Not Losing Weight? Use These 7 Simple Steps

1. Begin with Tracking Your Calories

If we measure it we can manage it!

• Use calorie trackers like my fitness pal or loseit to start tracking how many calories you are consuming. This means logging EVERY calorie whether thats from food or drink. Track EVERY calorie. EVERY day! To begin with at least.
• over the next 3 days (if the amounts & types of foods you eat vary each day then you do want to do this for more than 3 days) and after 3 days…
• Take the average amount of calories you’ve been eating & drinking for those 3 days and Use the weight loss calculator below to see if you’re eating the right amount of calories each day to lose weight which is usually between 1200-to-2000 calories

To see if you’re eating the right amount of calories to lose weight…

Select if you’re male or female, Put in your height, weight, age & your activity level before starting this plan and then Click on the button that says “Tell Me How Much I Need To Eat To Lose Weight”

• It does not matter WHAT or WHEN you eat. Only HOW MUCH you eat matters for weight loss (see why) so no matter how healthy or bad your current diet is…
• If you’re Eating MORE Than  to maintain your weight.calories per day then you WILL Not lose weight.
• Start eating -to- calories per day along with Step 5 and if you still can’t lose weight after 3-to-10 days…

2. Double Check Your Calorie Counts

• If you’ve been eating less than 2000 calories per day & you still can’t lose weight…
  • Double check and make sure you counted your calories correctly by re-checking the serving sizes & amounts of thefoods you eat & then…
  • Triple check your calorie counts by using 3 different calorie counting tools like myfitnesspal, loseit, my-calorie-counter & CalorieKing.com to see if they all give you just about the same results and finally…
  • Quadruple check your calorie counts by having someone else count your calories for you because usually…
  • Whenever you THINK you’re eating less than 2000 caloriesand you still can’t lose weight then you more than likely miscalculated your calorie intake because you must realize that…

If you’re more than 20 pounds overweight then it is almost Impossible for you not to lose weight on a less than 2000 calorie diet (especially on a less than 1500 calorie diet) even without exercise because actually…

• The more overweight you are = the higher your metabolism is meaning you have to eat a lot of calories just to maintain your high weight so for example…
• Anyone over 200 pounds has a metabolism that burns at least 2000 calories a day meaning if they eat 2000 calories they will stay at 200 pounds or if they eat less than 2000 calories they will lose weight even without exercising.

So if you’ve double, triple & quadruple checked your calorie counts and you still cant lose weight then do steps 4-thru-8

3. Stubborn Fat?

You need to be more patient when you have stubborn fat or less than 10-to-20 lbs. left to lose where you’ll have some weeks where you can’t lose any weight at all or no more than 1 lb. a week because as you get closer to your weight loss goal… You’ll lose weight at a slower pace because…

• You burn less calories exercising. For example, at 200 lbs. you’ll lose weight every week burning 800 calories doing a 60 minute weight loss workout vs. at 135 pounds it may take you more than a week to lose even ½ a pound burning only 250 calories doing the same workout
• Even though you’re doing the same workout you burn less calories & lose weight slower doing it because your body uses less energy or burns less calories to move a smaller body. 3 ways to burn more calories
• Your metabolism gets slower as you lose weight because it doesn’t take much energy or your metabolism doesn’t have to burn so many calories to maintain a smaller body.
• For example, at 200 lbs. you’ll lose weight every week on a 1500 calorie diet because your metabolism burns at least 2000 calories per day vs. at 135 lbs. your metabolism may burn less than 1500 calories per day meaning you’ll lose weight slower on a 1500 calorie diet.

So when you have less than 10-to-20 lbs. left to lose and can’t lose weight then you need to be more patient, do steps 1, 2, 4-thru-8

4. Eat Less

If you’re eating the right amount of calories, you’ve double checked everything and you still can’t lose weight… Then you simply need to Eat at least 250 less calories but you should only to do this to lose stubborn fat or your last 5-to-15 pounds &/or…

5. False Fat?

It’s very possible that you could be gaining a lot of water weight or false fat preventing you from losing weight.

• Drink at least 1 liter of water daily to prevent water weight gain.
• Use a food journal to help you find out which foods may be causing you to retain water because of certain food allergies unique to you.
• Avoid these salty & sugary foods as much as possible because they make you retain water.
• See How to Get a Flatter Stomach in a Week for more on losing excess water weight.

6. Muscle Gain

If you look slimmer, your clothes aren’t as tight or your body fat percentage is lower but the scale says you haven’t lost any weight then that means you have gained muscle weight.

Gaining muscle isn’t a bad thing because it increases your fat burning metabolism & since 1 lb. of muscle takes up less space than 1 lb. of fat you’ll see more results in the mirror than on the scale.

7. Medications

Are you on any Drugs that may cause you to gain weight?

• Antidepressants, Steroids like Prednisone, Migraine Medications like Depakote, Antihistamines like Benadryl, Sleep medications & Birth Control can all make it tougher for you to lose weight.
• See your doctor if you gain weight while on a new drug even though you know for sure you’re eating right and staying active.

This all doesn’t mean you should STOP taking the drugs you need to help your condition but at the same time… If you’re trying to lose weight it’s best to ask your doctor for alternative medications.