So what are the 5 reasons why you’re not losing weight?
You’ve been dieting for months and months, at least that’s what you keep telling yourself. You are fed up and so decide to have a day off just relaxing. 2 Big Macs, half a pack of chocolate buttons and a Domino’s later you realise you’ve gone a bit too far.
A lot of time we don’t achieve our goals of weight loss or body composition change because of a lack of motivation and will power. This usually occurs when we don’t see the results we expect.
Lets look at the 5 most common mistakes we at 180 Strength see from clients:
You may be underestimating – Calories in vs. calories out is 90% of the battle in losing weight. Sometimes we forget this and look for the quick fix. If you don’t already track your food intake using an app such as MyFitnesspal, we would recommend doing so even if it’s only for a few weeks. This way you will quickly see where you are going wrong. Already tracking? Try and be super critical on how and what you track.
Foods such as nuts, cooking oils, fatty meats and cheeses can become a double-edged sword if you aren’t tracking your intake accurately. For example, a handful of nuts can vary depending on how much you want to fill your hand. The best way to do this is with a good old fashioned weighing scales. Trust me, by doing this, after a few weeks you will become an expert at eyeing up the weight of foods. This makes eating out and guestimating even easier. Its win win.
You are eating healthy – BUT you are not looking at your PORTION SIZES. Eating healthy isn’t always eating the right amounts. Instead of me banging on about this just look at the picture below:
Both meals are “healthy”. One is going to get you to your goal, one isn’t. Over 1000kcal for a meal, where in comparison you could go to McDonald’s and get chicken nuggets and chips for just over the 600kcal mark. I’m not sitting here and saying that McDonald’s is the more nutritious choice. But at least your portion sizes aren’t warped.
You are drinking your calories –
Which one of these above do you think is stalling on their weight loss? One or two changes (that’s not depriving you, that’s just making small realistic changes) can go a long way. So don’t give me any of this “Oh I just don’t have the will power you do” bullshit.
You are stuck in the weekend rut – Monday you smash your diet and the gym. Tuesday and Wednesday still going strong and you feel like you could do this forever. Thursday is even better, you rule. Friday the football is on so you have a cheeky beer or two, cause you know you’ve done so well this week you deserve it. Then Saturday comes around and the sun comes out… You have 4 burgers at a BBQ, 2 pints, 2 bottles of wine and the next minute its 2am in the morning and you are smothering your face in a garlic mayo kebab. Ever been there?
Even if it’s not to that extreme you can see how a small deficit in the week can be eaten up easily by the weekends antics and hinder your losing weight. If you know you have weekend events you are going to overindulge in then plan ahead for it and take a large deficit in the week. Not only are you prepared for the weekend, but you’ve also got parameters. I.E. If you save 100kcal a day Monday to Friday you know you’ve got 500kcal extra for Saturday if you want. But that’s your lot. Want more? Eat less in the week.
@Cartergood sums this up in an infograph way more efficiently than I ever could. WEEKLY calories in Vs. Calories out. You are starting to get the trend now right?
You’ve been dieting for too long – Your metabolic rate is like a falling ceiling. Without support it will continue to fall. Your support in this case is your calorie intake. It is important to take diet breaks every once in a while.This will encourage a healthy metabolic rate. Without these breaks it will become harder and harder to drop fat mass in the long run.
During your diet break you should look to increase your calories little by little weekly, with minimal fat mass gain preferably. How much you increase weekly will depend on your needs and how much you are willing to “fluff up”. A larger increase will allow for more muscle mass increase (important for when you lean out again) but also runs the risk of putting a small amount of fat mass on. Not a bad thing at all during this phase, but can be psychologically challenging for some people. Find your happy medium.
Most likely, one or more of these points resonate with you if you’ve read this far. If that’s the case then spend a week or two implementing some changes and doing them religiously.You’re more than welcome to give me all the credit if you get good results. No change? then look to review your intake and training and see where you may have slipped up a little. If nowhere is the answer it probably means you need a further drop in calories to create a positive change to your body composition.
Remember calories in vs. calories out. I feel like I haven’t mentioned that enough…
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