arguments throughout the day (and you lose), or (even worse) lying to yourself about what you’re eating and doing, you’re probably also full of excuses. Read this, maybe twice, then follow up with this.
14. You haven’t actually gone Primal!
We get a good number of new readers on a regular basis, and not all of them take instantly to the Primal concepts. And yet they come back. They read the archives, the comments. Something draws them near, while at the same time keeping them at arm’s length. Why is that? What’s stopping them? If that describes you, what are you waiting for? Take the plunge. Go Primal for 30 days and see how you like it. I assure you; the many enthusiastic community members are here because it works.
15. You’re not getting enough sleep.
Chronic levels of sleep deprivation cause the release of cortisol, our old fat-storing friend. The biggest spike in (fat-burning, anabolic) growth hormone plasma levels occurs in deep sleep. And a recent sleep study showed that truncated sleep patterns are linked to weight gain. Get seven to eight hours of sleep a night.
16. You haven’t given it enough time.
The Primal Blueprint is a fat loss hack, undoubtedly, but it isn’t always a shortcut. Some people get instant results from dropping carbs, grains, sugar, and vegetable oils, while others have to take a month to get acclimated and only then does the weight begin to slide off. Either way, though, this is a lifestyle. You’re in it for the long run. Approach it with the right mindset and you won’t get discouraged.
17. You’re eating too much dairy.
Some people just react poorly to dairy. We see this time and time again listed in the forums; dairy just seems to cause major stalls in fat loss for a good number of folks. There are a couple speculative reasons for this. One, folks coming from a strict paleo background may not be acclimated to the more relaxed Primal stance on dairy. Reintroducing any food into the diet after a period of restriction can have unintended consequences on body composition. Two, dairy is insulinogenic, which is why it’s a popular post-workout refueling tool for athletes. Does a non-strength training PBer need to drink a few glasses of milk every day? Probably (definitely) not.
Bonus Reason: Sprinting is not part of your fitness routine.
I’ve found that many assume that they’re getting everything they need from their workouts from plenty of low level aerobic activity and a couple of strength training sessions each week. Sprinting is often overlooked, but it’s one of the Primal Blueprint Laws for a reason. Nothing shreds you up faster than sprinting. I’d ease into sprints if you’ve never done them or are extremely out of shape or overweight. That is, I recommend you have some measure of fitness aptitude before you jump into a routine. But once you’re ready do 6-8 all out sprints (with short breaks between) once a week to break a weight loss plateau when all other attempts have failed.
Am I missing any other reasons? If you’ve successfully surmounted a stall in your fat loss, what was the ultimate explanation? Let everyone know in the comment board!
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Stress is a big reason why so many people are not losing weight. One thing that I have notices about myself is that when I am stressed, it doesn’t matter how much I workout I just seem to hold on to every calorie of food…i eat!
http://www.wanttobehealthy.info/2010/02/5-reasons-you-are-not-losing-weight.html
When it comes to losing weight the less you spend the better. Losing weight on a budget is ideal after all; you can live and eat like a king or like a peasant. In the old days peasants couldn…
What about body fat loss plateau? My weight is good! I’m not trying to lose any weight but need to lose BF around my waist and love handle areas.
The BF plateau is my challenge for the past 2 years. Tried Paleo and crossfit and now, need to try something else! Anyone else been here and hit a plareau?
Any ideas??
How about us pre-menapausal, 50 year old ladies??? Would that matter? My husband has shed 30+ pounds, me 5. I could stand to lose about 10 more. Cupboards & fridge – primal. I cycle PV at least once a week, yoga at least once a week, walk my Lab 2-3 times a week. Husband has me do squats/pull-ups/jump rope/dead lifts when he’s out in the yard (but his timing is different every day). I don’t take any medications/hormones/mega-vitamins of that sort. Just calcium & flax/fish oil. Just have that old-lady waistline creeping up on me that’s me driving crazy I refuse to buy elastic waistband pants!! hahahaha! Please help!
I have been stuck at the same weight for 2 weeks now. In the past 14 days I have exercised 1692 minutes and taken 167,132 pedometer steps, most aerobic.
I fast walk (4 mph) every morning for 2 miles. I walk 3 mph every day for 45 min, 15 minutes of those carrying 2 lb weights and working out my arms. I walk up and down stairs 5 days a week, 2 times a day for 5 min each (that’s 20 flights a day). I Zumba twice a week. I do a variety of other things from ab workouts, to squats and lunges, to stretches to weight training.
I eat 1200-1300 calories a day of good food, spread out over 5 small meals. I am 5′ tall and weigh 141.5 pounds. My VO2 max is 39 and my heart rate at my Lactate threshold is 150. I will be 57 on Saturday
I have been gradually increasing my workouts for the past 2 months while maintaining the same calorie level. In May, I was in boot camp, In April, I was in Hot Yoga. Now I am back in a different boot camp. Until 2 weeks ago, I had lost a total 12 pounds but went from a tight size 12 to a size 8.
Still, my bmi is too high and I am very frustrated at not losing a single pound in the past two weeks. I record and track everything I do and eat. I only drink water and eat no snacks other than fruits/veg/whole grains.
What am I doing wrong?
“other than fruits/veg/whole grains.”
There’s your answer. Cut down on the fruits, eliminate the grains, and eat only veggies that are edible raw.
I don’t think that is the problem. I am on a 1200 calorie diet and at the rate I exercise, I definitely need complex carbs within that calorie amount.
The human body is capable of getting by on less than 600 calories a day (that was clinically established over 60 years ago). You do *NOT* need any carbs, complex or otherwise, in your diet as long as you are getting sufficient protein; and you will find that it is possible to lose weight on 2500 calories a day if you aren’t goosing your adrenals into overdrive insulin production.
It isn’t *all* about insulin, just *mostly* about insulin.
Man I get pretty jealous of the posts that say they lost 7 lbs in a week, I have been completely primal for 10 days and have only lost 2.5 lbs. Much of that was probably water weight anyhow, how is this possible? Im even watching my calories and I stay around 100 carbs a day. How is it possible to cut out all bread, noodles, sugary foods, alcohol soda and not have weight fall off me? I dont get it
So relating to Jessica’s post…I get the feeling that doing “everything” right does not give us all the same results…at least not right away…being 51, pre-menopausal with my thyroid a bit on the low side seems to thwart the efforts I gladly make living Paleo…or perhaps almost, as I continue to run 60 minutes 5 times per week with 30 minutes of stretching crunches….the weight loss is excruciatingly slow…but perhaps my system doesn’t want to let go of those last few pounds..??? Could exercise “stress” perceived by the body play into this this “slow” loss some of us experience…or simply age?
Well I know for me it is a fight with my body for every pound. I am down to 300 now but cannot seem to lose more than 10 pounds at a time then I plateau for 4-8 weeks. My doctor said I am fighting my body’s natural set point since I have not been under 300 since the 4th grade, my body is needing to adjust to each new weight frustrating but at least I lose an inch or two in my waist during each plateau which I hope means I am converting fat to muscle during that time. Even when I do not lose weight I feel so much better so I cannot really complain. I really want this last 100 pounds gone though so it does get frustrating sometimes.
You didnt address raw dairy, which seems to be fine with most. If the farmer is not using drugs to keep the cows pregnant, there is no problems with hormones and such. Not to mention that raw dairy that is from grassfed animals is full of progesterone, which keeps estrogen in check. Estrogen is the ultimate fat gainer. Also, the high calcium to phosphorous ratio maintains proper thyroid function which is healthy for the metabolism and the high calcium steers tryptophan from converting into excess serotonin, which can cause depression, weight gain, estrogen imbalance, etc… a downward spiral. The whole anti fruit thing is also bullshit. The thyroid needs glucose oxidation to function. If you are not getting glucose from carbs, you are going to get it through either the protein you eat or from your muscle tissue. Depriving your body of glycogen alone is anti thyroid. You dont need to go overboard on carbs 100-150g a day is enough. But for God’s sake, eat some carbs, unless you want to have a ruined metabolism and become carbohydrate intolerant. Next comes hypogonadism. Pick your battles. Either completely shredded with low body fat and also hypogonadal with a ruined metabolism or shredded with some body fat and completely fertile with a healthy metabolism.
thanks for the website…i’m trying to lose weight, i eat 1200 calories a day consist of only fruits vegetables, chicken and fish and workout everyday…it’s so frustrating that i’m not losing weight!
Thank you for an additional fantastic blog.Where else could I get this type of information composed in this kind of an incite total way? I’ve a project that I am just now doing work on, and i’m sure this will aid me a lot..and I’ve been looking for this kind of material since from couple of days….Thanks!
Wow!, this was a real quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I keep putting it off and never seem to achieve anything
You may be surprised but there are 7 common medical reasons why people cannot lose weight. I was reading an article on how low thyroid, hormonal imbalances and blood sugar issues can make losing weigh difficult or even impossible especially in women: http://outsmartdisease.com/lesson-8-thyroid-and-weight-gain
wow, Im viewing your site and my brother was reading the same blog on the iphonei guess youre pretty important, lol
“you may try skipping fruit” are you serious? If we cant eat fruit that’s good for us, what on earth are we supposed to eat?! I read that and didn’t even bother reading the rest of the article. What a joke.
You left out emotional binging! i do it a lot when I’m stressed and depressed. Sometimes when i’m not satisfied with my workout i deviate and run to a cupcake shop and devour a 500 calorie cupcake with icing and raspberry jam inside! Feels so good when i’m eating it but later i feel darn awful!
i am not eatting junk food. i jog a hour each night, do a little yoga. i dont drink soda. i dont eat junk food. i eat fruits and vegetables. but not losing weight.
can someone tell me why
Um, jogging may be chronic cardio especially at an hour a day.
Mark,
I have reviewed the list you provided and feel that I am really in compliance with your suggestions. I eat real food only, I do daily 18 hour IF, I consume no grains/starches/legumes/tubers/sugars/etc, I have stopped chronic cardio and I sprint but I still cannot seem to stabalize/lose weight. I have gained 8 pounds in a month after YEARS of weight training so I cannot believe that the 8 pounds was all lean body mass. The belt and mirror tests appear to be holding up but I just can’t phathom that at 5’8 I should be almost 200 lbs, especially knowing that during my 2 daily meals I consume no more than 2000 calories. My Bod Pod analysis indicated that I needed at least 1700+ based on my BMR and I am active EVERYDAY burning up at least another 1000 calories in activity alone. If my numbers are a little off, I think that I should at least be maintaining. I have stopped my obsession with the scale only weighing once every couple of weeks but the weight is slowly creeping up. How much can one reasonably expect to gain in a month.
Your thoughts
nice article about weight lossing.
Hi, well i have a question, I weigh 220lb and im 5’4″ aprox. I have tried loosing weight but it just dont weem to work. Most of me is muscle, and now I have high blood pressure, and it is so far today 155 over 113. I am seriously worried. I am very active, I swim, walk everywhere. I used to be a runner, and i still never went under 210lb. I eat healthy. Lots of fruits and vegitables. And lots of things that have lots of fiber. I dk what else to do.
Number 7 is NOT a healthy choice. You will lose weight, but you will gain it back by overeating at the next meal you eat. You should not ignore your hunger, or exercise while fasting. This will result in a lowering of weight, but your metabolic rate will slow down and enter starvation mode before too long. The best way to lose weight: eat the proper amounts of healthy foods and get lots of exercise. At least this is what I`ve learned from personal experience and from my university education.
University education is WRONG! lol
Hi, I desperately need some help. I am 36 and mother of four children. I lost all my weight from all the pregnancies after my last child several years ago doing the slim fast thing. The weight literally “fell off.” Now that I have gained some knowledge and realized that wasn’t the healthiest thing to do I am trying to do something different this time. Over the past several years I have gained nearly all my weight back. I have went through a fast trying to detoxify and give my body a boost. I am literally not eating very much at all. (less than probably 300 calories per day). After almost 3 weeks of this I have only lost “6″ pounds. I mean really?? I don’t plan to do the fasting thing for long because I know after prolonged amounts of time that’s really not healthy but I just thought I would have lost more weight by now. I am getting so discouraged. To go through such drastic measures and still not lose hardly anything is so depressing! Please give me any suggestions.
I think your problem is too few calories. You are eating fewer calories than people in concentration camps were given by the Nazi’s. There is a book by Julia Ross that addresses the havoc mostly women wreak upon themselves through extremely low-calorie dieting. The book is called “The Diet Cure.”
I have a wonderful doctor who said I must follow a Paleo diet because of food allergies and for weight loss. I was perfect in my eating for two weeks and only lost two pounds. He looked at my online food journal pages and said my 1,000-1,200 calorie intake was waaaay too low. He asked what my energy levels were like, and they were very low. He told me to increase my calorie level to 1,700 – which was adding two snacks to my day.
My energy levels are much higher, I averaging 4-5 lbs. a week in weight loss, and I feel great. I also limit my carbs to 50-75 grams/day, and cycle my carbs. One day low, the next day higher.
I also avoid all dairy, eat no grains, no caffeine, no yeasts, and the only fruits I eat right now are berries usually blended to make a smoothie.
Low-calorie dieting can also mess with your hormonal balance – making it more difficult to lose. Until I was on the right dose of natural thyroid, started hormone replacement therapy, and dealt with my adrenal fatigue doing the things tha Mark recommended in his post, there was no way that my body was going to release that excess weight.
Your body may need some adjustment and healing time from all of the stress that dieting has done to it. Eating Paleo is a great way to do that! Just make sure you are not doing it more damage by starving and abusing it through too few calories.
i think for most people, or most teenagers (2 be exact) it’s the fact that they aren’t getting enough sleep. If school started at at least 9:00 am, i bet any1 that child obesity would drop
Re: sprinting. My left leg is paralyzed from the knee down, so sprinting is out. What exercise would you recommend in its place?
Love your information. I have recently read the leangains approack, eat stop eat and many you’ve mentioned. These two being the most informative. Love your information. I have recently read the leangains approack, eat stop eat and many you’ve mentioned. These two being the most informative. I spent my life from 20 to 42 at 5-10 from a size 2 to a size 6. Lean and a sports enthusiast. At 45 I’m 30 lbs heavier and hating my body. Still fit, very active. Body has changed. But so has my life style. I have tried “diets” pills and calorie counting in the last three years – eatingnhealthy, little and often. Spent months eating 1100 calaries a day. With no pissitive results. Recently I just went back to eating anything I felt like then looked in the mirror and said -time to stop eating fatty! i then went on a 24 hour fast and felt better. After I ate a light meal I then fasted 18 hours and ate again. Continued that for a week and then actually looked at what I was doing………I have spent the majority of my life fasting 15 hours a day, eating literally whatever I wanted and weight was NEVER a thought. I simply didn’t like to eat before about 1pm. I ride jumping horses competatively and really never took the time for breakfast with my morning routine. My body was use to what now is called intermittant fasting. I have now done allot of research on a lifestyle choice I had voluntarily used unknowingly for 20 years. BTW the weight has dropped off and I have a renewed sence if energy and I feel absolutely fantastic. The only thing I do differently monthyvutamin B12 shots. I don’t like the pills and this is simple for me. Its taken me a 3 year struggle to realize what works for my own body. I dont feel hungry, maybe thirsty is the correct response at times. I still have my coffee with cream in the morning and drink hot water and a lemon slice through the day or as a warm drink. Your 17 Reasons for not loosing weight make sense and I liked the read!
I have kids and it’s hard to throw out the things that they eat when I’m the one struggling with weight. What do you suppose I do about that?
What do you do if your job means you break the chronic cardio category? I work on my feet for 8 hours straight in a very busy cafe. I have a second job which is also physical. I also working out in the 75-85% range at the gym for 30 minutes a day in addition to my job but I can’t seem to lose weight!
I’m having so much trouble with weight loss, I know I know .. No scales right? I have an obsession. It wont budge … And the days it does I’m so ecstatic! The days it goes up, is well .. rather horrifying.
I’m 19 and 134 pounds Mostly fat. OF course the scale yesterday said 130. I’ve come down a lot from (when I was 14) 170 pounds or so. That wasn’t a healthy loss though. I’ve been on and off primal for a while. I’ve officially stuck to it over a month.
My diet consists of meats, Veggies, nuts, and water usually. I spice it up sometimes with special flowers. But I haven’t acceded 60 carbs at all. And they’re all healthy carbs. Granted I cannot afford grass fed meat all the time, I try my best. I sprint every other day or so, my lungs can only handle small bouts of sprinting a week. I do dancing, and lift weights.
I was 118 10 or so months ago, I felt healthy and I felt good.
I want to get back to that good feeling. I don’t even necessarily need to be 118 again, just have a better body composition. And feel good, but alas its February, Summer is almost here. I haven’t worn a bathing suit since I was 12… these things don’t happen overnight. This I know. But … What am I doing wrong….
I stumbled upon this,looking for a reason I have stalled. Once upon a time, I was very fit and limber. ROck climbing, kayaking, biking across states. I got fat and out of shape,and stressed out by a family member. Eating real food makes sense to me, and lower carb or non-white carbs seems to help. I plan to increase the realness of my food and add more slower exercise to get off my stall. I have been easing back to healthier habits over the past 5 weeks. I feel better, even though I have lost maybe a pound, if that.
I stumbled upon this site, while looking for ways out of my stall. Once I was very fit, rock climbing, kayaking, biking across the state. I did carry some excess fat but now I am truly fat. However, for the past 5 weeks I have been easing into healthier habits like eating real food and body weight workouts. I have only lost a pound if that, and can’t tell if my clothes are looser. I used to workout to have fun. Eating real food gives me more energy and life.