Are you trying to lose weight—but it’s not going as planned? It’s possible that you may be committing some common weight loss mistakes. This email is timely because we have been discussing ALL these points in our group classes and personal training this week because our clients are asking. The questions keep coming up so I thought I would share with everyone.
Here they are, see if any of these may apply to you:
1. Focusing Strictly On The Scale
When it comes to weight loss, the scale is not your friend. If you train with us, you have heard me say this. Although most people use it as an indicator for weight loss, it can be very unreliable. You should instead focus on fat percentage and inches lost, as this is a sign that your body fat is decreasing, and you’re adding lean muscle mass. Many scales now come with body fat/composition measurement options. This may be a good purchase if you are really focused on the body fat loss.
2. Eating Too Many (or Not Enough) Calories
The number of calories you’re eating will play a large role in your ability to lose weight. Remember this simple rule for fat loss: more calories burned vs. calories eaten will result in a calorie deficit and this creates your fat loss. This doesn’t even take into consideration the quality of calories you eat, just the numbers. Usually, you will be either grossly over-estimating the amount you’re eating, or you’re underestimating it.
And this could negatively impact your weight loss. IF you want to really know how many you are eating write down all your food for a couple days and take a look. It will likely surprise you. Eating more calories than you’re burning, could lead to overeating and weight gain. And not eating enough calories, could slow your metabolism, and put your body into “starvation mode”. When this happens, your body will burn muscle, therefore slowing your metabolism. All that muscle you just worked out to gain goes to energy instead of making you feel better, looking great and giving you energy for life.
3. Not Exercising Enough
Even if you are exercising, you may not be getting enough activity to make a difference in your weight. Why? Although exercise can help you burn excess calories, not doing enough, could result in not enough calories burned, therefore slowing weight loss.
You don’t need to set aside an hour or more every day. With your busy life this is hard to do. Instead, get in some shorter and higher intensity workouts to burn more calories at one time. Or, plan a couple shorter exercise sessions during a day. It’s good for your body and mind. (we have 30-minute group and personal training sessions that will accomplish this gaol for you)
4. Not Eating Enough Protein
If you want to lose weight, and get in shape, you need to be sure you’re eating enough protein. Not only does protein lead to increased lean muscle development, it may also suppress your appetite, therefore preventing you from overeating. You also burn extra calories by digesting protein. If you’re struggling to lose weight, increasing your protein may help. Try to add some quality protein to every meal or snack. A little at each meal adds up during the day.
5. Avoiding Strength Training
If you’re focusing solely on cardio as your only means of losing weight, then it’s not going to work! Although cardio is good for boosting calorie burn, strength training may boost weight and body fat loss. Strength training focuses on building your lean muscle mass, which is more metabolically active than fat mass. Muscle burns fat, period!
The combination of a strength training program, with a cardio program, will give you better weight and fat loss results. So, if you’re watching what you eat, and exercising, but you’re not losing weight, then you may be committing one—or more—of these common weight loss pitfalls. But, if you’re able to correct these mistakes, then you may see your weight loss take off.
