Even with perfect calorie control and exercise, your weight can be influenced by nutrient storage, hydration status, electrolyte balance, hormones, digestion and much more. This is completely normal, and with consistency and patience, your weight or rate of fat loss will decrease over time.
You Could Be Gaining Muscle
Losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, also called body recomposition is quite hard to achieve, and quite a rare scenario. It is definitely possible to build muscle and lose fat in a calorie deficit, which could mean that your weight remains static or even goes up slightly.
There are some medical conditions that can drive weight gain and make it much harder to lose weight. These include hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and sleep apnea. Certain medications can also make weight loss harder — or even cause weight gain.
You may be losing weight and gaining muscle
If you're losing inches but maintaining your weight and you regularly strength train, you may actually be losing fat and gaining muscle. The process of gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is called body recomposition.
If you're a man, woman weighing over 164 pounds or a female who regularly exercises and you aren't losing weight eating 1,200 to 1,500 calories daily, it may be time to see a doctor. Hormone imbalances – such as underactive thyroid – can decrease your body's metabolism and inhibit or prevent weight loss from occurring.
The diet doesn't have enough calories
Eating too little — say, 1,000 calories a day — can prevent you from losing weight, too. "When you don't eat enough, your body is starving and it's not going to lose any extra weight" because it needs those energy stores to keep you alive, Fakhoury said.
However, most people who start dieting by cutting out a certain amount of calories each day will see results within one to two weeks, even if it's just one pound lost.
As a general rule, people need a minimum of 1,200 calories daily to stay healthy. People who have a strenuous fitness routine or perform many daily activities need more calories. If you have reduced your calorie intake below 1,200 calories a day, you could be hurting your body in addition to your weight-loss plans.
Without enough calories, you will quickly experience feelings of fatigue. Because your body doesn't have enough calories to burn and generate energy. You've been losing hair. This is another consequence of a lack of nutrients.
Lummus says that when your body goes into starvation mode, your metabolism slows to a crawl, burning calories as slowly as possible to conserve its energy stores. This is why people who cut their calories too much may reach a plateau and stop losing weight.
In general, if you cut about 500 calories a day from your usual diet, you may lose about ½ to 1 pound a week. But this can vary depending on your body, how much weight you want to lose, your gender and activity level.
It Can Cause Fatigue and Nutrient Deficiencies
Regularly eating fewer calories than your body requires can cause fatigue and make it more challenging for you to meet your daily nutrient needs. For instance, calorie-restricted diets may not provide sufficient amounts of iron, folate or vitamin B12.
Unintentional weight gain occurs when you put on weight without increasing your consumption of food or liquid and without decreasing your activity. This occurs when you're not trying to gain weight. It's often due to fluid retention, abnormal growths, constipation, or pregnancy.
Your slower metabolism will slow your weight loss, even if you eat the same number of calories that helped you lose weight. When the calories you burn equal the calories you eat, you reach a plateau. To lose more weight, you need to either increase your physical activity or decrease the calories you eat.
Skipping breakfast and other meals is one behavior studied as a factor influencing weight outcomes and dietary quality. Based on evidence that skipping breakfast reduces total daily caloric intake, some weight-loss recommendations include skipping breakfast (i.e., intermediate fasting) as one strategy to use.
In humans. Ordinarily, the body responds to reduced energy intake by burning fat reserves and consuming muscle and other tissues. Specifically, the body burns fat after first exhausting the contents of the digestive tract along with glycogen reserves stored in liver cells and after significant protein loss.
Fat burning typically begins after approximately 12 hours of fasting and escalates between 16 and 24 hours of fasting.
In other words, if you stick to the calorie intake recommended by WLR, you can be sure your body won't go into starvation mode. As a general rule though, most nutrition experts recommend never going below 1,000-1,200 calories a day if you're dieting on your own.
To lose 20 pounds in 1 month, you'd need to create an average deficit of 2,500 calories per day for 4 weeks.
A prolonged 1,200 calorie-per-day diet can slow metabolism, so it is best to only do it short-term. There are risks to consuming too few calories, including: Not getting adequate nutrition. Anxiety.