Have you been training for years? Always seem to be on a diet but getting nowhere?
Here are 12 areas to think about, many of you may know this but it is important to apply this knowledge to ensure you get results.
You eat too many calories – if you consume more calories than our body requires you will gain weight. You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat. If you are eating too much you won’t lose weight, seems obvious but people still overlook this.
You don’t eat enough calories – your body is great at adapting to its environment. If you restrict calories too much then this will lower your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). For example, if you go on a diet of 1000 calories you will lose weight initialy. However, your RMR will adapt to suit this and when it does you are stuck. You can’t possibly lower your calorie intake any more than 1000, this is where you plateau. Many people then give up on the overly restrictive diet and resort to their old eating habits. This is where we put on weight quickly, your RMR is sitting around 1000 calories and if you start consuming more than this, you will put on weight.
You drink too many calories – many people forget about the calories in their drinks and don’t take them into consideration. Alcohol, fizzy drinks, fruit juice, coffees (especially the ‘fancy’ ones) all contain a high number of calories that will impact your progress. Switch to water or sugar free drinks.
You eat too much ‘healthy’ food – just because a food appears to be ‘healthy’ or is labelled ‘organic’ does not give you a free pass to eat as much of it as possible. Organic, no added sugar Peanut Butter is full of good stuff, but at 100 calories per tablespoon it can be deadly to your diet.
You don’t train – exercise in conjunction with a good diet will be much more effective than just dieting alone, and it also has so many other positive benefits on your life.
You don’t train hard enough – a lack of intensity can be a reason that you do not progress in the gym. On your phone, too much talking and too much rest time during a workout won’t get you the results you are after.
You don’t lift weights – weight training has so many benefits, especially for fat loss, yet many people avoid it. You will not get ‘bulky’ from lifting weights. You will elevate your metabolism, get stronger, get leaner and feel awesome.
You don’t drink enough water – being sufficiently hydrated has a great impact on fat loss yet people often overlook this and look for more complicated strategies. Aim to drink 2-3 litres per day.
You don’t consume enough protein – protein is a macronutirent found in meats, eggs, fish etc. Protein helps build and repair your muscles and keeps you feeling full. You should be aiming to consume around 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. Many people fail to hit this target and consume too many carbohydrates, ususally poor ones, in relation to protein.
Too much stress, not enough sleep – the hormone cortisol is produced when you don’t get enough sleep or if you are stressed. This is a problem as too much cortisol leads to fat gain.
You don’t count calories at the weekend – you eat well and train hard all week only to go on a blowout at the weekend. All the hard work over the week can easily be lost on a night out of excessive calories. Moderation is the key for weekend success, the occasional ‘blow out’ won’t do you any harm but it can stop your progress if its a weekly occurance.
You are not consistent – you go ‘beast mode’ one week and MIA the next 2 weeks. Training 6 days a week and having the perfect diet won’t get you results if you are not consistent. Aim for 3-4 sessions every week, for months, if not years – this will produced long term results. The same goes for your diet, consistently good is better than sporadically perfect.
If you are not getting the results you are looking for look at whether your behaviour matches your goals, if they don’t then you should seek to change something to ensure you see results.
Coach Milligan 