Sometimes,
people can diet and work out and track their calories and do everything
right—but still not lose weight. I can't begin to tell you how often members,
friends and even acquaintances ask me why they're not losing weight despite
doing X, Y or Z. It's one of the most common questions I get as a trainer.
Sometimes, the answer isn't that easy to come by.
But usually, when someone seems to be doing the right things but not making
progress, a list of possible problems runs through my head. These are the most
common scenarios I tend to see that stop people from getting results—and they
could be the culprits for your weight woes, too.
So here are a few cold, hard truths about why you're not losing weight.
You're
eating back all the calories you burn.
When you work out, you're burning extra calories. That's why exercise is so
important in the weight-loss equation. But a lot of people overestimate how
much they burn—and even use the "I exercised today" excuse to later
overeat, over drink (think alcohol) or overindulge. How many times have you
faced a food temptation and thought, "Well, I worked out today, so it's OK
this time." Or even, "I'll have this now, but work out extra hard
tomorrow to burn it off." If that sounds all-too-familiar, this is
one major reason why you're not losing weight. For the exercise to help you
lose, you can't re-eat all those extra calories you burned. And in most cases,
we overestimate how many calories we actually burned and underestimate how many calories we're actually eating,
which means using that 3-mile walk (240 calories burned) to justify that
restaurant meal (1,000+ calories, anyone?) leaves you in a worse
position than if you may realize: at a calorie surplus.
The
Takeaway: Exercise
can help you lose when you're really using it to burn extra calories, not as a
reason to eat more.
You're relying on exercise alone to do the trick.
Yes, exercising can help you lose weight (and it has so many other health
benefits) because it helps you create that calorie deficit needs to drop
body fat. But here's the truth: Exercise alone will not help you lose
weight. For emphasis, I'll say it again. If you are relying on exercise alone
to lose weight, you are fighting an uphill battle. Here's why.
Exercise burns calories, but not as much as people think. When you consider how
many calories you burn in a day, exercise burns very little. And it takes a lot
of time and effort to burn even a few calories. A full hour of intense exercise
may only burn 400-500 calories for a lot of people. On the flipside, it's easy
to eat hundreds or thousands of calories in even a few minutes. But it would
take hours of exercise to offset those calories. If you are not changing your
diet and reducing your calorie intake, exercise alone probably won't help you
much. As they say, "you can't out-train a bad diet." No amount of
exercise can make up for a poor or high-calorie diet. You've got to have both
(calorie reduction through diet and exercise) for optimal weight-loss results.
The
Takeaway: The best
way to lose weight is to cut back on what you eat and increase your burn
through exercise—not one of the other.
You're
not eating as healthfully as you think.
We know that Americans and others who eat a Western-style diet have a lot of
health problems—and weight problems. The vast majority of people are overweight
these days. Yet research shows that the vast majority of people also think
they eat healthfully and consider eating healthy a priority. Are you as
confused about that as I am? Clearly, we are not eating that well if we
continue to see steady increases in heart disease, type 2 diabetes, overweight
and obesity.
Here's the thing: We all think we eat pretty well. Even people who eat a pretty
bad diet don't think it's that bad. No one really wants to admit that their
diet might be pretty unhealthy. We all think we're probably doing better than
others. This is especially true if you compare your diet to what you see your
friends, family or co-workers eat and consider your choices to be
"better." Whether that's actually true or not, the truth is that the
vast majority of people could (and probably should) improve their diets
immensely.
The
Takeaway: If you're
not meeting basic guidelines for a healthy diet (which involves way more
than just counting calories alone) and/or you don't actually track your
food/nutrition to see how it all adds up in black and white, don't make
assumptions about how "good" you really do eat. Research confirms
that people underestimate the quantity of food they eat, so read labels and
measure.
You're
doing the wrong kinds of exercise.
If you are exercising regularly, you're already doing a very important thing to
improve your health. But when it comes to exercising for weight loss, there's a lot of confusion
out there. One day you hear that strength training is the best way to lose
weight. The next day you're told to focus on cardio—but not just any cardio,
intervals. Then you hear it has to be high intensity intervals or Tabata
training. What gives?
The truth is that all types of exercise will burn calories, which can help with
weight loss. But when it comes to losing weight, it's all about burning calories.
And in most cases, cardio is the calorie-burning king. Strength training
is important, too (for many reasons), such as reducing the amount of muscle
loss that occurs during weight loss, but it's typically not a major calorie
burner. So if you are relying almost exclusively on strength training as
your weight-loss strategy, it could backfire.
The
Takeaway: The best
exercise plan emphasizes cardio for calorie burning, but still includes
strength training to preserve lean muscle. Both are important; neither option
can do everything.
You're
not being consistent enough.
When you're struggling to lose those final 5-10 pounds or to overcome a
plateau, consistency in your efforts is even more important. A lot of people
stick to strict diet and fitness programs for days or weeks at a time, but
their habits simply aren't consistent for long enough. Ever eat
"perfectly" and exercise "religiously" for a whole week,
only to step on the scale that weekend to see that you haven't lost an ounce?
"What's the point!" you may think as you go on an all-out eating fest
and skip the gym for a couple days. Maybe you don't even make it a few days
"on track," but rather you eat right for one day, then fall of the
wagon the next.
Or perhaps you do feel pretty consistent in your habits, but the occasional
slice of birthday cake or drinks with friends happens more often than just occasionally.
Eating that restaurant dessert that's 4-5 times a standard serving size (and
packed more sugar and fat than seems physically possible) doesn't really count
as moderation, even if it's the only sweet treat you've had all week. Moderation
needs to apply not just to the frequency of treats or rest days, but the
amount, too. Practice portion control—so that you don't go overboard and
set yourself back.
The
Takeaway: Eat
right and exercise as consistently as possible and apply both moderation and
portion control when it comes to indulging.
You're not measuring the right things.
A lot of people complain that they're not seeing the scale move, even though
they are losing inches and clothing sizes. Despite these obvious signs that
they're getting leaner, they still want to see the scale change.
If you are noticing other improvements in your body shape or size, you are
losing fat. The scale might not always reflect that you've lose weight—but
ultimately it is the shape of your body and the amount of lean muscle vs.
body fat you have that shows you're making progress.
The
Takeaway: Don't
just rely on the scale to measure your weight loss. That number won't
really tell you everything you need to know.
You don't need to lose weight.
If you are at a healthy BMI or a body fat percentage in the
healthy range, you probably don't need to lose weight for any health or
medical reasons. Still, you may want to lose some pounds for vanity's
sake, or even to improve your athletic performance. There's nothing inherently
wrong with wanting to lose weight when you're already at an acceptable weight.
But, when you only have only a little body fat to lose, it can be extremely
challenging for some people.
Your body is usually content to be right where it is, weight-wise. For many,
their body has sort of settled in to what it feels like is a good, natural
weight—which may not be your ideal weight in your head. It's certainly
possible to drop your body fat percentage and get leaner, but it will
often take even more dedication—and time—than it will for someone who has a lot
of weight to lose. For some, it may involve dieting or exercising to
extremes rather than a moderate amount. But with diligence and some
experimentation, you can get there—especially if you follow the other tips
outlined here (consistency being #1).
The
Takeaway: When you
have less fat to lose, the road may be harder and longer; consistency is key!
You
have an underlying issue.
When all else fails and you've truly adhered to your program—and all the
advice here—and you're still not losing weight, you may secretly wish you had
some kind of underlying medical problem that would explain it—a slow thyroid,
some kind of hormonal disorder, or something that popping a pill could fix and
then magically help melt away the pounds. While it is true that people with
certain medical issues or on certain medications can have trouble losing
weight, most people struggle with losing it because they struggle with
consistently burning more calories than they eat. The only way to do it is to
track, measure and weigh your food honestly and accurately, and burn excess calories
through increased physical activity.
The
Takeaway: If
you've truly tried everything discussed here and more—and simply aren't making
progress—it would not hurt to check in with your medical provider to see if any
underlying issues are at play.
Here are a few other common reasons you may not be losing weight despite doing
everything right:
·
You're skimping on sleep.
·
You don't fit the standard formulas for calorie estimation.
·
Your "cheat days" are cheating you.
·
You're battling chronic stress.
·
You're eating too many or too little carbs, protein or fat.
Weight loss seems simple, but it doesn't happen easily. But many, many people
just like you have fought the battle and won—and you can, too. Just be
consistent. Track, track, track. Ask for help and support. And slowly
but surely, you will get there.
Can you relate to any of these tips? What do you think is the main reason
people struggle with weight loss?
Ref: Nicole Nichols
