If you find you can't lose weight, you may need to detect your dietary flaws. Everyone can lose weight with the right balance of calorie intake and exercise. The trouble with most diets and weight loss attempts is a lack of information about how to continue losing weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Below are 5 reasons that might contribute to your unsuccessful weight loss efforts.

1. You Don't Pay Attention to Portion Size

The portion size of many carbohydrates and meats is far smaller than the eye perceives it should be. A deck of carbs is the perfect visual tool when choosing proper meat portions. The calories, fat, protein and carbohydrate amounts listed on the packaging are for this 3 ounce portion only.

The same goes for carbohydrates. The package will list the portion size, but commonly ½ cup is one carbohydrate portion. Carbohydrates are calorie rich, and the addition of just ¼ cup can mean 100 to 200 extra calories. That small creep could add more than 1400 calories to the weekly totals with just one oversized portion per day.

2. You Fast in the Morning

Breakfast is touted as the most important meal of the day. But why? Dieters who can't lose weight may simply be missing the easiest weight loss tactic. Humans are animals, and as such, the body is programmed to preserve and survive. In times of caloric deficiency, like the kind that occurs every morning from eight to 10 hours without food, the metabolism will slow down dramatically to conserve the fat stores for energy. Food consumption is necessary to convince the body that the fast is over.

3. You Drink High Calorie Coffee Drinks

Choosing to consume coffee as the primary source of morning nutrition may feel good, but it can be a high calorie choice. A grande mocha latte at Starbucks, with nonfat milk and no whipped cream, contains about 290 calories. A healthy alternative for coffee lovers could be a hot or iced coffee with non-fat milk and sugar free flavored syrup and a breakfast meal high in fiber and complex carbohydrates.

4. You Get Food Cravings Resulting in Calorie Creep

The types of foods consumed are just as important as eating a morning meal. With the metabolism in starvation mode, the food (or energy) fed to the body will be immediately converted to energy to use right now. If the morning meal consists of simple sugars and fast converting carbohydrates, energy levels will spike through the roof, but food cravings will return very shortly leading to snacking and calorie creep.

5. You Overestimate Calorie Burn During Workouts

Exercising is healthy for bones, mental health and weight loss. Exercising six to seven days a week can boost calorie burn and cause weight loss when paired with a reduced calorie diet. The amount of exercise needed will differ based on current fitness health and weight loss needs. Workouts should last between 30 and 45 minutes with the heart rate hovering within the target heart rate zone for weight loss. This means the five minutes spent warming up and the five minutes spent cooling down should not be counted in total workout time.

Pay attention to the above diet mistakes, and get on the road to weight loss success!