Why You’re Not Losing Weight (3 Mistakes You Might Be Making)
“I’m eating so clean and training hard every day. Why am I not losing weight?”
There is nothing more frustrating than feeling like you’re working super hard and doing all of the “right” things but not getting the results you deserve.
It can make you feel like something is wrong with you.
But often it is very SIMPLE habit changes, those boring basics, that make the difference.
Too often we overcomplicate things in our search for a quick fix, instead of dialing in the fundamentals first.
We get focused on doing more and working HARDER over simply working smarter.
That’s why I want to share the 3 most common reasons people don’t see the weight loss results they want and how to correct them.
But first, I also want to discuss why you don’t want to let the scale dictate how you view your results.
The scale doesn’t tell us the full story.
It tells us how much we weigh on any given day at any given time.
But our weight isn’t just muscle and fat.
It’s glycogen and water storage.
It’s impacted by inflammation and food still left to be processed and disposed of.
The scale will fluctuate daily, not to mention even hourly.
While I know we can often want to see a specific number on the scale, we have to remember that the scale doesn’t really show us the full picture.
And often striving for faster weight loss on the scale will backfire.
The scale is a very poor indicator of body recomposition.
Your weight could stay the same while amazing body recomposition results are happening.
If you lose a pound of fat, but even gain 2lbs of muscle?
Guess what?
You could end up looking leaner BUT actually even see your weight increase.
Because as much as we say “I want to lose weight” what we really want is to lose fat.
And the scale as a data source for fat loss is very limited
So even if you are trying to lose weight, consider another form of measurement to help you truly track your body recomposition – whether it is a form of body fat testing, progress picture or even body measurements.
Now…What Are The 3 Most Common Reasons We Aren’t Seeing Results?
Often we need to focus on those BASICS and dial in those fundamentals first.
While they aren’t sexy or fun, they are often the reasons we succeed or fail!
Supplements, fancy moves may be the things we want to focus on, but we have to remember that what we measure, can be MANAGED!
If you don’t have a clear picture of what you’re doing, a clear plan in place? You can’t make accurate changes to your routine.
Reason #1: You’re Not Tracking And Measuring
I know I know…tracking sucks.
It’s boring and tedious and no one likes doing it.
But it gives us an unbiased picture of what we are truly doing so that we can adjust.
It’s a great learning tool to truly understand how to best fuel your body so your calories and macros are dialed in specifically to YOUR needs.
Because….
1. We are often very bad at estimating our own portion sizes, no matter how good we think we are at it.
And 2. You can still overeat healthy foods. It’s why you may be eating clean and NOT seeing results.
It’s easy when you’re hungry or simply even WANT the food to end up letting that portion size get a bit bigger.
I don’t know about you, but a tbsp of peanut butter gets exponentially bigger depending on how much I want it that day or even what I’m putting it on.
And with calorically dense foods like that, it’s easy for those calories to add up each day, not to mention over the week and throw us out of the deficit we need to see for results.
Not to mention, those calories can distort the macros we are actually hitting that day, which can dramatically impact our results.
And if you’re a snacker?
It’s easy to end up letting a snack or two here or there become 3 or 4 and add up to more calories throughout the day than we realize.
It’s why tracking not only holds us accountable, but measuring gives us an accurate picture of what is going on so we know what to change.
You may not do it long term. But why not set yourself up to truly understand your diet by having a clear picture of what you’re consuming so you CAN get better results without having to do more?
Reason #2: You’re Focused On Doing More
When we do more, we feel more in control of our progress.
We feel like we can speed up our results.
But doing more can often backfire.
It can lead to burn out.
Extra frustration because we are pushing so hard yet NOT seeing the results we want.
The simple fact is we simply can’t out exercise or out diet time.
And the more we try to? The more we often create habits that aren’t sustainable that we can’t be consistent with.
Too often we overestimate how much we can accomplish short term while underestimating what we can accomplish long term.
Not to mention, those fast fad results we sometimes do see happening?
Well those seemingly amazing results are often why we get caught in the same annoying weight loss cycle…losing and regaining the same weight over and over again.
We slash our calories ridiculously low as we add in extra cardio and spend hours in the gym.
We may then see a huge initial drop of 5lbs in those first few days or even the first week.
But guess what? That isn’t all fat that we lost.
It’s water weight. Glycogen depletion. Maybe a pound of fat.
BUT also a pound of muscle.
So while it may feel satisfying, it won’t keep up. Or we have to keep doing more and more in an attempt to keep the results rolling in as quickly.
And in our attempt to see those faster drops on the scale, we end up sacrificing muscle not to mention create metabolic adaptations and hormonal imbalances that hold us back.
We create issues that end up backfiring and we’ve built habits that are unsustainable.
So what happens?
All that doing more leads to us regaining the weight we worked so hard to lose. And often, we end up worse off because, when we regain the weight?
We aren’t regaining muscle.
So the next time we attempt to lose weight? The process may feel even more hopeless.
This is why we need to stop doing more and instead create a plan that is truly realistic for our lifestyle.
There is no perfect workout schedule. No one perfect diet.
The key is making small changes and doing something that truly fits the time we have.
If you only have 3 days a week to workout? Start with that schedule and design workouts that fit that routine.
If you’ve never tracked your food before? Just start by logging without other changes.
These small swaps allow you to build momentum and truly make lasting changes.
Reason #3: You’re Not Focusing On Strength Training
Yes, for weight loss diet is key.
I don’t think there is anyone at this time who hasn’t heard the phrase “Abs are made in the kitchen.”
But so often we don’t dial in our workouts in a way that truly complements our nutritional plan and works toward lasting results.
Most of the time when someone says they want to lose weight, they also say they plan to add in more cardio.
And this association between cardio and weight loss arose because often cardio workouts do burn more calories per session than strength workouts.
But thinking of our workouts only as a chance to burn more calories is really not utilizing them to maximize our results.
We also have to remember our body adapts.
It’s why we get stronger. Why we can run faster and ride further.
But because of these adaptions, we don’t continue to burn as many calories from our steady state cardio training sessions as we did to start.
It’s why we can feel like we just need to keep doing more.
It can also lead to us trying to out exercise our diet to create a great calorie deficit.
Instead we need to see our workouts as not only a chance to burn more calories but as an opportunity to keep our overall body healthy and avoid metabolic adaptations.
If you want to look leaner? You want to build muscle.
That’s why strength workouts are so key.
If you want to avoid more metabolic adaptations and burn more calories at rest?
You want to include strength workouts to build muscle.
So while you can and should include cardio training if you enjoy it, and for your overall wellness, we need to stop turning to cardio for weight loss.
Focus on lifting heavy and challenging your body through heavier loads and more advanced movements! Make more out of less time so you can even create a routine that is sustainable long term!
SUMMARY:
If we want to see amazing weight loss results, you can’t ignore the basics.
Stop spinning your wheels just trying to do more.
Instead think of how you can do less and get better results.
Start tracking and logging as you focus on creating a sustainable routine that includes strength training.
The BEST results happen when our diet and our workouts WORK TOGETHER!
Learn to eat and train according to YOUR needs and goals:
–> Macro Hacks
Some of us do it daily. It’s part of our “morning routine.” But it can also sometimes be a number that decides how we feel about ourselves that day…for better or for worse.
Then weighing every day is for sure not a good thing.
It’s why I put an emphasis on 
Because let’s face it…While nutrition is about the foods we eat so we can be healthy…most of the time we are looking to dial in our nutrition for weight loss or body composition changes, which are also dependent on dialing in our workouts.
A little shocking huh?
Two things will happen if you focus on macros first THEN adjust your daily calorie amount…
And I think it is important to keep exercise on the pyramid, even though I’m talking about nutrition, because it matters more than timing or supplements. Far more.
If you hit your macro ratios for the day, you’re going to get great results regardless of when you eat. Intermittent fasting can work. Eating 5 small meals a day can work.
