8 reasons you’re not losing weight
We have learned a lot since starting All Day Coach. Very quickly, we’ve identified eight themes that most people experience (we have experienced THEM ALL):
You’re not in a calorie deficit.
It’s science. When you’re consuming less calories than you’re expending (burning) in a day, consistently, you will lose weight. Are you tracking your food consistently, are eating in a deficit, and not losing weight? We hate to break it to you. But you’re not in a calorie deficit. Are you weighing your food - in grams? Or are you simply eye-balling your portions? Are you tracking every single bite, lick, nibble? These add up. Do you find yourself not tracking on the weekends because you can’t remember how many White Claws you had, or subconsciously think that it doesn’t count if you don’t track it? These are all mistakes you need to fix.You’re being impatient AF.
We live in a society where we want (expect) immediate gratification. We’re hungry? BAM. A pizza can be at our door in 30 minutes. We ran out of dishwasher pods? BAM. Amazon has it at our doorstep within 24 hours. We want to remodel our kitchen? BAM. An app will show us in seconds what it could look like. Newsflash: our bodies don’t change that quickly, or easily. You need to put in the WORK. You need to be CONSISTENT. Stop expecting to see the scale plummet just because you had a couple salads and a bottle of water. You didn’t get the body you have overnight, you’re not going to get the body you want overnight. Do you expect your kids to hit a homerun the first time they try playing baseball? Of course not. Developing that skill takes patience, practice and hard work. Changing your body is no different.
You’re relying on other people to be accountable for your success, and/or making tons of excuses.
“I’m so busy. I put the needs of others before me. I travel a lot for work, and meals are delivered to us. My husband/wife/kids don’t like “healthy” food.”
Stop with the excuses. We are all busy, and we all are capable of making good choices. Stop relying on others to make things easier for you. You are in control of your time. Find yourself exhausted at the end of the night, so you skip your workout? Do you put a plate of dinosaur chicken nuggets in front of your kids to avoid bickering with them? Are you intimidated to bring your lunch to work? Would you rather not cook a separate meal for your family? The harsh truth is that you NEED to make these changes. Get up earlier. Set an example for your family by taking the time to experiment with nutritious meals that EVERYONE likes. What example are you setting for your kids by getting them reliant on highly processed, packaged foods? You’re only setting them up to be in the same position you are in a decade or two. It’s NOT easy. Period. Enough with the excuses. You can create the life you want and deserve.You are scared of ____________ (fat, carbs, heck, even EATING).
If you were born in the 80s or earlier, you’ve had the unfortunate experience of living through diet culture which has demonized foods - whether it’s carbohydrates (hello, Atkins and Keto), fat (we all remember those Snackwell Devils Food Cake cookies), or simply celebrating “eating like a bird” or skipping meals… diet culture has taught us so many incorrect things about nutrition. We NEED all three macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs). Eating is NORMAL. Being hungry is NORMAL. Stop putting a moral value on food. We grew up where we were ‘rewarded’ with a dessert if we ate all of our food. Heck, we’ve done the same thing to kids in our lives, but why are we doing that? Why are we teaching to ignore our hunger cues, and demonstrating that processed foods full of added sugar is a REWARD for eating? Start thinking about food as how you can control how you FEEL. How your performance feels when working out. How it impacts your energy level throughout the day. You need more than 1,200 calories a day,
You are consuming too many highly processed foods.
They are all around us. Cereals, cookies, chips, crackers, Veggie Straws (ugh, if one more person tells us they’re ‘healthy’, we’re going to scream). Our bodies were designed to run optimally on WHOLE foods. Fruits, vegetables, meat, nuts, seeds, etc. Think about it this way - next time you put something in your mouth, think of everything that had to be done to that food item before you purchased it. An apple? That’s easy - picked from a tree. An apple Cinnamon Toaster Strudel? Unless you’re a food scientist, we’re guessing you can’t tell us every single ingredient that was put in there, before it was placed in the shiny silver package and blue box. Our stomachs don’t have eyes, so when we consume a food, our bodies use (burn calories) what’s good for us (vitamins, minerals and protein), and store what’s not good for us (high fructose corn syrup, palm oil, bleached enriched flour), as fat. Imagine your grandparents, or great-grandparents - you know, the ones who grew up on a farm. Who regularly ate butter, cream, meat, etc. - were they overweight? When grocery shopping, stick to the outside walls of the store - you know you’re doing it right when you have to grocery shop OFTEN. If the bulk of your grocery cart goes in the pantry, and is filled with foods that expire a year or two from now - there’s a high likelihood it’s an ultra processed food and something you may want to reduce your consumption of.
You’re restricting your favorite foods.
We get it. It’s confusing. You just read above that you should reduce processed foods. That doesn’t mean you have to eliminate them completely. When you deprive and restrict yourself of things you love, you will ultimately overindulge on them. Not only that, you won’t even take the time to enjoy how good they taste, because you’ll be so consumed with thinking you’re doing something “bad”. Stop that. If you’re focused on whole and minimally processed foods 80% of the time, it’s more than okay to enjoy the things you love in moderation. Are you someone who eats an entire row of Oreos in a sitting? #guilty. Try having one Oreo with every meal. Sounds weird, right? Will you likely overeat them at first? Yep. And that’s okay. But the more you train yourself to realize that you can have an Oreo whenever you want, the easier it becomes to realize that you don’t even want one anymore. Trust us.
You’re drinking too much.
Alcohol has calories. Our bodies metabolize alcohol much differently than food. Alcohol does not leave us satisfied or full. In fact, it lowers our inhibitions and often results in us ordering a pizza, or conning our friend to go get us some Taco Bell. Limit your drinks to 1-2 a week, or consider omitting alcohol completely. Often, our clients find that drinking alcohol on the weekends is simply a HABIT, and not something that increases their enjoyment of whatever activity they are partaking in. We get it. Society makes it challenging to skip alcohol. “Why aren’t you drinking? Just have one beer! Are you pregnant?” It’s common to give into those around us, but why? Why are other peoples’ enjoyment tied to what we drink (or eat) for that matter? Just for ONE weekend, or ONE happy hour - order a Diet Coke. If asked, you can simply say you don’t want to drink. Don’t say “I can’t have that” - you can, you’re just choosing not to. We often find that those around us start drinking less as a by-product of our decisions (which is pretty cool.)
You quit.
“This is too hard. The scale hasn’t moved. I quit!” We hear this often. Stop and think for a second - WHY would you quit? WHY would you choose to give up on your health? Does that even make sense? Too often, we put unrealistic expectations on ourselves to be “perfect”. We approach changing our body composition with the all-or-nothing mentality. Why do we do that? Because we expect IMMEDIATE results. There’s no race. We have clients we’ve worked with for over TWO years that have chosen to take their time, making super-small, manageable changes. They’ve lost 10-15lbs, and over 20+ inches. Are they happy? Absolutely, because they’ve gone at THEIR pace. They’ve still enjoyed alcohol, Crumbl Cookies and pizza night with their family. They understand that they want to FEEL and look better, and not be miserable following some insanely strict diet. And they HAVEN’T quick because it took them two years to lose ten pounds, instead of two weeks.
If you’re still reading this, GO YOU! You actually are someone who has an interest in taking the steps to change your LIFE, not just someone who’s interested in a quick fix that won’t last. If we don’t already, we’d love to work with you;) If you SHARE this blog on social media, and tag ALL DAY COACH, we’ll send you something fun in the mail:)