1. Only Focusing on the Scale Weight It's very common to feel like you're not losing weight fast enough, despite faithfully sticking to your diet. However, the number on the scale is only one measure of weight change. Weight is influenced by several things, including fluid fluctuations and how much food remains in your system. In fact, weight can fluctuate by up to 4 lbs (1.8 kg) over the course of a day, depending on how much food and liquid you've consumed. Also, increased estrogen levels and other hormonal changes in women can lead to greater water retention, which is reflected in scale weight (1Trusted Source). If the number on the scale isn't moving, you may very well be losing fat mass but holding on to water. Fortunately, you can do several things to lose water weight. Additionally, if you've been working out, you may be gaining muscle and losing fat. When this happens, your clothes may start to feel looser — especially around the waist — despite a stable scale weight. Measuring your waist with a tape measure and taking monthly pictures of yourself can reveal you're actually losing fat, even if the scale number doesn't change much. BOTTOM LINE: Many factors can affect scale weight, including fluid fluctuations, muscle mass gain and the weight of undigested food. You may be losing body fat even if the scale reading doesn't change much. 2. Eating Too Many or Too Few Calories A calorie deficit is required for weight loss. This means you need to burn more calories than you consume. For many years, it was believed that a decrease of 3,500 calories per week would result in 1 lb (.45 kg) of fat loss. However, recent research shows the calorie deficit needed varies from person to person (2Trusted Source). You may feel as though you're not eating very many calories. But in fact, most of us have a tendency to underestimate and underreport what we eat (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source). In a two-week study, 10 obese people reported consuming 1,000 calories per day. Lab testing showed they were actually taking in about 2,000 calories per day (4Trusted Source). You may be consuming too many foods that are healthy but also high in calories, such as nuts and cheese. Watching portion sizes is key. On the other hand, decreasing your calorie intake too much can be counterproductive. Studies on very low-calorie diets providing less than 1,000 calories per day show they can lead to muscle loss and significantly slow down metabolism (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).
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