Three reasons why you’re not losing body fat:
1 – You Aren’t Weighing Yourself Correctly
It is possible that you actually are making progress but the way you are tracking it is making it seem as though that’s not the case.
The problem is a lot of people don’t track their weights properly and then base their progress on it.
Here are a few examples of how people mess this up:
In one scenario you weigh yourself every day at different times and use that to track your weight. If your weight is heavier on tuesday than it was on monday you say your diet isn’t working. Some people will weigh themselves first thing in the morning one day, then weigh themselves after a pasta dinner the next day! If they don’t like what they see on the scale they skip their next meal.
To simplify, people are basing the entire effectiveness of their diet on what the scale is telling them.
You see, the scale is a great tool for measuring progress – it’s convenient. However, the number you read on that scale can vary greatly.
In fact, depending on what you’ve been eating or drinking throughout the day your weight can vary by several pounds. For example, try weighing yourself before and after a big meal – notice how your weight goes up?
In fact, even the time of day and clothing can influence your weight quite a bit.
Therefore, if you are weighing yourself at random times of the day you will not get consistent, measurable results.
Solution: Weigh/measure Yourself Properly
The most important thing here is to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before eating anything but after going to the loo.
If possible weigh yourself without any clothes on or at least keep the clothing the same.This will help eliminate the effects of any food or drinks as you have been fasting for a while.
Continue to do this for 4 weeks, record and then compare the data – see what your weekly average is.
In addition to weighing yourself you should also take measurements.
For example, measure your waist, chest, arms and thighs and track those measurements over time.
Sometimes those measurements might decrease while your weight stays the same – usually this is because you gained some muscle which isn’t a bad thing.
Just remember to take these measurements at the same time to eliminate as many outside factors as possible.
Finally, look at getting a body fat test done. You may need a trainer for this that can record the data to see where you may or may not be struggling.
2 – You Aren’t in a Calorie Deficit
This is where most people fail at dieting – they simply aren’t restricting calories as much as they need to. The truth is that most people eat more calories than they think and burn less than they estimate.
As a result, the so-called calorie deficit is really just eating at maintenance calories.
If you are tracking your weight correctly, doing resistance training and cardio and eating clean but you are still not losing weight guess what – you are eating too much. Stop blaming your lack of progress on being in starvation mode or meal frequency. It’s just a lack of calorie deficit.
Now, this lack of deficit can be caused by a number of factors such as a poor quality training, not actually training enough, not counting calories correctly or overestimating how many calories you are burning through cardio.
Solution – Recalculate Your Consumption
Make sure you are accounting for every calorie you are consuming – every ingredient you use while cooking.
Some people don’t include the olive oil they use to cook their food with but not only does that end up in your stomach – it actually contains a lot of calories!
You will also want to re-evaluate your BMR which you might be overestimating.
Ask one of our trainers to be tested on this in Ozone gym. However, if you are positive you are tracking your calories properly and you still can’t lose weight it might be due to your BMR.
3 – Your Expectations are Too High
Some people speak to us out of frustration that they aren’t losing any weight.
They claim they are tracking calories accurately, lifting heavy and doing everything else right yet are not seeing any results.
When asked how much weight they lost over the last month they will say 3-4 pounds.
What they obviously do not realize is that losing 2-3 pounds a month is a great target. It may not seem like much, but at this rate, six to twelve months later it will be very substantial.
Solution – Re-Evaluate Your Expectations
1 pound per week is a solid rate for fat loss..
Remember that losing fat takes time and there is no need to rush the progress.
Consistency and patience is key.
Listen to your trainer. If you don’t have one, it may be time to get one..?
If you are not sure about where to start click this link and find out how me may be able to help
