2 Reasons Why You Aren't Losing Weight

Losing weight is tough. There is so much information out there, it's hard to decipher what's right and what's wrong. It's difficult to know what will work for you and what won't. Feeling frustrated at times is alright, giving up is not. 

When it comes to losing weight, there are a lot of ways to achieve that feat. Why don't we lose weight? There's many reasons for that. However we'll focus on two. 

1) You're Not In a Calorie Deficit  
Putting it simply, a calorie deficit is when you are burning more calories than you are taking in. That's it. In order to lose weight you should be burning more calories than you are eating. I tend to break it down over a weekly basis. Over the course of a week, as long as you aren't eating more than you are working off, you are in a calorie deficit. 

You want to be aware of what you are eating. Writing down what you're eating helps so you know what you're eating each day and how much. You may think that you are eating fine, or aren't eating a lot, but when you actually write it down, you may be surprised at how much food you're consuming. 

How do you burn off those calories? That brings us to our next piece. 

2) You're Doing Too Much Cardio
If you've been running for what seems like days on end or endlessly moving from the stationary bike to the elliptical, I'm here to save you time. Cardio alone isn't going to get you to your weight loss goals. There is nothing wrong with cardio, keep doing it, but maybe we're doing too much. 

The most effective way to contributed to weight loss in the gym or outside of it (besides nutrition) is resistance training (also known as strength or weight training). Lifting weights isn't only to look like a bodybuilder. Adding resistance to your routine helps to trim off excess fat and get rid of those unwanted calories. 

When the fat reduces and we turn it into muscle, that muscle now works for us. Muscle weighs more than fat. So that muscle helps us to burn more calories throughout the day, even when we're not working out. That directly contributes to keeping us in the Calorie Deficit we discussed earlier. The muscle we get from resistance training helps us keep the fat off. 

There you have it. Two things you can do to start seeing weight loss if you aren't yet: make sure you're in a Calorie Deficit and resistance train. 

BE GREATER!