Why Aren’t You Losing Weight? A Short Story by Joe Birch As Sevenoaks and the UK’s #1 Personal Trainer I thought it was unfair that only my clients get to benefit from my wisdom/terrible chat. So I am writing you this little blog. There are hundreds of different diets out there all, all with clients who would swear that, that particular diet is “the only diet that works for them”. While there are many ways of dieting that will work, the one common denominator that is present with absolutely all successful diets is that they create a calorie deficit. For WEIGHT loss to occur, over the course of the week you have to create a calorie deficit, put plainly you are putting in more energy (eating) than you are putting out (day to day living & exercise). I get this question from clients a lot: “I am following the nutrition guidelines you recommended, so why am not losing WEIGHT?”. So we have ascertained you are definitely not losing weight after re-assessment. In my experience there are 4 main reasons in why a client is failing to create a calorie deficit over the whole week. Problem 1: You simply eat too many calories Answer: For a few days make an honest account of how many calories you eat - you will probably be surprised. EVERYONE CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS - get the free myfitnesspal app on your phone or use there website, it’s easy to use and also has a function where you can scan the barcode of the food you’ve eaten and put in the amount eaten, making it very quick and easy. You can also store common meals so that you can just add that same meal instead of going through the whole process each time. I guarantee some foods will surprise you, this is such a useful tool for getting a gauge on how much your eating on a daily basis. Problem 2: They aren’t “eating clean”, but still overeating Answer: it is possible to over eat on anything, if you are truly sticking to the healthy guidelines try out these tips: Make sure your fat portions are small - if you are having an avocado, some nuts & seeds and olive oil on your salad you probably consuming WAY more calories than you realise (e.g. 1 avocado, 15 cashew nuts and 1 table spoon of olive oil = 580 calories - as much as calories as you would need for an entire meal). Limit fatty cuts of meat (for the above reasons) - chose mainly from chicken, turkey and extra lean steak/steak mince. You eat massive portions of fruit or you drink fruit juice - again the calories will just creep to high, especially with fruit juices. Problem 3: You aren’t losing WEIGHT, but you are losing FAT. Answer: Regularly get your body fat percentage checked - this is especially important for men when doing weights for the first time. Problem 4: Your weeks are good but your weekends are a dirty mess Answer: Over the course of the working week a client may create a calorie deficit of 500kcal/day, resulting in a deficit of 2500kcal. This is great, but you could easily offset that deficit with a big Saturday night and a bad Sunday. If you generally don’t exercise on the weekends (which is fine) and then have a night out (also fine), you’ve got to be careful that doesn’t span in 2-3 days of bad eating. Two 3 course meals with a few drinks would write off your hard work in the week easily. If you go out on a Friday and Saturday night and also are quite liberal with what you eat on Sunday, then its likely you will actually end up gaining weight, despite your efforts in the week. This simplest way to counter this is: if you know your going out for a big meal/night out, don’t eat as many calories are breakfast and lunch to allow for more space in the evening. On the weekends you may also consider having 2 big meals (brunch and dinner) instead of 3 squares. Joe Birch Bsc Msc Pn1 Better body Group Sevenoaks Personal Trainer
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 13:41:56 +0000
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