You’ve been working on losing weight for a while now, but you’re still not seeing the results you want on the scale. It feels super frustrating to put in all this effort and not be making any progress. So, what’s going on? Why aren’t you losing the weight you want to lose? And what can you do about it? Well, my friend, I’ve got the answers, and on today’s episode of the Get Your GOAL podcast, I’m sharing four reasons why you’re not losing weight … yet.
Hello, hello, GOALfriend, welcome to the podcast.
Before I get into the reasons, make sure you really take the time to hear the last word in the title of this episode: yet.
While it may or may not be true that you’re not losing weight right now (and we’ll talk about how that might not even be true in reason number four!), your current weight loss progress is not an indicator of your future success.
It truly does not matter how long you’ve struggled or what results you’ve gotten in the past. At any point in time, YOU can turn your ship around and sail in the direction you want to go. You are 100% capable of losing weight
Because the simple formula for permanent weight loss is this: Step One, believe that you can lose weight. Step Two, eat in a slight caloric deficit over time, and Step Three, lovingly support your menopausal metabolism while you’re doing Step One and Step Two.
Pretty much every diet plan in the world focuses on Step Two and some of them give a little attention to Step Three, but the real heart of weight loss – especially permanent weight loss – lies in Step One.
Believing in YOURSELF is the undeniable, inescapable, A-Number One key to losing weight.
And right now, there’s a really good chance that disbelief is lurking in every corner of your brain. It’s not just the thought, “I don’t believe I can lose weight” that’s stopping you, though that’s definitely one of the most common mindset blocks I hear.
But there are other ways that disbelief shows up in your life and, notably, on the scale, that we’re talking about today. These four reasons you’re not losing weight YET, are your ticket to uncovering your disbelief mindset blocks, so you can bust through them.
My job and my zone of genius is helping menopausal women like you believe in yourself so you can lose all the weight you want and keep it off forever.
So, here we go: Four Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight… Yet, and what to do about them.
Reason Number ONE that you’re not losing weight yet is that you haven’t decided to lose weight.
You’ve been thinking about it, you’ve been talking about it, maybe you know that you want to lose weight, you’ve been complaining about your weight, and you’ve maybe done some research or possibly even downloaded The 5-0 Method from getyourgoal.com.
You feel like you’re putting in a lot of effort, you’re definitely thinking about weight loss a lot, but you notice that you’re only kinda-sorta following the parts of the program that you were already doing anyway. And you’re definitely not losing weight yet.
Here’s how you know that you haven’t decided to lose weight: you’re still waffling about the exact wording of your goal, or you haven’t even used the word goal yet. You tell yourself things like, “I just want to work on my cardio right now,” or “I’d be really happy to just fit into my clothes again,” or “I’m just trying to be a little healthier and watch my portion sizes.”
All that uncertainty? That’s disbelief.
Contrast that with deciding to lose weight. Feel how solid and sure decision feels. If you’re not losing weight yet because of indecision, here’s your plan of action: decide. Commit. Go all in. Announce to yourself that you are losing weight. Feel the power of that decision, that belief, in your body and let it fuel your daily activities.
Reason Number TWO that you’re not losing weight yet is that you’re not consistent with your calories.
Okay, so you’ve made the decision to lose weight, but … well… sometimes you’re tracking your calories and sometimes you’re not. And even when you are tracking, your daily numbers are all over the place. Or you’re tracking but you literally never look at the numbers again after you put them into your app or your spreadsheet or your notebook.
You feel really justified that you should be losing weight because, come on, you’re counting your calories! And you’re getting pretty frustrated that the scale isn’t cooperating.
But here’s how I, as your coach inside the Get Your GOAL membership, know that you’re not actually being consistent with your calories. When I ask you about your numbers, you say things like, “I’m pretty sure I’ve been consistent,” or “I think I’m doing alright,” or “I’ve been really good about tracking.”
Listen, being really good about tracking is a skill and props to you for doing it. But tracking your calories isn’t the same as being consistent with them,
That inconsistency? That’s disbelief.
Compare that with the reliability of meeting your task every day. Feel how warm and simple reliable feels. If you’re not losing weight yet because of inconsistency, here’s your plan of action: create a reliable routine for yourself that you can repeat consistently. One of the very first lessons I teach inside the Get Your GOAL membership is how to get honest with yourself about your current consistency, so you can move toward relying on yourself at 100% consistency.
Reason Number THREE that you’re not losing weight yet, is that you haven’t taken responsibility for losing weight.
This one’s tough for a lot of us! You and I have both been socialized our whole lives to look toward outside authority for all of our answers. From your parents to your teachers to your elders to people in lots of different official capacities, you’ve abdicated responsibility for your results.
Not taking responsibility for losing weight shows up in things like constantly researching the “right way” to lose weight. You think that some weight loss programs “work” and some of them “don’t work.” Or you spend time blaming menopause or your upbringing or your job or your spouse for making weight loss so hard.
And it definitely shows up in your weight loss results, or lack thereof.
You’ll know that you haven’t taken responsibility for losing weight when you find yourself saying things like, “Well, I guess I’ll try this and just see how it goes,” or “I’m really hoping this new program works for me,” or “I’ve tried everything, and nothing really works for me because…” and then you fill in the blank with somebody or something that isn’t you.
My friend, I know this one’s tough to hear, but all that blame and learned helplessness is holding you back. It’s disbelief.
And when you see and feel the difference between giving all your power away versus taking responsibility for yourself and the results you want to create, you will lose weight. Feel how electric and powerful personal responsibility feels.
If you’re not losing weight yet because you haven’t taken responsibility, this is your course of action: take the reins, take control, take responsibility. Losing weight isn’t outside of your control, it’s yours to create for yourself.
Finally, Reason Number FOUR that you’re not losing weight yet is that you’re telling yourself you’re not losing weight.
What?? Can it really be that simple? Yes!
In my job as a weight loss coach, I have heard the sentence “I’m not losing weight” come out of thousands of mouths (or… you know, keyboards, because the Get Your GOAL membership is on the internet) and it never ceases to amaze me how much we believe in our own mindset blocks.
When I ask you how it’s going with The 5-0 Method, you will look me right in the face and announce things like, “I’m not losing weight,” or “I haven’t lost a significant amount of weight yet,” or “Well, this is probably just water weight,” or “I’m not really losing weight,” or “I haven’t seen any changes yet.”
And then, when I ask you for actual numbers – verifiable data – you’ll share that “Well, I’ve lost a pound,” or 2 pounds, or 3, or 4, or 5 pounds, 6 pounds, 7 pounds. I had one client who had lost 12 pounds and stood firmly, unwaveringly to her statement that she wasn’t losing weight.
My friend, THIS is disbelief. And it’s a mindset block you absolutely want to bust through, because it’s literally stopping you from seeing the weight loss results you want, even though they’re right in front of your face.
The human brain has an incredible capacity to see what it already believes (or, in this case, disbelieves). It’s called confirmation bias, and we all have it. But thank goodness, we also all have the ability to see through it.
And that’s your plan of action here: really listen to what you’re saying to yourself and question it. Your brain is always telling you a story, and it’s your job as the observer of your brain, to know if it’s the story you want to be telling yourself.
Rather than giving in to your disbelief, you can create unshakeable belief in yourself and your ability to lose all the weight you want and keep it off forever. And that’s exactly what we do inside the Get Your GOAL group. We take a look at the mindset blocks that are holding you back, and bust through them to get your goal.
Here’s a quick recap of the four reason you’re not losing weight yet:
Number ONE, you haven’t decided to lose weight.
Number TWO, you’re not consistent with your calories.
Number THREE, you haven’t taken responsibility for losing weight, and
Number FOUR, you’re telling yourself that you’re not losing weight.
Thank you so much for listening, my friend. I’ll talk to you again soon.