10 Reasons You Aren't Losing Weight
THE FRUSTRATION!
Ever step on the scale only to see NOTHING has changed?!
OH, the frustration! …the agony! ….the "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong!".
Afterall, you’re consciously trying to exercise more and eat better, especially coming off the holiday season. This New Year will be different! You’ve gotten into a good exercise routine and already feeling better and enjoying more energy! There is NOT turning back - you are fully committed to seeing results!
You step on the scale, super excited to witness your progress and then……NOTHING!
What the actual ______ ?! How is it possible to be exercising but not seeing results?
This common frustration can lead to giving up because if nothing’s changing, what’s the point? BUT, before you throw in the towel, let’s dive into the whole weight loss thing because aside from exercise, other lifestyle factors (significantly) impact your weight.
This means what you do outside of exercise is equally as important to what you do at home, in the office and on the weekends.
Make no mistake, exercise is necessary for improving health, building muscle, living a better life and yes, contributes to weight loss but, if you aren’t practicing healthy habits outside of exercise / the gym, losing weight can be delayed or completely stalled altogether.
Taking time to reflect on what you do all the other waking hours of your day is the first, most important step to understanding why that scale isn’t budging. This helps you identify where to start making changes so your behaviors match your goals, and you start getting results!
In this blog, you are going to learn:
10 reasons you aren’t losing weight
10 pro-tips to kick start your weight loss
10 REASONS YOU AREN’T LOSING WEIGHT
STRESS!
High stress levels affect your body in many ways, including your hunger hormones. When stress is high, the hunger hormone ghrelin rises, while the satiety hormone leptin that normally keeping your appetite in control, drops. This shift can cause increased cravings and appetite. As cravings hit, you reach for the not-so-good choices like sweets and saturated fats (cookies, chips, ice cream…) instead of real foods like fruits and veggies.
Pro-tip: Find healthy habits to help alleviate stress. In addition to regular exercise, try 5 minutes of meditation, a walk outside or around the house or journaling. Adding behaviors into your life to manage stress helps you eat better, boosts your mood and enhances performance when exercising!
NOT ENOUGH SLEEP!
Once again, hunger and satiety hormones come into play. When you don’t get enough sleep, the same hormones affected by stress shift, increasing your cravings and appetite. When it comes to sleep, your body needs 7-9 hours of quality sleep to repair and recharge. Lack of sleep not only drains your energy and performance when exercising but prevents your body from doing what it needs to make changes and give you results. The mindset of “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” does you NO favors because your body needs rest and recovery so that you get results.
Pro-tip: Set a bedtime every night that allows for at least 7 hours. Write down your to do list before going to bed so you aren’t waking up thinking about what you have to do and shut off electronics at least 30 minutes before bed to help signal to your brain, it’s time to wind down.
OVER-ESTIMATING CALORIES BURNED:
When it comes to knowing how many calories you are burning, DO NOT rely on a fitness tracker. I repeat, DO NOT rely on your fitness tracker - here’s why:
Studies show most people grossly overestimate the number of calories burned through exercise and daily living when setting up fitness devices. These inaccuracies mean you are NOT burning as many calories/day as your device shows and overestimating calories burned can lead to a calorie surplus. IF/when you are in a calorie surplus, you are eating more than you are burning and this causes weight gain or, weight maintenance.
Key takeaway: while fitness devices are helpful for monitoring stats such as steps taken and heart rate, they are NOT useful for determining the number of calories burned. In fact, the margin of error can be upwards of 93%!
Pro-tip: Focus less on the fitness device and calories burned and more on building a consistent exercise routine. Aim to exercise 3-5x/week and I promise you, doing so will have a lasting, positive impact on your energy levels, how you feel and physical results!
Want the most bang for your buck? Do a combination of cardio and strength-based exercises, also known as Metabolic Resistance Training (what we do at Results Fitness!). Metabolic Resistance training is scientifically proven to be one of the most effective ways to burn more fat and calories! In fact, your body will continue burning calories up to 36 hours AFTER you’re done exercising (talk about a killer combo)!
UNDER-ESTIMATING HOW MUCH YOU EAT:
When it comes to truly understanding just how much you are eating, majority of people greatly underestimate this by several hundred (or more!) calories. In fact, studies show people underestimate how much they eat by 40%! At its very core, weight loss depends on calories in (how much you are eating) vs. calories out (how many calories are you burning) along with a few other factors. The combination of relying on inaccurate devices AND not knowing how much food you are actually eating will adversely affect your results.
Pro-tip: Log your food for the next 7 days to include how much you are eating (you can use a food scale or measuring cups) and what you are eating. After the log is complete, reflect back to see how much you are eating and, what you are eating: real foods vs. processed. Doing this eye-opening exercise helps you become more mindful of both portions and choices.
PROLONGED DIETING:
Have you been a chronic dieter a good chunk of your life? Eating too little can be equally detrimental as eating too much when looking to lose weight- here’s why:
Over time, your metabolism self-regulates and adjusts to the amount of food you are eating. Since your body's main goal is to keep you alive and maintain body systems and functions, if you aren’t eating enough, your body utilizes what it has for keeping you alive, not a smaller waist! Eating real, nutrient-dense foods in the appropriate amounts for your lifestyle is of the utmost importance when feeling and performing at your best.
Pro-tip: Avoid prolonged / ongoing dieting because less isn’t always better. If you need help understanding how much you need to be eating based on your goals and lifestyle, work with a coach (I am always here to help you!) because we are the experts and know how to do this for you! This is going to be unique to your goals and lifestyle and not something you want to guesstimate or, leave to a fitness device with default settings.
WEEKENDS + CHEAT MEALS:
Practicing healthy habits Monday-Friday isn’t enough. If your weekends consist of “cheat meals”, drinks and overall, loosening the reigns, you can and will undo any progress. The choices you make on the weekend count!
Pro-tip: Practice CONSISTENCY 7 days a week if you want to make changes and lose weight. This means making better choices on the weekends and sticking with healthy habits like exercise and eating real foods Friday-Sunday. You can still enjoy life, create balance and hit goals!
ALCOHOL:
Even moderate alcohol consumption (2 drinks per day for men and 1 drink per day for women) can ruin progress- here’s why:
When you drink alcohol, your body has to metabolize that first as a fuel source, meaning everything else you eat gets stored as body fat. Even worse? Your body’s ability to burn fat can be stalled for 12 - 36 hours so all that hard work at the gym is now paused. Plus let’s be honest, drinking leads to poor food choices. Together, these calories quickly add up; a perfect example of how you can undo a week’s worth of progress in a matter of hours.
Pro-tip: If you want to make changes, there are some trade-off’s. Limiting alcohol consumption will be helpful and an effective tool for weight loss. Plus, you will feel better, have more energy, perform better during your workouts, and avoid the dreaded hangover!
LOW MUSCLE MASS:
The more muscle mass you have, the more efficient your body becomes at burning fat and calories. Enough said.
Pro-tip: How do you increase muscle mass? By regular strength training 3-5 times per week (what we do at Results Fitness), eating real, nutrient-dense foods in the appropriate amounts for your body, getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night AND regulating stress levels CONSISTENTLY.
LACK OF OVERALL ACTIVITY:
How are you spending the other waking hours of your day? Are you mostly sedentary at a desk? Or, are you moving a lot? Your daily activity levels outside of exercise is known as NEAT: Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.
Some examples of NEAT activities include walking upstairs, laundry, cleaning your home, short walks around the block, or even playing with your kids. Although you may spend an hour exercising, what you are doing for movement the other waking hours is just as important.
Pro-tip: Set a daily step goal and get moving! The recommended daily step target is 8,000-10,000/day. Although fitness devices are not accurate for the calories burned, they are effective tools for tracking daily steps. There are also free apps you can download and use on your phone. If you use the iPhone, your health app already tracks steps for you!
PATIENTCE:
If you’re working to lose weight, think about how long it took you to put on the number of pounds you want to lose. Point being, this isn’t happening overnight. A few weeks of regular exercise or eating better won’t move the needle. Long-term, sustainable changes take time. Your body will not change overnight but with consistent effort, time and patience, the changes will come!
Pro-tip: Shift your mindset away from having to diet or miss out on life to hit your weight loss goals to learning HOW to create a sustainable, healthier lifestyle with balance. This is NOT about overhauling your entire life all at once or going to extremes. It’s about learning how this stuff works and in time, making small, incremental changes to your daily habits. At Results Fitness, this is part of the process and WHY you succeed! Working with coaches and being part of a supportive community eliminates the guess work, keeps you accountable and makes the process way more fun!
Remember, when it comes to weight loss, your results or lack of are directly linked to lifestyle habits outside the gym. All 10 of these lifestyle factors should be monitored closely. If you are not seeing the results you want, start by focusing on proper nutrition (eat MORE real foods), consistent movement and exercise (3-5x/week), quality sleep (7+ hours), reduced stress levels and patience. Consistency Monday-Sunday is the name of the game. I promise you will begin to reap the benefits of your hard work inside of the gym!
Stay patient. Stay consistent. Stay fueled.
If you need help hitting your weight loss goal, improving your health or, just curious how this could work for you, click the button below to book a FREE intro with our team so you can learn what changes to make to get the results you want!
Stay Fueled