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In my role at the Cleveland Clinic, I see patient's from all walks of life looking to improve their diet. The majority of these individuals also want to lose weight. Some are really successful and lose weight fairly easily; some struggle with every diet they try and have challenges with sticking with any one plan; and then there's the third group: the individuals who are doing "everything right" but can't lose a single pound. These individuals are, in fact, doing most things correctly and have the motivation and determination to stick with it – but after too long of time with too little to show on the scale, they often give up. The fact is, there's always something that's causing the weight loss to stop, and it's usually not that obvious. Here are the real reasons why you're not losing the weight:
You're not 25 anymore. I remember when I was in college and needed to drop 5 pounds. It was fairly easy: Just skip the fries with the burger, maybe work out a few more times during the week and watch portions a little more closely. Poof, 5 pounds lost in a matter of weeks – and voila, that form-fitting dress is looking good! Ah, how youth is wasted on the young. Now, in my late 30s, I've come to the conclusion that 5 pounds may take six to eight weeks to accomplish – sometimes more – and that I have work really hard to get there. Studies have shown that along with a few lines and grey hairs, aging brings the unfortunate decrease of your resting energy expenditure, or REE. This means your body actually burns fewer calories at rest. The lower REE might mean your actual calorie allowance is 500 to 800 calories less when the body reaches 35 years of age, and guess what: Father time is not kind – that REE continues to go down. Unfortunately, that makes it that much more challenging to lose weight. But don't throw in the towel just yet – it's is not an impossible mission; it just means adjusting your plan to best meet your needs. You'll need to cut even more calories than you thought to get back into those college skinny jeans, and you may need to work with a professional who specializes in weight loss.
Your think you're exercising enough to justify those extra calories, but you're really not. Many of my patients answer "yes" when I ask if they exercise regularly, but when I delve a bit deeper and get into the details, I often find their exercise plan consists of 25 minutes of treadmill walking a few days a week. Only 20 percent of adults in the U.S. are getting the recommended amount of exercise (which includes both aerobic and resistance training), according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and while a 20- minute walk may be sufficient to decrease your chances of early death, it may not be sufficient to burn enough extra calories to lose the weight. The age-old debate on whether diet or exercise is more important in the battle of the bulge lives on, but one thing is clear: A 20-minute walk a few days a week won't offset a few nights of ice cream or a few too many hands in the chip bowl. When you're assessing your diet and considering how many calories you should eat to lose weight, consider your activity level to be sedentary if you work out less than six days a week for less than 30 minutes at a time. Once my patients understand they're not burning off as many calories as they think, they're able to adjust their diet accordingly and lose weight.
Your sleep stinks. Something interesting occurred during the NBA finals. Many of my patients reported eating significantly more the day or two after a playoff game, and given how long playoffs last, some had packed on some considerable pounds. While some of this could have been related to excess stress, a more plausible reason could be that the majority of the games began at 9 p.m. Cleveland time and lasted until 11:30 or later. Sleep was significantly reduced, and along with it, the need to munch increased the next day.
The Sleep Foundation recommends that adults ages 18 and older get 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night – that's a third of your day. Yet few of us actually follow the guidelines. Why is this so critical? It all boils down to the changes that occur in our digestive hormones. If you don't get enough ZZZs, ghrelin (the hormone that tells you you're hungry) won't turn off, and leptin (the hormone that tells you your full) won't turn on. These findings have also been shown in the pediatric population, as well. In addition, a lack of sleep may make it more difficult to eat healthy and make you more likely to have an elevated BMI. For some of patients, sleep habits alone are dictating lack of weight loss. It's that powerful..
You're overeating healthy foods. I once had a patient put on 20 pounds in three months, and when she came to me to lose the weight, she was baffled why she gained it in the first place. "I only have hummus, fruit and nuts when I snack, and I only use healthy oils when I cook," she said. Her dietary recall, however, indicated that her snacking habits added an excess of 1,000 calories a day. They wereall healthy foods, but they all happened to be loaded with calories. Many times, people see healthy as a green light to not watch portions but unfortunately, calories count – big time, and unless you're binging on non-starchy vegetables, you have to track everything. The first thing I recommend all my patients do is track their calories on a smartphone app. Many of the applications out there allow for direct scanning of a product and serve as an accountability factor when assessing if you really have enough calories in the day to afford that extra serving of salmon or glass of wine.
You've got pantry problems. Sometimes, having a family can increase the challenges associated with weight loss. Having kids might mean having extra snack foods you're trying to avoid to meet your weight-loss goals. And if you're single, you may be stocking up on "just in case" foods like many of my patients do, like "I'll have these cookies on hand just in case I have guests," or "I'll keep this king size bag of candy here in case I get a craving." Research suggests that exposure to a variety of foods can increase our cues to want to eat these foods, leading to greater risk for gaining weight. Keeping these snacks "outta sight and outta mind" can help avoid these snacking traps. Sometimes the answer is right in front of your face, and in this situation, that means not having it in your pantry to begin with.
Remember: Portions are a main consideration when reducing calorie intake during the day, and when it comes to weight loss, slow and steady wins the race. Losing about 1 pound per week is more sustainable and realistic overall. Trying to lose two or more pounds per week may result in a dramatic calorie cut, making you feel deprived and unsatisfied. Next time you think your weight loss has halted, ask yourself if you're guilty of any of these weight-loss traps.
Brittany Cermak, Cleveland Clinic Intern, contributed to this article.
By: Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, LD
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