I’ve compiled this list from my health and wellness journey, research, watching TV, and learning from others.
It started as a list of reasons I thought I might not be losing weight. I started with more than a dozen. Now this list has become larger than I ever thought!
I’m excited to share this with you because assembling it has taken me so long. I hope this helps you in your weight loss journey as it has mine. I will continuously update this list as I find more to add. Tweaking these small habits will be critical as you start to plateau or figure out why you cannot lose weight.
Reasons related to food choices
- lack of planning and preparation
- miscalculating calories
- unsure of your calorie counts
- unaware of calorie content or ingredients
- portion sizes
- weekend blowouts
- secreting eating
- late-night eating
- emotional eating
- eating while bored
- grazing while cooking (I saw a woman on a TV show whose husband would ask her to try what he was cooking. It was an extra 1,000 calories per week without her realizing it. Added up, that is almost 15 lbs. in a year.)
- eating at your desk constantly
- food choices at work
- favorite family dinners (I saw a family on a TV show whose favorite dinner calculated over a year was almost 840,000 calories between a family of 5. This is only one of their meals!)
- not eating all day and binge eating at night
- skipping meals
- soda pop
- fast food
- convenience foods
- frozen dinners high in sodium
- “sugary” or overeating cereal
- “sugary” or drinking too much fruit juice
- quick and easy meal replacements
- boxed dinners
- drinking alcohol
- sauces
- marinades
- dressings
- condiments
- coffee additives
- having others make your food for you makes you not aware of what goes into it
- over snacking
- sweet tooth cravings
- going back for seconds or thirds
- the ingredients in your food
- high-calorie content food
- eating out often
- white bread
- bleached pasta
- food that is lying around that is unhealthy
- mindless eating
- being distracted while eating cause you to eat more
- not eating at a table makes people tend to eat more
- eating too quickly
- lack of protein
- not drinking enough water can lead to dehydration and increased hunger
- eating too many processed foods
- eating too many refined carbohydrates such as white bread and pasta
- eating too many high-fat foods
- A negative mindset or attitude towards weight loss can hinder efforts to make healthy food choices