At WAG Nutrition, we’re all about helping our members build consistency over time and find the level of flexibility with their diet that works best for them. There is no “best” or “one size fits all,” so working with someone one-on-one is imperative to making sustainable, consistent progress.
But what if you’re working really hard (either solo or with a coach) to do everything “right,” and your weight just isn’t moving? What could you be missing?
Here are 11 sneaky things that could be standing between you and your weight loss goal:
Before we jump into why you may not be making weight loss progress, here's a little disclaimer: you don't need to be perfect to see progress.
But having all (or at least most) of the information about where calories and macros could be sneaking their way into your routine will give you the best shot at making intentional changes and choices about where to focus your time and energy!
1. You’re following the wrong macros.
Finding the right calorie and macro breakdown based on your body, goals, lifestyle, and food preferences is an art as much as it is a science. The best way to ensure your macros are right for you is to work with a one-on-one nutrition coach or schedule a one-time nutrition counseling session. You can also calculate your macros for free here if you want to try it solo.
2. You regularly exceed your macros by more than 5 grams of your carbohydrate and protein targets and by more than 2 grams of your fat target.
Your body is like a science experiment—the more consistent the input (food), the more reliable the output (progress towards your goals) is. At WAG, we ask our clients to come within these ranges to give us the best look at what is working and what isn’t.
Just because you have macros or a calorie goal doesn’t automatically mean you’ll see progress. You have to hit them regularly for them to “work” (the same way you need to follow a fitness program to get stronger).
3. You frequently eyeball and estimate your foods.
You don’t have to be perfect to see progress. In fact, consistency over time is much more impactful than perfection here and there. That being said, your level of flexibility within your diet—which includes the frequency with which you estimate and eyeball instead of using a food scale—needs to align with your goals.
But how much food estimation makes sense for you? Learn what it really takes to get lean here!
4. You use units of measure like tablespoons, cups, and "one piece" of fruit.
Although great in a pinch or if your goals allow for a bit more wiggle room with precision, using cups, spoons, and numerical entries isn’t always accurate. For example, the difference between using tablespoons or weighing out a serving of peanut butter can add up to anywhere between 1 and 5 (or more) grams of fat.
Although it doesn’t seem like much, this could account for over 300 calories over a full week. Depending on your calorie deficit and goals, this could be the difference between seeing the desired scale movement and feeling stuck!
5. You choose inaccurate entries when logging foods in your macro tracking app.
If you hit your macros regularly but do so with inaccurate entries, you could be eating more than you realize—especially if one of your go-to foods is logged incorrectly. Ensure you’re using “verified” entries in MyFitnessPal and quickly cross-reference what you see in your app with what you see on your nutrition label.
If you choose a food without a nutrition label (for example, an apple) cross-reference your entry with a credible source like the USDA database. And remember, weigh your apple instead of using an inaccurate entry like “one apple”.
6. You eat without tracking everything and take little bites here and there.
Here are a few examples of when this may happen:
- Cooking with oil or cooking spray and not counting it because you "don't use that much.” Weigh your can before and after spraying. The difference is how many grams of fat you should log.
- Taking bites of food while prepping and cooking
- Taking bites of your kid’s food or a bite off of a friend or partner’s plate
If you’re tempted to snack while cooking, at least estimate those little bites. Better yet, measure out a small bowl of the things you know you’ll want to pick (ex, chocolate chips while making cookies) and measure them out precisely.
7. More than more than 30% of your carb or fat intake is used for alcohol on a regular basis.
Deep dive into alcohol and its role in your progress in our free course, Happy Hour Made Easy. Or, read our article Alcohol and Weight Loss: What You Need to Know.
The TLDR: Think of drinking alcohol like pressing the pause button on fat-burning. Your body prioritizes metabolizing alcohol over using the carbs and fats you give it for energy or recovery. Although there is a time and place to enjoy a drink, you’ll be shocked by how quickly the scale starts to move when you cut it back (or cut it out!).
8. You aren’t accounting for gum, mints, cough drops, or supplements
Are you noticing a pattern yet? Small things add up over time and the closer you get to your weight loss goal, the more these “little” things start to matter.
A five-calorie piece of gum feels like no big deal, but if you eat five pieces daily, that is 175 calories per week. If you forget to log your 3g daily fish oil tablet, this can add up to 189 calories per week.
9. You frequently eat packaged foods and trust the weight you see on the package.
The weight you see on the package doesn’t always match the weight of the food in the package. For example, a 300g protein bar could weigh more (or less)! If there is a specific packaged food you eat regularly, double-check the true weight of the food you eat. If you find that the package is pretty close to accurate, you’re probably okay to trust it moving forward.
If you find that it is consistently inconsistent (ex, every single one of your 300g protein bars actually weighs 350g), create a new food entry that is more accurate. Learn how to create custom foods in MacrosFirst here. Learn how to create custom foods in MyFitnessPal here.
10. You log foods raw and measure them cooked (or vice-versa).
If you want to be as humanly accurate as possible, weighing food raw is the way to go, as foods either absorb or expel water as they’re cooked. That being said, you can still be pretty accurate if you log foods cooked as long as you’re using correct entries in your food tracking app or creating a recipe to do the raw-to-cooked conversions for you.
Which method is best for you? This article will help you decide!
11. You need 1-on-1 nutrition coaching!
If you feel a little overwhelmed, that’s okay! There are so many different things to consider when dialing in your consistency if you’re frustrated with the scale.
This list was created to give you a well-rounded look at what could impact your results, but it doesn’t mean you need to be perfect to see progress. For most people, seeing movement on the scale comes down to the “bigger” things, like eating the right number of calories and macros and staying consistent with hitting targets. From there, the “smaller” things start to matter.
A WAG coach will take the question mark out of how much you should eat to reach your goals. They’ll also help you decide where to focus your time and energy when it comes to the “little things” so you can get the most weight loss bang for your effort buck! We’d love to have you on the team. Learn more about 1-on-1 nutrition coaching here!
