I want to revisit a very important topic for those of you who have committed to losing weight in 2020. A lot of people still think that if they begin an exercise program that they can still eat whatever they want.
WRONG.
You will not have any success trying to out-train a poor diet. You will just spin your wheels, get frustrated,and eventually quit. If you have done what I just described, know you are not alone.
I totally get your frustration when it comes to this. I used to deal with this exact issue myself when I was coming down from being nearly 300 pounds. I was eating better, killing myself in the gym, but the scale would barely move! I kept asking myself what it was I was doing wrong and it always came back to this one thing; you can only lose weight if you are in a CALORIC DEFICIT, period.
There is no getting around this fact.
It doesn’t matter if you train in the gym for 2 hours daily. If you are still eating too much you will either maintain, or gain weight. The problem that many people encounter is this; they think that just because they are exercising now that they don’t have to pay as much attention to their diet/nutrition.
BIG MISTAKE.
This false belief leads many people to eat poorly and stay wondering why they can’t drop weight and eventually quit. You need to know that your daily exercise routine isn’t creating that big of a caloric deficit as you might think. Those machines that spit out the number of calories burned during exercise are HIGHLY inaccurate.
The science says that the average person will ‘burn’ up to 100 calories running one mile…ONE MILE. That isn’t a very big number and if you strength train those numbers will be slightly higher, but not by much. So, depending on how intense you train you could most likely expend anywhere from 100-300 calories during a 60 minute session.
How intense are your training sessions?
Remember that I said in order to lose weight [body-fat] you must be in a caloric deficit. I am going to give you an example of what I do with my clients. I look at being in a deficit over a 7 day period.
So, lets say that John Doe wants to lose weight. I have calculated his macros [carbs, protein, fat] for his specific fitness goal and in order to lose weight he needs to eat 1500 calories per day. Now keep in mind these are generic numbers I am making up and I break that 1500 calories into percentages for carbs, protein, fat.
So, I’ll break this down over a 7 day period and show you how John Doe is setting himself up to either maintain or gain weight.
✅Monday: John does a great job of eating at a deficit and consumes 1400 calories. He is even under the 1500 calories needed to reach his weight loss goal.
Calorie deficit = 100 calories
✅Tuesday: John had a horrible nights sleep that left him feeling drained and pissy. He needed a quick boost and hit Starbucks for a foo-foo coffee. After tracking his calories at the end of the day the total was 1650. He went over his numbers for the day and ended up in a caloric surplus.
Calorie deficit = +150
✅Wednesday: Determined to get back on track, John has a great day of eating. He hits his goal of 1500 calories.
Calorie deficit = 0
✅Thursday: It is the weekly potluck at work and John says to himself, “I have been a beast in the gym this week, I deserve to indulge a little.” He helps himself to 2 doughnuts, not knowing that they were 450 calories each. At the end of the day his calorie total was 2050.
Calorie deficit = +550
✅Friday: John feels guilty about the potluck fiasco and again has a really great day. He wants to make up for his indulgence on Thursday and only eats 1300 calories.
Calorie deficit = 200
✅Saturday: It’s the weekend and John is feeling frisky. He has a night out on the town and throws back a few cocktails. At the end of the night our friend has consumed 2200 calories.
Calorie deficit = +700
✅Sunday: Wanting to repent for his shenanigans on Saturday John vows to eat only bland chicken breast and salad to get back on track. Way to go, Johnnie!! At the end of the day he consumes only 900 calories.
Calorie deficit = 600
So, let’s review how John did over the course of the week.
In order to lose weight this week he would have needed to hit his goal of 10,500 calories [1500×7].
How did he do???
At the end of the week John took in 11,000 calories. He ended up being over by a measly 500 calories, but this is enough to keep you at your current weight or to even gain.
I can’t tell you just how important it is to not only track your food, but be consistent when doing it. Also, do not think that your exercise is going to create enough of a dent to overcome your poor eating habits, because it won’t. I know that this is the biggest source of frustration for a lot of people; maybe even yourself. It also can be made harder if you struggle with emotional eating.
Now keep in mind tracking what you eat isn’t the only way to be successful, but I have found over my 10+ years of coaching people that it is the BIGGEST reason as to why many succeed. Not only can you track and measure your progress, but you are now made aware of just how unhealthy some of the foods you have been putting into your body really are. This will help you to really think twice before eating that food again.
So, does this sound familiar to you? do you struggle with wanting to get in shape, but find that you keep going around the same mountain again and again? Just know that you are not alone and your solution while simple, isn’t going to be easy.
I hope that this helped you to see where you may need to make some changes in how you are approaching your weight loss goals. If it did, hit reply and tell me about it.
PS- I want you to have massive success and clarity when it comes to your life and fitness goals in 2020 and beyond that I am offering you a free clarity call. Go here to set that up now.
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