5 Reasons You Have Not Hit Your Weight Loss Goal...and Likely Never Will.

1. You Refuse to Believe Calories Count

This is an easy #1. I come across people on a weekly basis who are actively trying to lose weight but are not experiencing much success. Typically, they tell me how they are "eating clean", eating grass fed beef, free range poultry, organic produce, etc. but have either hit a weight loss plateau or have not lost much weight at all.

If you can relate to the above, I've got news for you: NO AMOUNT OF QUALITATIVE CHANGES WILL MAKE UP FOR A LACK-OR COMPLETE ABSENCE-OF QUANTITATIVE CHANGES.
Calories absolutely count. You cannot ignore the law of thermodynamics. You cannot ignore the energy balance equation. Before you worry about the quality of the calories you are consuming, you damn well better establish your fat loss/weight loss calorie requirements. Furthermore, you better warm-up to the idea of quantifying the calories you are consuming: this means counting calories, weighing and measuring food, reading food labels, etc. If weight loss is primarily a matter of input vs. output, and you have no clue what your daily input is (and don't know what your weight loss calorie requirements are to begin with), how can you expect to lose-and keep off-a significant amount of weight?

When I start with a new client who is primarily interested in fat loss, initially, I don't even get into specific foods, macronutrient percentages, etc. For the first month, I simply want these people to get into the habit of quantifying their food intake...I don't care about the food selection. I just want them to understand calorie control. Once they've mastered this, THEN, and only then, do we start looking at the QUALITY of their diet, meal frequency, peri-workout nutrition, etc.

So, unless you warm-up to the idea of quantifying your food intake and not exceeding your fat loss calorie requirements, you will likely continue to struggle with weight loss and/or maintenance of weight loss...and I don't care how "clean" you are eating. Yeah, I know, it's hard and tedious. Deal with it! Nothing worth while in life comes easy. Yes, keeping track of this stuff is like taking on a part time job...I get it. Once again, deal with it! Stop making excuses. Once you get into the habit of tracking your food intake and menu planning, it's really not that big of a deal.

2. "Going to the Gym" is Your Only Form of Energy Expenditure

I get this one all the time to: "I've been going to the gym 5 days per week for an hour but nothing's happening on the scale!" Let me shed some light on this.

Look, I'm obviously all for structured training sessions at the gym. However, as nutrition guru Lyle McDonald pointed out in a recent blog post over at his site, if you were to train 1 hour per day, 7 days/week (a mix of strength and cardiovascular work), best case scenario, you'd burn about 3600 calories (420 minutes of exercise at about 7 calories burned per minute).

Keep in mind, the above is FAR MORE exercise than the typical person is willing or able to do (more willing than able). 3600 calories is a little over a pound. Furthermore, you really are not burning 3600 calories: your resting metabolic rate is factored into this figure so you were going to burn a percentage of these calories anyway.

So (and this is a bit of a tangent), am I "anti exercise"? Obviously, as a trainer/coach, gym owner, and fitness enthusiast, I'm not. However, I look at structured training sessions ("going to the gym"), as strength and conditioning enhancement sessions...NOT weight loss enhancement sessions. Sure, as noted above, these workouts obviously burn calories, but that's not the primary goal of structured workouts. The primary goal of these sessions are to increase or maintain strength, conditioning, and movement quality.

Back to the main point, if your gym workouts are your only form of weekly energy expenditure, and you spend the rest of your week sitting on your ass (driving to and from work, sitting at a computer all day at work, and then sitting on the couch at night after your 45 minute workout), you really need to start moving more outside of your gym workouts.

NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis) is what I'm talking about. Make a concentrated effort to take more walks, get up and down a lot, fidget more, play with your dog or kids more, park farther away at the store, take the stairs more, etc. I'm telling ya'...this stuff adds up! There is research which suggests people who get the most NEAT can burn up to 600 calories more per day than those who get the least. 600 calories per day is 4200 calories per week...that's the calorie burn equivalent of running 40 miles!

So, if you think you are "doing enough" by going to the gym consistently 3 or 4 days/week for a half hour, don't be surprised if you don't hit your weight loss goal.

3. You Have Unrealistic Expectations and Expect a Quick Fix 

Thanks to weight loss reality TV shows and the unscrupulous folks who market and sell fitness and diet related products and services on television and the internet, the typical person out there is under the impression weight loss is supposed to come fast and easy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The problem with this is that well intentioned people-probably like you-who set out to lose weight the right way get frustrated easily and quickly because their results don't mirror those of the guy on "The Biggest Loser" who lost 15 lbs. in one week by performing inappropriate "binge exercise" and eating a 900 calorie diet...all while being locked away at some "camp" where they don't have to be concerned with real life circumstances.These people typically say "screw it", go back to their old lifestyle habits, and pack on even more pounds before repeating this cycle.

Listen, real world weight loss (and healthy weight loss) is slow and methodical. In our instant gratification society, people not only want things NOW, they want them yesterday. Getting fit and losing weight is a long term, slow lifestyle change. It will not happen over night. If you are not up for the journey, and are only concerned about the destination, you'll never hit your weight loss goal and, more importantly, maintain your goal.

4. You Neglect Strength Training

I've pointed out the short comings of exercise and it's impact on weight loss above, however, with that being said, IF YOU ARE NOT ENGAGING IN SOME FORM OF STRENGTH/RESISTANCE TRAINING, YOU ARE TOTALLY MISSING THE BOAT.

Your resting metabolic rate (RMR), accounts for 70% of the calories your body expends on a daily basis. Wanna take a guess what the biggest determinant of your RMR is??? Lean muscle mass.

After about age 30, if you don't do something to counter act it, you will slowly start to lose lean muscle mass. As you lose lean muscle mass, you will expend fewer calories per day at rest. For every lb. of muscle you lose, you'll expend about 6 fewer calories each day. So, if you lose 5 lbs. of lean muscle from age 40-50, you'll be expending 30 less calories each day at rest. 30 calories per day X 365 days per year is about 11,000 calories or about 3 lbs.

I often have middle age people tell me "I'm not eating any more than I used to, but I keep on picking up weight!" This is called "creeping weight gain", and lose of muscle mass-and the corresponding decrease in RMR-is primarily what causes it.

What's the easiest way to prevent a decrease in RMR? Strength training. You simply need to put a consistent and progressive mechanical stress on your muscles week in and week out. Moderate intensity strength training (you don't need to train until your eyeballs pop out) which targets all of the major muscular structures in the body is enough to maintain your current muscle mass and prevent a decline in RMR. Everyone talks about trying to put on muscle, but I'd rather see regular adults just try to hang on to the muscle mass they already have. This is a much better approach for long term weight maintenance.

So, if you are going to the gym and doing nothing more than walking on the treadmill or using the elliptical trainer-neither of which is enough to maintain muscle mass-you are making your weight loss efforts that much harder. You can either adjust your training philosophy to include more strength training or you can continue to struggle.

5. You "Wish & Want" and Don't "Do"!

This last one is very general and may come across as harsh, but it needs to be addressed. I often hear people talk about how they "wish they could lose weight" or how they "want to lose weight", but very people have the true desire to DO something about it.

There is a colleague of mine in the fitness industry who talks about (forgive the language) the "Pussification of America". What he means by this is that everyone has an excuse (and usually multiple excuses) for why they can't do any number of things. The time is never right for these people. Everyone has all these barriers. Everyone is a victim.

I happen to agree with him, especially when it comes to weight loss, getting fit, etc. Look, this stuff is not easy. You either value your health and fitness or you do not. If you do not, fine, but don't complain, make excuses, talk about how you want to do this or that, etc. Just admit you don't have "it" and are fooling yourself. I'd have more respect for people if they just flat out said "I'm not willing to work that hard or do what is necessary".

If you have not hit your weight loss goal, you really need to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you actually want to hit it. If you do, great...TAKE ACTION AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS AND SACRIFICES! If not, invest your time and energy elsewhere...maybe you can fit in another 5 hours of reality TV each week and sample every flavor of Ben & Jerry's. Maybe these are goals you can accomplish.

So, for those who ARE ready to take action and finally hit their weight loss goals, take a look at the 5 points above again and see where you are falling short. Once you've identified problem areas, make the adjustments and follow through. Most of the points I've made in this post are conceptually very simple...a 3rd grader could comprehend. However, putting these concepts into action is NOT easy. Taking action is the difference between those who do and achieve and those who don't and make excuses. Where do you stand??


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