Are you frustrated from not seeing the weight loss you want after changing the way you eat and starting to exercise? I hear this from people a lot and I understand their frustration. I wish more people simply knew the truth about what would be required for actual fat loss to occur. We’re led to believe that if you just start eating “healthier” and begin exercising weight loss should come naturally. As you may already know, it’s not that simple.

I was speaking with a friend over the weekend here in Charleston who was expressing her frustration with me about not losing weight. She changed her diet and started to exercise but couldn’t understand why the weight wasn’t just falling off. 

She was thinking about quitting since she wasn’t seeing the results fast enough. I listened quietly and thought about how her expectations like many others I’ve consulted with were simply not realistic.

Many people have unlrealistic expectations about weight loss because in our society we’re bombarded with false promises in ads and TV infomercials 

For some people just ditching the cheeseburgers and fries is enough to create significant weight loss. For most people it’s not that easy.

Why is this?

Remember everyone is different and it all goes back to your individual metabolism. What works for someone else may not work exactly the same way for you.

Let me paint you a picture of what I typically see with people starting a weight loss program so you get a better idea about what’s really going on. Alright, obviously the first thing most people do is change the way they eat. You go on a “diet.” This will typically involve removing sodas, junk foods, sweets, and anything you know to be unhealthy.

This is a great start and a lot of the time it will produce a few pounds of weight loss. The positive momentum you can pick up from the initial weight loss is very helpful but unfortunately it can come back to work against you. You see the scale move the first week then it stops. Wait a minute…what gives? This is when the frustration and backsliding typically begins.

Weight loss frustration can be avoided if you understand
the truth about how your body burns fat.

Let me explain…when you pull out all the “junk foods” most of which is high in sugar you’ll naturally reduce the carbohydrate stores (glycogen levels) in your body. One gram of glycogen binds approximately 4 grams of water. Now most everyone knows that we’re made up of mostly water. We learned that in grade school. So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure you that if you cut your sugars and reduce glycogen that you’ll lose some water weight in the process.

Sure it’s a good thing and you’re going to be excited that your jeans are fitting looser….but it’s not coming from fat loss.

Make no mistakes about it; the weight loss you experienced was only temporary from water weight. You could go out and eat a few slices of pizza and put it right back on. There’s a big misconception that if you go off your diet even for an instant that you’ll put body fat right back on. This is simply not the case…it’s normally water weight from storing extra carbohydrate (glycogen).

If your objective is to lose body fat, which should be the true objective of anybody trying to lose weight, you need to look at the big picture. Fat loss doesn’t happen over night. There are so many factors that need to be lined up for you to tap into stored fat for energy.

It’s been my experience that most people just starting an exercise and diet routine will need about eight to twelve weeks to get into an optimal “fat burning zone.” 

It simply takes time to get everything lined up. You’re going to be working on building lean muscle with your resistance training to increase metabolism (this doesn’t happen over night). You’ll be improving the efficiency of your cardio-respiratory system to deliver nutrients to your cells (namely water, fat and oxygen). And you’ll be stabilizing hormone levels through diet and regular exercise.

It’s simply a process that doesn’t really have many short cuts . You need to commit yourself to building the foundation before you can expect to see significant changes. I see too many people in a hurry thinking they can cheat the system. “I want to lose 10 pounds and I want to do it in by my next week.” I want it right now and I want it to be quick and easy. 

Fat loss is a process and it doesn’t come without consistency and long-term changes with your diet and physical activity. What most people don’t fully understand is what specific changes they need to make in their diet for real and lasting fat loss. Fat loss involves a calorie balancing act. Let me ask you a couple of questions. 

Do you know how many calories you’re eating a day?

Do you know how many calories your body needs to be in a “fat loss zone” according to your unique metabolism?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions
you’re playing nothing more than a guessing game.

Of course it’s a good idea to simply start eating healthy and exercising and I don’t want to minimize that. This is where everyone should start. Keep it simple. If you’ve started eating healthier and working out that’s great you should be proud of yourself. It’s not easy to make lifestyle changes. But here’s the thing.

Don’t set the bar so high for yourself with expectations of getting a “beach body” if you don’t have a solid plan for how you’ll get there. You need to know your numbers, plain and simple. Does that mean you have to count calories forever? Of course not, but you need to get good at identifying how many calories you’re actually eating.

Can you tell me what a ½ cup of rice looks like? How about 4 ounces of chicken? Can you eyeball what 1 cup of yogurt looks like? It’s not that difficult once you spend some time doing it, but few people take this time initially to invest in their success. Go out and get yourself a cheap food scale, some measuring cups, and a diet journal. Track everything you eat and drink for one week so you can get an idea of how many calories you’re taking in.

You can use a free resource like www.thedailyplate.com to look up the calorie and nutrient content of food. Next, go and find out how many calories your body needs according to your unique metabolism. Don’t go and try to look this up on the internet or pull it from some book. This is your body and you’re unique. I know I beat this into the ground but it’s so important. Seek out a health care or fitness professional who can complete a metabolic profile assessment to test your metabolism.

Once you get your metabolism tested you’ll have information about
the number of calories YOUR body needs for fat loss to occur.

Next, simply just go back to your journal and make adjustments in each meal so you have the right calories and nutrient ratios (ballpark these numbers, you don’t have to be exact). The idea is not to be obsessive with calorie counting, but to rather just get an idea of where you’re at.

If you’re body needs approximately 300 calories for breakfast with approximately 120 of those calories coming from carbs, you should be eating no more than around 30 grams of carbs. Now if you’re eating a whole grain bagel for example which has 50 grams of carbohydrates there’s no way you’re going to be getting into your “fat loss zone.”  I don’t care how healthy it is.

I hope this gives you a better understanding that’s it’s not about just eating healthy. That’s a good start, but from there you need to find out how many calories your body needs. Only then can you accurately make the appropriate calorie deductions through changes in your diet and exercise.

Burn more energy than you’re taking in and you’ll tap into fat stores. The secret is doing this without slowing down your metabolism. To do that you’ve got to know your numbers. Arm yourself with the right information, follow a blueprint for success that others have already used, then just go out and do it.

Shane Doll is a certified Charleston personal trainer, fat loss expert, author and owner of Shaping Concepts Fitness Training Studios. You can receive a no obligations free trial of his personal training programs that come with an money-back guarantee if you don’t see results.

Posted: Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 12:33 am

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Category: weight loss.

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