Why Oh Why Am I Not Losing Weight? – How To Kick Your Plateau In The Arse And Get Back On The Fat Loss Track
One thing you don’t not normally see being talked about, for those who are trying to lose weight, is the fact that your body’s weight loss will slow down or eventually stop at some point. That might happen soon after you start trying to lose weight or way down the road. There’s so many factors that come into play with plateaus that it’s impossible for me to tell you why it’s happened to you but you should know that its completely natural and if you still have more weight to lose there’s ways to kick start things.
If a person experiences a weight loss plateau, it means that it’s time to change something. I like to look at things scientifically. I start a person off on a certain workout routine/diet plan and track progress. When their fat loss starts slowing down I start changing one thing at a time until we figure out what it is that works. That way we don’t go meddling with so many variables that it becomes impossible to know what did what. Usually it’s the diet that needs to be changes unless you’re over training (which I find that many people do and it WILL stop your fat loss in its tracks). Here are some things to consider if you’ve hit a snag.
Why am I not losing weight? reason 1: You are eating too few calories.
It may sound confusing if this is one of the reasons why you have stopped losing weight. But it is true that in order for the body to burn calories, there must first be calories that it can burn. And only two things fuel your metabolism (yea that thing that actually helps you lose the weight). Calories (food) and exercise.When you cut your calories too low, your body’s natural response will be to slow down its metabolic processes. its a natural survival instinct of the body. To solve this, you must never cut too many calories from your diet. Measure your calorie intake so that it is leveled only slightly below your caloric maintenance levels.
Why am I not losing weight reason 2: You are losing lean mass.
Your goal may or may not be to build muscle but if you haven’t already you should consider adding in some strength training to your workouts. If your body loses muscle (which is inevitable if you’re losing weight and not strength training), it will also burn fewer calories as muscle weight costs more (metabolically) to maintain than fat. Added muscle weight also helps you burn more calories at rest. In order to gain muscle, you should be doing some form of strength training and getting in adequate levels of protein. A great way to get started is to check out this workout.
Why am I not losing weight reason 3: You are exercising too much.
Exercise is essential to losing weight. In fact you won’t make it past a certain point without it. But having a balanced diet and exercise routine is more important than anything else. Keyword “balanced”. One reason why you might not be losing weight is because you are over training. Over training causes the release of the stress hormone cortisol which in turn slows down your fat loss process dramatically. Any kind of stressors can do this to you including, anxiety, lack of sleep, over training, working long shifts or just about anything that puts abnormal amounts of stress on your body. The only way to know for sure if your cortisol levels are too high is to get a blood test done by a doctor. But either way it’s best to try to maintain a stress free lifestyle. Take a second and breathe a little.
Why am I not losing weight reason 4: You are not sleeping enough.
As I said earlier sleep can make or break your weight loss efforts. One reason being that when you’re asleep, your body secretes the majority of the growth hormone that it will secrete for the day. Human growth hormone is one of the most potent fat burning hormones our body produces so you want to use it to your best advantage. Top that off with the fact that lack of sleep causes increased cortisol levels and it’s easy to see why lack of sleep can ruin your progress. It’ll greatly help your cause if you try to aim for seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Besides all of that it just plain feels better when you’re well rested
So there you have it. A few quick things to check off your list if you think you might have hit a weight loss plateau.
Read MoreCalorie Counting: How Many Calories Should I Eat A Day To Lose Weight?
Those Trying To Lose Weight Have Certainly Heard The Age Old Question: “How Many Calories Should I Eat A Day To Lose Weight?”
I can just hear hear some of you chomping at the bit to ask the question “how many calories should I eat a day to lose weight?”
Many have been trained to believe that the only way to lose weight is to drastically cut your calories (thus your total food consumption) and some even espouse that you can eat junk and still lose weight as long as you’re under your weight maintenance calorie levels like the guys that came up with the “Twinkie diet”.
Makes sense on paper… Unfortunately that’s not always the case. Some people could use some calorie cutting and those are usually the people that are overeating or eating calorie dense junk foods very frequently. Others simply need to shift to healthier foods, higher fiber content and carb restriction later in the evening (or throughout the day), while maintaining the same calorie count to lose weight.
The reason why you don’t want to just jump into cutting calories is because for some that could drastically slow down their metabolism leading to even greater difficulty in losing weight. It’s hard to tell who’ll react negatively to cutting calories so i always suggest to start by cutting carbs and bumping up fiber content first, then if progress is still slow move on to consider cutting calories but even then do it gradually. I know that’s not what most people wanted to hear when they found this article but it’s simply the truth. Calorie cutting is not the end all be all weight loss tactic and although its all some people need to lose a good amount of weight it doesn’t work for everyone and can be especially bad for people who already have slow metabolisms as it can further slow their metabolism down.
So How Many Calories Should I Eat A Day To Lose Weight Already?
The amount of calories needed depends on ones daily activity levels and the amount of weight they want to lose. Aside from this, other factors to determine ones caloric needs are gender, Body Mass Index (BMI), Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), and the caloric deficit one wants to achieve. The basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the minimum number of calories needed by the body to perform normal activities such as breathing and digestion.
The theory is that when a subject eats only the needed amount of calories based on their BMR (with daily activity levels factored in) on a daily basis that he or she does not lose or gain a pound. If he or she consumes more, it results in weight gain because the excess calories are stored inside the body as fat and if they eat less then they lose weight. So according to that all you need to do is figure out your BMR, take into account your daily activity levels, and subtract a few hundred calories for both activity levels and the rate at which you want to lose weight and it’ll just fall off. Unfortunately in all my years of training clients I’ve found that just cutting calories doesn’t cut it
My Recommendations
Before worrying so much about your calorie count try get your carbs in check first. Also try to cut carbs at around 5-7pm on most nights and minimize sugar and saturated fats. You might want to also be aware that some foods are very calorie dense like nuts, seeds, avocados, most fried foods, most sugary confections, pizza etc. Some of these foods can actually be pretty healthy (nuts, avocados, seeds) but its very easy to grab a handful of nuts (depending on the size of the “hand”) and put away 1000 calories in under 5 minutes. If that’s the case then monitoring you calorie intake might be necessary.
Either way carb count, cutting carbs at night and cutting sugar/saturated fats would be the first things on the list to do for those trying to lose weight.
Read MoreR.I.P Jack LaLanne
As some of you may know Jack LaLanne recently passed away on January 23rd, 2011 of Pneumonia at the ripe age of 96. If you don’t know who he is or want to learn more you can find his Wikipedia entry here. This post isn’t timely but I thought he deserved some mention for his influence on my work.
Jack LaLanne is truly an inspiration to many people, like myself. He’s an iconic representation of what it means to live a healthy life and he was FAR ahead of his time with his findings and advice on health and fitness back in the 50′s. It’s quite remarkable, looking back at his work on The Jack LaLanne Show especially when you consider the time in which the clips were recorded. Many of the health and fitness principles he espoused weren’t even firmly rooted in science until many years later and most of them still hold true. He was always decades ahead of the trends in the health and fitness industry. The essentials of living a healthy life will never change and not many could elucidate them quite like Jack did. Here’s some of my favorite clips from The Jack LaLanne Show:
The 10 Point Plan-
Sugarholics-
Stop Being So Tired-
Anatomy-
**I’d like to note how he correlates the benefits of training the abdominal wall on digestion and organ health. This video was made in the 50′s. The studies to prove it have been there for quite some time but its only been until recently that the National Academy of Sports Medicine actually acknowledged it in their textbook.**
Rest In Peace – Jack LaLanne
Read MoreA Simple Full Body Workout Routine
[A beautiful picture of Mercury, Venus and the Moon Aligning]
A Deceivingly Simple Yet Effective Full Body Workout Routine
With new fad diets coming out by the day, and fitness magazines churning out endless workout routines every issue. It can be difficult to discern what has any actual substance. The fitness industry is literally chock full of varying opinions and guru‘s that seem to contradict each other . When it comes down to it the most effective workout routines and protocols are tried and true. In this article I’m going to lay out an incredibly simple full body workout routine (total body workout) that will attack fat loss from various angles. Not to mention this is great for building muscle too. Start off with some mobility drills then move on to…
The Best Full Body Workout Routine in the World
Yup…Gotta love headlines that are full of hype…
In reality I can’t claim this to be the “most” effective full body work out routine. No one can claim that about any workout routine. But I will say it’s incredibly effective, will give you a lot of mileage (you can use it for a while without plateauing) if you work hard at it, and is surprisingly effective for how simple it is. I’ll keep this simple and to the point:
Strength Training:
-Building muscle will help you burn more calories at rest therefore
-We want to stick to compound movements because they burn the most calories when performing them and they’re more effective at building muscle than isolation movements(Ex: Bench Press, Squat, Deadlifts).
-You’re going to alternate between two full body workouts. And you’ll be going to the gym 3 non consecutive days of the week (M,W,F or T,Th,Sat).
Workout 1
2 sets of Incline Bench Press 8-12 reps
2 sets of reverse-grip Barbell Rows 8-12 reps
1 set of Deadlifts 8-12 reps
2 sets of Barbell curls 8-12 reps
1 set of Hanging Leg Raises to failure 10-15 reps
Cardio
Workout 2
2 sets of Standing Overhead Press 8-12 reps
2 sets of Pullups 8-12 reps
2 sets of Squats 8-12 reps
1 sets of Weighted Situps to failure 10-15 reps
The rule with warming up is, the heavier you go on an exercise the more warm up sets you do. So you’ll probably take a bit longer warming up for those Squats and Deadlifts.
Then you get to your work sets where I want you pushing your self very hard, but not to the point of complete muscular failure. I would say 1 or 2(at most) reps away from failure. The only exception is the abdominal exercises where I want you doing 1 set to complete failure. Take about 45 seconds-1 minute of rest between warm up sets and 1-2 minutes between work sets. Squats and Deadlifts are the only exceptions as you’ll probably need to take a few more minutes of rest between sets. Now on to cardio…
Cardio:
-You want to do some sort of interval work for no longer than 20 minutes because…
-It keeps your metabolism revved for a longer period of time post workout.
-Intervals are simply proven to be the most effective form of cardio and it…
-Won’t spike up your cortical levels like longer cardio sessions.
I’m going to have you pick a cardio machine or activity of choice and after warming up move at a pace that would get you completely winded in 2 minutes tops. When you get to that point slow down the pace for 1-2 minutes and catch your breath then repeat 3-5 more times. If your not completely wiped out by the end it’s because you’re not pushing yourself hard enough during the sprint. I talk about this type of cardio (HIIT) and how to progress to it here.
I see way too many people who spend more time researching workout routines, or looking for the perfect workout routine in online forums or magazines than actually working out. Don’t be a keyboard jockey.
So there you go. A simple full body workout routine than when combined with an effective diet will help you lose fat and gain muscle.
Read MoreBeing Strong vs Looking Strong
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
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Bodybuilders.
We’ve all seen these guys…
on the cover of magazines, TV, the Internet, or maybe even in your local gym. Some of them look ridiculously large. Almost like cartoon figures. And most of us at one point said to ourselves “Damn, I bet that guy’s really strong”. But what you don’t know is that most (certainly not all) aren’t nearly as strong as they look. In fact sometimes their appearance can be incredibly deceiving.
What you have to understand is that most bodybuilders are training to gain the maximum amount of muscle mass while still maintaining a symmetrical physique. Their goals are to have large, shredded, dry muscles, and balanced physiques when they’re on stage at bodybuilding shows. So most don’t train for strength.
Unlike Athletes…
Bodybuilders Train Body Parts Not Movements.
Which means they look at training like a sculptor looks at a sculpture. They’re trying to create aesthetically pleasant physiques that are perfectly proportionate. Wide shoulders that are as wide as the sweep of their legs, arms the size of their calves, and a tiny waist are all traits that are favorable to a bodybuilder. So they tend to isolate muscle groups and work them individually. This isn’t the case for all bodybuilders but it is for most.
On the other hand athletes, especially those in sports requiring power, generally train movements (at least the ones that are being coached correctly). They Squat, Clean & Jerk, Push Press, Bench Press and Snatch. And they aren’t usually worried about how aesthetically pleasing they look (although many look amazing as a result of their training). Athletes in power sports also tend to lift heavy weight because they want to be stronger and and have as much strength relative to their body weight as possible giving them a greater advantage on the field. So what determines the difference between muscle that’s built for strength and muscle that isn’t as functional?
Myofibrillar vs Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy
-Myofibrillar hypertrophy is the enlargement of a muscles myofibrills which contract and generate tension. Leading to an increase in the strength of that muscle. This type of muscle is built by lifting heavy for lower reps (1-5).
-Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is the increase in volume of the non-contractile fluid within a muscle. 25-30% of a muscle’s size typically comes from this fluid. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy does nothing to increase your strength, although it does make your muscle larger. This type of muscle is typically built doing high repetition, isolation exercises (bodybuilder type training). Thus trying to “pump” one’s muscle up causes this kind of muscle growth.
Putting It All Together
We’ve established that athletes tend to lift heavier(or should for that matter) than bodybuilders and therefore have more of what I call “quality” muscle (myofibrillar hypertrophy). But they also tend to train functional movements that tend to transfer over to real life strength as opposed to isolating muscle groups like bodybuilders do. In real life what good does it do if you have big biceps but cant pick heavy things up from the ground or can’t push heavy objects. A cable crossover, or chest fly certainly won’t help you push a heavy rock because all you’ve trained were the pecs in isolation. When you’re pushing a rock you use your pecs, delts, triceps, quads, hamstrings, glutes, abs, and all the stabilizing muscles of the trunk in unison to move that rock. In real life you’re only as strong as your weakest link and that bicep curl or leg extension doesn’t transfer very well in to the real world. This is why most bodybuilders don’t always have as much “real” strength as one might think.
It’s not that they don’t have strength it’s just that many are not as strong as they look.
I’ve arm wrestled and sparred with many men who were larger and more muscular than I was and many times I’ve found that I was stronger. So it bears notice that sometimes looks can be deceiving.
I’d rather…
Be Strong And Look Good
And I’ll be talking a lot more about how to be as strong, fit, and athletic as possible without gaining 50 lbs of muscle in future posts.
In the mean time check out this clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger describing how he feels when gets “pumped” up. It’s pretty damn funny:
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