The first thing my clients in training ask is, “how fast will I lose weight?”. My answer always is, “EVERYDAY THAT YOU TRAIN!”. When you train to shape your figure or gain muscle you will have to compliment your hard effort with a diet. Let’s say you show up for your workout at 6:00 am and by 7:00 am you are limping back to your car, but what happens after that is entirely up to you. You are responsible for what you do the next 14 hours of your day. There is a lot of things that you could be doing that contribute to slow weight loss. These are the top probable reasons why you are not losing weight:
Giving yourself too many breaks. You’re not focused! If I were training you for a competition or game, I would tell you there are no breaks and no cheat days. Let’s be realistic, we have social lives and you think one happy hour or a Frappacino with a muffin on your way to work won’t hurt, but what you are doing is becoming a repeat offender. What you need to do when you wake up is tell yourself that for the entire day you will give your 100%. Turn one good day, into one good week, and then one good month and you will drastically see your transformation.
Not reading nutrition labels. Slow down and read the labels because what you are purchasing is going into your body and mind. It is easy to run into the grocery store with a mental list, but are you buying quality? Do you trust a clever label that says, “Veggie Chips”? Potatoes are a vegetable too so might as well have those Frito Lays, right?! Learn to scan through the most important facts and compare them to other organic brands. Foods high in sodium usually indicate they are more highly processed. Aim to eat more foods that don’t need nutrition labels.
Not pairing your exercise with diet. You think because you killed it during your training session that you’ve earned that Sprinkle’s cupcake, WRONG! If you think it’s okay to pile mayo onto your burger because tomorrow you are really going to train hard to balance the credit, WRONG again. It is all in your head! What you’re doing is making your exercise useless. Having a great intense workout will maximize fat burning even after you’ve done your working out. This is the time for your body to absorb all nutrients that benefit body function and metabolism. Stop consuming more calories than you are actually burning!
Wrong kind of exercise. Not everyone has the luxury of having an exceptional personal trainer by their side every workout. This means you may not be pushing yourself to your full ability every time you break a sweat at the gym. Form and completion are commonly disregarded in a space where you tend to be distracted by what others are doing or your phone buzzing. My clients burn more fat in 30 minutes than the average person who spend hours at the gym. Though not everyone has the same fitness goals, it is important to know what specific exercises help you most, when to rest, and when to pump more iron.
Stay focused, eat clean and train hard for guaranteed results!
Carl Clay is a health blog author who has been writing about nutrition, fitness and healthy living for over 10 years. He also loves to run, hike and bike with her wife.
