Why can't I lose weight? 

Sometimes, people can eat right, do some activity, track their food intake and they believe do everything right, but still not lose body fat. I can't begin to tell you how often clients and even friends ask me why they're not losing body fat despite doing “all the right things”. It's one of the most common questions I get in my role. 

Usually, when someone seems to be doing the “right things” but not making progress, a list of possible scenarios run through my head. These are the most common issues I tend to see that stop people from getting results and they could be the culprits for your body fat loss failures too.

So here are a few cold, hard truths about why you're not losing body fat. 

You're eating more calories than you use throughout the day.

When you are active, you're burning extra calories. That's why activity is so important in the body fat loss equation. A lot of people overestimate how much they burn and use the "I exercised today" excuse to later overeat, over drink (alcohol) or overindulge. How many times have you faced a food temptation and thought, "Well, I worked out today, so it's OK this time." Or even, "I'll have this now, but work extra hard tomorrow to burn it off." If that sounds like you, this is one major reason why you're not losing body fat. For activity to help you lose, you can't re-eat all those extra calories you burned. In most cases, we overestimate how many calories we actually burned and underestimate how many calories we're actually eating, which means using that 3 kilometre walk to justify that restaurant meal leaves you in a worse position than if you may realise.

Think this way: Activity can help you lose when you're really using it to burn extra calories, not as a reason to eat more.

You're relying on activity alone to do the trick.

Yes, activity can help you lose weight (and it has so many other health benefits) because it helps you create a deficit to reduce body fat, but here's the truth, exercise alone will not help you lose body fat. If you are relying on activity alone to lose body fat, you are fighting an uphill battle. Here's why;

Activity burns calories, but not as much as people think. When you consider how many calories you burn in a day, exercise burns very little. It takes a lot of time and effort to burn even a few calories. A full hour of intense exercise may only burn 400-500 calories for a lot of people. On the flip side, it's easy to eat hundreds or thousands of calories in even a few minutes. But it would take hours of exercise to offset those calories. If you are not changing your diet, activity alone probably won't help you much. As they say, "you can't out train a bad diet." No amount of activity can make up for a poor or high calorie diet.

Think this way: The best way to lose body fat is to cut out all processed foods and sugar and increase your activity levels, not one or the other.

You're not eating as healthfully as you think.

We know that Australians and others who eat a Western-style diet have a lot of health problems and weight problems. The vast majority of people are overweight these days. Yet research shows that most people think they eat very well and consider eating healthy a priority. Clearly, we are not eating that well if we continue to see steady increases in heart disease, type 2 diabetes, people being overweight and obese.

Here's the thing, we all think we eat pretty well. Even people who eat a pretty bad diet don't think it's that bad. No one really wants to admit that their diet might be pretty unhealthy. We all think we're probably doing better than others. This is especially true if you compare your diet to what you see your friends, family or co-workers eat and consider your choices to be "better." Whether that's actually true or not, the truth is that the vast majority of people could, and probably should improve their diets immensely. 

Think this way: If you're not meeting some simple guidelines (which doesn’t involve counting calories) and/or you aren’t actually aware of what is the best way to eat, including the when and why, then don't make assumptions about how "good" you really do eat. Research confirms that people underestimate the quantity and quality of food they eat, so read labels.

You're doing the wrong kinds of exercise.

If you are exercising regularly, you're already doing a very important thing to improve your health. However when it comes to exercising for body fat loss, there's a lot of confusion out there. One day you hear that strength training is the best way to lose body fat. The next day you're told to focus on cardio but not just any cardio, intervals. Then you hear it has to be high intensity intervals or Tabata training. Whats all that mean?

The truth is that all types of exercise will burn calories, which can help with body fat loss, but when it comes to losing body fat and in most cases, a mixture a mixture of cardio and strength is best. Strength training is important as can build support for joints and lean muscle burns more body fat. If you are relying almost exclusively on strength training as your weight-loss strategy, it could backfire. Also keep in mind you are bordering obese, obese or morbidly obese, the pool is the best place for you. Your body fat makes you buoyant therefore reducing impact on your ankles, knees, hips and back. Water can't be compressed so it is a great resistance for you as you do something as simple as walking in chest deep water.

Think this way: The best exercise plan emphasises cardio for calorie burning, but still includes strength training to preserve lean muscle, both are important; neither option can do everything. Lean muscle mass will also protect our joints and stave off osteoporosis later in life.

You're not being consistent enough.

When you're struggling to lose those final 2-5 kilos or to overcome a plateau, consistency in your efforts is even more important. A lot of people stick to strict diet and fitness programs for days or weeks at a time, but their habits simply aren't consistent for long enough. Ever eat "perfectly" and exercise "religiously" for a whole week, only to step on the scale that weekend to see that you haven't lost a kilo? "What's the point!" you may think as you go on an all-out eating fest and skip the activity regime for a couple days. Maybe you don't even make it a few days "on track," but rather you eat right for one day, then fall of the wagon the next.

Or perhaps you do feel pretty consistent in your habits, but the occasional slice of birthday cake or drinks with friends happens more often than just occasionally. Eating that restaurant dessert that's 4-5 times a standard serving size (and packed more sugar and fat than seems physically possible) doesn't really count as moderation, even if it's the only sweet treat you've had all week. Moderation and consistency needs to apply not just to the to activity but to food and discipline as well.

Think this way: Eat right and exercise as consistently as other aspects of your life like, let’s say breathing!

You're not measuring the right things.

A lot of people complain that they're not seeing the scale move, even though they are losing centimetres and clothing sizes. Despite these obvious signs that they're getting leaner, they still want to see the scale change.
If you are noticing other improvements in your body shape or size, you are losing body fat. The scales never convey the truth about your body fat loss efforts, ultimately it is the shape of your body and the amount of lean muscle mass versus body fat you have that shows you're making progress.

Think this way: Never just rely on the scale to measure you body fat loss success. That number is inaccurate and not in any way a representation of your achievement.

You don't need to lose weight.

If you are at a body fat percentage, you probably don't need to lose body fat for any health or medical reasons. Still, you may want to lose some kilos for vanity's sake, or even to improve your athletic performance. There's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to lose body fat when you're already at an acceptable weight. When you only have only a little body fat to lose, it can be extremely challenging for some people.

Your body is usually content to be right where it is, weight wise. For many, their body has sort of settled in to what it feels like is a good, natural weight which may not be your ideal weight in your head. It's certainly possible to reduce your body fat percentage, but it will often take even more dedication and time than it will for someone who has a lot of body fat to lose. For some, it may involve critical attention to food and fluid consumption coupled with the “right” activity. With diligence and some experimentation, you can get there especially if you remain consistent and disciplined. 

Think this way: When you have less body fat to lose, the road may be harder and longer; consistency is key!

You have an underlying issue.

When all else fails and you've truly adhered to your program and all the advice here and you're still not losing body fat, you may secretly wish you had some kind of underlying medical problem that would explain it, a slow thyroid, some kind of hormonal disorder, or something that popping a pill could fix and then magically help melt away the kilos. While it is true that people with certain medical issues or on certain medications can have trouble losing body fat, most people struggle with losing it because they struggle with consistently burning more calories than they eat. 

Think this way: If you've truly tried everything discussed here and more and simply aren't making progress it would not hurt to check in with your medical provider to see if any underlying issues are at play. You could also call Empower2themax, we offer Counselling, Nutrition and Personal Training all from the one consultant!