When you are putting tons of time and effort into your diet but things are not going as you had hoped, it can be very discouraging.
During times where it seems that you are struggling to see any result for your effort, and your diet isn’t working despite how hard you are trying, you may feel that the only option is to push yourself even harder… but this is not how it should be.
More often than not we can be working smarter, not just harder… to both see faster results and to feel better while we are doing it.
Here are 4 signs that your diet isn’t working very well, and what you can do to fix it!
You don’t seem to be making progress
Seeing very slow results or even hitting a plateau, is of course the most obvious indication that you can do something different to get better results.
If you are trying really hard but just don’t seem to be making progress, it’s likely that one aspect of your routine is working against the other despite your great efforts.
To break through your plateau or to get things in motion again, evaluate your habits both good and bad, and find the weakest point.
Perhaps it’s that you diet but rarely exercise, or vice versa, or maybe you eat healthy through the work week but everything falls apart on the weekends.
The two most common ways that I see people struggling to lose weight, aside from motivational factors… are that they are either exercising or dieting but not both, or that they are simply eating less of the same unhealthy food rather than eating healthy.
To transform yourself at an exciting rate, it’s necessary to both eat healthy AND exercise when losing weight.
However, only you know the big picture of your habits and what areas you may be lacking in, and so with a little bit of consideration you will be able to identify exactly what it is that is holding you back.
Taking a moment to get some perspective, and to see what your weak points are can be very empowering, especially when you realize that making a little change can make a big difference!
You’re hungry
If you are always feeling hungry during weight loss, something is not right. When people are continually hungry during a diet, they often feel that they are stuck in a difficult position where they need to eat more to feel full, and know that doing so will compromise their results.
When you’re feeling this way, the last thing you’d be ready to do is to burn fat even faster, because it would seem you’d have to eat less and struggle even more.
In reality, eating more of the right foods instead of less altogether will not only fill you up and give you more energy, it will actually help you burn more fat.
So, if you feel hungry and want to burn even more fat, simply find some healthy food items to add into your diet and eat them with confidence.
Eating natural, whole, healthy foods will give you all the nutrients and fullness you can want, while still leaving your body in a fat burning state.
You’re losing muscle
It’s normal to lose a little bit of muscle when you go through an extended period of losing weight, but it should be a minimal amount if any.
The same issues that cause you to be hungry during weight loss will also cause undue muscle loss, which will show more in the mirror than on the scale.
As you lose weight, if it looks like you’re losing your muscle rather than revealing it, then this may be an indication that you are not getting enough to eat.
The same advice for when you’re hungry applies here. Focus on eating more of the right foods rather than focusing so much on restriction.
If you are eating lots of highly nutritious and whole food then you will be providing your body with all of the nutrients it needs to maintain muscle, while still burning your own store of fat.
Lifting weights is extremely effective for weight loss, and also adds a layer of protection for your muscle as you get thinner.
You’re getting bored with your routine
Getting bored with healthy food and your exercise routine will not only make things tough for you, but it can cause you to dial back your efforts which in turn will cause slower results.
It’s perfectly normal to have short periods where you don’t feel as motivated or enthused about your efforts, but if you are slowly getting bored then it’s time to branch out and try new things before your progress stops completely.
Add some new foods to your shopping list, look for new ways to cook things with new flavors, and then try them out. You are probably just skimming the surface of all the delicious and healthy foods there are, so invest a little time in finding some more that you love to eat.
If it’s exercise that you are bored with, don’t feel pressured to do the same old thing day after day. The possibilities for enjoyable exercise are even more ample than food choices, so again don’t be afraid to try some new things to find what you like.
Try lifting weights, go for a bike ride, jog somewhere in nature… anything to switch up the routine that just isn’t doing it for you anymore.
Time spent trying new things is never wasted, because it’s not just this moment that you are improving, it’s the whole lifestyle that lays ahead of you that you are filling with enjoyable and healthy things.
Losing weight shouldn’t be an uphill battle. If things seem harder than they should be the answer isn’t to struggle even harder, it’s to find what’s holding you back and change it.
When everything is going as it should, you’ll be burning fat with plenty of energy to spare, and any extra effort will intensify the results you are already seeing.
To get started with your own personal weight loss transformation, if you want a healthy plan to follow that will tell you exactly what to eat to lose weight and help you change your eating habits permanently, try the 8-Week Challenge! Click the link to read more about the course, or sign up below to get started with your free PDF copy!
Want to read a comprehensive guide on healthy weight loss? Read my 70-page guide on how to lose 100 pounds.
