Why You’re Not Losing Weight: The Overlooked Factors in Your Diet and Exercise Routine

Written by Guest Blogger Michelle Buckingham, MA,RD,LDN

Eating right, exercising and still not losing weight – is this you? What gives? Here are some factors you don’t want to overlook if you’re trying to manage your weight.

First off, what you’re REALLY looking for is a change in body composition, not weight. Losing body fat and gaining muscle tissue is the whole point. Are your clothes fitting you more loosely? Have you gone down a clothing size? Mission Accomplished! Muscle weighs more but takes up less room so we can maintain or even gain weight when working out and eating right while getting smaller and healthier. The scale is not the right way to measure success.

Are you getting enough sleep? Managing stress? Getting less than 7 hours in a row of high quality sleep, and continually circulating stress hormones can both make it easy to gain and hard to lose body fat. Go to sleepfoundation.org for tips on getting better sleep, and try a youtube.com tutorial video on deep breathing.

Are you eating enough/often enough? Our bodies need to be fed about every 4-5 hours with balanced meals. When we skip meals or eat too little our body adapts by slowing metabolism which then can lead to weight gain. Go to myplate.gov for suggestions on balancing your diet.

So try getting more and better sleep, working on stress management, having regular/balanced meals and using body size, not weight to measure success – I think you’ll like the results!

Michelle Buckingham, MA,RD,LDN is a registered dietitian and wellness coach.  She specializes in simplifying this information and making it easy to apply in the real world – your own life. She helps everyone, from people with diabetes and high cholesterol to folks who simply want to stay well. As a registered, licensed dietitian/nutritionist with over 23 years’ experience, she loves helping folks regain the joy of eating and wellness in the context of their everyday lives.