Struggling to Shed Pounds? Find Out Why and Solutions

There are lots of popular diets to be found on the internet, such as vegan, paleo, keto diet, intermittent fasting, Mediterranean diet, low carb, low fat, Atkins, etc. just to name a few.

Perhaps you’ve tried some yourself. By the time you're reading this, a new trend may have already crossed your path.

With so many options available it might be confusing which diet is the best solution?

Well, there’s one thing every diet has in common. Some people tell you it doesn’t work, and others believe it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

Diet trends come and go, but how can it be that they are effective in weight loss for some, and not for others?

Allow me to explain exactly why you don't lose weight, and give you the best solution to end this problem once and for all.

What you don't need is the latest diet trend on the internet, but instead create YOUR ideal diet, which is better looked at as a lifestyle.

The role of metabolism in weight loss

Your metabolism will play an important role in what your final diet should look like.

I won’t go into the specific scientific outlines of what metabolism is, but instead, keep it very practical.

Your metabolism is the amount of energy you require to just stay alive, keep your organs functioning, grow your hair and nails and enable your body to do everything it simply does.

Even if you lay in bed for an entire day and do absolutely nothing, your body requires energy.

This is called your basic metabolic rate (BSR) and is dependent on a lot of factors, such as age, …

To put it bluntly, a short woman that weighs 100lbs will have a BSR way lower than a 240lbs bodybuilder.

Even though your BSR is a big part of your metabolism, it isn’t all of it.

Your activity level also plays an important role. How active are you in your daily life?

Do you have a job where you stand and move around all day or do you sit at a desk?

Do you work out? If so, how long, how intense, and how often? Simply put if you’re very active your body will need more energy to stay alive. 

So we’ve concluded that a short 100lbs woman, who sits at a desk all day, will need significantly less energy than a 240lbs very active bodybuilder.

Now, what does that mean for you? 

Your basic metabolic rate (BSR) is the energy your body requires to just survive while doing nothing. Your BSR + your activity level will determine your total “metabolism”. Simply put how much energy your body needs in a day to stay the same weight.

Daily calories may be why you don't lose weight

The daily energy you need, aka your “metabolism”, is the number of calories your body requires to do its day-to-day activities.

Everybody is different of course, but to get an idea of how many calories your body requires, you can simply search for a calculator online.

To have an accurate number you should test this number, for say 2 weeks, and adjust accordingly. 

So why do some people lose weight on a keto diet and some don’t?

It all depends on if their total daily caloric intake is low enough.

This is also true for a Mediterranean diet or any other diet for that matter.

It all comes down to how many calories they consume compared to the number of calories their body needs to stay the same. 

Let’s see a hypothetical example of myself: 

I am a male. I’m about 187cm (6ft1) tall and weigh 90kg (about 200 lb). I’m currently doing an internship in digital marketing, so I sit at a desk most of the day.

However, I work out daily and if I may say so, I train pretty hard. Now if I put these numbers in a calculator, I can see that I need around 3200 kcals a day to stay at the same body weight. 

Let’s say I don’t want my body to stay the same? Because I now know that I would need 3200 kcals to stay the same, I can simply eat fewer calories to lose weight or eat more calories to gain weight. 

Okay, so I decided my goal is weight loss. How many fewer calories should I eat a day? To lose 450 grams or 1 lb of fat equals roughly 3500 calories.

So to lose 450 grams or 1lbs a week, I would need to drop my calories by 500 calories a day.

For me, this would be 3200-500 = 2700kcals a day to lose my desired weight. 

My advice is that most people should aim for 200-900 grams or .5-2lb of fat loss per week.

Anything over that will probably not be sustainable and too much muscle will be lost in the process. 

Use an online calculator to find the number of calories your body requires and adjust that number according to your goals. If you want to lose weight subtract 300-900 calories, dependent on how fast you wish to lose weight. Don’t go too hard or you won’t be able to sustain it and feel very bad all the time. Slow and steady wins the race. 

Best weight loss solution is tracking calories

How do you know the exact amount of calories in everything you eat during the day, to end up at your calculated number?

Well for this, there are many tracking tools available right on your smartphone. For example, the one I use is MyFitnessPal.

You can easily put in the calories you intend to eat, to lose the amount of weight you desire.

Then with barely a few minutes of effort a day, it’s possible to track the number of calories you’ve consumed and how many you have left.

The free version of this app covers all the basics you need.

You can plan your meals or fill them in as you go through your day. Just stick to the total amount of calories you’ve set out to consume for the day.   

Should you track everything you eat forever? No, but I advise everybody to at least do this for some time.

This helps you to get an idea of the number of calories the foods you consume contain.

It will set you on a path to control the way your body looks by adjusting the number of calories you eat for the rest of your life. 

This is by far the best solution to lose weight.

Learn to track your calories by using a simple tool, like MyFitnessPal. It’s a free app that easily lets you track the number of calories you eat in a day with minimal effort. Do this for a while and become aware of what you eat, so you can eventually do it intuitively.

Weight loss is a lifestyle

What is the ideal way for you to lose weight? Is it a keto diet? Or perhaps the Mediterranean diet?

Truth is, the best weight loss diet is just the one you can turn into a lifestyle.

Every single diet out there can work, but it’s not because certain foods are “bad”.

It’s just that you eat fewer calories than your body needs to stay the same, aka your “metabolism”.

In theory, you can perfectly lose weight by eating pizza every single day.

It’s just that the amount of food you can eat while choosing pizza is a lot less than with eating vegetables for example.

Pizza has more calories for less food and vegetable have fewer calories for more food.

You’ll need to find a balance in this that works best for you.

If you’re always hungry, you’re doing it wrong. 

The problem is that most people look at a diet as something they will only do for a certain amount of time or to lose a certain amount of weight.

They don’t enjoy the foods they eat and suffer for months, just to gain the weight all back in the end.

Eat the foods you love and turn your diet into a lifestyle you enjoy.

By doing so, you’ll control the way your body looks and how you feel from this point forward. 

Every diet can work if you consume fewer calories than your body needs to survive. The one that will work for you is the one you enjoy most. Make it a lifestyle, not something temporary. 

Weight loss vs fat loss

It’s important to know that the weight you lose is not just fat. ‍

You’ll lose water and muscle as well.

What is losing water weight?

Water binds to carbohydrates, if you eat fewer carbs, you will (initially) lose a lot of water weight.

This is what happens if people tell you they lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks.

Especially on a keto diet, it's very typical to drop a large amount of water weight.

This is the case because carbs are nearly completely cut from the diet.

They did not lose even close to that amount in fat.

‍It also works the other way.

If you have a “cheat” day (or days), you’ll gain water weight, which makes it look like you put on 10 pounds of fat overnight.

Don’t worry, it’s not fat and it doesn’t completely ruin your weight loss process. Just get back on the right track and continue your journey. 

Weight loss is not the goal, but fat loss is.

Minimize muscle loss while losing weight

To achieve the best-looking body possible, you want to minimize the amount of muscle you lose. You can do this by doing these things:

• Follow a strength training routine at least twice a week: this will signal your body that your muscles are needed for daily activities. If you don’t do this your body will see your muscles as unnecessary and use them as fuel for your body. Strength training will also help you build muscle. More muscle and less fat are what will give you your desired body. 
• Eat enough protein. It’s a false belief that protein is only important for bodybuilders. Protein is important to retain the muscle you have and enable your body to lose mostly fat while losing weight. Aim for about 1.5-2.2 grams of protein per kg or .7-1g per lbs of body weight in your weight loss diet. As a bonus, it will also help you stay more full during a diet and will help you stick to the plan. 
• Sleep like a small cute baby. Try to sleep 7-8 hours a day. It helps to go to sleep and wake up at the same time most days. Make it a routine. It’s a small step for you, but a giant leap forward in your fat loss journey. Most fat isn’t lost during your workout but during your sleep. It’s also the time when your body flushes out toxins and repairs your muscles for them to grow. 
• Avoid stress on a diet like a plague. Stress produces cortisol. To keep it very simple, cortisol is the enemy of everything good that’s going on in your body. The mantra of your desired body shouldn’t be anything less than good vibes only. 

Water loss is expected when you start your weight loss diet. The initial drop in weight is not all fat. Similarly, the weight gain of a day of “cheating” is not fat either. It’s simply water weight. To prevent muscle loss: follow a strength training program at least twice a week, eat enough protein, sleep 7-8 hours daily and avoid stress.  

Final words

After reading this article I hope you've got a good understanding of why you don't lose weight, and what the best solution is.

You’re now armed with a basic knowledge of how your metabolism works and the number of calories your body requires to sustain its daily activities.

There’s no magic pill or diet that will make you lose weight without putting in the effort.

But there’s no reason a diet can’t be enjoyable and filled with the foods you like.

So why do some people lose weight without trying and others can't by putting in all the effort in the world?

It all comes down to the number of calories they're eating versus the number of calories their body needs. 

How to make any diet work for you?

Find the lifestyle you enjoy and learn to track calories.

To boost your results and transform into the best version of yourself make sure to follow a strength training program at least twice a week, eat your proteins daily, sleep 7-8 hours like a baby and avoid stress at all costs! 

What diets have you tried in life, and did they work?