Why Am I Not Losing Weight?

Losing weight for many seems to be complex. It’s suppose to be simple, do more activity and lower your calories right? This is the foundation to weight loss programs that work. However, over time they stop working. Why? Because you never gain lean muscle to keep body fat down. Body fat creates negative weight gain, while lean muscle creates positive gains. This is why it is important to understand the goal you really want to achieve. Is it weight loss, which can cause the loss of muscle, which is imperative for good health, energy and to keep the body tight? Or is it weight loss with nice lean muscle underneath with little body fat so that you are toned and have a nice shape?

Everyone is looking for the secret formula to success and hoping for the least amount of effort. The first thing to do is be honest about where you are at. You must be willing to come out of denial. It’s easy to stand in front of mirrors without getting a full picture of what is going on with our backsides. We also tend to blame the mirror or say the scale is wrong. Some of us, may not step on the scale at all hoping the weight will magically go away. The truth is that nothing will change until you get organized. The first step is doing full body compositions including a body fat reading so you understand if you are gaining fat or muscle. If you have not been working out, you already know it is fat and it’s time to do something about it. Fat is stubborn, it takes time to blast and it does require effort on your part. The biggest effort for some is simply managing their time & lifestyle differently. For others it is getting organized and actually having to plan their next meal ahead and get to the gym at a consistent time to ensure they get results. If you are struggling and feel you have all your ducks in a row than it’s best you try and consider the following:

1) KNOW YOUR BMR AND UNDERSTAND YOUR MACROS FOR WEIGHT LOSS VS MUSCLE GAINS (you don’t need to go overboard tracking this, but just have a round about understanding so that you can moderate your meals) Rotating your Macros is an effective way to stimulate your body differently. There are calculators online that you can access to acquire this information. Ideally you need a good coach to start to create a blueprint or baseline for you, if you prefer to not have to do that much thinking. Coaches who have been writing programs for a long time, don’t usually work off a calorie or macro system, they go with averages and know basics about what foods and workout routines will and won’t work without all the complicated math formulas. Knowing what food does for purpose is your best routine and a rotational program.

2) UP YOUR CARDIO TIME & CHANGE IT UP…your body will adapt if you don’t. I do 90 mins of cardio when I am serious about losing weight. Two 45 min sessions or 1 hour and 30 mins. It doesn’t really matter what cardio you choose as long as you are in your heart rate zone and not overtraining your lower body. Give your lower a body some down time to rest and recover so it holds less water from the overtraining.

3) ARE YOU GAINING MUSCLE? If you push heavy all the time, lower the load and do higher reps and lower weight until you reach your weight loss goal. Once your body fat and weight are down you can increase your weights later for shaping. You can also try using resistabands and more bodyweight calisthenics to keep your body toned and muscles working without mass gains.

4) ARE YOU MISSING MEALS OR NOT EATING ENOUGH? Be sure you get at least 4-5 meals in per day. I find when I get 5 my weight drops! Even better when I eat 6 light meals each day.

5) ARE YOU TRACKING YOUR FOOD & BEVERAGE INTAKE? Write down what you are eating and be honest about EVERYTHING you eat and drink and chew – even gum and creamer needs to be on there. You may be getting too many calories or you may be getting way too much protein for your bodyweight. Increasing your muscle mass, which weighs more. If you don’t utilize the protein and are under active, it will cause you to gain fat. Most people get too much protein in one sitting rather than understanding portion control.

6) ARE YOU TAKING FAT BURNERS OR DIET AIDS FOR TOO LONG? Are you taking fat burners longer than you should. Supplements should be cycled. You can not stay on the same product and continue to get the same results. Take 12 weeks off from diet pills/fat burners and allow your adrenals to recover. This may be the culprit, adrenal fatigue!

7) WHEN DID YOU HAVE YOUR BLOOD WORK CHECKED LAST? Were any of your levels low or on the lower or higher side of the scale? Don’t rely on your doctor, ask for a copy and review it or have your nutritionist look at it. Do you have a health issue like diabetes or hormonal imbalance? Go to a doc and get blood work. Do you have a food intolerance or allergy. This can cause inflammation as well. Are your cortisol levels out of whack – have the doctor check that out while you are there too along with your thyroid. Do you hold a lot of water. If so eat more diuretic types of veggies that include asparagus, cucumbers, tomatoes and spinach. These help balance your water levels.

8) HOW HARD ARE YOU REALLY WORKING? ARE YOU IN CONDITION? If you rule all health issues out, maybe you are not pushing yourself hard enough in the gym and need to raise the volume a bit and intensity. You won’t burn enough fat and calories if you are not in your FAT BURNING heart rate zone – know it and check it every 15 mins.

9) HOW WELL DO YOU SLEEP? Are you getting 8 hours of sleep? If not this can screw up your leptin levels and also increase cortisol. Most people take consistent sleep for granted. If you can get a 20 min power nap in during the day or meditation do it. Rest helps your hormonal levels come to balance. IS FATIGUE KEEPING YOU UNMOTIVATED OR STRUGGLING WITH GETTING TO THE GYM? Do you lack energy are you fatigued. Could you have chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue or fibromyalgia. These things don’t always show up in blood work, but if your body is out of condition and you have trapped trauma or pain, this could slow you down. You will have to get your conditioning levels up in order to burn fat and calories. If your conditioning level is low you won’t be able to put in the time or intensity needed to experience results. Be sure to take B Complex 100 daily along with a multi. Work on your stress levels so that you can stress your body in the gym not hormonally in a negative way with temper fits that spill bad hormones throughout your body. Anger and sadness stored in the body lead to inflammation and weight gain. Find ways to release these emotions and work through them in a healthy way, whether it’s yoga, a therapist or meditation. I like to meditate, read and journal.

10) KNOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT & WHAT YOU ARE PUTTING IN AND ON YOUR BODY. Jillian Michaels wrote a great book called Master Your Metabolism which shares how potent chemicals in cleaning agents can be and how hormonally this can throw your body off. You also want to consider what you put on your body topically. Your skin is the largest organism. Think about what you want to add to your body and into your bloodstream. Go with Organic foods and those that are pesticide free. Avoid heavy seasoning and sauces with salt. Start reading labels. If there is a lot of stuff you are reading that you can’t understand, throw it away or go with something that is truly clean and pure.

The easiest way to go about all of this to find someone you can be accountable to. If you don’t develop new patterns and a mind set no matter what you do, you will go in vicious circles and find yourself in the red zone. The best thing for you to do is hire someone who knows who to help you and can get you started on the right track. If you need a coach who is as serious about results as you are, please contact me for a FREE CONSULTATION. [email protected]