Too Few Calories
Believe it or not, eating too little food can be detrimental to your weight loss efforts. When you significantly cut calories, you may lose a few pounds at first, but your metabolism will quickly start to slow down. Basically, your body perceives that there is a famine and will hold on to fat stores as a survival mechanism. If you are in this situation, try slowly increasing your calories to get your metabolism back to normal.
The best approach to weight loss is to cut calories slowly and increase activity, especially through exercise. A good beginning goal is to cut 500 calories from your daily normal diet (eliminate unhealthy snacks, sugary drinks and “empty” calories) and burn 300-500 calories through exercise and increased daily activity (taking the stairs, parking at the back of the lot, etc.). This will result in about a pound lost each week if you are consistent.