I get this question daily…
“Why am I not losing weight? My body fat hasn’t changed, what’s wrong with me?”
If you have ever asked yourself this same question, you’re about to find a few reasons that may be holding you back.
It’s not always black and white or a simple change to get the effect, but below are some of the reasons you could not be losing weight and stubborn body fat:
*this is a list of reasons, some may not be an issue for you*
•You eat too many calories a day
•you do NOT EAT ENOUGH CALORIES a day
•You eat too many starchy carbs
•Your workouts do not assist in burning fat
•You have too much daily stress
•You do not let your body recover enough following workouts
•You spend too much time doing cardio
•You do not lift weights
•You have a low resting metabolic rate
•You do not have enough muscle tone to help burn off body fat
•You eat healthy, but cheat too often
•You do not workout consistently enough
•You are not keeping a food log
•You do not drink enough water
•You do not believe in your goals strongly enough
•Wheats and grains are your primary fuel source
•You eat a lot of sugary foods *other than fruit*
•You do not plan out your food in advance
•Your workouts and schedule is the same each day
•You eat the same foods every day
•You lost weight, but it was muscle tone, leaving you with more body fat than before
•You do not do full body workouts
•You hang out with people who do not support your goals
•You drink too much alcohol
•You only workout select body parts
While not every reason that is on this list will apply to each and every person, I hope a few of these items have stuck out to you.
Here are a few action steps you can start taking right away to start achieving weight loss and dropping body fat:
1. Find out your total calorie intake needed to maintain your bodyweight, best way to do this is by taking your weight and finding out your body fThe none you have your weight and body fat, take your weight and minus your body fat. When doing math with your body fat move the decimal over 2 spots (26% would be .26 when doing math) here is a weight and body fat example person weights 140 pounds and has 20% body fat. 140 x .20= 28. 28 is your total weight in body fat. Now minus your 28 pounand from 140 to find 112 (140-28=112) this 112 is your lean muscle tone including muscle, skin hair and bone. Take 112 and times it by 13 (112 x 13. =1456) 1456 is your daily maintanence calories. At these calories you will not gain weight nor lose weight but just stay the same. To start losing weight, start by dropping 400 calories from your diet, anything more than 500 will starve your body and will actually hinder your results.
Here is the math example again. 140 x .20 = 28 -140 = 112 x 13 = 1456 (-400/500= 1056/956)
2. Stop doing so much cardio and start adding full body workouts including weightlifting and muscle endurance movements. Try and increase the lean Muscle tone. Think about your muscle tone as being wood for a fire. If you had a burning fire and you need to keep it going you would put logs on top. This helps the fire continue to burn and even grow stronger, your muscle tone is the exact same. It helps your body burn and process fat and makes your body one big fire.
3. Start food logging and keeping a daily journal of activity. By keeping track of exactly what you do and put into your body it’s a lot easier to figure out whether you’re having too many cheat meals, you may be drinking too much, not enough calories, too many calories, or just not working out enough to make adequate use of what your food intake is. It will also help you determine if you’re making correct choices.
4. Change up your workout and daily food intake. If you constantly are working out at the same time doing the exact same workouts or eating the same food daily you’ll want to change these things up as your body has likely hit a wall. Your body adapts to the daily tasks and food that you eat so you always want to be adjusting and throwing your body for slight curveballs by changing up your exercise movements, the food that you eat, and the times of activities you perform.
5. Make good food choices. Good food choices consist of eating primarily meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts — eating wheats, grains, legumes, and dairy are very hard on your body. By taking them out you will be more successful at dropping body fat and weight. It also helps because your caloric intake for your weight will be more suitable and you’ll have more energy from eating good food choices. For more ideas and simple nutrition tips check out paleoomg.com, thepaleoplan.com and everydaypaleo.com
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and we will answer them!
