WHY ARE THINGs not changing?
Who here hasn’t felt this way before? You have been going to the gym, you feel like you are eating way better and yet, weeks or even months later, the scale hasn’t moved much at all.
Ugh. Frustrating.
What could be happening? Why are the results not coming? Here are a few ideas I want to throw out there for you to consider and possibly implement.
Ditch the scale. For the longest time I was a scale believer. Not that it was 100% accurate, but that it was a good tool to use and help me track. As I have continued my training and education, I am starting to see that the scale can be more of a setback to our goals. Why? Most scales are widely inaccurate, even many of the top rated ones. Second, you have to be very diligent as to when you use the scale and how you measure: same time of the day, wearing (or not wearing) exactly the same clothing. It also requires a lot of logging to know what you might have eaten the day or the night before, how hydrated you are (or aren’t), how much salt was in your food, how has your sleep been between readings, etc. All of these things matter and can influence the scale number more than you might know.
Truly, how is your nutrition? Even when we start eating better, old habits are hard to break. Are you still sneaking in a treat here and there? Are you still eating out? You might be eating better quality food than you were before, but it still might not be as clean as you think. Also, if you are eating out, even healthier, it is really hard to know how the food has been prepared and what the true calorie count really is.
Are you eating enough? I see a lot of people drastically cut back their calories thinking that they reduction will get them results much faster. While they might see an initial drop, they can’t sustain the lower calorie intake. Their body needs to the fuel. So what happens, they cut more and this only slows the process down further. The truth is yes, you do need to be in a calorie deficit, but it needs to be a smaller sustainable drop. Your body is a very smart machine and it will adjust to survive, so by cutting and cutting and cutting calories it begins to realize it needs to preserve what it has and slows that process down. The result is you not losing weight, your energy levels plummet and possibly your hormones getting all out of sorts. Your body wants to good food in the forms of quality macros (protein / carbs and fats) along with tons of healthy micronutrients from veggies and fruits. Focus on feeding it these and working in a small calorie reduction of maybe 200-250 calories. I highly advise working with a registered nutritionist to help you set up a plan.
How is your sleep? Has it improved or are you still struggling to get a good nights sleep? Are you getting 4-5 hours per night or are you, regularly, getting 7-9 hours. Good sleep requires a good plan. Work on getting to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each morning - seven days per week. 9:30pm one night and then 12:30am the next is not the type of consistency you are seeking. Cut out eating and drinking within 1.5 hrs before bed. And you know, this, but turn off your phone at least an hour before bed. Make your room cold (like 65-67 degrees), add in black out curtains and make your bed your sleep sanctuary with a quality mattress, clean sheets and good pillows.
Is your hydration up to par? Are you drinking enough water throughout the day? Or is it a glass in the morning and then 10 cups of coffee the rest of the day?
Are your workouts too intense (or possibly not intense enough)? Really hard workouts might be taxing our body so much it’s not recovering and workouts that aren’t really challenging you aren’t really affecting your body the way you would hope. Challenge yourself with heavier weights, but only if you have adapted to taking on the added stress. Often, we get stuck in a “comfort” plateau and we need to push ourselves, sensibly, now and again to get over this hump.
All of these things can be affecting your overall results. Many clients will say that they are doing a lot of these things and their weight still remains the same or perhaps has even gone up.
Before you beat yourself up for not hitting your goals, look at these:
Find WINS in your day and I guarantee that you have many:
Is your energy level higher?
Are you sleeping better?
Are your clothes fitting better?
Do you have less pains when lifting, pulling, pushing things in your daily life?
Do you feel stronger?
Do friends/family compliment you on your physique or say that you look healthier, happier?
Not every win will be measured in inches lost in your waist or gained in your arms. You need to look at the overall picture of “Am I getting and feeling healthier and stronger?” We live in a society that puts a tremendous amount of pressure on weight and tells us all the time that we need to keep losing pounds. True fitness is not about losing, losing and losing pounds. It’s about making your body stronger and healthier so you can live a long life that you can enjoy. As a client of mine once said, “Don’t die in the chair.” Don’t get old and helpless and realize that you can only sit in a chair all day and not get up and enjoy life. There is no guarantee we won’t have something happen to us in our lives that will prevent us from being healthy, but don’t sit back and let that be your outcome simply because you did nothing to stop it from happening. Take control of what you can control and make the very best of it.