Weight loss is often a frustrating pursuit, eluding even those who eat healthy and exercise. So what gives? Why won’t the scale budge even as you put out tremendous effort?

Read on for the 7 reasons that most fitness and health food lovers don’t lose the pounds that they want to…

1. You Don’t Sleep Enough

Let’s start with the most rampant problem standing in the way of your fat loss. Most adults simply do not get adequate sleep to support weight loss. There is a scientific reason for this, and it has everything to do with hormone levels. While you sleep your cortisol levels decline while your growth hormone levels increase. This balance is essential for fat loss to occur.

So skipping on Zzzz’s will throw your hormones into fat storing mode, while simultaneously causing you to feel hungrier and encouraging you to eat more calories.

2. You Eat TOO MUCH Healthy Food

Yes, my friend, there is such thing as TOO MUCH healthy food. When it comes to weight gain, extra calories can come from just about anywhere before landing on your waistline – even from healthy foods. Sure, it will take you longer to gain weight by overeating roasted chicken and sweet potato than it would ice cream and chips, but the extra pounds will still add up.

Control your portions, even of healthy foods, in order to make strides in your body transformation journey.

3. You Don’t Drink Enough Water

Most of us are walking around in a state of partial dehydration everyday. In addition to being dangerous for all of your major body organs, dehydration is perilous for fat loss. Not only does water serve as an appetite suppressant to fill your stomach and prevent you from overeating, thirst is often mistaken for hunger pains, leading to extra calories consumed and stored as fat.

By sipping on water throughout the day you’ll avoid dehydration and will find it easier to move the number on your scale in a favorable direction.

4. You Eat Out Too Much

Restaurant meals are higher in calories than meals prepared and eaten at home – across the board. There is simply no way around it, and even if you consciously attempted to eat small portions while eating out it would be quite difficult to do. Restaurant food is created with consumer satisfaction in mind, and this means adding fats and sugars and salt to many of the menu items in order to produce the tastiest food possible! Unfortunately the tastiest is also quite often the most fattening.

Want more fat loss? Make simple, wholesome meals at home and eat with portion control.

5. You Don’t Get Enough Protein or Fiber

Protein and fiber are the golden tickets to fat loss, but sadly your diet doesn’t contain nearly enough of it. It’s natural to enjoy the flavors of sugar, fat and carbs more than protein and fiber, and that’s why your diet is filled with more of these than it should be. While sugar, fat and carbs taste better than protein and fiber, these lead to dreaded weight gain.

Consciously plan your meals around a base of protein and fiber, and then add in just enough complex carbs and healthy fats to keep it well rounded. Save the bulk of your sugar, fat and simple carb consumption for planned cheat meals in order to prevent ongoing weight gain.

6. Your Diet is Filled with Packaged Foods

I’m not talking about cookies and candies, because you know better than that. I’m talking about packaged protein bars, granola, crackers, rice cakes, protein cookies, and the plethora of packaged health foods that you have stashes of. Sure, these packaged foods may be healthier than snacks from a vending machine, but in the grand scheme of your fat loss, the fewer packaged items the better when it comes to shedding pounds. Even the healthiest of packaged foods contain ingredients that are modified or processed, in order to preserve the shelf life, and these ingredients have a negative impact on your waistline.

Real, natural and whole always beats packaged. Take inventory of your daily diet and eliminate the packaged foods so that it’s no longer an everyday occurrence.

7. Your Workouts are Too Easy

Going through the motions at the gym simply doesn’t cut it when you want to transform your body. Most people want to stay as comfortable as possible at all times, and this usually means treading lightly through their workout, rather than going all in. And while putting your body through the motions of exercise is better than sitting on the couch, it certainly won’t result in a sculpted body.

Rate your perceived exertion in your last workout from 1 to 10. If it falls below an 8 then your workout is in need of a serious revamp. That's why people come to me!

I’m here to help you achieve the body that you dream of. Don’t let another month pass you by – take action by calling or emailing me now to get started!

You aren’t consistent.

Let me repeat that....

You aren't CONSISTENT!!!

Ouch, yes that might hurt, but you know it’s true. One week you start eating healthy and exercising daily, but then by day 4 something in life has gotten in the way and prohibited you from either working out, eating healthy, or both. That one day becomes two days. Next thing, you’ve found a myriad of reasons that make it "impossible" to stay with it. A few weeks go by, a few pound creep on, and then you give it another try…for 8 days this time before you quit. And the frustrating cycle continues.

The stunning body transformation that you want will only come by changing your lifestyle as it relates to how you eat and how you exercise. Half-hearted attempts to change will only result in half-hearted results. Inconsistency will lead to ZERO results. You have to stay in it to win it.

Fully commit yourself to the process of transforming your body. Jump in with both feet and don’t look back!

​Meatless Monday is a concept that has been gaining popularity over the past decade.

The idea is that skipping meat on Mondays will improve our health and the health of the planet. This Stuffed Summer Squash is hearty, flavorful and satisfying…even without the meat!

Courtesy of RealHealthyRecipes.com

Servings: 3

Here’s what you need

• 3 yellow summer squash
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 1 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 leek, diced
• 1 cup mushrooms, diced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• ½ cup quinoa, cooked
• ¼ cup fresh basil, minced

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Halve the squash lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Lightly rub both sides of each squash half with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Place, cut side down, on a baking sheet. Roast for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Gently remove the tender center of each squash, leaving the skins intact. Chop the removed squash flesh and set aside. Line the squash halves, hollow side up, back onto the baking sheet.
2. Place a skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and diced leek. Cook, stirring often, for 4 minutes. Add the diced mushroom, fresh thyme and tomato paste. Cook for another 4 minutes. Deglaze the skillet with the wine, cooking for an additional 3 minutes.
3. Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the cooked quinoa, fresh basil and reserved, chopped squash flesh. Fill the squash skins with the quinoa mixture. Place back in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Nutritional Analysis

One serving equals: 163 calories, 3g fat, 25g carbohydrate, 15mg sodium, 2g sugar, 3g fiber, and 6g protein.