Why am I not losing weight? writes John Lark personal trainer and founder of Sphere Fitness Maynooth. He outlines some of the key reasons why you may not be seeing the results you are looking for…
I get how you feel. This weight loss, dieting and exercise is tough work. And sometimes you just don’t see the results. There could be some genuine reasons though: –
You are not working hard enough
You are not looking in the right places i.e. making progress and not seeing it
You have other circumstances which MAY be out of your control
I can help you with the first two and a bit of the third. If you are not working hard enough then just ask yourself why you set out in the first place? Is this important to you?
If you are not looking in the right places then this article will help. I outline 8 areas that may need your eye for successful weight loss
You are eating under your calories for weight loss but your choices are poor
By and large just cleaning up your diet will provide most beginners to the health and fitness game with the results they are after. This can happen in a pretty short space of time.
Swapping the breakfast cereal for a couple of eggs scrambled with spinach, the deli bought sandwich for a leafy green salad and fish and dinner a good old fashioned meal cooked entirely from scratch works wonders.
Why then do we find this so tough to achieve? Poor cooking skills? Lack of a big enough ‘why’ that when you are staring down the a barrel of a biscuit tin you just feel compelled to have one more?
Take home – get more whole foods into your diet. Start with having a big leafy green salad once per day and work from there. Or as one commentator once wrote “become a vegetarian and add some meat”.
You are eating too much
When you clean up your diet your health improves but let’s not forget calories in this. More often than not cleaning up your diet leads to a reduction in calorie consumption. There are fewer snacks on ten go, a more structured eating pattern, less sugar and hidden calories. They are important.
So when someone complains that they are not losing weight they have to be honest at the same time.
Are you over eating? How will you know this? Keeping a food log is a necessary short term action that will uncover this. It is surprising how small habits over time can scupper results.
That extra biccie after dinner? Yep, it can add up. Those 5-6 glasses of wine on top of a rich meal can scupper your efforts. Particularly if you are doing this twice to three times per week. (As a side note if you are eating out the majority of the time then it is nigh on impossible to drop the pounds unless you are really cute about it)
Take home – how much are you eating? When are you eating? What choices are you making? Get someone to look at your diet objectively and take it apart. Keep a food diary.
You are eating at the wrong times
The research itself is not crystal clear on this subject as their are so many factors involved in things like appetite. However what I can say that dabbling in changing when you eat for body composition changes when you have very little control over your daily eating is teeing up for trouble.
Get some order in the house first!
We know that eating at the wrong times can scupper your efforts to lose weight.
The most common pattern is a skipped breakfast with calories increasing as you move through the day. Ideally it should be the other way round or better stil meals of the same size and plate arrangement.
We know that from a recent bit of research that between two groups consuming the same amount of calories expect one group take on board 70% of their calories later in the day and the other group 70% of their calories consumed earlier in the day, the morning crew will do significantly better.
Take home – keep to a steady regular practice of eating with some meal preparation involved. Be proactive with your diet rather than reactive.
You train with little or no purpose
Dipping your toe in the water with training and exercise is not the solution either. The ideal place is where exercise and training are part of your life. You enjoy the process, the outcome, the way it makes you feel and the over-riding benefits of knowing that you have a well oiled machine prepared for whatever life may throw at you.
It doesn’t work if you schedule your life around your exercise or training.
Or one week you are great and the next week you are not seen for dust.
Or you think that one balls to the wall session is going to cut it.
Take home – exercise daily. Start where you know you can do it with ridiculous ease. If it is 5 minutes then so be it. Keep score and go from there. But stop kidding yourself that a good and bad week will get you results.
Which leads us on to another big reason…
You lack consistency
There really is no substitute for just turning up. Some days you can go full throttle. Other days you won’t. But the point is you turn up and groove good practices and habits. This doesn’t happen overnight. And that is why I am a huge believer in focusing on the process rather than the outcome all the time.
We know that anxiety is when you worry about stuff coming up.
Guilt is linked to worrying about stuff that has gone before.
So why would you then apply this to exercise?
Take Home – This should be a moment thing. But how many of us take this to be a life changing event and tie to things coming up. Focus on the now. It takes away the mental torture that so many of us put ourselves through. And if you are not enjoying it. STOP. Think about why and find something that you will enjoy.
You sweat the small stuff when dealing with weight loss
If you are debating whether or not to eat the ice cream or the merits of gluten free or HIIT over steady state. Stop right there. You are lost and need a re focus.
Are you exercising daily?
Are you regular with your eating practices?
Do you have a diet 90% of whole foods with proteins, veggies, good fats and some carbs when you are particularly active?
Just following these three steps with any level of consistency will take you far. No doubt about it.
This is the big burger. The important stuff. Everything else is a brucie-bonus. Nothing more.
And 9 times out of 10 folks who have been starting out with this need to focus on this for a minimum of a year before fussing about the minute details.
Take Home – Focus on the Big 3
You aren’t sleeping
Sleep, aside from the normal issues you face when you have had a poor night’s sleep, is detrimental to your results.
Think about your reaction to a poor night’s sleep. You are tired, irritable, crave the sweet stuff and have as about as much inclination to get up and go as someone with a hangover. Combine that with a diet that is restrictive and WILL lead to some feelings of hunger and you are asking for frustration.
Take home – fix your sleep. Go to bed earlier, try epsom salt baths, find out what is causing you to wake up. Have a look at what you eat before bed? Are you over thinking stuff? How are your hormones?
You are not tracking….anything
Alot of folks make the mistake of not tracking anything. I put this down to fear of change and fear of failure.
Fear of failure is painful. After all who wants to know how badly you have done.
Time to become totally objective, not emotive. Throw down some markers and stick to them. You are the driver of the ship, no-one else. I worry when folks don’t want to see results.
‘Yeah not had a great month this month John can we leave until next month?’
‘No’
Sometimes you can’t see change but it is staring you in the face. Or you need the pain of a bad result to spur further action. This is what coaching is. Taking an objective stance, seeing where you need help and then holding you accountable. Not allowing you to duck out of the way at every obstacle.
Take home – set periodic review dates and stick to them. Life isn’t a linear glide into wonderland. It is a series of serious speed bumps, knocks and bruises. Just keep driving.
John Lark is owner and founder of Sphere Fitness and a personal trainer with 15 years experience. http://spherefitness.ie/start-here
