As a trainer and so-called "fitness professional," I'm often asked what's the most effective way to lose weight. If you read this blog regularly, you know that IMO, the term "weight loss" is a misnomer because it implies that success on such a plan is measured in pounds shed and not lean muscle gained. The traditional weight loss protocol emphasizes an "eat less, exercise more" strategy to create a caloric deficit and therefore induce weight loss. However, what this essentially does is 1) disrupt intricate hormonal balances, sending the metabolism into a tailspin; 2) exacerbate hunger, cravings, and fatigue; and 3) encourage the body burn up precious muscle tissue before turning to fat for fuel. Most people who employ this strategy lose weight in the short term only to gain it back later, and then some.
I am not saying that losing weight is not a worthy goal, nor that it should not be a priority for you. I am simply saying that there is a better way to achieve the results you want without resorting to the strategy outlined above. Fat loss more succinctly address what most people who are trying to "lose weight" want to achieve: a loss of fat and an increase of lean muscle.
Unfortunately, fat loss is a tricky little bugger. For some, it comes relatively easily: they pick a program, follow it, and get great results. For others, the road to fat loss is paved with lots of speed bumps and pot holes. Truth be told, most folks fall into this latter group. You see, fat loss is not an exact science. There is no magic pill, and there is no magic program. Two people with seemingly identical physical characteristics--height, weight, age, etc.--could have completely disparate results on the same program. How can this be? To begin with, there are a lot of factors in play that affect our individual ability to lose fat and build muscle that are not easily discerned with the naked eye.
To help demystify the fat loss process a bit and help you have the best shot at success, I've put together a list of 6 common reasons why you may be struggling to see results. Armed with this knowledge, you can tweak your strategy to set yourself up for success! (As always, consult with a physician before starting any weight-or-fat loss regimen. Listen to your body and be kind to yourself; remember, this process is not linear! There will be ups and downs, but consistency is key!):
1) Conflating "Weight Loss" & Fat Loss--You're Obsessed with "Weight Loss" & Use it as Your Primary Barometer to Measure Success:
1a) See above.
1b) If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: weight loss should not be your primary focus when adopting a healthy lifestyle! Muscle is denser and takes up less space than fat; it's also more metabolically expensive which means that it burns more calories that fat. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn both during exercise and at rest.
Herein lies the difficulty: building muscle takes time and consistent effort. This is not appealing or sexy. If you're someone who insists that the scale is the ultimate indicator of success or failure, you're going to give up quick on a fat loss program. The process of replacing excess body fat with lean muscle is not a linear process, and while you will likely experience weight loss initially, the scale often creeps up again as you put on muscle mass. What's interesting, and what you should be focusing on instead, is how your clothes feel and what your measurements are. Fight the temptation to give up several weeks into your program when the scale inches up by a few pounds despite your best efforts in the gym and with your nutrition. Instead, focus on the roominess of your jeans or the 1/8'' lost off each thigh. Those are more tangible results that will keep you motivated to stick to your program.
2) Nutrition--You're Not Paying Close Enough Attention To What You Eat: I don't care how much weigh training, metabolic conditioning, cardio, etc. you're doing: if you fail to dial in your nutrition, you efforts will be in vain. Sure, you'll get stronger, but the fat you want to shed probably won't budge. Assuming that you're sticking to your training plan and not eating more than you ate before you went on your program, you will lose weight. After all, whenever the body's natural homeostasis is interrupted, there will be physiological reaction. As the body adjusts to these new stimuli--typically in the form of restricted calories and increased activity--it sheds weight in the form of water. However, the body can only shed so much water weight: at a certain point, it will recognize the stimuli and progress will plateau. This is the point at which dialing in that nutrition will make the most difference. |
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Unfortunately, fat loss is a tricky little bugger. For some, it comes relatively easily: they pick a program, follow it, and get great results. For others, the road to fat loss is paved with lots of speed bumps and pot holes. Truth be told, most folks fall into this latter group. You see, fat loss is not an exact science. There is no magic pill, and there is no magic program. Two people with seemingly identical physical characteristics--height, weight, age, etc.--could have completely disparate results on the same program. How can this be? To begin with, there are a lot of factors in play that affect our individual ability to lose fat and build muscle that are not easily discerned with the naked eye.
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| Wanna be a fat-burning machine?! Who doesn't?! |
1) Conflating "Weight Loss" & Fat Loss--You're Obsessed with "Weight Loss" & Use it as Your Primary Barometer to Measure Success:
1a) See above.
1b) If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: weight loss should not be your primary focus when adopting a healthy lifestyle! Muscle is denser and takes up less space than fat; it's also more metabolically expensive which means that it burns more calories that fat. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn both during exercise and at rest.
Herein lies the difficulty: building muscle takes time and consistent effort. This is not appealing or sexy. If you're someone who insists that the scale is the ultimate indicator of success or failure, you're going to give up quick on a fat loss program. The process of replacing excess body fat with lean muscle is not a linear process, and while you will likely experience weight loss initially, the scale often creeps up again as you put on muscle mass. What's interesting, and what you should be focusing on instead, is how your clothes feel and what your measurements are. Fight the temptation to give up several weeks into your program when the scale inches up by a few pounds despite your best efforts in the gym and with your nutrition. Instead, focus on the roominess of your jeans or the 1/8'' lost off each thigh. Those are more tangible results that will keep you motivated to stick to your program.
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3) Sleep--If You're Not Sleeping Well, It Will Show: Sleep is an oft-overlooked factor of a comprehensive fat loss program. Getting regular, restorative sleep is critical because at rest, the body has an opportunity to recover from the day and complete the metabolic processes that repair tissue damage. When you sleep, the body releases HGH (human growth hormone) to help encourage lean muscle growth. 7-9 hours per night is recommended for adults, but very few of us actually get that amount. A sleep deficit wreaks havoc on your hormones, making it hard to burn stubborn fat due to the excess cortisol in your body. Cortisol in normal amounts is healthy, and is critical to have the energy to go about our daily tasks, train hard, etc., but in excess, it is metabolically-damaging.
If you're serious about your fat loss efforts, you'll prioritize sleep and activities that help manage stress like leisure walking, yoga, and/or other NEPA (non-exercise physical activity) that you love and makes you happy. It's hard to be stressed when you're having the time of your life!
If you're serious about your fat loss efforts, you'll prioritize sleep and activities that help manage stress like leisure walking, yoga, and/or other NEPA (non-exercise physical activity) that you love and makes you happy. It's hard to be stressed when you're having the time of your life!
4) Type of exercise--If You're Just Doing Cardio, You're Selling Yourself Short: I've written a few posts about cardio strength training (a term coined by the genius Coach Dos of CoachDos.com) and how research has demonstrated its effectiveness for burning fat and building lean muscle. When you lift weights faster (a phrase from the inimitable Jen Sinkler), you create a metabolic disturbance in the body that both spurs fat loss and muscle gains simultaneously. Until recently, conventional wisdom had it that traditional cardio exercise performed at a moderate intensity put you in the "fat-burning zone." The longer you stayed there, the more fat you would burn. There were numerous problems with this theory, starting with the fact that the body is a very smart machine that will quickly adjust to whatever exercise it's called upon to do. What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If you do endless cardio, whether it's the in the "fat-burning zone" or not, you will not sculpt the lean physique you're probably going for (again, by all means, if you want to be super lean and love cardio, do it! This is not to say that endurance exercise has no value; rather, that it's not the most effective way to burn fat and build lean muscle).
Frequent and sustained cardio exercise has also shown to induce hunger and cravings, making it harder to stick to a meal plan. Cardio can also elevate cortisol levels, leading to increased hunger, and make it much harder to put on lean muscle. This last theory is illustrated by looking at the body type of a marathoner versus a sprinter. Marathoners are very lean and run tens of miles a week; it would be counter-intuitive for a marathoner to sprint or lift much weight because it would slow her down. Sprinters, on the other hand, typically use HIIT, or high intensity interval training, to prepare them for their sport. Sprinters can also be found in the weight room, building up their glutes, hamstrings, and quads because the more powerful their lower bodies are, the faster they will be.
What's the bottom line? You've got to resistance train to build muscle, and the more muscle you have, the more fat you'll burn. Adding in traditional cardio strategically can help you blow through plateaus and lean out; however, it's all about how you employ it that will make all the difference.
Frequent and sustained cardio exercise has also shown to induce hunger and cravings, making it harder to stick to a meal plan. Cardio can also elevate cortisol levels, leading to increased hunger, and make it much harder to put on lean muscle. This last theory is illustrated by looking at the body type of a marathoner versus a sprinter. Marathoners are very lean and run tens of miles a week; it would be counter-intuitive for a marathoner to sprint or lift much weight because it would slow her down. Sprinters, on the other hand, typically use HIIT, or high intensity interval training, to prepare them for their sport. Sprinters can also be found in the weight room, building up their glutes, hamstrings, and quads because the more powerful their lower bodies are, the faster they will be.
What's the bottom line? You've got to resistance train to build muscle, and the more muscle you have, the more fat you'll burn. Adding in traditional cardio strategically can help you blow through plateaus and lean out; however, it's all about how you employ it that will make all the difference.
5) Those Prescription (and Over-the-Counter) Medications May Be the Culprit: Prescription as well as several over-the-counter medications can take a toll on your fat loss efforts. If you're taking any prescribed medication, it's important that you talk to your doctor about the potential side effects, how they may be mitigated, and if there's an alternative with fewer side effects. Commonly-prescribed antidepressants (like Paxil) have been shown to hinder fat loss, as have valproic acid (a mood stabilizer often prescribed to treat bipolar disorder); corticosteroids (prescribed to treat asthma); and many forms of birth control.
It's easy to remember to tell your doctor or trainer about any prescription medications you're on: what far often goes unsaid, however, is what over-the-counter medications you may be using recreationally. Common allergy medications like Zyrtec and Allegra can cause weight gain, but since most clients only take them during allergy season, they're frequently forgotten. NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs), like aspirin and ibuprofen, are commonly used for aches and pains. Many athletes depend on them to help ease DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and other side effects of hard training, but chronic use comes with a host of potential health risks like gastrointestinal bleeding, elevated blood pressure, kidney injury, and may increase one's risk of heart attack. To avoid any of these negative side effects, use NSAIDs sparingly and try other measures--like adding collagen to your post-workout smoothie; prioritizing soft tissue work and/or massage; etc.--to mitigate the common aches and pains experienced after a hard training session. Also keep in mind that as the body gets stronger, and as long as you remain consistent, the frequency and intensity of post-workout aches will definitely ease up a bit!
It's easy to remember to tell your doctor or trainer about any prescription medications you're on: what far often goes unsaid, however, is what over-the-counter medications you may be using recreationally. Common allergy medications like Zyrtec and Allegra can cause weight gain, but since most clients only take them during allergy season, they're frequently forgotten. NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs), like aspirin and ibuprofen, are commonly used for aches and pains. Many athletes depend on them to help ease DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and other side effects of hard training, but chronic use comes with a host of potential health risks like gastrointestinal bleeding, elevated blood pressure, kidney injury, and may increase one's risk of heart attack. To avoid any of these negative side effects, use NSAIDs sparingly and try other measures--like adding collagen to your post-workout smoothie; prioritizing soft tissue work and/or massage; etc.--to mitigate the common aches and pains experienced after a hard training session. Also keep in mind that as the body gets stronger, and as long as you remain consistent, the frequency and intensity of post-workout aches will definitely ease up a bit!
6) Mindset is EVERYTHING When It Comes to Fat Loss: Really, any goal that you want to achieve depends on your mindset. As the old saying goes, "You have to believe it to achieve it." That doesn't mean that all you have to do in order to achieve your goals is believe you can achieve your goals: it takes a lot of hard work and consistency. However, believing that you can't achieve your goals most definitely will lead to failure, but only 100% of the time.
While it's important to believe in your abilities, it's equally, if not more important to recognize that you're only human and are liable to encounter some difficulties on your fat loss journey. Understanding that the journey is the destination will keep you from attaching to a specific outcome, which ironically can lead you to see greater results in the long run. It sounds counterintuitive, but allowing for the possibility of alternative outcomes and results--that is, being flexible--is what will help you commit to your healthy lifestyle in the long term.
Let's face it: for most of us, fat loss is not a temporary goal but an ongoing process. There are days and maybe even weeks or months when we struggle to eat well, train hard, and be "on." However, when our mindset is such that we show ourselves some grace and latitude when we come up against these obstacles, we have a much greater likelihood of achieving results and sustaining them.
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Let's face it: for most of us, fat loss is not a temporary goal but an ongoing process. There are days and maybe even weeks or months when we struggle to eat well, train hard, and be "on." However, when our mindset is such that we show ourselves some grace and latitude when we come up against these obstacles, we have a much greater likelihood of achieving results and sustaining them.
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