9 Reasons You Are Not Losing Fat…….

Been training and dieting for a period of time without any success? Struggling to reach your goals? Not sure what to do next?

Check out the following points, some may seem obvious but it may highlight an area thats holding you back when it comes to fat loss.

1. You eat too much – may seem obvious but if you consume more calories than you burn off then you will gain weight, you need to reverse this in order to lose weight. Use the app ‘myfitnesspal’ for a week or so any find out roughly how many calories you are consuming. This can be quite an eye opener and may identify foods and drinks you can cut back on that may have more calories in them than you think.
2. You don’t eat enough – this is less common but can happen sometimes. If you go on a seriously low calorie diet for any length of time you will your body will adapt to its environment. Your body will adapt to the low calories and learn to function on low calories, this will lower your Resting Metabolic Rate leaving us in a position where we will struggle to get into a calorie deficit, essesntial for losing weight.
3. The quality of foods you eat is poor – to ensure your body is functioning propelry you need to fuel it properly. Aim for around 80-90% of the food and drink you consume to come from nutrient dense foods. ‘Single ingredient’ foods should make up the majority of your diet and still allow for the occasional treats. A diet that is full of ‘junk’ food will likely be high in calories, low in nutrients and will leave us struggling to lose some fat.
4. You lack consistency – you have a great week one week, training 5 days, every meal is perfect. You then miss a weeks training, the diet goes out the window for 2 weeks and you are back to square one. The key is to focus on progress rather than perfection. Too many people adopt the ‘all or nothing’ approach. If you train 3 times a week for the rest of your life and eat good quality, nutrient dense food 80-90% of the time every week then you will be in great shape and you will be able to maintain your physique, rather than ‘yo-yo-ing’.
5. You are not patient – if it took you 10 years for the weight to slowly creep up on you, give it longer than 2 weeks for it to come back off. Trust the process and keep going. I work with many clients and the results will come if they just keep doing what they are doing for the next few months and years. Don’t get disheartened and give up, you will only start the process again and be further away from your goal. Think of your own journey over the past year or so. How many times have you stopped and restarted? Have you lost or gained weight since this day last year?
6. You don’t train hard enough – do you go to the gym for an hour or do you train hard for an hour? You have to put the effort in to your training and get out your comfort zone. Try hiring a coach or getting a good training partner to help you push you on. Don’t waste time in the gym by talking too much, texting and letting the intensity of your workout drop. An intense 45 minute session 3 times a week is plenty time to make great progress.
7. You don’t progress your workouts – as with point 2, your body will adapt to the stimulus placed on it. That is why if you go the same 3 mile run or weights routine you have done for the past 2 years will stop working for you. Always aim to increase what you are doing – a quicker pace, more reps, more weight, change the exercises etc. There are numerous ways we can increase the workload during a training session.
8. You don’t lift weights – not everyone enjoys weight training, but the better condition our muscles are in, the higher our Resting Metabolic Rate will be which will make it easier for us to be in a calorie deficit. Weight training has so many other health benefits to the body, and no ladies it won’t make you bulky.
9. You make too many excuses – for 95% of the population your health and weight is down to you, if you are out of shape it’s because of your actions. Don’t blame the fact you have kids, you work full time, your genetics etc. You have to take responsibiltiy and make the necessary changes needed for you to lose fat, be healthier and happier.

Have a look at your training, diet and lifetyle and see where there are gaps that you could look at to help you overcome your fat loss plateau.