4 reasons why you are not losing fat ! 🍽

Fat loss has and always will be about sustaining a consistent calorie deficit. The only way to lose fat is to create an imbalance of energy intake and expenditure, by putting less energy into our body than what our body puts out. Calories in, Calories out.

Multiple research studies have also proven that despite what diet we follow, any diet that helps us adhere to a consistent calorie deficit will work in the long-run for fat-loss.

Let’s walk through together the 4 main reasons why you are not losing fat. 

Reason Number 1: Not Weighing Yourself Accurately 

Most people weigh themselves sporadically every week or so. Random weight measurements may leave us feeling confused, and might appear that we are gaining weight even though we are in a calorie deficit. That feeling of confusion and frustration is often why most people quit.  

But that is just because you have not taken the time to track your data accurately. With only one weigh-in per week, we become severely misled about the general direction of weight change.

What we need to do is weigh ourself every single morning right after we wake up, after we visit the washroom and before we eat or drink anything. This will then help to minimise daily weight fluctuations. We should keep track of our daily weight measurements and take a weekly average of it. 

Subsequently every week, we will compare the average weight to the prior’s week average, as this will be a much more accurate representation of the general direction of our weight change.

If after a few weeks or so we do not see any changes in our weekly average weight, that will be a signal for modification in the plan going forward such as decreasing our calorie intake etc. 

Reason Number 2: Overestimating & consuming back calories burned 

Most people often feel hungrier after an intense workout and feel as though they should eat more to compensate for the calories they burned. Hence why most people over-eat after their intense workout to the point where they usually exceed the calories they burned from their workout. 

Research also indicates that most people generally overestimate the calories they burned in a workout by up to 70%. Devices and machines that track the calories we burned have also been shown to overestimate the actual calories we burn by up to 24%. 

To keep things simple, stick to a fixed daily calorie intake and weekly workout routine. In addition, do keep track of your weekly weight average too. If you are still not losing fat, then adjust your plan accordingly by either slightly decreasing your calories and/or increasing your training frequency. 

Reason Number 3: Underestimating Calorie Intake 

It’s common to think that we are eating in a caloric deficit, but in reality, we are not. That simply prevents fat loss from happening. This is basically one of the primary mistakes most people are making when they claim they do not consume a lot of calories but still struggle to lose fat. 

The truth is that most people are terrible at estimating the actual amount of calories that they consume. To solve this issue of underestimating calorie intake, it is best to start monitoring our food intake, tracking total daily calories & macronutrients intake using a food scale or an app like “MyFitnessPal”.

Tracking our calories intake is not as stressful as it sounds. I highly recommend you to give it a go as it is going to help you see just how much calories you are actually consuming on a daily basis. Even just tracking your calorie intake for a week will better improve your ability to accurately estimate calories. 

Reason Number 4: Body Recomposition

When it comes to fat loss, most people immediately think about the numbers on the scale. They assume that if their weight is not going down, then they are not losing fat. But it isn’t always the case. If you are a beginner or resuming training after a long time off, you may actually be experiencing body recomposition. 

Body recomposition is basically when we build muscle and lose fat simultaneously while getting leaner and stronger in the process. It is important to note that when we are losing fat and building muscle at the same time, we may not be actually losing weight even though we are losing fat. 

Therefore, it is critical that we measure our progress in other ways rather than just relying on the scale as a measure of progress. Apart from tracking our weight, it is definitely a good idea to also track our strength in the gym and to also take progress pictures and body measurements. 

If in the past few weeks, our body weight remained the same but our strength has increased and waist measurements have decreased, then these are signs that we are experiencing body recomposition. 

Some individuals who are just measuring their weight may be inclined to decrease their calorie intake further despite their body actually making progress.  

So there we have it, these are the 4 main reasons why most people are not losing fat! 

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For those looking to gain muscle & lose fat while simultaneously getting leaner & stronger in the process, do schedule your complimentary personal training consultation to explore the possibilities of working together & providing you valuable takeaways that you will find it beneficial to get started! 📧