Hi there, good to have you back. I want to talk about something that’s been weighing heavily on the minds of so many of you. Lately, my inbox has been flooded with messages from women who are eating clean, working out consistently, doing everything they’ve been told to do, and yet, the scale refuses to budge, they are not shedding any weight And I get it. It’s frustrating. You start questioning yourself: “Am I doing something wrong?” “Why is nothing changing?”
Let me say this first: you’re not crazy, and you’re definitely not alone. This is more common than you think. And no, it doesn’t mean your body is broken or that your efforts are wasted. Today, we’re going to have a real conversation about what could be going wrong, because the truth is, weight loss isn’t just about eating less and moving more. It’s about understanding the deeper factors that influence your progress.
How Stress, Sleep, and Cortisol Affect Your Weight Loss
You can eat healthy and exercise every day, but if something is off with your hormones, you might still be struggling. For instance, if you’re not sleeping enough, I know people underestimate the power of sleep, if you’re not sleeping enough or you’re constantly being put under stress, your body releases what we call stress hormones. It’s called cortisol.
And guess what cortisol does? It slows down your metabolism. It makes you crave carbs and sugar and it stores fat around your belly. One simple way I explain cortisol to my clients is I usually tell them that cortisol is like a fertilizer to belly fat. So, if you’re struggling with bringing down your body fat percentage, especially if you carry a lot of fat around your waistline, your cortisol level might be elevated constantly. So, we need to address that.
Sometimes you beat yourself up. You’re like, “Why am I not getting this right? Why am I constantly craving junk? Why is my energy level low?” You’re not feeling motivated. Sometimes your hormones might just be out of whack. It might not be that you’re not strong enough to withstand the craving for junk. It might just be that we need to deal with your hormones.
Prioritize Quality Sleep and Manage Chronic Stress
So, what do we do in this instance? We need to prioritize sleep. Try to get seven to eight hours of sleep. I know in this economy, in this day and age, a lot of us work multiple jobs. So it’s hard for you to set aside eight hours of sleep, but try to get as much as you can.
Sometimes it’s not even about the length of your sleep. The length of your sleep is very important, but the quality of sleep also is important.
Also, for stress, you need to be intentional about managing your stress level. So if there is any situation that pushes you into being stressed all the time, if you can remove yourself, please do. It’s important to prioritize your mental health because whether you like it or not, your mental state directly affects your physical state. If you don’t put this under control, you might just be struggling with weight loss.
Don’t Skip Meals and Damage Your Metabolism
Also, try not to skip meals unnecessarily. There’s a place for fasting. It helps spiritually, physically, mentally, yes. But if you have no system, sometimes you’re just so busy that you don’t eat breakfast, you forget about lunch, maybe at 4 p.m. you just remember, “What am I supposed to eat right now?” and your eating habit is not really stable, you might be messing up your metabolism. So, please also pay attention to when you eat and how you eat as well.
Are You Truly in a Calorie Deficit?
Now, let’s move to the obvious one, calorie deficit. Are you truly in a calorie deficit? This is why I always advise people that if they can track their meals, whatever they’re consuming, it’s best to track it so that you know exactly what you’re eating and what you’re drinking.
Because if you just estimate and say, “I don’t eat much. I didn’t even eat this morning. In the afternoon, I just ate a tiny bowl of something,” you might be underestimating what you’re eating.
Let’s say for instance, nuts. We all know that nuts are healthy, right? For those who can consume them. So, a handful of nuts, let’s say you’re hungry, you’re trying to dash out of the house and you’re like, “I don’t want to eat anything sugary. I don’t want to eat junk,” but you have a bottle of nuts around you and you just grab the bottle and throw in a couple of handfuls, you might be eating 300 to 500 calories that way without knowing.
And if somebody asks you, you’re like, “I’ve not eaten today.” But because you ate the handful of nuts or two handfuls of nuts, you’re not paying attention that that could be up to 300 or 500 calories alone and you are not considering that as part of your meals for the day.
Hidden Calories in Healthy Foods Like Salad
Another typical example is salad. You know how we’re like, “Oh, I’m eating healthy. I’m eating salads. I’m not eating junk.” Salads are great. But do you know that the dressing you add to your salad is also very important?
One tablespoon of salad dressing, depending on the type of dressing you’re using, could be up to 150 calories, just the dressing alone. And looking at that, you’re not really considering that as part of your meal, right? You’re like, “I ate a bowl of salad.”
But if you’re doing these little things here and there, it could very easily add up to 1,000 calories for the day. Now, imagine you’re planning to lose a pound a week and depending on your numbers, you’re trying to get yourself to be in a deficit of about 500 calories every day.
Hidden Calories in Smoothies and Healthy Foods
But add all these little things together, you might be eating in a surplus, actually. What about smoothies? You might be telling yourself, “I didn’t eat this morning. I just drank a smoothie.” But what did you include in the smoothie? Smoothies in general, you would say they’re healthy, right?
But if you add three bananas, a whole avocado, avocado in itself is great, is a good source of healthy fats. Bananas are awesome, but do the math. By the time you add the numbers together, three bananas, one whole avocado, half a cup of nuts, one cup of milk, and then you blend it together and you’re happy that you’re drinking a healthy smoothie. Not that these things are not healthy, but some of the items that you’re using might be super high in calories and at the end of the day they all add up.
Be Mindful of Every Bite and Sip When Trying to Lose Weight
So what I’m saying in essence is, if you are intentional about losing weight, you need to be mindful of every single thing you eat and drink.
Why the Scale Might Be Lying to You
Now let me talk about the scale. So you’re complaining that you’re eating right, you’re exercising, but the numbers won’t go down. Sometimes the scale might just be a liar. Let me say that again for you. The scale might just be a liar. Your body might be changing, but the numbers on the scale remain the same. Sometimes your body might be holding on to some water.
You might be in a hormonal cycle. You might be a little bit bloated. It might be just a temporary stalling. So it might not be that, fine. I may be concerned if the scale is not moving for a week, two weeks. You’re doing everything right, but the scale is not moving. Yes, we need to figure out what else is happening. But if it’s like two days, some people just call me, some of my clients are like, “Every day they see the numbers go down and then it gets to a point where they step on the scale and it’s the same. The next day they step on the scale and it’s the same.”
Stop Weighing Yourself Daily
First of all, you don’t have to measure yourself every day. You’re just going to put yourself into unnecessary headache. Keep doing what you’re doing and stay consistent.
Gaining Muscle Can Affect the Scale
It may also be that you’re gaining muscle. So, if you’re putting a lot of effort in strength training, you might be gaining muscle. I know it takes time to gain muscle like that. It takes time to build muscle, but if you’re doing it consistently over time, yes, your body fat might be reducing, but you’re gaining more muscle mass. So, in that case, it affects the numbers on the scale as well.
Track Non-Scale Victories for Motivation
What you’re going to do in this instance, if that is your case, is you track all other non-scale victories like your inches. If you’ve seen my video in one of my recent videos, I talked about the things that you’re supposed to be tracking. So before you start your journey, you should get a measuring tape and measure your bicep, your waist, your hips, your thighs. Measure all of that.
When the number on the scale refuses to go down, just measure your waistline, measure your bicep. Every week or two, you can measure it and see your progress. That tells you that progress is happening. You may not be seeing it on the scale. Also, take before photos and take progress photos as you go along.
Use Before and After Photos for Progress
So if you compare week one to week two to week four and you can see a clear difference in the photos, even if the scale is not going as fast as you would like it to go, that is victory enough for you. Just keep going.
Track Progress by How Your Clothes Fit
Another thing I like to use to measure my progress is my clothing. I’m sure you have maybe a dress, some pants, a shirt that prior to you starting your journey did not fit you perfectly. As you go along the journey, try those clothing on again and see how they fit.
If you’ve seen some of my pictures in my recent videos, you will see that I saved a pair of shorts that I used in my before photos and I wore the same pair of shorts in my after photos just to see the massive difference. So you’re seeing results not only on the scale, you also see it in your inches, you also see it in your clothing.
Ditch the All-Or-Nothing Mindset
Lastly, I’m going to talk about your mindset. I know that a lot of us believe in the all-or-nothing mindset. You’re like, I have to do it and I have to do it right. It has to be perfect. But the thing is, you don’t have to be perfect all the time. You have to leave room for you being human.
Consistency Beats Perfection in Weight Loss
So what I tell my clients is, if I give you a meal plan personalized to your needs and your goals and you follow that meal plan 80% of the time, you’re going to get your results. Of course, if you follow it 100% of the time, you’re going to get your results even faster. But 80% is good enough for me.
As long as you do not say, “I’ve eaten one meal because I went out and I had to have dinner with my family,” and you’re like, “I’ve messed it all up. It’s not working. I’ve been working hard this past two weeks and now because of this one meal, I’ve messed it all up. It’s not working. I’ll start again next month.” Don’t do that.
One Off-Plan Meal Doesn’t Ruin Your Progress
If you do that, you’re giving up. Even if you’re temporarily throwing in the towel, don’t do that. Your journey does not have to be perfect 100% of the time. You keep putting yourself in a cycle. It’s going to slow down your success.
Get Back on Track and Keep Moving
So what do you do? Ditch that mindset of “it has to be perfect or I’m starting again.” Just stop it. One off meal or snack doesn’t ruin anything. Just get over it and move on with the next day. As long as you’re staying consistent in the journey and as long as you’re not having that one-off meal every single day like, “Because Coach PJ said if I mess up one time, it’s fine.”
Frequently Asked Questions: Doing Everything Right But Not Losing Weight
1. Why am I not losing weight even though I eat healthy and exercise?
It’s possible to eat healthy foods and still consume more calories than your body needs. Even nutrient-dense options like nuts, avocados, and whole grains are calorie-rich, and portion sizes play a big role in weight management. Another factor is exercise: while workouts burn calories, they can also increase appetite, leading to accidental overeating afterward. Stress and lack of sleep further complicate weight loss by elevating cortisol, a hormone that encourages fat storage. If you feel stuck despite doing everything right, tracking your actual calorie intake and reassessing exercise intensity can reveal hidden reasons for the plateau.
2. Could hidden medical conditions be preventing weight loss?
Yes, several medical conditions can interfere with fat loss. Hypothyroidism slows metabolism, making it harder to burn calories efficiently. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects hormone regulation and can lead to weight gain, especially around the abdomen. Insulin resistance, often a precursor to type 2 diabetes, also makes fat loss more challenging. If you suspect an underlying health issue, consult your doctor for blood tests to rule out these conditions. Sometimes, treating the root cause is the key to jumpstarting weight loss progress.
3. How does stress affect weight loss even when my diet and exercise are consistent?
Chronic stress increases cortisol, which not only drives cravings for high-calorie comfort foods but also promotes fat storage, particularly in the abdominal region. Even if you stick to a clean diet and regular workouts, elevated cortisol levels can blunt your progress. Stress can also interfere with sleep quality, which further disrupts hunger hormones like ghrelin and leptin, making you feel hungrier and less satisfied after meals. Incorporating stress-reducing practices such as deep breathing, yoga, journaling, or even short daily walks can help restore hormonal balance and support weight loss.
4. Why does sleep quality matter so much for fat loss?
Sleep is one of the most overlooked components of weight management. When you don’t get enough quality sleep, your body produces more ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and less leptin (the satiety hormone), leading to increased appetite and reduced feelings of fullness. Lack of sleep also makes it harder to resist cravings for sugary or high-fat foods. In addition, poor sleep elevates cortisol levels, slowing metabolism and encouraging fat storage. Aiming for 7–9 hours of restorative sleep per night can significantly improve fat loss efforts, even without major changes to diet or exercise.
5. Can working out too much prevent weight loss?
Surprisingly, yes. Over-exercising without proper recovery can stress the body, increase inflammation, and elevate cortisol—all of which can make fat loss more difficult. When your body is constantly fatigued and under strain, it may hold onto fat as a protective mechanism. Additionally, excessive training can trigger overeating due to increased hunger, unintentionally offsetting the calories burned. Striking a balance with exercise—alternating between strength training, cardio, and rest days—is essential for long-term fat loss and muscle preservation.
6. Is it possible to lose fat but not see changes on the scale?
Absolutely. The scale doesn’t tell the whole story of body composition. You might be losing fat while simultaneously gaining lean muscle, which weighs more but takes up less space than fat. This is especially common if you recently started strength training. As a result, your clothes may fit better, and you may look leaner, even if the number on the scale hasn’t moved. Tracking progress with body measurements, progress photos, and how your clothes fit often gives a clearer picture than relying on weight alone.
7. How important is nutrition timing for weight loss?
While total calorie balance is most important, when you eat can also impact fat loss. Skipping meals or eating too late at night may disrupt metabolism and hunger regulation. Starting the day with protein-rich foods can stabilize blood sugar and reduce cravings, while spacing meals evenly throughout the day helps maintain energy and prevent overeating. Post-workout meals are particularly critical since they replenish glycogen stores and aid in muscle recovery. Paying attention not just to what you eat but also when you eat can help overcome weight-loss plateaus.
8. Should I change my workout routine if I’ve stopped losing weight?
Yes, sometimes the body adapts to a routine, and what once worked may no longer challenge your muscles or cardiovascular system. If you’ve been doing the same exercises for months, your calorie burn may decrease as your body becomes more efficient. Introducing variety—like switching from steady-state cardio to HIIT, adding strength training, or increasing resistance—can reignite progress. A well-rounded fitness plan that challenges different muscle groups and energy systems ensures continued fat loss and prevents plateaus.
conclusion
At the end of the day, weight loss isn’t just about following rules perfectly, it’s about understanding your body, staying consistent, and building habits that support your long-term goals. I know how frustrating it can be when you’re doing everything “right” and still not seeing the scale move, but that’s not a reason to quit.
It’s a reason to slow down, reassess, and make small adjustments that align with your journey. You don’t need perfection, you need patience, awareness, and a mindset that’s willing to grow through the process. This journey is personal, and it’s yours. So give yourself the grace to learn, the discipline to stay on track, and the courage to keep going even when it’s tough. You’ve got this.