These 5 Reasons Might Be Why Your Diet Isn’t Working

These 5 Reasons Might Be Why Your Diet Isn’t Working

When you first start a diet, you’re bound to be motivated, optimistic, and excited about achieving healthy goals. If your diet doesn’t have the effect you expected, however, it’s easy to get frustrated. Before you get discouraged and give up on your diet plan, take time to troubleshoot. Consider these five reasons why your diet isn’t working.

You Haven’t Been Dieting Long Enough

Whether it’s your first diet or you’ve been trying to lose weight for years, you might expect to see results immediately. However, burning fat tends to be a slow process. If you want to lose weight and keep it off for months and years to come, plan to lose only 1-2 pounds per week. When you commit to a new diet plan, pledge to stick to it for at least three months, when you can expect weight loss in the double digits.

You Aren’t Getting the Right Nutrients

If your diet plan focuses too closely on counting calories, you might not have considered whether you’re getting the right nutrients, too. After all, 100 calories of cookies won’t fuel your body the way 100 calories of salad would. To track both calories and nutrients, use a diet plan app that monitors the energy you’re consuming along with the carbs, fats, and proteins in your food. With a handy tool at your fingertips, you can make sure you aren’t overdoing it on carbs or depriving yourself of protein.

You Aren’t Consuming Enough Calories

Consuming fewer calories can help you lose weight, so it’s easy to assume that cutting calories drastically can put you on a fast track toward weight loss. This isn’t exactly true, though. If you decrease your daily calorie intake so much that your body goes into starvation mode, your metabolism will slow. This could also cause you to put on fat while losing muscle. Use a health tracking app to ensure that your daily calorie consumption and energy burn are balanced to help you lose weight in a healthy way.

You Aren’t Exercising Enough

Image via Flickr by thoroughly reviewed

While tracking your calorie consumption is essential to most diets, losing weight isn’t just about watching what you eat. Increasing your activity level and improving your fitness routine are also essential steps. As you track what you eat, be sure to make note of how many calories you burn, too. If you and the gym don’t get along, think about other ways to squeeze in extra physical activities, such as joining a dance class or finding a running buddy.

You Haven’t Changed Your Behaviors

For most people, carrying excess weight is about more than just overeating once in a while. As you rethink your diet plan, try to understand why you overeat and what has triggered your unhealthy eating patterns in the past. When you know whether a stressful job, major life changes, or boredom prompts you to over-consume, you can start taking steps to change your habits.

No matter what type of diet plan you’re trying, remember that careful monitoring is key. Track your energy intake, activity level, and weight loss to make sure you’re staying on track toward your goals.