Why Am I Not Losing Weight in a Calorie Deficit? 10 Reasons Your Progress May Have Stalled
Last updated: September 2026
You’re tracking your food.
You’re trying to eat less.
You’ve started exercising.
Maybe you’re getting more steps in.
And for a while, things seemed to be working.
Then suddenly the scales stopped moving.
Or worse, they went up.
That is usually when the questions start.
Why am I not losing weight if I’m in a calorie deficit?
Has my metabolism slowed down?
Am I eating too much?
Do I need to cut carbohydrates?
Should I add more cardio?
Do I need to drop my calories again?
Before you make your diet even more restrictive, there is something important to understand:
A stalled scale doesn’t automatically mean you aren’t losing fat.
And if progress genuinely has stopped, the solution isn’t always to immediately eat less.
I’m Sam Constantinou-Coulter, founder of The Viking Lifts and a personal trainer and weight-loss coach based in Ashford, Kent.
Before becoming a coach, I reached around 160kg and eventually lost more than 11 stone.
I’ve also coached hundreds of people through weight loss, and this is one of the most common situations I see.
Someone believes their diet has stopped working.
Usually, we don’t need to completely rebuild everything.
We need to work out what is actually happening.
So before you slash another 500 calories from your diet or add an hour of cardio every day, work through these possibilities first.
The Quick Answer: Why Am I Not Losing Weight in a Calorie Deficit?
If you are genuinely consuming less energy than your body uses consistently over time, your body has to make up that energy difference from somewhere.
That is the principle behind a calorie deficit.
But there are two important complications.
First, calculating your calorie deficit isn’t perfectly precise.
We estimate how many calories we consume.
We estimate how many calories we use.
Both numbers can change.
Second, fat loss and scale weight are not exactly the same thing.
Your body weight includes far more than body fat.
Water.
Food.
Stored carbohydrate.
The contents of your digestive system.
Muscle.
And other tissues all contribute to the number you see on the scales.
That means you can potentially be losing body fat while temporary changes elsewhere in your body hide that progress.
The first job isn’t therefore to panic.
It’s to identify which situation you’re actually dealing with.
1. You May Be Eating More Calories Than You Realise
This is one of the first things I look at with clients.
Not because people are lying about what they eat.
Usually they aren’t.
It’s because calories are incredibly easy to underestimate.
Imagine you’re tracking:
Chicken.
Rice.
Vegetables.
Fruit.
Protein yoghurt.
Everything looks perfect.
But what about:
The oil used for cooking?
The mayonnaise in your sandwich?
The dressing on your salad?
The milk in several coffees?
The handful of nuts while preparing dinner?
The children’s leftovers you finished?
The few bites you had while cooking?
The sauce you didn’t bother measuring?
The drinks at the weekend?
None of these things are inherently bad.
You don’t need to remove them.
But they still count.
And individually small amounts can become meaningful when repeated across an entire week.
Don’t aim for perfect tracking
This doesn’t mean you need to spend the rest of your life weighing every lettuce leaf.
The goal is simply to recognise where your estimates might be inaccurate.
If your weight has genuinely stopped moving, doing a more accurate week of tracking can be incredibly useful.
Think of it as gathering information rather than punishing yourself.
2. Your Weekends May Be Cancelling Out Your Weekdays
This is a huge one.
Someone might create a reasonable calorie deficit from Monday to Friday and then unknowingly remove most of it over the weekend.
Again, this doesn’t require a ridiculous binge.
Imagine you are eating approximately 400 calories below maintenance for five days.
That creates an estimated 2,000-calorie weekly deficit.
Then Saturday includes:
Breakfast out.
A larger lunch.
Dinner at a restaurant.
A few alcoholic drinks.
Some snacks when you get home.
You could easily consume substantially more than you normally would without feeling as though you’ve had an outrageous day of eating.
Then Sunday becomes another relaxed day because Saturday already wasn’t “perfect”.
Suddenly the weekly picture looks very different.
This doesn’t mean weekends have to disappear
I still enjoy meals out.
Takeaways.
Holidays.
Social occasions.
Wine.
The answer isn’t to become the person who never leaves the house because they’re dieting.
The skill is learning how those things fit within the whole week.
Because your body doesn’t reset its calorie balance every Monday morning.
Monday to Sunday all count.
3. Your Portion Sizes May Have Gradually Increased
This happens all the time.
You start your diet feeling incredibly focused.
Everything gets weighed.
Everything gets tracked.
Then after a few weeks you become more confident.
You know roughly what 50g looks like.
So you stop weighing it.
Except your 50g gradually becomes 60g.
Then 70g.
A teaspoon of peanut butter becomes a large spoonful.
A small serving of cereal becomes a bowl filled by eye.
Your controlled portion of pasta becomes whatever happens to fall out of the packet.
None of those changes feels dramatic.
That’s precisely why they are easy to miss.
If progress has stalled, go back to basics for a week.
Not forever.
Just long enough to check whether your portions still match what you think you’re eating.
4. Water Weight May Be Hiding Your Fat Loss
This is one of the biggest reasons people panic unnecessarily.
Your weight can fluctuate from day to day even when your body fat hasn’t meaningfully changed.
You might weigh more after:
A salty meal.
Eating more carbohydrates than normal.
A meal out.
Drinking alcohol.
A hard training session.
A later-than-usual dinner.
Travelling.
Changes in bowel movements.
Hormonal changes.
Simply having more food and fluid physically inside your body can affect the scale.
This is why seeing yourself 1kg heavier the morning after a restaurant meal doesn’t mean you’ve suddenly gained 1kg of body fat.
Look at trends, not individual numbers
One weigh-in tells you what you weighed at one particular moment.
That’s useful information.
But it’s not the whole picture.
Where appropriate, I prefer looking at the trend across multiple weigh-ins taken under similar conditions.
For example:
Morning.
After using the toilet.
Before eating or drinking.
Using the same scales.
Then compare the trend over time.
You don’t need to emotionally react to every number.
You’re looking for the direction of travel.
5. Starting or Increasing Exercise Can Temporarily Affect the Scales
This one confuses people.
They start exercising specifically because they want to lose weight.
Then the scales increase.
So they naturally assume:
“Exercise is making me gain weight.”
Not necessarily.
If you’ve recently started resistance training or dramatically increased your training workload, temporary changes in water retention around recovering muscle can influence your scale weight.
That doesn’t mean training isn’t working.
Strength training can be incredibly valuable during weight loss.
It can help you maintain or build strength, improve your fitness and preserve more of the muscle you already have while dieting.
Don’t judge the effectiveness of a training programme purely by what happened on the scales the morning after leg day.
6. You’re Exercising More but Moving Less During the Rest of the Day
This is more subtle.
You start dieting.
You increase your training.
You’re tired.
Without deliberately deciding to, you may then move less during the rest of the day.
Perhaps you sit down more.
Take fewer walks.
Spend more of the evening on the sofa.
Drive somewhere you previously walked.
This can reduce some of the extra energy expenditure you thought exercise was giving you.
It is one reason I don’t like approaching weight loss with:
“I’ll just burn as many calories as possible.”
Exercise isn’t punishment for food.
And you don’t need to turn every spare moment into cardio.
Instead, think about your overall activity.
Structured training.
Walking.
Your normal daily movement.
Then build something sustainable.
7. Your Body Now Needs Fewer Calories Than It Did Before
Imagine someone begins their weight-loss journey at 120kg.
They lose 20kg.
They now weigh 100kg.
Their body isn’t exactly the same size it was when the diet started.
Generally, moving and maintaining a smaller body requires less energy than maintaining a larger one.
So the calorie intake that created a useful deficit at the beginning of a long weight-loss phase may create a smaller deficit later.
This doesn’t mean your metabolism is “broken”.
And it doesn’t mean starvation mode has suddenly made weight loss impossible.
It means your circumstances have changed.
At certain stages, calorie targets, activity or both may need reviewing.
But that decision should come after establishing that progress has genuinely stalled.
Not after two disappointing weigh-ins.
8. You’re Expecting Weight Loss to Happen Faster Than It Realistically Will
Social media has distorted people’s expectations.
You see:
“10kg transformation!”
“12-week shred!”
“Dropped three dress sizes!”
“Completely transformed in eight weeks!”
What you don’t always see is:
Their starting weight.
How unusual their circumstances were.
Whether the result lasted.
How much was water weight.
How aggressively they dieted.
Or what happened six months later.
The NHS commonly recommends aiming for gradual weight loss of around 0.5–1kg (1–2lb) per week for many adults trying to lose weight.
But even that shouldn’t be interpreted as a guarantee that you’ll lose exactly 0.75kg every seven days.
Real weight loss is messy.
You could see:
Week one: down 1.2kg.
Week two: down 0.3kg.
Week three: no change.
Week four: down 0.8kg.
That doesn’t necessarily mean something failed during week three.
Look at the bigger trend.
9. You’re Relying Too Heavily on One Measurement
The scales are useful.
I use them.
But they’re one tool.
Imagine your weight hasn’t changed much for two weeks.
What else is happening?
Has your waist measurement changed?
Are your clothes fitting differently?
Are progress photographs changing?
Are you stronger?
Are you getting fitter?
Are your eating habits better?
Are you more consistent?
Are you walking more?
Are you sleeping better?
Have you gone from repeatedly overeating every weekend to being able to enjoy one meal out and return to normal afterwards?
Some of those changes may eventually influence weight loss.
Others are valuable improvements in their own right.
If the scales become the only definition of success, it’s incredibly easy to overlook genuine progress.
10. Your Diet Is So Restrictive That You Can’t Follow It Consistently
This one matters enormously to me because I’ve experienced it myself.
Sometimes the problem isn’t that someone’s diet is too relaxed.
It’s that their diet is too aggressive.
They start with:
Very low calories.
No chocolate.
No takeaways.
No alcohol.
No meals out.
No bread.
No desserts.
Training six days per week.
Cardio every day.
Everything is perfect.
Until it isn’t.
Eventually they are hungry.
Tired.
Thinking about food constantly.
They have one meal they hadn’t planned.
Then decide they’ve ruined everything.
That becomes an entire day.
Then a weekend.
Then:
“I’ll start again Monday.”
On Monday, the restriction becomes even more aggressive to compensate.
And the entire cycle begins again.
A theoretically perfect deficit is useless if you can’t follow it
I’d rather somebody consistently follows a sensible plan than repeatedly switches between huge restriction and overeating.
This was one of the biggest lessons from my own weight-loss journey.
At certain points I took things too far.
I assumed:
Less food = better.
More cardio = better.
More restriction = more discipline.
It wasn’t sustainable.
Learning how to include normal life was one of the things that ultimately made managing my weight considerably easier.
Are You Actually in a Weight-Loss Plateau?
Before changing anything, ask yourself:
Has progress genuinely stopped?
Not:
“Was I heavier this morning?”
Not:
“Did I stay the same weight for four days?”
Not:
“Did I gain weight after Saturday night?”
Look at several weeks of reasonably consistent data.
If your average body weight has been gradually decreasing, your plan is working.
You don’t need to fix something that isn’t broken.
If your weight, measurements and other indicators genuinely haven’t moved for several consecutive weeks despite good consistency, then it may be worth reviewing the plan.
What Should You Do If Your Weight Has Stopped Moving?
Instead of immediately slashing calories, I would work through this order.
Step 1: Check your consistency
How closely have you actually followed your intended plan?
Be objective rather than judgemental.
If consistency has been 60%, the first answer probably isn’t a more aggressive plan.
It may be making the existing one easier to follow.
Step 2: Look at the whole week
Don’t only assess Monday to Thursday.
Look at:
Friday evening.
Saturday.
Sunday.
Meals out.
Alcohol.
Snacks.
Takeaways.
Social events.
These things can absolutely exist during weight loss.
They just need to be part of the picture.
Step 3: Improve tracking accuracy temporarily
For a week, pay closer attention to:
Oils.
Sauces.
Drinks.
Portion sizes.
Snacks.
Food eaten while cooking.
Restaurant estimates.
You’re looking for information, not trying to achieve dietary perfection.
Step 4: Review your weight trend
Compare averages rather than isolated weigh-ins.
If your average is still falling gradually, consider leaving things alone.
Step 5: Check your activity
Has your daily movement dropped?
Are you still completing the training you planned?
Has your normal routine changed?
You may find the food hasn’t changed much, but your activity has.
Step 6: Only then consider an adjustment
If the data genuinely shows that your current approach has stopped producing progress and consistency is good, an adjustment may be appropriate.
That could involve:
A modest reduction in calorie intake.
A manageable increase in activity.
A change in food structure to improve adherence.
Or a combination of small adjustments.
It doesn’t automatically mean:
“Eat as little as possible.”
What NOT to Do When Weight Loss Stalls
This is just as important.
Don’t immediately halve your calories
More aggressive isn’t automatically more effective long term.
Don’t add hours of cardio as punishment
Exercise should support your health, fitness and goals.
It shouldn’t be compensation for having eaten.
Don’t remove carbohydrates because the scales went up
Carbohydrate intake can influence water weight.
That doesn’t mean carbohydrates prevent fat loss.
Don’t abandon the entire plan after a meal out
One meal doesn’t define your week.
Return to your normal routine.
Don’t keep starting again
You don’t need another “Day One” every time life isn’t perfect.
You need to become better at continuing.
My Own Weight Loss Wasn’t a Straight Line
I sometimes talk about losing more than 11 stone as though it was one smooth journey.
It wasn’t.
There were mistakes.
Periods where I became too restrictive.
Times I took dieting and cardio too far.
Times my weight fluctuated.
And plenty of lessons I only understood properly afterwards.
One of the biggest was learning that being able to lose weight isn’t the same as knowing how to manage your weight.
Extreme restriction can make the scales move.
That doesn’t automatically mean you’ve developed a lifestyle you can maintain.
Today, I can eat pizza.
Have a takeaway.
Go out for dinner.
Drink wine.
Go on holiday.
Eat chocolate.
And maintain a completely different body and lifestyle from the one I had at 160kg.
Not because those foods magically stopped containing calories.
Because I learned how they fit within the bigger picture.
That’s the skill I want my clients to develop too.
When Should You Speak to a Healthcare Professional?
Not every weight-related issue should be solved by a personal trainer.
If you’ve made consistent changes and you’re concerned that your weight isn’t responding as expected, particularly if you also have unexplained symptoms or believe medication or a health condition could be affecting your weight, speak to your GP or another appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
The same applies if you are pregnant, have an eating disorder or a history of disordered eating, or have medical circumstances that mean general weight-loss advice may not be appropriate for you.
A coach should understand the limits of their professional scope.
There are situations where medical or dietetic support is the appropriate starting point.
Why Accountability Can Help When You Feel Stuck
Most people don’t hire a coach because they’ve never heard of calories.
You can learn the basic principles of weight loss for free.
The difficult part is often identifying why your version of the plan isn’t producing the result you expect.
Is your calorie target wrong?
Is your tracking inaccurate?
Are weekends the problem?
Is your activity lower than you realise?
Is the plan too restrictive?
Are normal scale fluctuations causing you to keep changing something that was actually working?
Are you making excellent progress but expecting it to happen twice as quickly?
Those are very different problems.
And they require different solutions.
That’s where coaching can become valuable.
Not simply:
“Eat less.”
But:
“Let’s identify what’s actually stopping you.”
Weight-Loss Coaching in Ashford, Kent
If you’re based in Ashford and feel as though you’ve tried everything, I understand how frustrating that can become.
Particularly if you’ve already proved that you can lose weight.
Perhaps you’ve lost one stone.
Three stone.
Five stone.
Or considerably more.
But each time you’ve eventually found yourself back where you started.
The solution may not be trying harder.
And it may not be finding an even more restrictive diet.
You may need an approach that accounts for:
Your work.
Your family.
Your weekends.
Your food preferences.
Your training experience.
Your social life.
Your previous dieting history.
And the situations where you personally tend to struggle.
At The Viking Lifts, I provide private one-to-one personal training in Ashford, Kent, alongside online weight-loss coaching for people who want support wherever they live.
My approach is built around sustainable weight loss.
Not just helping you make the scales move.
Helping you become better at managing your weight when real life inevitably gets in the way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why am I not losing weight when I’m eating less?
Eating less than you previously ate doesn’t automatically mean you’re currently in a calorie deficit. Your overall intake still needs to be lower than your energy expenditure over time.
There can also be periods where fat loss is temporarily masked by changes in water weight and other normal fluctuations.
Can you be in a calorie deficit and not lose weight?
A sustained calorie deficit should result in a reduction in stored body energy over time, but that doesn’t mean the scales must decrease every day or every week.
Water retention, food weight and other fluctuations can temporarily disguise changes in body fat.
How long does a weight-loss plateau last?
There isn’t one fixed duration.
Don’t diagnose a plateau from a few days of unchanged weight.
Look at your average weight and other progress indicators across several weeks before deciding that your approach genuinely needs changing.
Should I lower my calories if I’ve stopped losing weight?
Not automatically.
First assess consistency, tracking accuracy, weekend intake, activity levels and your overall weight trend.
If your current approach genuinely isn’t producing progress despite good adherence, a modest adjustment may eventually be appropriate.
Why did I gain weight after a meal out?
Restaurant meals often contain more carbohydrates, sodium, food volume and calories than your normal meals.
That can temporarily increase your scale weight through additional water and food inside your digestive system.
A higher number the following morning does not automatically mean you’ve suddenly gained a significant amount of body fat.
Do I need to cut carbohydrates to break a weight-loss plateau?
No.
Fat loss ultimately depends on creating an appropriate calorie deficit.
Carbohydrates can absolutely form part of a successful weight-loss diet.
Do I need more cardio if I’m not losing weight?
Not necessarily.
Cardio is one way of increasing energy expenditure and improving fitness, but adding more is only one possible adjustment.
Your nutrition, overall activity, training, recovery and ability to maintain the plan all need to be considered.
How often should I weigh myself when losing weight?
There isn’t one method that suits everybody.
If regular weighing doesn’t negatively affect you, several weigh-ins under consistent conditions can provide more useful trend data than one random weekly measurement.
For other people, less frequent weighing alongside waist measurements, photographs and other indicators may be more appropriate.
Can stress and poor sleep stop weight loss?
Stress and poor sleep can make weight management harder by affecting appetite, food choices, energy, activity and your ability to consistently follow your plan.
Rather than thinking of them as overriding calorie balance, consider how they may be influencing your behaviour and progress.
Can a personal trainer help if my weight loss has stalled?
A good personal trainer or weight-loss coach can help review your nutrition, training, activity, consistency and progress data to identify where adjustments may be useful.
If there is reason to suspect a medical issue, however, they should refer you to an appropriately qualified healthcare professional rather than attempting to diagnose it themselves.
Stop Asking “What Else Can I Cut Out?”
If the scales have stopped moving, your first reaction doesn’t need to be:
What food should I remove?
How much less should I eat?
How much more cardio should I do?
Ask a different question.
What does the evidence from the last few weeks actually tell me?
Maybe you need a small adjustment.
Maybe your tracking needs tightening.
Maybe weekends are wiping out the deficit.
Maybe you’ve unknowingly become less active.
Maybe water weight is hiding genuine progress.
Or perhaps the biggest problem is that you’ve created another diet so restrictive that you can only follow it when life goes perfectly.
Find the actual problem first.
Then solve that problem.
Because sustainable weight loss isn’t about permanently finding new ways to eat less.
It’s about building an approach you can continue long enough for it to actually change your life.
Looking for help with weight loss in Ashford, Kent?
I provide private one-to-one personal training from The Viking Lifts in Ashford alongside online weight-loss coaching.
If you’re tired of repeatedly starting over, you can simply tell me where you’re currently stuck.
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