The reason you’re not losing weight!
“If something stands between you and your success, move it.”
- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
I hear things like this all the time:
I barely eat and still can’t lose weight!
I work out like a fiend and can’t lose a pound!
I’m on a strict diet but it’s not working; I can’t lose any weight.
My body just will not lose weight!
And the list goes on and on.
Here’s the gist of it - the top reason you’re not losing weight is the consumption of too many calories. I get it, no one wants to hear that, but it’s true.
Fad diets (Keto, Paleo, Mediterranean, etc.) often work great at first. You can drop 10, 20, sometimes 25 pounds in a month or two! But then you level out. You stop losing weight. So, what do you do if you’re following all the rules, you’re doing the work, but you’re stuck?
Well, I don’t advise resorting solely to willpower. Willpower seldom withstands time. As much I love the Weight Watchers program (which I can personally attest to its efficacy), its downfall is the reliance on willpower over the long haul. You get hungry and fall off the wagon!
Here’s how I got past the plateau…
Let me clarify – this advice is aimed at those who are following a solid nutrition plan, but they’re stuck.
I gained some weight over the holidays. My goal starting January 1st was to lose 19 pounds by the end of February. Seemed achievable to go from 196 down to 177. I’d done it several times before. Easy peasy, right?
Wrong.
I lost 6 pounds within the first week! My fitness rocked! On January 6th, I weighed 190 pounds! Awesome!
I kept getting after it. Running. Lifting. Circuit training. Eating mostly plant-based. No alcohol.
On my January 31st weigh-in, I excitedly hopped on the scale.
I weighed 190 pounds.
Wait…what the shit? I’d lost nothing in three and a half weeks! I was stronger, faster, and felt better, but hadn’t dropped a single pound. Oh, I’m sure I packed on a bit of muscle, but we all know how we like to kid ourselves with that. Sorry, but the flab hanging off my gut was most certainly not muscle.
I had to face it – I was consuming too many calories, but damned if I knew where. My diet was strict. I needed to do some serious evaluation. At least I hadn’t gained any weight, so I knew my caloric intake couldn’t be too out of whack. You need a calorie deficit of between 250 – 400 calories a day to lose 2 – 3 pounds a week; the exact calorie number depends on how your body drops weight. Losing weight is harder for some people than it is for others and I can tell you right now that being in your 50s doesn’t make it easier!
So, where in the world could I cut 250 – 400 calories and maintain lean muscle?
I monitored everything I ate and decided to count calories for a few days. Get a good baseline. I needed to find the proverbial hole in the bottom of my cup. And after tough scrutiny, I’ll be damned if I didn’t find it. Not just it, but a litany of stuff. Little things that added up over a day.
Here’s what I found:
Coffee creamer – 15 calories. I made the mistake of not paying attention to the serving size! Always check serving sizes! Turns out that 15 calories was for a serving of ½ teaspoon. ½ teaspoon! Good Lord, I was dumping that shit in my coffee! I was having at least 5 servings! Right off the bat, I started the day 60 calories over where I thought I was. I now use only the ½ teaspoon. 60 calories saved.
Butter – I know (hell, everyone knows) that butter is calorie dense. But it was my guilty pleasure. Makes everything taste great. But, when I evaluated my intake, holy crap! I regularly consumed 1 – 3 tablespoons of butter a day. Butter is about 100 calories per tablespoon. I’d felt that my rigorous fitness plan would allow for it, but clearly, it didn’t. I decided I could cut out butter completely. I wouldn’t miss it that much. 200 calories saved.
Oil – I use olive oil when I cook. And, I’ll admit, I wasn’t being conservative with it. Olive oil is healthy. The good fats (and yes, you need fat). But again, when I kept strict track of what I was consuming, I was really over-using it! Olive oil is like 120 calories per tablespoon. I was using between 1 – 3 tablespoons per day. I decided to limit myself to only one tablespoon per day, if any. 120 calories saved.
*Side note: If you use the olive oil non-stick spray, the can states 0 calories. But, check the serving size – the serving size is a ¼ second spray! ¼ second! If you coat the bottom of the pan like most of us, you are consuming between 20 – 50 calories.
As you can see, I discovered the hole in my cup – a hole allowing about 380 pesky calories a day to sneak into my body! Since this exercise, I’ve lost a little over 4 pounds (down to 185.7) in the past 2 weeks! And I did it by eliminating calories I wouldn’t even miss!
If you’re struggling to lose weight, yet you feel like you’re doing everything right, you must identify what calories are sneaking in on you. It’s always a calorie issue! Always! If it’s not obvious, then find an app to track calories. Either way, you must become aware of not only what you are eating, but also (and very importantly), what are the serving sizes. Serving size can be a huge hole that’s easy to overlook!
Once you identify where the calories are sneaking in on you and eliminate them, you’ll start to lose weight. And be honest with yourself! The worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves!
Remember, everyone’s body burns calories differently, so be patient. Find your cadence. The older you get, the less calories you burn, so keep that in mind as well. Evaluate what you’re eating. I’ll bet you can find enough small things to eliminate without drastically changing what you enjoy.
I hope this helps!
Your effort, your choice, your life!
David Odle is a trainer, fitness enthusiast, and author. He spent seven years in the military, primarily in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is a Spartan Race competitor, an avid fitness fan, and a 5k enthusiast. David's mission is to help people transform into better versions of themselves by tapping into their dormant capability. If you’d like to reach out to David, you can find him at www.davidodle.com.