THE NUMBER ONE REASON YOU ARE NOT LOSING FAT
A member at my gym pulled me aside the other to confess how he was struggling to drop any fat. We chatted a while and I saw why the poor man was feeling so frustrated. From what he was telling me it seemed like he was taking all the correct actions that a successful fat loss plan requires. He was training with a progressive plan, and his meals were healthy, structured with the right amount of calories and macros to achieve fat loss.
Yet he was frustrated and confused as he couldn’t see any progress. He was the same as he was a month before. All the work for nothing to show for it. Unfortunately this is a common theme with a lot of trainees.
With a balanced, flexible and sustainable diet you can turn your body into a fat burning machine while making you feel better than you ever thought possible, both physically and mentally.
But there is one rule that you can not compromise. Even if you are doing all the right things recommended for fat loss, but fail to follow this one, your efforts are sub-optimal, maybe even non-existent.
Like this guy who pulled me aside, you can have the best, most ass-kicking training program in the world and still get nowhere. You’ll end up being like Batman trying win a fist fight with Superman. A laughable matter.
To explain it all let’s take a super-quick crash course in the basics of energy balance:
– If your energy intake is greater than expenditure, weight is gained.
– If your energy intake is less than expenditure, weight is lost.
– If your energy intake is equal to expenditure, weight is maintained.
In summary, to lose fat you will have to be in calorie deficit. You will have to use and burn more energy than you eat.
But why wasn’t this this guy dropping fat like a lamb carcass on a spit? After all, he had all his meals accounted for and by what he was saying he should’ve looked like a Tarzan by now. Lean, mean and ready to take on the jungle.
At some point of my chat with him he casually mentioned how, to fight off the food cravings, he’s having a handful of mixed nuts few times a day between his meals. Around three handfuls a day to be precise. And the penny dropped, his struggles had a logical explanation.
A handful of mixed nuts is roughly 150 calories, time that by three and you’re getting a solid 450 calories per day. 450 extra, uncounted calories each day (3150 calories per week) was more than plenty to keep him from getting anywhere with his fat loss. Even if his calories where spot on with all the other meals.
Until I brought this to his attention it hadn’t even crossed his mind. After all, raw nuts are seen as a healthy snack. They have protein, good fats and nutrients that the body needs.
But the bottom line is that to lose fat this guy still had to eat less calories than his body burns. And 450 healthy calories, is still 450 calories that his body wasn’t burning. Fat loss was not happening. Abs were not popping. Tarzan was not swinging. And poor bastard was growing more frustrated.
Once he changed his snacking habits the fat loss ball started to move forward. Fortunately for him it was a somewhat minor adjustment. A typical gym goer usually fails to see this simple, but not always easy-to-do solution, and eventually throws in the towel.
Often people seek for magic answers through supplements, hormonal adjustment and other factors when the basics of energy balance are off. It’s a simple solution right under their noses but they fail to see it. Most of us like to think ourselves as special snowflakes who need the advanced solutions. Being more aware of our diet just seems too simple.
Yet because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy to do.