In the northern hemisphere, spring is here! And with it comes a seasonal and temperature shift. Before you know it, you’ll be tucking those cozy sweaters away and reaching instead for a more skin-baring wardrobe. It’s a time of year that you might feel really ready for. But it’s also a time of year that can bring on a lot of anxiety and self-criticism, especially if you’re not in love with the way your body looks.

As much as you might not want to admit it, chances are you want to look good. You probably also want to feel good – but often times feeling good is intimately tied to knowing that you do, in fact, look good. I don’t know a single woman whose confidence doesn’t plummet if they don’t like what they see in the mirror. For many women, carrying excess weight can be a big reason why they feel this way.

Spring ushers in a lot of diet ads on television and spring cleanses in the online world. Most of them promise to help you shed excess weight and look amazing. But if losing weight and looking great was as easy as popping a pill and doing a seasonal cleanse, then the diet industry wouldn’t be the multi-billion dollar industry that it is.

Truth be told, diets do not work. Period. And there are a lot of reasons why (another article for another time!). Diets only address the antiquated idea that if you take in fewer calories than you burn in any given day, then you’ll lose weight and all will be rosy in your world. Unfortunately, there are many more reasons why you might be carrying around excess weight, and the calories-in-calories-out equation doesn’t come even close to applying.

Here are 50 reasons why you might be carrying excess weight, and why a deeper investigation and personalized approach to weight loss is the only approach that is truly sustainable and effective. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a good starting point.

• You may be eating when you’re not actually hungry.
• You may continue to eat when you’re full.
• Your daily eating rhythm could be imbalanced (a.k.a. late night snacking).
• You could have a hormone or glandular imbalance.
• Your body may be producing excess cortisol and insulin due to stress.
• You may have food sensitivities or allergies.
• There may be a “macro-nutrient” imbalance in your diet.
• You may not be ready to give yourself permission to have a thin body.
• You may have a subconscious fear of being vulnerable if you’re thin.
• Any excess weight may be symbolic of unexpressed potential energy.
• You may have a secret fear of the attention you might receive if you are thin.
• Excess weight may represent excess emotional baggage.
• You may feel a need to protect yourself.
• Poor quality food is linked to excess weight and weight gain.
• You may not feel good about yourself, or feel you are worthy of a beautiful body.
• You may not know how to give yourself permission to “go to the next level”.
• You may be lacking pleasure in your life, therefore food is your one pleasure.
• You may be wrestling with food addictions (this is linked to quality of food).
• You may be holding on to “heaviness” – “heavy” may feel comforting to you.
• For many reasons, you may have a fear of “being seen”, or wanting to hide.
• You may have a root chakra imbalance, and rely on food to feel grounded.
• There may be unresolved grief and pain in your heart.
• You might use food to anesthetize, numb-out and avoid feeling your emotions.
• Weight gain may be a side-effect of any prescription drugs you are taking.
• You may not give yourself permission to feel good in your body.
• You may eat to “get out of your head” and “into your body”.
• Food and eating may be a way you stay connected with people you love.
• You may not know how to manage the powerful energy of your emotions.
• You may fear what others will think or if others will be upset if you lose weight.
• You might substitute food for love, companionship, intimacy, etc.
• You may eat to feel full, to fill up, and as a way to experience fulfillment.
• You may harbor powerful resentments.
• You may hate or feel the need to reject yourself in some way.
• Food and eating are your main avenues to nourishment.
• You may not know how to manage sexual energy, or the advances of others.
• You may not know how to forgive yourself or others.
• You may judge yourself severely and eat to quell this judgment.
• You may believe, at a core and subconscious level, that you are un-loveable.
• You may be overly attached to pleasing and doing things for others.
• You may not know who you really are.
• You may eat too fast.
• You may take a lot of over-responsibility for others at the expense of yourself.
• You may have a blood sugar imbalance.
• You may have a difficult time regulating your appetite.
• You may not know the signals your body gives you when you are hungry or full.
• You may unconsciously suppress your life force and who you really are.
• Your body may energetically multiply the caloric impact of the food you eat.
• You may not be living in your body, and not know what your body needs.
• You may carry guilt and shame – your own or it may be from family secrets.
• Your body may not tell you when you are full (satiety mechanism issues).

As you can see, there are many physical, emotional, mental and spiritual reasons why you might be carrying around excess weight – and very few of them have anything to do with calories or carbs! You are a multi-dimensional woman and this is why any successful and sustainable approach to losing weight must take all of you into consideration.

Take note of any and all items on this list that might pertain to you, and ask yourself, “How could this contribute to me carrying around excess weight?” I think you’ll be surprised and relieved to discover that there is more to you than a number on the scale or a calorie count at the end of the day. Feeling and looking beautiful is about so much more than your dress size and what you look like in a swimsuit. It’s also about knowing that there are many ways we may be unknowingly holding ourselves back from truly expressing and living our full potential.

It’s true that feeling and looking beautiful is about more than weight. It’s also about loving yourself wherever you’re at, feeling confident in your own skin, knowing what you want (and giving yourself permission to have and enjoy it), and taking exquisite care of yourself all along the way. Sometimes carrying excess weight is a way we hold ourselves back, make excuses for why we can’t do something, or sabotage ourselves from feeling as confident and capable as we really are.

Take all of this into consideration this spring, and see if you can offer yourself an entirely new level of self-compassion as you reach for those cute sandals and travel to tropical beaches. You will never regret loving yourself more. Ever.