Top 8 Reasons You’re Not Losing Fat!

Top 8 Reasons You’re Not Losing Fat!

Want to lose weight but don’t know where to start? Maybe you’ve already started your fitness journey but are finding yourself not progressing the way you want to be? If either of these sound like you, read on. My top 8 tips why you’re not losing body fat could be the answer to you getting the results you want!

1: Stress
Stress makes us gain weight by increasing out appetite, storing fat and it also interferes with our will-power to make healthy diet choices. When our brains detect a threat, such as a confrontation, danger on the roads or even receiving a big bill, it triggers the release of chemicals to prepare us to deal with the situation. These chemicals include adrenaline, CRH (Corticotrophin-releasing hormone) and cortisol. In the short-term, adrenalin suppresses appetite and shifts blood flow from internal organs out to our skeletal muscles to prepare for a ‘fight or flight’ situation. Once the effect of adrenaline where’s off, cortisol hangs around and signals for the body to replenish ‘lost’ energy stores through consuming food.

To our ancestors, this would have been an advantage as we would have been replenishing energy stores lost whilst literally fighting or running away as if our lives depended on it. Unfortunately, sitting on the couch worrying about an overdue bill doesn’t exactly require near as much energy expenditure as the treats we might have experienced years ago. The trouble is, hormonal responses are still the same, more than likely making you reach for the comfort foods containing sugar and fat.

2: Not drinking enough water

Dehydration has mild effects like a dry mouth, headaches, muscle cramps etc.
A not so well-known consequence of dehydration includes weight gain. This is because when you’re dehydrated, the rate that your body is able to break down food is hindered, which causes your metabolism to slow down. Additionally, dehydration also sends messages to the brain telling you your hungry. Causing excessive eating, which we know leads to weight gain.

So, to make sure this doesn’t happen to you, shoot 2-4.5 litres per day, dependant on your size and activity levels.

To know that you’re getting enough water, monitor the colour of your wee. Keep it on the clearer side by drinking plenty of water.

3: Not eating enough protein

Protein is a macronutrient used in the body to build and repair tissues. It’s important to get enough protein per day, especially if you are someone who regularly exercises.

When it comes to weight loss, protein helps reduce appetite by suppressing the effects of our hunger hormones. Although protein still has the same number of calories as carbohydrates and fewer calories than fat, it requires more energy for the body to break down. This creates a thermic effect that helps to speed up our metabolism after eating a high protein meal. Depending on your activity level, protein requirements range from 0.8g/1kg of body weight to no more than 2g/1kg.

4: Overeating

On the surface, we generally know how much were eating. The problem is that per gram of weight, calories (or nutritional value) vary depending on their source. Leaving portion sizes to sometimes be misleading.
Per gram the number of calories we receive are:
Carbohydrates = 4 calories
Protein = 4 calories
Fat = 9 calories
Alcohol = 7 calories
Fats can be deceiving compared to carbs and proteins, they contain over twice the amount of energy per gram. Don’t avoid fats full stop as their essential to good health, but aim to get them from relatively unprocessed sources from whole foods.
The best way to avoid overeating is to make everything from scratch at home. This way you can get to know individual food labels and leave out anything that’s not contributing to the overall end goal.
Depending on our size, gender and activity level, food requirements vary. Generally, for females, approximately 2000 calories are needed to maintain weight, and to lose weight a 10% reduction is a great place to start (1800 cal). For males, maintenance is somewhere around 2500 calories. To cut down, a balanced diet of 2250 calories should start to see some reductions in fat.

5: Short on daily exercise

If you’re trying to lose weight, its best done through good food choices and exercise.
To make it a bit more exciting than sitting on a treadmill, try to find a sport or activity that you enjoy doing! If you struggling to think of something, consider classes at your gym. There a great way to get fit and active, and can be a good social activity. With the guidance of a trainer, you will receive pointers on your technique as well as a fun workout.
Aim for higher intensity exercise 3-5 times per week and light exercise such as a walking every other day!

6: Alcohol

Many of us are guilty of drinking more than we probably should from time to time. As mentioned earlier per 1ml of alcohol there are 7 calories. A standard drink of alcohol is 10ml, so per drink we are consuming 70 calories from alcohol alone. On top of the alcohol, there are extra calories added in generally coming from sugar. When it comes to losing weight, the main concern with alcohol is that our bodies must process it straight away as we are unable to store it. When this is going on any additional calories consumed are put to the side to be dealt with later and are stored as fat.

Although alcohol doesn’t do our weight loss goals any favours, for a lot of us, it’s a big part of our lives. Dont feel guilty for having a drink – just keep it occasional and be sensible about it. Keep in mind that alcohol is a diuretic, meaning that it will dehydrate you. So plan ahead and make sure to drink plenty of extra water!

7: Sugar

As we’ve all heard, consuming too much sugar is bad for us. The American Heart Association recommends that women eat no more than 20g of sugar added sugar and men have no more than 37g per day. Try sitting down at the end of a day and write down everything you ate. Using google or packet labels find out how much sugar you consumed in the day. A good way to avoid exceeding these figures is to limit your fluid intake to only water and make smart nutritional choices such as eating unprocessed whole foods and avoiding anything obviously high in sugar.
Something to keep an eye out for is products claiming to be ‘fat free’. Fat = flavour, so once that’s removed, companies need something to keep consumers coming back. They’ll often do this by adding in a truck load of sugar.

8: Sleep

When we think of weight loss we tend to think of calories in v’s calories out. Or movement and diet. But even with the best diets and training programs, if sleeps’ off, fat loss results can be severely impacted.

According to one study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a group of people were put on two different sleep schedules. They were on the same diet, but when sleep deprived (less than 7 hours) they saw a 55% less fat loss compared to when well rested. They even felt significantly hungrier and were less satisfied after meals; additionally, they lacked the energy to exercise!

To get the most out of your efforts, make sure you`re getting at least 8 hours of quality sleep everyday.


Stay consistent and remember that slow progress is better than no progress at all. Understanding and acting on the points outlined above will be sure to keep you making progress. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. If you have any content in mind that you would like to hear more about, just let me know and I will make more post like this one about it.

Cheers, Louis A

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