5 Reasons You Can't Lose Weight, According to a Celebrity Nutritionist

How important is meal planning and preparing meals at home? Doesn't going to the gym negate the need to plan meals and worry about calories? Dr. Gioffre says "they are equally important and both need to be considered for a balanced, healthy lifestyle." Exercising keeps us healthy, stimulates our metabolism, boosts our mood and immune system, and inspires other healthy choices (like deciding not to grab a doughnut from the break room).

With that said, "you can't put C.R.A.P (completely refined and processed) food into the body." Foods like sugar and refined grains spike insulin, which stores fat, makes you tired, and increases inflammation, which in turn, makes you less likely to want to exercise. So the two go hand in hand.

Dr. Gioffre recommends doing a small amount of exercise daily and eating his version of 80/20 — eating alkaline foods 80 percent of the time and acid-forming foods no more than 20 percent of the time. Alkaline foods include leafy green veggies, broccoli, avocado, berries, walnuts, legumes, bone broth, and coconut oil. Acidic foods include meat, processed foods, refined sugar and flours, and caffeine.

Dr. Gioffre has a word for eating six or more times a day — grazing. He says, "When you graze and eat every couple hours, your body stimulates the release of insulin to reduce the glucose levels in your blood, and insulin makes you store fat and is also the primary driver to chronic inflammation." Chronic inflammation not only makes you feel tired, it also slows down your metabolism and eventually sets you up for chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

When you shift to eating three meals per day, with time in between eating, insulin levels drop, and without sugar to burn for energy, what does your body turn to — FAT! "When you tap into these fat-storing calories, you gain energy and lose weight rapidly."