I have a lot of people who come to me with a lot of frustration regarding why they aren’t losing weight. The truth is, there are a lot of reasons why those putting in efforts to lose weight may not be seeing any progress. Efforts to lose weight can be very frustrating, and can even cause people to want to throw in the towel and give up. To that I say, check it before you wreck it. In other words…go through and make sure your efforts at weight loss are CORRECT before you give up doing so. Chances are you may be doing something wrong. These are a lot of the things that I see that may cause peoples weight loss efforts to be thwarted.
- You are eating more than you think you are. This is the case time after time. Unfortunately, somewhere in our crazy minds we think that if we are just taking a bite of the kids uneaten lunches here, and some handfuls out of the candy jar there, they don’t count. Well, I hate to break it to you, but they do. Every single calorie counts, and if you are eating too many, even if they are coming from good foods, you will not see weight loss progress. Try tracking your food for a few days to see if you are consuming more than you thought you were. Write down every single bite, lick, and chew. You may surprise yourself. It is also a worthwhile exercise to measure out your food for a couple days to determine if your eyeballed portions are correct or not.
- You are eating too much sugar. Many people will slash their calories, but the calories they are eating are not coming from the right foods. Read HERE for more information on the effect sugar can have on your body and your weight loss efforts. Tracking your sugars can be another surprising exercise. It is amazing what foods have sugar in them that you may not even realize. If you want a chiseled and toned body, cut out the sugar.
- You are eating too much fruit. This goes along with the last one, but oftentimes surprises people. YES, fruit is good for you and it has a lot of wonderful properties. However, if your only source of fresh produce is a whole lot of fruit, you are getting a whole lot of sugar. I would recommend eating a TON of fresh veggies (sans white potatoes), and cutting down on your fruit intake. For my clients that really want to lose weight I suggest one serving of fruit a day that isn’t berries. Berries are lower in calories and sugar, and full of antioxidants that are fantastic for you. Pineapple and bananas are especially high in sugar.
- You aren’t working out effectively. When it comes to weight loss, the best thing that you can do with your exercising is circuit training, interval training, and strength training. This type of working out keeps your body guessing, engages your heart and muscles, and allows you to burn the maximum amount of calories in the shortest amount of time. It is effective and killer…and SO worth it! Click HERE for some Circuit workout ideas.
- You aren’t strength training. Increasing your muscle mass helps to turn your body into a fat burning machine. It takes more effort for your body to maintain muscle than it does to maintain fat. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns overall to maintain that muscle. Plus muscle looks better than fat…right? Right. Women, strength training will NOT make you look like the incredible Hulk. I promise. It will make you look fit and fantastic. I could go on…but I won’t.
- You are not eating enough Protein. Protein is necessary to help build and repair lean muscle mass. If you are working out, you need to eat protein to help your body build and recover properly. Protein will keep you full which will stop you from eating empty calories. It is also not going to spike your blood sugar levels like carbohydrates can. For more in depth talk about protein click HERE.
- You are not getting enough regular sleep. I know you probably think you are superman or superwoman, but running on zero sleep doesn’t mean your amazing. It means your tired, and you are neglecting your body. You HAVE to have proper sleep in order to allow your body to rest and recover. The time you are sleeping is also a prime fat burning time for your body as your body systems do their thang. For more info on sleep click HERE.
- You may have a hormonal imbalance. There are some cases in which thyroid problems or a low hormone levels are inhibiting you from losing weight, and in these cases some work with the right doctors can make a big difference.
- You are not working as hard as you think you are. Don’t be afraid to sweat. Push yourself to work hard. The truth is, most people aren’t working as hard as they can. Most people don’t push themselves as far as they could be pushed either because they are afraid to, or they don’t know how. Determine if you are working as hard as you could be.
- You are not being consistent. This is the winner right here. Unfortunately, three awesome days of effort can be slashed quickly in one day of not so awesome effort. In fact, an awesome week of effort can be undone in one meal of chaos. So…what does that mean? You have to allow yourself enough consistency to have some effort actually show through. For some people it may take three weeks of solid effort, for others, results may take a month or two. I always challenge my clients to try to go at LEAST thirty days with a full, honest, solid effort. There are VERY few that will not see some awesome progress after sticking to it for this amount of time. Allow your body the tools it needs to change. Don’t lie to yourself. Don’t think that working out 1/2 way and eating alright is going to do the trick. Guess what? It won’t. In order to see results, you have to put in honest effort. It may be hard, but you have to ask yourself how much you really want it. Do you want it more than you want that bag of candy or to sleep in? I think deep down you probably do.
If you feel like you are one hundred percent perfect in all of these areas and you still are not seeing results, feel free to email me. I’d love to help! I know that the process of weight loss can be a frustrating one, but it IS possible.
P.S. Only a few more days to enter the March Mix Giveaway. Click HERE to do so!