What should I do if I’m not losing weight?

Understand why you’re not losing weight with these practical strategies, focusing on overall health and realistic goals for teenagers.

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Understanding Weight Loss Challenges

Attempting to lose weight can sometimes feel like facing a steep mountain. Whether it's due to societal pressures, personal goals, or health reasons, teenagers often find themselves in the whirlpool of trying to shed pounds. If you're eating right and exercising but the scale isn't budging, it can be incredibly frustrating. However, it's essential to understand why this might be happening. Firstly, our bodies go through numerous changes during the teen years, including hormonal fluctuations which can significantly impact both weight and distribution of fat. Biology aside, other factors like metabolism, lifestyle, and even genetics play a crucial role. Additionally, the methods you are using to lose weight might not be suited to your body's needs.

Real-Life Impact on Teenagers

Not seeing expected results can lead to feelings of disappointment, demotivation, and sometimes serious self-esteem issues. For teenagers, whose self-image is often closely tied to peer perception and media influences, not losing weight can feel particularly disheartening. It can also lead to unhealthy behaviours such as extreme dieting, exercise burnout, or worse, eating disorders. That's why it's crucial to approach weight loss with a healthy mindset and safe practices.

Practical Strategies to Address Weight Loss Plateaus

If the scale isn't moving, don't despair. Below are some practical strategies you can adopt to understand better and manage your weight loss journey more effectively:

1. Evaluate Your Method

What should I do if I'm not losing weight?
  • Track Your Eating Habits: Sometimes, we underestimate how much we actually eat. Consider keeping a food diary or using a food tracking app to get a clearer picture.
  • Assess Your Diet: It's not just about how much you eat, but what you eat. Ensure your diet is balanced with a good mix of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Small nutritional adjustments can sometimes unlock weight loss.

2. Understand Your Body

  • Consider Your Genetics: Look at your family history as it can give you insights into your own weight challenges.
  • Medical Conditions: Some health issues like thyroid problems, PCOS, and others can affect your weight. Consulting with a healthcare provider can be enlightening.

3. Change Your Fitness Routine

  • Mix It Up: Doing the same workout repeatedly can lead to a plateau. Try mixing different types of workouts to challenge different muscle groups and increase your overall fitness.
  • Incorporate Strength Training: Muscle burns more calories than fat, so adding strength training to your routine can boost your metabolism.

4. Set Realistic Goals

It's tempting to aim for rapid weight loss, especially if you have a particular goal in mind. However, aim for sustainable weight loss (about 1-2 pounds per week). Slow and steady not only wins the race but helps maintain weight loss long term.

5. Focus on Overall Health, Not Just the Scale

Remember, weight is not the only indicator of health. Muscle mass, mental well-being, and how you feel physically are equally important. Celebrate non-scale victories, such as feeling more energetic, sleeping better, or fitting into your clothes more comfortably.

6. Seek Professional Help

When in doubt, consult with a professional. A dietitian can help tailor your eating plans to your specific needs, and a therapist can help you deal with emotional and psychological factors related to weight. Sometimes just talking about it can open up new perspectives and solutions.

Conclusion

Remember, your value is not defined by a number on a scale. Each body is different, and weight loss is a personal journey. By understanding the factors involved and adopting a comprehensive approach to health, you can better manage your weight loss plan and tackle challenges that come your way effectively. Stay patient and persistent, and above all, prioritise your overall well-being over merely hitting a target weight.

How are you feeling?

It is really important that when we need help, we feel able to ask for it. This could be speaking to a parent, a close friend, a teacher or someone else you trust. Sometimes it can be really hard to share our feelings with other people but if we are feeling low or don't know where to turn, sharing with others is really important. Teachers will always take you seriously and listen to your problems in confidence if you approach them for help. Likewise, parents, siblings or friends will help you if you reach out to them.

If you feel like you can't speak to anyone you know, there are people and organisations that can help support you:

  • Childline - Call them on 0800 1111 any time of the day or night, every day of the week
  • NSPCC - Call them on 0808 800 5000 between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday or email them on help@NSPCC.org.uk
  • The Samaritans – Call them on 116 123 any time of the day or night, every day of the week
  • SANE – Call 0300 304 7000 for support (4:30pm - 10:30pm every day)
  • Mind – Call 0300 123 3393 (9:00am - 6:00pm Monday to Friday)

*Sometimes we will use real life examples in our articles to aid understanding. When we do, names and ages will be changed.