5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight

Your workout routine and nutrition plan are inconsistent






If the number of or intensity of your workout routines are wishy-washy then your weight loss may have come to a screeching halt. In order for exercise to be effective, it has to be performed consistently. When your body adapts to your workout routines you must alter your routine to shock your system. If there is too much of a gap between workouts you will begin to decondition. Wait longer still and its almost like you will have to start from the beginning.



I once went to a lecture given by the FBI on physical fitness. The speaker said that he was often asked what exercise was the best for weight loss and maintaining physical fitness. His answer was he didn't care, as long as you enjoyed the activity enough to perform it consistently. Exercise must be a priority. It's a lot easier to make it a priority, if it doesn't feel like torture.





You may be eating too much





Though this seems like a "no-brainer", many people eat more than they should because they simply fail to track the calories. In many studies, it is found that people generally eat less if they write down what they eat. Without changing what they eat, the awareness alone makes them change their behavior. Sometimes the problem is portion control, and lets face it, some restaurants have entrees large enough to feed a basketball team.





If you really want to lose weight, do what I mentioned earlier. Write down everything you eat for a week while trying to eat normally. Then look up your calorie and nutriton count per day. You'll be shocked at the amount of calories you're eating.





You're a wigwam and a teepee; you're too tense!





I know its a bad joke but it's true! Stress levels can be directly be related to weight gain. When you are under stress for an extended period of time, your body produces a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol production is a product from our hunter-gatherer days. When stress is on, the body seeks to improve our odds of survival. To that end, cortisol causes you to store fat around your abdomen and increases your appetite. That's great for living in the woods 1000 years ago, hunting with a spear to feed yourself and your family, but its terrible for the 21st century couch potato who wants to lose weight.



Destressing can be as easy as listening to music or taking a hot bath in the evening. Working less and playing more is also an outstanding destressor. Just like a teapot, blowing off steam relieves the pressure.





Are you getting enough rest?





Does lack of sleep cause a person to gain weight? You bet it does. We are back to cortisol again. Sleep deprivation caauses stress on the body, which increases stress levels, wich increases cortisol production, which makes you eat more. The lack of sleep decreases your energy to do anything. This decreases your desire to move around, much less exercise. Try to get 8 hours of sleep a night. If you only get 7 hours, its certainly better than only 5. Power naps help also. Sometimes a 20-30 minute nap will do wonders.





Be consistent. Make an effort to go to bed at the same time every night. Try to have the same routine every night before you go to bed, allowing your body time to wind down by watching TV, reading or taking a hot bath or shower.





You don't get enough exercise





What many people don't understand about exercise is that it's going to feel uncomfortable. This is especially true for those who have been sedentary for a long time or have never exercised. They think that since they hurt from the unfamiliar stresses on their bodies, they assume that they are injured. They need to learn the difference between the temporary discomfort from exercise and the long term pain of trauma or injury.





To induce weight loss, exercise needs to be at a medium-high intensity at least 3 times a week and needs to include resistance training and cardio. Cardio and resistance training can be done separately or combined in the form of circuit training or high intensity interval training.



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Clint Grimes, is a retired US Navy commander. He is certified by the California Interscholastic Federation and is currently the strength and conditioning coach for the boys soccer teams at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, CA.



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