You're Ignoring This... And It's Why You Can't Lose Weight

Wondering why you seem to be doing EVERYTHING right, but can't seem to ever lose any weight?

It's possibly the most frustrating feeling in all of health and fitness.

When we put all this effort into working on ourselves and trying to reach our goals, but nothing seems to work!

If you're a seasoned health and fitness enthusiast trying to work on your own body, there's a good chance this has happened to you before...

One of the most common problems we hear about in the gym would be of the people who are working hard trying to lose weight, but can't seem to do so, no matter how strictly they feel like they're watching their eating and training!

Well, in this article we'll be talking about a huge part of dieting and eating that many people overlook, and plays a huge part in determining whether or not you'll actually be able to lose weight or not!

Ready?

Let's dig in.

Why Can't I Seem to Lose Weight?

The problem with the way that most people diet is that they mostly only track the major meals they eat, like their breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Learn more: the quick 8-step guide to creating your own meal plan.

Lots of people are doing a great job of tracking all these big meals that they eat, but they forget about another huge part of their diet that they consume on a day-to-day basis.

Snacks.

Snacks Are a Key Reason Why Lots of People Struggle to Lose Weight

The truth is, most people that regularly eat snacks have a very difficult time losing weight and moving forwards on their fitness goals.

And I don't mean a simple banana every day kind of snack.

I mean, the kind of snacking where you might have a nut bar, or a packet of chocolate biscuits, or a packet of potato chips, or maybe a smoothie in between each of your meals.

Due to the nature of snacking and how tempting it is for us to just eat whenever we're in the mood to do so, the majority of people won't be able to see much progress towards their weight loss goals at all.

Now, if you've found that you are one of the few lucky people who are able to sustain a lifestyle that involves snacking, and still are able to lose weight, then by all means, snacking is a great way to keep your energy levels high throughout the day so that you can crush whatever you're doing.

However, if you're part of the majority of people who have a terribly tough time keeping your snack volumes under control, and you find it really hard to keep your snacking in moderation, then it might pay for you to stay away from snacks altogether.

Because the truth is, for the vast majority of people who can't seem to lose any weight, snacks are a huge contributing factor.

We'll break down some of the reasons why you should consider staying away from snacks altogether if you're struggling to lose weight.

Why Should You Stay Away From Snacks?

There are multiple reasons why snacks can be the killer of your gains in the gym, but we've compiled a list of the 3 reasons and disadvantages of snack consumption when it comes to trying to lose weight.

Snacks Make It Extremely Easy to Add Too Many Calories

One of the main problems with snacking is that many people simply eat their snacks whenever they're in the mood to do so.

Whenever we're bored, or stressed or in need of a mental break from our busy lives, snacks seem to call to us, and lure us in to the fridge or pantry.

Now, most of us lead busy lives.

And if you're reading this article and you've made it this far down, we're pretty positive that you're serious about your own journey to self improvement and achieving your own goals.

However it can be way too easy to rack up lots of additional calories into your daily intake if you're simply eating whenever you feel like it.

Because again, busy lives do lead to us feeling like eating snacks.

A lot of snacks.

Snack Foods Are Also Usually Junk Foods...

To make things worse, the snacks we do eat when we're bored, stressed or in need of a break usually aren't the healthiest options either.

Let's be real.

Most of the time, when we're hungry and feeling like a snack, we're not thinking about bananas or apples or low-calorie protein bars.

We're thinking brownies, chocolates and potato chips.

Because those things are a lot more attractive to our stomachs than the healthy options are!

These junk foods we consume as snacks can quickly add loads of fats, sugars and of course, calories into our daily intakes, and ruin all of the hard work we're doing in tracking our planned meals and training for weight loss!

The unhealthy and junky nature of the snack foods we love most make them extra tough on our weight loss goals.

And to top things off, there's one last main point that many people also overlook when it comes to dieting and training for weight loss.

Most Snacks Go Untracked

Emotional eating habits such as eating when we're bored or stressed can completely blind us and cause us to forget about our long term goals of weight loss, improved health or fitness.

As a result of this, many of the snacks that we do eat don't get recorded in our daily intake logs/records. We either forget about them, or we ignore them in the moment and then disregard them later on.

Often, we won't even think twice about the snacks that we eat, and our promises to ourselves to eat healthy and diet don't even cross our minds at all!

And for those of us who don't meticulously track our food intake (because it's not as important as many people think if you can hold yourself accountable), the snacks we eat are just forgotten about as well.

Again, we don't think twice about them.

Just consumed in the moment, enjoyed, and forgotten about.

So now, we've got snacks causing (and allowing!) us to eat whenever we feel like eating, whilst mostly being of an unhealthy nature, and easily allowing us to forget about them when it comes time to record or track our food intake.

Lots of trouble for our weight loss goals.

So What's the Solution?

Well, as hard as it may sound to achieve, removing snacks altogether from our diets is going to be the best way to address this problem and to get ourselves back on track.

You see, if you keep snacks in your diet at all and you find that you're not the best at keeping your snack volume or frequency in moderation and under control, then you'll just let your habits run loose and you'll have a very, very tough time losing weight.

But, if you can promise yourself that you're going to completely avoid snacking altogether, then you won't have to worry about the temptations, and the irresistible urge to grab one more bite (or 10 more!).

Instead, just stick to your planned meal times.

Completely removing something that constantly draws your attention and distracts you is a great surefire way to ensure you keep yourself on the right track.

You don't have to do it all tomorrow, you don't have to completely change the way you eat in a day.

In fact, it's probably smart to slowly ease snacks out of your diet (as long as you can hold yourself accountable) so that you can eventually completely remove them from your day to day life and become accustomed to it as quickly as possible.

Start small, maybe by removing your afternoon tea snack on week, and then your mid morning snack the next, and keep going until you've only got your planned meals left. Then stick to that.

It's not an attractive sounding idea, we know.

If you really can't do this, at least try to switch your snacks to healthier options, such as fruits. Eaten in moderation, fruits are great at boosting your progress towards the body of your goals!

But it's the way to do it if you're planning to seriously put in the work and remove snacks from your diet.

Now if you find that you're going under your daily calorie intake, you can increase your meal size for sure.

It's all up to you to put in the work and to watch what you eat.

And to seriously hold yourself accountable.

Best of luck!

Conclusion

Weight loss and getting in shape is simple, but not easy.

As are lots of things in life.

But if you're serious about achieving your goals and becoming the best possible version of yourself, you'll want to remove the things that stand in your way.

And for a lot of those who are struggling to lose weight, snacks are one of those things.

Do your best to slowly cut snacks out, stick to your planned meal times, and see the difference in the mirror!

We hope you've learnt something from this article, and would greatly appreciate it if you shared it with a friend who could use this knowledge!

Best of luck to you on your weight loss journey.