I Am Exercising & Eating Right, Why Am I Gaining Weight?

Last Updated on January 7, 2021

While controlling your diet and getting lots of activity can help with weight control, overdoing it on dieting and exercise can undermine your efforts. Restricting calories slightly lowers your metabolism, and reducing your calorie intake too much can actually cause a semi-starvation state, because your body senses that it’s not getting enough fuel. In response, it will resist burning any fat. You’ll also start losing muscle tissue, which further lowers your metabolism and makes it harder to maintain your weight.

This starvation state typically happens when you’re getting less than half of your daily calorie needs, so, if, for example, you’re burning 2,500 calories daily but only eating 1,200 calories, you’re likely stalling your metabolism. Consult a dietitian for help getting your body to a healthy state; it might take some trial and error to figure out how many calories you need, and professional advice can help you minimize fat gain during the process.

Obsessing over your weight, diet and exercise program isn’t doing your waistline any good; increasing your stress levels can make it hard to lose weight, and even trigger weight gain. Normally, stress hormones play a role in your body’s “fight or flight” response, and they help you access the fuel and energy you need to deal with a scary or stressful situation. Chronically high stress levels, however, disrupt your stress hormone levels. That affects how your body stores fuel, and you may find yourself developing more weight in your midsection.

Let your food diary double as a stress journal, a place in which you note the most frequent stressors in your life, so you can develop strategies to reduce your stress levels. Writing down your thoughts, ending your day with a peaceful meditation or talking to a loved one can all reduce your stress levels, which may help your weight get back on track. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep each day, too; sleeping 7 to 9 hours a night helps normalize your stress hormone levels, while sleep deprivation increases stress hormones.