So you too are eating healthy and can’t lose weight huh?
Don’t worry, you are not alone.
Many people have this phenomenon.
You are skipping fast food, only eating clean foods, and yet still can’t seem to lose weight.
Good thing in this article today I am going to cover exactly what is going on as to why you cannot seem to get the scale to budge, as well as give you some solid tips and tricks you can take to start seeing results today.
Just be sure to read the entire thing, alright?
I know it can be a frustrating thing to put in so much work and effort and not see results.
That is not something I want that for you. I want you to win and be successful.
Cool? Let’s get into why you are eating healthy and can’t lose weight.
Eating Healthy And Can’t Lose Weight
How Do You Lose Weight?
Before we talk about why you are not losing weight, let’s talk about how you even lose weight in the first place.
In a #detoxteas, #keto, #doanythingbutexerciseandeatheatlhy world we currently live in, there can be much confusion about what you need to do in order to see weight loss progress.
Should you do keto or fasting? Paleo or carnivore? Are you possibly eating too little?
Here is the deal.
There is only one way you are going to lose weight no matter if you are doing keto, fasting, calorie counting, you name it.
You must abide by the laws of thermodynamics.
This means you must have less energy coming in than going out.
In our scenarios as humans, this energy comes in the form of overall calories.
Therefore you must have less calories coming in than the amount you are burning on a daily basis.
This is called being in a caloric deficit.
That’s it. That is the only way to lose weight. That is what every “diet” makes you do. Whether it was the Atkins or South Beach diet back in the day, or whether it is keto or fasting now.
It does not matter in which fashion you choose to get into this caloric deficit, but in order to lose weight you have to be in one.
If you are not losing weight, you are not in a caloric deficit.
The next question is going to be “how many calories should I eat to lose weight then??””.
Don’t worry, I got you covered with a free calculator HERE.
So, why are you eating healthy and can’t lose weight?
Well, simply put, you are not in a calorie deficit.
You can eat as “clean” as you want to or as healthy as you want to, but a reminder for you, the clean foods have calories too.
Recall what we just talked about with the laws of thermodynamics. If you are not intaking less calories than what your body is burning you will not lose weight off of your body.
I know that is super frustrating to hear, and you will swear up and down you are not eating that much, but remember I am not spending my time writing this article to give you information for free to razz you or lie to you.
I want to help you. Please, keep that in mind and keep reading the article.
Therefore it doesn’t matter how healthy or clean you are eating, if you are eating too many calories then you will not lose weight, no matter where the foods are coming from.
The kicker is not only do they have calories, they often have a lot more calories than you think.
Let’s talk about 5 examples below of foods that are “healthy” but could be deceivingly be one of the reasons you are eating healthy and can’t lose weight.
Eating Healthy And Can’t Lose Weight
5 “Healthy” Foods High In Calories
Nut Butters
Oh nut butters.
Everyones love and delicious pride and joy.
Sad news alert incoming, they are incredibly high in calories.
For a small serving size of two tablespoons, or 32g, nut butters tend to be around 200 calories.
The reason I put 32g in there is because if you have not weighed out your nut butter on a food scale, and you are simply using the tablespoon method, I encourage you to look at this comparison below.
As you can see, when you get the correct serving size, it is light on the food, but boy is it ever high on the calories.
Nut butters can be a mistake when you say “Well I am eating almond butter, that is healthy right?!”.
Sure, it very well could be healthy. But remember if you are eating healthy but can’t lose weight, it all comes down to calories.
Also please for the love of all things fitness, start measuring your nut butters in grams not tablespoons. This is by far one of the biggest dieting mistakes I see people make.
I cover this more in depth in this video HERE, but this could very well be holding you back.
Now, there can be an alternative.
Alternative To Nut Butters : PB2
PB2 is a great alternative I use with a ton of my online coaching clients when we are looking to cut some calories but still keep in foods they like.
PB2 is a powdered nut butter. You can use it in shakes or eat it regular ( I don’t normally do that, but know people who do).
Either way, it is a great way to still get your nut butter fix in without having to dish out 200 calories.
PB2 is 60 calories for 2 tablespoons, as opposed to 200 calories for 2 tablespoons in regular nut butter.
Feel free to give it a shot, you can get it here.
Almonds
“I eat healthy I swear! I snack on almonds all day long! Those are healthy aren’t they?!”.
Again, are almonds healthy? Super healthy.
Are almonds high in calories? You bet your bottom dollar they are.
1 serving of almonds is about 1/4 cup (28g) it is about 165 calories.
Once again, for a minuscule amount of food, quite high in calories.
If you snack on almonds 3x a day, that’s 500 calories from almonds alone.
Now the “ eating healthy and can’t lose weight” thing is starting to make somewhat sense, right?
Alternative To Almonds
You usually grab almonds for a quick snack, right?
Some great alternatives I normally use with my clients are things like carrots, greek yogurts, tuna packet, beer jerky, or my favorite pickles.
There is nothing wrong with having almonds as they are quite beneficial to your health, they just can be very easy to overdo calorie wise.
“Healthy Salads”
Lord now I am telling you salads are bad?!
No, not at all.
What I am saying is they can be sneaky high in calories, usually because of the dressing and possibly what is in the salad.
When you go to a restaurant and you are trying to eat healthy, your first thought is usually “welp, let me get a salad”.
Just because it is a salad and it very well may be healthy, does not mean it is always low calorie.
For example, if you get a salad that has two servings of almonds in it, that alone is already over 300 calories.
Let’s say it comes with everyones favorite dressing, ranch, that is another 300 ish calories for 2 servings.
Then if you get some dried fruit, maybe add another 2-400 calories.
Add say chicken for 150-250 calories.
You are looking at a 1000 calorie salad, easily!
This could close to what some of your are allotted to eat in an entire day, in one “healthy” salad.
This one I believe is truly the crux of why you may be eating healthy and can’t lose weight.
Alternative To “Healthy Salads”
In no way, shape, or form am I telling you not to have salads.
In fact, I encourage all of my online coaching clients to have at least one big ass salad a day.
I myself have one big ass salad a day and it has helped me lose 23 lbs in 8 weeks.
Yet what you can be is be conscious of what is in it.
You can add almonds, but maybe just to 1/2 serving instead of 2.
Or maybe can have dressing, but maybe you go with a 0 calorie dressing like here as opposed to a 300 calorie ranch dressing.
Load it up with protein to help fill you up and keep the calories lower.
Whatever you do, simply just be mindful of what is on it, and be aware of the sneaky add ups.
Olive Oil / Cooking Oil
Whenever I ask anyone if they take into consideration their cooking oil for calories, they look at me like I have 6 heads.
For example olive oil. For 1 serving of olive oil it has 120 calories.
If you use olive oil at say your breakfast, lunch, and dinner to cook with that is 360 calories right there strictly from your cooking oil.
You think it matters now?
While olive oil does offer some healthy fats, this isn’t to say olive oil isn’t healthy, it is to say it has a ton of calories.
Alternative To Olive Oil
What can be an alternative to olive oil?
Easy, a cooking oil spray.
But be warned, this is not 0 calories like it says on the bottle.
If you look closely it says 0 calories for a 1/4 second spray.
Who the hell is just spraying the oil for 1/4 of a second?
You probably spray the entire pan and then some.
This article goes more in depth on why 0 calorie sprays are not actually 0 calories but basically you need to track those calories as well.
Yet point being, it is extremely lower in calorie than olive oil so it can be a great lower calorie alternative.
Green Smoothies
What screams “healthy” more than a green smoothie?
You can buy one of these puppies and you should be well on your way to having a healthy weight loss journey right?!
Eh, check again.
This example above is a “healthy green smoothie”.
It has 130 calories per serving with 30g of sugar.
That means there is 260 calories and 60g of sugar for the entire bottle.
Doesn’t seem so “healthy” anymore huh?
This is probably the number 2 thing I look for when people tell me they are eating healthy and can’t lose weight.
Alternative To Green Smoothies
I honestly think green smoothies can be great, I would just advise to make your own as opposed to buying them from a store.
The sole purpose of companies who make them is to make them taste good so you don’t hate them.
This normally means loading up in sugar and calories, yet still being able to market it as healthy.
When you make your own, you know exactly what is going in them.
You can measure out your ingredients, you can use low calorie almond milk, you can throw in some PB2 like we talked about earlier ;), and make sure you control the calories.
A great way to have a great, healthy, and now low calorie green smoothie.
See Now Why You Are Eating Healthy And Cant’ Lose Weight?
These are just 5 quick examples I have seen coaching people for 4+ years now that continuously pop up when people tell me they are eating healthy and can’t lose weight.
I want to make something very clear.
In no way shape or form am I saying any of these things above are “bad” or you should avoid them.
There are no “bad foods”. Again almonds for example, offer tons of health benefits.
Olive oil offers a variety of health benefits.
I told you I have myself and my clients have one big ass salad every day.
I am simply laying these out for you to drive home the point of when it comes to fat loss,
How much you eat is more important than what you eat.
You could eat as healthy as you want to, but if you are not in a calorie deficit, you will not lose weight. No matter how healthy the foods are or aren’t.
I hope this article helped you.
If you want to learn a bit more on this topic and your specific scenario, I also did an entire YouTube video covering some other different factors.
You can watch it here below.
Hope this helped and talk soon 🙂
-E