No, you don’t need to buy the latest fat loss product and you don’t need to buy some fancy contraption to help you lose 20lbs in 5 days.
The real reason you’re not losing weight may actually be a little closer to home.
You’re Not Keeping Track of What you Eat
Being aware of how much you’re eating is vital for successful weight loss, whether that’s counting calories religiously, following a standardized way of eating (like Keto) or joining a group like weight watchers.
At the heart of all weight loss, journeys is the need to manipulate the energy balance equation in your favor and in order to do that you need to control your nutrition.
Simply trying to be a little healthier or being ‘good’ during the week, may work initially but won’t help you reach long term success.
Whatever your preferred method of managing your nutrition, you should really be planning your meals in advance and keep a food diary to keep track of what you’re consuming.You’re Not Being Honest
Although, you may be doing so unknowingly.
The advice for most dieters is to aim for a 500 calorie deficit a day, which equates to 3500 calories a week, which is the number of calories in 1lb of fat.
It’s pretty simple really, lower your calories, consistently stick to them, don’t overeat, and you will lose weight.
But time and time again people claim to be accurately keeping an eye on what they’re eating, swearing blind that they don’t have anything else, other than the food they report, yet the scales don’t move.
The real reason is they’ve often not been honest, although it’s not as sinister as you may think.
Ask yourself, can you say with complete certainty that you’re tracking/monitoring/counting everything that goes into your body?
Well, all these things add up and can often be enough to undo your hard work.
All of these things are enough to increase your calorie count and to ensure you’re not actually eating in a deficit as you think.
If you really want to see the scale move in the right direction, it’s time to start tracking and reporting what you eat and drink honestly and consistently.
You’re Not Drinking Enough Water
You’ve probably heard already that you should drink more water, but do you know why?
Water helps to clear out your skin, flush waste and toxins out of your body and also stops the body from retaining water, helping you to drop a few more pounds.
Water helps to keep hunger at bay, suppressing your appetite and making you feel fuller for longer.
Drinking water before a meal or taking regular sips through the meal can often lead to less food being consumed, preventing you from overeating.
Water is the simplest weight loss ‘hack’ that anyone can do, but almost everyone gets wrong as people don’t drink enough.
If you’re trying to lose weight then drinking your calories is a fast way to slow your progress.
Replacing those juices and sodas with a glass of ice cold water will help you to see results sooner.
As a general rule, aiming for 8 ounces, 8 times a day, is a great goal for most people to start with.
You’re Not Paying Attention
When it comes to losing weight people often become focussed on the scales instead of taking a full picture of their progress.
First and foremost, your weight is a combination of many things.
Your fat, your muscle, your bones and more and the scales can be manipulated by just as many things too.
All of these things can manipulate what the scales say and your overall view of progress.
When you’re aiming to lower body fat and lose weight, you should embark on this journey by paying very close attention to a few different markers.
Remember to pay attention to everything on the list to form a true picture of progress, although the scales may show the same number, you may be building lean muscle and while you weigh the same, you may be constructing a completely different body.
You’re Not Doing the Right Exercises
When it comes to weight loss it's true what they say, 80% of your success comes from your nutrition.
But don’t be fooled, your exercise plays a part too.
People swear by different things.
Male or female, young or old, you should move weight to lose weight.
Lifting weights will help you to increase your strength, power and provide you with the foundation to be a strong and capable version of yourself as you age, instead of frail and weak and in constant danger of needing new hips and knees.
Not only will lifting weights help you to future proof yourself, but it will also help in the present as you aim to shed the lbs.
Lifting weights and building muscle has a well documented greater metabolic effect than cardio, meaning you will continue to burn more calories even when you’re resting.
Muscle also takes up less space than fat does meaning as you burn fat and build muscle, your body shape will change much more dramatically than if you just did cardio alone.
Lift weights and pay attention to the tape measure, you may be changing more than you know.
You’re Not Consistent
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to lose weight is chopping and changing their program and not giving it time.
If you’re always chasing the next fad diet, the latest celebrity program or buying the latest fat burning product, you will never have lifelong success.
7-day shreds, 14-day detox, miracle cures.
The only result you will get from these things is the continual cycle of losing and gaining the same 5lbs.
Your Expectations are Unrealistic
In most cases, people have built up unhealthy habits and pilled on the lbs over a period of years but for some reason, they expect to lose it all in a matter of weeks.
A few weeks of healthy eating won’t overturn a lifetime of unhealthy habits.
But that’s not to say you shouldn’t be doing it.
When you start a new training program or begin following a diet, you should be doing so with a lifetime mindset, knowing that you will be making these changes over a sustained period of time and will be adopting new, lifetime habits, not just looking for a quick fix.
Instead, aim for sustainable progress over time and if you hit a plateau, assess the situation and see what you need to change if anything.
Most programs take anywhere from 12-20 weeks to see real progress, so you shouldn’t be changing anything unless you’ve assessed everything fully, spoken to your coach (if you have one) and you’re certain you’re not making the mistakes above and you are doing everything correctly.
You shouldn’t make any changes until 4-6 weeks in and even then, they should only be small tweaks and not wholesale changes.
Conclusion
If you truly want to lose weight (and not find it again) then you need to make wholesale changes to your life and ensure you’re not making any of the mistakes on this list above.
Go through the list again.
Make sure you have a goal, a nutrition plan, a training plan and you know how you’ll track your progress.
Then be consistent.
Stop looking for quick fixes and you’ll soon start seeing the results you’re after.
At its core, weight loss is a lot more straightforward than people believe, so don’t make it harder for yourself by making silly mistakes.
