When you improve your eating habits and add in exercise and the scale doesn't seem to budge. I get it, it can be super frustrating.
And that growing frustration may leave you wondering what you're doing wrong, or worse, wanting to give up all together.
The truth is even when you think you're doing All The Things, it's often just a matter of taking a step back to assess your day-to-day and see where you can make a bit of fine tuning and tweaking, to get you moving in the right direction again.
Because I promise you, dropping your calories crazy low, cutting out entire food groups, and loading up on cardio is NOT the answer. In fact, many of the women I work with tell me they've done just that, only to gain all the weight they lost back later. Deprivation and restriction can only last so long. It's simply not sustainable. So let's take a step back shall we?
The top 6 reasons weight loss might not be happening:
#1 : You underestimate your how much you're eating (and drinking).
Spend a week tracking your food and beverage intakes and you may be surprised to find you're consuming more than you think. Documenting daily intakes can be a great way to demonstrate just how much (and of what) you're consuming. We often think "I've only had a bite of this" or "a drink of that" when in fact we've enjoyed a few handfuls, not a few bites. Dietary trackers can also show you if you're lacking nutrients like protein and too high in others like sugar, salt and fat.
From misjudged portion sizes to assuming how many calories you've consumed in food and beverages during the week, it's easy to suddenly find you're actually 500 or more calories over the weekly average needed to achieve weight loss.
Why a week? Because a day or two often won't reveal the true picture. In my experience, it's typically a few days that are out of whack, not the whole week. And when you know how and why that's happening, well it's an easy fix!
#2: You overestimate how hard you're actually working.
You're sweating, breathing hard, and feeling your muscles work so you must be burning fat, right? If your goal is to tone up and trim down then you want to make sure you're getting moderate to vigorous activity at least 5 days a week. A great way to track it is by checking your heart rate during exercise, if you're in your active heart rate zone (determined by your age) then you're good. If not, it's time to work a little harder and up the intensity.
A great way to increase your exercise intensity is through HIIT exercise (High Intensity Interval Training). In contrast to steady-state and conventional cardio exercises, HIIT utilizes high-intensity interval periods, often involving several muscle groups at once, followed by a lower-intensity or rest period. An example is a 30-second sprint followed by a 30-second 'rest' break activity such as a slow jog or fast paced walk or 30-second squat jumps followed by 30-seconds of pacing.
And bonus - HIIT workouts take half the time of conventional steady state workouts! The truth is if you can easily hold a conversation, sing your A, B, C's or feel like you still have energy to go another round, you probably aren’t hitting the active heart rate zone.
There's a difference between building cardio endurance and building muscle. Steady state activities such as distance runs, long bike rides, and walks are great for heart health, bone density and more. But they don't build muscle, boost metabolism, and burn fat. Strength training and vigorous exercise does that.
#3: You're not moving your body enough.
One or two days a week for 30-minutes or an hour a day is not enough movement to combat an overall sedentary lifestyle. Between long days sitting at a desk, driving rather than walking, scrolling devices, playing video games and relying on escalators and elevators to get us around, well, we're missing out on some serious steps.
Your body is made to move. And movement = increased metabolism and calorie burn. Take an honest look at your typical week - how much physical activity are you actually getting? If you have a smart watch you can easily track how many steps your getting. If not, challenge yourself to take your smartphone with you during the day and use an app to track your daily steps.
Choose the more active route whenever possible. Parking further from the entrance, choosing the furthest bathroom, pacing while on the phone, and taking the stairs are all simple ways to increase your daily steps.
#4: You're eating the same (or more) calories because you've started exercising.
I often remind my clients, "You can't outrun your fork. " Adding fitness to your weight loss plan is great, and there are so many awesome benefits for mind and body. And exercise when added to healthy eating plan gives you a winning weight loss team! But at the end of the day, moving more doesn't magically erase what you're consuming. So those calories in, calories out need to be in line.
Ultimately you have to burn more than you eat to achieve weight loss. Some common mistakes I often see when first working with clients is eating processed foods that may be low in calorie, but are loaded in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, cutting out food groups their body needs, or simply eating too much with their portions out of whack. All of which are completely fixable!
It's important to remember that while knowing your daily calories are important, all calories are not created equal. A 100 calories of fruit, vegetables and chicken is not the same as 100 calorie cookie or cracker pack.
Other considerations that I see challenge peoples weight loss are chronic stress, lack of sleep, alcohol consumption, or dropping calories way too low. In order to achieve long-term success you have to create a healthy and balanced approach that is sustainable for body and mind.
#5: You're doing the same fitness routine.
Repetition can be good in a variety of ways. But the truth is the body is great at adapting. And it's a beautiful thing when you're creating healthy habits, like trading the candy bar for fruit or choosing the skinny latte over the regular one.
The challenge is when you're doing the same fitness activity, day in and day out, like jogging, walking, and biking, your body becomes more efficient at doing it. Which means it won't have to work as hard and your heart rate naturally stays a bit lower. This is why elite athletes have resting heart rates as low as 45 bpm!
If you're working toward weight loss, then mixing up your routine is key. But don't worry -- you don't have to ditch your morning jog, just maybe add a few sprints in here and there, or throw some strength training activities into your week. By changing up your fitness routine and adding in some exercises you'll challenge the muscles and support healthy muscular balance, mobility and reduce risk of injury. I encourage my clients to mix up their strength training exercises every 4-6 weeks, whether it's changing speed, reps, time, or weight loads as well as altering the way they're targeting the muscle group (there's more than one way to squat for example!). It keeps the body moving forward in it's fitness, key if your goals include weight loss and building fat burning muscle.
#6: You fixate on the scale.
I see it all the time. Clients weighing in daily, stuck on that number on between their toes, using it as a measure of how "good" or "bad" they're doing. And when it's not going down, oh man, it's brutal. Remember, the scale is only ONE indicator of weight loss. Body measurements (such as hip, waist, and chest) and changes in your overall body composition demonstrate fat lost and muscle gained, often demonstrated by clothes fitting looser and even dropping pant sizes, when the scale isn't moving!
The reality is our body weight is influenced by many factors, like water, muscle mass, hormones, and undigested food (just to name a few). Ever jump on a scale in the morning and see one number, then look again that afternoon or evening and wonder what the heck happened? Rather than getting caught up in that number on the scale, it's important to notice all the changes happening in your body. How do you feel, how is your health changing, how is your energy? There are several ways to measure progress, least of which is the scale. The truth is you want improved health AND weight loss, not just a smaller body. So listen to your body and HEAR what it's really telling you.
The take away - it's time to get honest and ask yourself the tough questions –
What am I doing well?
What could I be doing better?
Where am I putting my time and energy?
Where am I consistent?
Where am I not consistent enough?
Are you tired of starting over every Monday, hopping from diet to diet, wondering if you'll ever get it "right" so that you can lose the weight and become the best version of you? I’ve got you friend! Come join me inside my FREE women’s-only Facebook community: Eat Better with Coach Mindy. It's for busy women like you who are ready to lose weight, gain energy, get healthy and fit -- without restrictive diets or punishing food rules.
