5 Unique Reasons Why You are not Losing Bodyfat
Conventional wisdom says that all you need to do to lose weight or lose fat is to exercise more and eat less. While there is some merit to this advice, it doesn’t tell the whole story. At Formal Fitness Training, we have worked with every type of person during the last eighteen years in business. What we have found may surprise you! Eliminating the obvious culprits (excessively overeating, not working out at all, drinking too many calories, and starvation diets) leaves some less obvious things. These prevent progress during your transformation from less fit to more fit. Let’s dive into the five reasons you may not be losing bodyfat.
1. You undereat:
Undereating will allow you to lose glycogen, water, some fat, and a fair amount of muscle for a short period of time. After short-term losses, you will plateau, and that will be almost impossible to break. You will need to continue eating that amount of food forever. You didn’t fix the problem. You are undermuscled and overfat. If you “starve” yourself while low on calories already and still didn’t hit your goal weight, you will need to eat even less or exercise even more to go further down on the dreaded scale. Undereating will not build a muscular body free of excess bodyfat. You will lose muscle and genuinely need to diet for the rest of your life to maintain it. Don’t do this.
2. You aren’t tracking your calories precisely.
You must log everything you consume! This includes drinks, snacks, and everything else. Many people can track their calories and miss 500-600 calories daily, making even the perfect program ineffective. If your coach gives you numbers, it is important for you to hit them. The more consistent you are, the more consistent your results will be.
3. You’re overtraining.
Going from zero to sixty only matters on the highway! Too many people who aren’t exercising at all come to the gym expecting to workout five or more days per week. That is not appropriate for someone who hasn’t worked out in months or years. As little as two days or workouts per week can move the needle forward on muscle building and fat loss. If you overtrain and your body doesn’t recover, you will not see results. It is as simple as that.
4. You are consuming too much sugar.
Consuming too much fruit will keep you fat! Fruit is not unhealthy. It’s ok to have one or two small servings per day. Reducing sugar will aid in maximal fat loss. If you take fat loss seriously, you will need to match carbohydrates to your activity level and then deplete further by 10-15% for more efficient and quicker results. Plain and simple!
5. Your sleep and stress levels are inefficient.
These two items may be the hardest to hear, but if you are sleeping less than six hours per night, you need to sleep more. Seven to nine hours of sleep is the gold standard. The younger you are, the more sleep you need. Sleep helps with your recovery. The better you recover, the harder your workouts will be and the more results you will achieve. This is because you will have more energy. Stress produces cortisol, epinephrine, and hormone disruptions in your body. Hormones are increased or decreased by your body, preventing you from utilizing bodyfat efficiently as fuel.
This isn’t an exclusive all-encompassing list, but it’s a good starting point to look at if you have been struggling to make progress. Remember, two to four days per week of weight training, 10,000 steps per day, 1 gallon of water per day, seven hours of sleep per day, and prioritizing your protein to match your ideal bodyweight are your starting points. Get the starting point down consistently, then keep making progress!
Michael Hartman
My mission is to give personal training participants a safe and effective workout designed specifically for their goals. Dealing with many sports injuries over the years taught me how to come back stronger every time. The competition is with yourself... Strive to bring out your best self and get better every day!
