You’ve been trying everything you can think of to lose weight. You have read posts, journals, switched foods and you still don’t see any movement on the scale. What the heck is going on?!? Each month I host clean eating based, health and fitness, accountability groups. In my groups people are following their eating plans, participating in physical activity and sometimes the scale is not moving as quickly as they would like. Here are the top 5 reasons that I have seen for why this is happening.

1. The Scale is Not Moving Because the Inches Are! – Many participants in my monthly challenges are familiar with weight loss reality shows that will remain nameless. The people on TV are losing 5-15lbs a week and are just melting away… The sad truth is, that these shows may be called reality TV but they are not 100% reality. I find in my groups that although the scale is not moving the body is. I always encourage for people to not only weigh themselves but to also measure themselves in key areas of their body. See the image below. Often times when we are eating healthy foods and exercising we are burning fat tissue and building muscle simultaneously. Our body weight doesn’t change, but because one pound of fat takes up more space in the body than one pound of muscle we are losing inches off the body without realizing it.
   
2. Your Food Diet is Close, but No Cigar. – You can eat clean till you are blue in the face, but if your diet isn’t in alignment with your needs you will plateau and stop losing weight. For example, when I first began my journey in clean eating I didn’t understand the difference between vegetable carbs and starchy carbs. I was eating a TON of the wrong carbs!!! I can’t help it, my body thinks it’s Italian- I just want the pasta! It wasn’t until I began using the 21 Day Fix (order here) that I realized that I wasn’t eating enough vegetables. Because of this diet crashing misunderstanding, I was not losing any more weight. The scale was not moving!
3. You Are Not Getting Enough Food. – To lose weight, you have to feed your body healthy food, and plenty of it. If you begin drastically cutting your calories your body will go into starvation mode. What does that mean? Think of a bear preparing for hibernation! Every calorie that you eat, your body will hoard and store away because it is preparing to preserve and sustain existence for as long as possible. Is there a magic number range that you should be in to lose weight, yes. Is it under 1,200 calories? NO!!!
4. You Assume That ALL Calories (and Foods) Are Created Equal. – I’m sorry to tell you this, but you are misinformed. There is more to eating than looking at calories. You should be considering sodium, sugar and INGREDIENTS (and keeping them to a minimum) and you should be looking at nutritional values such as protein, fiber, and vitamin content (higher values are better). If the label has words that you cannot pronounce, let alone identify as an edible food source you may want to consider a healthier alternative. You should try to avoid foods with main ingredients (the closer to the top of the list, the more there is in the food) that include syrup (processed sugar), aspartame (fake sweetener that has been linked with serious side effects), and enriched flours (nutritional values were lost in processing and added back in during further processing). Instead look for short ingredient lists that include organic food sources, minimal processing, and things that you can identify!!
5. You Are Not Hydrated. – Your body is composed of 70% water. If you don’t keep it properly hydrated, much like eating (above) your body will bloat and hoard the most sacred thing you can give it. Aim to drink no less than half your body weight in ounces of water. For example, if you weighed 150lbs you should be drinking 75oz of water a day.

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