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Why Can't I Lose Weight No Matter What I Do?
Choose a Lego Head above.
Any Lego Head.
And I imagine its pretty close to how you are feeling about your weight loss efforts…and how you happened to end up here…reading this Article.
And if you have been trying to lose weight for a while now…and you have ended up here, reading this, then I am sure you probably feel more like this:
To find the images of the Lego Heads I used two words:
“Angry” and “Frustrated”
This gives me one sole goal for this article - as your Coach - to remove your frustration and your anger about your inability to lose weight no matter what you do - and be able to set you up on a path to success.
Just like my friend Jenny who lost over 7kgs working with me online on the Strong and Confident Program.
She came to me at her whits end - having spent hours on the Gym floor, following every single piece of advice they gave her on diet and exercise. Sometimes she would exercise twice a day just to try and achieve a change on the scale, in her clothes or how she felt about herself.
And still couldn’t crack the “secret code” to weight loss.
Then we spoke on a video chat, she was very emotional and I held out my hand, told her to stop worrying, and together….we’ve got this.
She achieved this by just doing 10mins a day every day for 3 months.
Because she had a process that she could trust.
And that is what I am going to share with you today in order to make you feel empowered, strong and confident to finally Google the term:
“How to get strong enough to wrestle a bear in the woods”
Please remember this article is not from a Medical Perspective - it is a Coach’s perspective on why you aren’t losing weight no matter what you do.
I am presuming you have been to the Doctor, and got the all-clear from any severe Metabolic conditions, I am also going out on a limb and saying that if you have Hypothyroidism, PCOS, or are currently struggling with the symptoms of Menopause what I am going to share with you is still relevant, and will still work - it just is that much harder.
If you need help with PCOS and Weight Loss then read this:
The structure of this article is a little different from my “normal” ones. For each header, I am going to pose you a question for you to answer - from there I will hope to establish some holes in your approach to losing weight - and I will tell you the science-backed solution to fixing that hole in your approach.
By the end of this article, you will be able to reset, reapproach and feel reinvigorated to help make the changes you need.
All I ask from you, as you read this, is that you are honest with yourself in how you respond to these questions.
If you are able, to be honest, then I will be able to help you…and we can make you feel more like a Super Hero in your weight loss journey. We can literally get you eating ice cream and losing weight….
Which in truth is the ultimate goal anyway isn’t it?
Table of Contents for “I Can’t Lose Weight No Matter What I Do”
Are you in a Calorie Deficit?
Are you sleeping enough?
Are you blaming your Metabolism?
Are you making the most of your Metabolism?
Are you restricting your diet too much?
Are you being consistent?
Are you expecting your movement to do the job for you?
Are you on a plan that is making you unhappy?
Are you too stressed?
Are your expectations too great?
Are you comparing yourself to others?
Question 1: Are you in a Calorie Deficit?
If you have read any of my work before then you will know that a Calorie Deficit is the only way you can lose weight.
As in you need to burn more calories from your body than you are putting into it - and this is what a Calorie Deficit is.
Very simple to understand - but not easy to implement.
If you have found this article, and you have never heard the term Calorie Deficit before then this is the reason you are not losing weight no matter what you do.
You should probably watch this for further context on what a Calorie Deficit truly is and how to set yourself up in a Deficit:
If you have heard the term before, and believe it is what you have tried to implement - then keep reading because every single point I am going to explore in this article is literally going to be the best Coaching advice I have for you to investigate WHY you aren’t in a Calorie Deficit DESPITE your best efforts.
So lets get into it…
Question 2: Are you Sleeping enough?
I have laid out the correlation between sleep and weight loss in one of my more recent Blog Posts: Why Does Sleep Affect Your Weight Loss?
In writing that Blog, I came to the realization that Sleep is probably more important to a human in order to lose weight than a Calorie Deficit.
Because…
Without enough sleep, you simply will not be able to get into a Calorie Deficit.
In a nutshell…sleep helps you process your emotions like stress and anxiety. When we are deprived of sleep, there is greater activity in the part of the brain known as the Amygdala [1].
The Amygdala is responsible for your emotional responses to what is happening to you during the day.
In subjects who are more sleep deprived, the Amygdala is buzzing with activity, and therefore the sleep-deprived person is responding more emotionally than if they had their 8 hours a night.
And if your emotions are high and negative, your Caloric intake increases.
As the study ‘Modeling the Effects of Positive and Negative Mood on the Ability to Resist Eating in Obese and Non-obese Individuals’ [2] states:
“We also demonstrated strong associations between food craving and these eating behaviours, particularly after following a negative mood induction in obese individuals”
WOULD YOU LIKE A MONTH OF FREE COACHING WITH ME?
Question 3: Are you blaming your Metabolism?
Throughout life, you may have heard lots of different theories on your Metabolism. The two main ones are:
Your Metabolism slows down as you age
Your Metabolism is broken or Starvation Mode
Let’s deal with your slowing Metabolism first.
A new study called: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course [3] has found that your Metabolism is stable throughout your adult life from the age of 20 all the way up to the age of 60.
This is despite going through Menopause and Pregnancy.
This is good news. As it now clearly shows us that assigning blame when it comes to weight to something that is “out of your control”, ie; your Metabolism, is not a useful strategy.
You can now look past this, and start investigating other reasons you may be unable to lose weight - more than likely one of the other points in this blog.
And as for your Metabolism being broken from a history of eating too little…that is also not relevant.
You can’t break your Metabolism.
The thoughts on this stem down into something known as Starvation Mode; the idea that if you eat too little over your life then your body goes into a “survival mode” or a “starvation mode”.
This does not exist.
Your body metabolically adapts but does not stop as the study Metabolic slowing with massive weight loss despite preservation of fat-free mass [3] concluded:
“RMR declined out of proportion to the decrease in body mass, demonstrating a substantial metabolic adaptation” .
in 1944 the University of Minnesota wanted to find out what extreme Famine does to a population and crucially how to rehabilitate people out of extreme famine in the wake of World War 2.
The study [4] started with, starving people. For real. In study conditions.
36 participants were recruited and were put into Prisoner of War conditions. Made to do manual labour, walk 22 miles a week and were fed 50% of their caloric needs.
Oh, it gets worse…
They did this for 6 months.
One participant cut off his fingers just to get out of the study early…
And as you can imagine it got pretty rough for them. On average each participant lost 25% of their body weight. Here is a photo from the experiment:
But crucially what happened to their Metabolism?
Their metabolisms were performing about 20% lower than predicted after losing weight - their metabolisms adapted.
But this was a two-fold experiment. Participants were put into a “recovery diet” to help them regain the weight they had lost, and after 12 weeks their metabolisms were re-assessed. In 12 weeks their metabolisms were only underperforming by 10%. And in some cases - there was no Metabolic damage at all.
So after being put into Prisoner of War Camp-like conditions, given just 5o% of their caloric needs each day and being forced to do what can only be described as a fuck tonne of exercise, their Metabolisms were not “broken”.
And if you look at this study it would suggest that if you followed the recovery of the subjects in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment for longer than 12 weeks - their Metabolism made a full recovery.
And…
Each participant continued to lose weight throughout the whole experiment.
Question 4: Are you making the most of your Metabolism?
Your metabolism (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is made up of four components.
As you can see in the chart above, your Basal Metabolic Rate which is 70% of your Metabolism is the largest portion of your Metabolism. But it is also largely out of your control. This 70% is determined by your Sex, Height, and Weight. It's how your body just keeps your body functioning to get the most out of your Metabolism, as in, to burn the most amount of Calories each and every day, you should focus on your NEAT.
This makes up 15% of your Daily Caloric burn.
It outranks your time in the Gym by 10% and outranks the food you eat by 5%.
So how do you increase your Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis?
Aim for 8-10k steps a day
Stand up when on the phone
Stand up when at work
Have walking meetings/social events
Park further away from the shops
Fidget more
Stand up on Public Transport
Use the upstairs toilet, not the downstairs toilet
Stand when you brush your teeth
Many people when they want to begin to lose weight will prioritize in this order:
Exercise in the Gym
Nutrition
Daily Movement
Even to the point that 2 and 3 sometimes don’t even get thought of.
But in truth it should look like this:
Nutrition
Daily Movement
Exercise in the Gym
Question 5: Are you restricting your Diet too much?
Restriction of calories can lead to weight loss.
That’s basically what a Calorie Deficit is.
But there is a dark side to this as well - and this dark side is probably the number one reason people yo-yo diet AND just can’t seem to lose weight no matter what they do.
This is what occurs:
You decide to lose weight
You jump onto a Calorie Calculator and get an arbitrary number of calories to lose say 1kg a week
That number is a very low amount of calories
You manage to stick to this very low number for a brief period
The hunger and the restriction gets too much
You stop restricting but you don’t go into a balance
You go into a Binge
This binge lasts two months because now you feel like you failed
You gain weight again
You repeat the cycle
And what happens is you spend more time out of a deficit than in one which will lead to short and sharp results with the weight loss - but ultimately you will feel like you are constantly failing and unable to ever lose weight because it’s just too damn difficult to do.
This is what I describe as a classic Binge and Restrict Cycle.
You blame yourself for not being able to stick to it.
When in truth you were always set up to fail from the start.
When you over restrict - you have to compensate for that at some point down the line and this creates a swing of too much restriction and too much indulgence.
Then over a year, you have spent more time out of a deficit than in one - which is why you seem to never be able to lose weight.
It always comes down to sustainability and giving yourself a much longer-term view of your goals rather than trying to achieve what you want in a couple of months.
You need what I call…a wide angle lens….
When really you just need to be more level with everything to begin with. Drop your expectations of losing weight on a set schedule, because scale weight doesn’t work on a schedule, and give yourself a smaller deficit - which is wholly more sustainable.
To figure that out you can download my Free Fitness Goodies which includes a personalized calorie calculator which makes sure you set yourself up for success with sustainable methods.
Question 6: Are you being consistent?
It’s an infamous word, isn’t it? Consistency. I feel we all know what it means - and we all believe we are executing on it.
But much like the binge and restrict cycle outlined previously, when it comes to consistency what occurs is perfection and abstention - and often the perfection part of the pendulum is confused for consistency.
Many many many people tell me they are being consistent:
By going to the gym every day
By avoiding processed foods every day
By cutting out sugar all the time
By tracking their food every day
Whenever you use the words “every day” or “all the time” you are not being consistent.
You are striving for perfection. And perfection is impossible.
And then when you can’t keep up the perfect routine you are excusing for consistency the feelings of failure begin again…and you eventually give up.
You don’t need to do it every day. You don’t need to work out every day. You don’t need to track your calories every day. You don’t need to eat salads every day to have success.
You do need to do it consistently - a good guide for this is the 80/20 rule which would dictate that in a month you need to be hitting your goals around 25 days of the month.
As the study “The Effect of Adherence to Dietary Tracking on Weight Loss: Using HLM to Model Weight Loss over Time” [6] states:
“Successful behavioural interventions should emphasize the benefits of consistent dietary tracking for participants, motivating individuals to track for at least 5 days of each week for sustained and clinically significant weight loss"
Not 7 days, not even 6. At least 5 days.
That sounds like an 80/20 rule to me.
To find out more about how to implement consistency in your fitness journey head here: How To Stay Consistent With Your Fitness
Question 7: Are you expecting your movement to do the job for you?
Now I am sure you have heard the old saying:
"You can’t out-train a bad diet”
And this is pretty much true - although I detest over simplifications and cliches like this.
On an average strength training workout, you are burning maybe 300 calories.
At a real push.
You could try and get a bigger calorie burn in by doing some cardio or HIIT but these exercises increase your appetite - so any gains you might make in the Calorie burning department are going to be negated by your hunger increasing.
And for women, that increase in hunger can occur 3-5 days after you have actually worked out meaning it can become really unclear on what the root cause of that increased diet is.
You may well be reading this section and thinking:
“When I work out my watch tells me that I burn 600kcal a workout”
Well, again, your watch is lying to you. There are many studies like this one [7] that shows a wristwatch can be up to 25% inaccurate when looking at calories burned from exercise.
This isn’t to say that being in the Gym isn’t useful for your health and wellbeing - especially when you are wanting to lose weight - it is vitally important to help you get a sense of wellbeing, of strength and achievement.
But you need to get into the mindset of going to the Gym to “get strong enough to fight a bear in the woods” and you need to get into the mindset of your controlling your calories to try and help you lose weight.
The gym isn’t for burning calories, its for getting strong and proving to yourself that you can do hard things and repeat behaviours over time that will lead to your long term success elsewhere in your life.
Question 8: Are you on a plan that is making you unhappy?
This again is a very common behaviour and it doesn’t matter how great the plan is in terms of results, you will never be able to do it for long enough to actually see these results if you aren’t enjoying what you are doing.
I can think of many examples of Exercise regimens and Diets that do not prioritise balance and enjoyment - and sadly they are the ones that have a lot of marketing behind them and promise “fast results”.
When it comes to diet and exercise - enjoyment is the sole driver of success.
If you don’t enjoy what it is you are doing, but do see results, that’s great. But it just will not last. The results will be temporary and the inevitable weight regain will occur on the back end.
Now sure, we would all enjoy eating doughnuts all day long…
But that too would soon become unenjoyable, just like it did with Homer.
The key to successful weight loss is getting into a process.
The last thing you want is to reach a goal and realise it was all about the process in the beginning.
By focussing on the process, you also focus on the behaviours that will change your life - and get you to your goals.
If those behaviours don’t inspire you, don’t excite you and don’t drive you to take action each and every day then you will never be able to sustain what you are doing.
If you can learn to focus on the process of looking after yourself in this manner, then my friend, you have already won.
Question 9: Are you too stressed?
Stress is very underrated in terms of how it affects your ability to lose weight.
A point beautifully demonstrated by Homer. Again.
Stress will create two behaviors in your life that make a Calorie Deficit very hard to stick to.
The first is that it will disrupt sleep - now I covered that in Question 2, however, you cannot be reminded enough that you need a better sleep regimen to be able to stay in a Calorie Deficit.
The other role stress plays is its link to emotional eating.
Now firstly we all emotionally eat - please do not think that you are “broken” because you respond to emotions with food. We all do it. The biggest difference here might be the quantity or frequency upon which we do it.
Personally, my emotional eating reveals itself in chugging a beer or two.
For others, it can be hours of eating Haribos or hours upon hours of drinking alcohol - my emotional eating binges last for the duration of the food I am consuming - whereas, for other people, it can last whole evenings, possibly three to four times a week.
Often when it comes to emotional eating, we try to fix the emotions with food - however in truth, the only thing that will fix the emotional eating is learning to process the emotions correctly - and dealing with that head-on.
Stress is proven to cause an increase in caloric intake in someone’s life.
As the study: “Stress-induced obesity and the emotional nervous system [8] concludes:
“Stress also induces secretion of glucocorticoids, which increases motivation for food, and insulin, which promotes food intake and obesity. Pleasurable feeding then reduces activity in the stress–response network, reinforcing the feeding habit. These effects of stressors emphasize the importance of teaching mental reappraisal techniques to restore responses from habitual to thoughtful, thus battling stress-induced obesity”
As you can see there is a need to help reduce your stress in the best way possible.
These are my top recommendations to help you reduce stress:
Get enough sleep regularly. If you need help with that listen to my Sleep Stories here: Three Medatitive Sleep Stories by Adam Berry
Exercise regularly. Exercise has been proven to reduce stress and help you sleep, as well as process your emotions.
Eat more nutritiously - make choices that align with your goals and you will feel like you are achieving as opposed to constantly failing.
Meditate. I don’t mean sit on the floor humming, I mean take time to connect to your breath and actively relax - that’s all meditation is. To get some free meditations from me head here: Centering The Breath: A YouTube Playlist
Question 10: Are your expectations too great?
I’ll let you in on a little secret:
Expectations are the number one reason people fail in fitness.
Forget everything else.
The issue is without a doubt expectation.
Many people start with an expectation that is wholly unrealistic - and usually based on an arbitrary human they have seen on Social Media as opposed to what is realistic for them, in their given circumstances.
And then when these expectations are seldom met, you start to feel like a failure….which inevitably results in giving up.
Let’s say you set up a goal to lose 5kgs. You aim for 0.5kgs a week and expect this to take 10 weeks.
Seems reasonable enough.
But over a 10-week period…you will inevitably have a few nights out….maybe a weekend away with your partner and let’s face it, a few missed Gym sessions.
You decide to weigh yourself weekly (more on why this is not a good idea here) and let’s say you only lose 200g one week….you have fallen behind your expectations, and go into “catch up mode”
The more this happens, the more drastic the behaviours come for you to get back on track.
The more drastic the behaviour the more unsustainable the whole thing becomes.
The only expectation you should have when it comes to your Fitness Journey is to simply try your best, do your damnedest, and get your strongest.
These are goals within your control, and they will result in your success becoming inevitable.
Question 11: Are you comparing yourself to others?
Ever heard the phrase “comparison is the thief of joy”?
Well, it’s true. By trying to live up to what someone else has achieved will only result in you not enjoying what it is you are doing.
You aren’t them. You don’t live their life. You don’t have the same abilities, genetics, finances, health, and support they have.
You are simply yourself.
You are simply only ever in competition with yourself. When you can try to just be better than you were yesterday you will build momentum, and momentum can be very very powerful.
But if you compare yourself to others, your momentum will stop immediately because you will only ever compare yourself to someone who is doing better than you - because that is all you will see.
The brain finds what we focus on. If you only want to focus on people who are thinner than you, lighter than you or more confident than you….then that is all you will ever see.
Nay.
That is all you will ever compare yourself to. When in actuality you have done better today than you did yesterday.
This is the last question in this Article. But I want to truly leave you with one thought.
One thought that will be the biggest game-changer you can imagine - an attitude that if you can adopt will allow you to stay focussed on what you are trying to accomplish and will allow the results you crave so much to come.
And it is this:
Adopt this singular thought - and your confidence will soar.
If we all just realized that nothing compares to ourselves…we will all become superheroes.
And being a superhero for yourself is what you should want to become.
Did You Find This Useful?
Thank you so much for reading my article - I really hope you found it helpful.
As I mentioned earlier in the article, I would love to work with you if you need help with any of the above.
If you would like to apply to work with me then just click here:
Thank you so much for being here.
Speak to you again soon.
Coach Adam
References:
Walker, M. P., & van der Helm, E. (2009). Overnight therapy? The role of sleep in emotional brain processing. Psychological bulletin, 135(5), 731–748.https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016570
Udo T, Grilo CM, Brownell KD, Weinberger AH, Dileone RJ, McKee SA. Modeling the effects of positive and negative mood on the ability to resist eating in obese and non-obese individuals. Eat Behav. 2013;14(1):40-46. doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2012.10.010
Johannsen DL, Knuth ND, Huizenga R, Rood JC, Ravussin E, Hall KD. Metabolic slowing with massive weight loss despite preservation of fat-free mass. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Jul;97(7):2489-96. doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-1444. Epub 2012 Apr 24. Erratum in: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2016 May;101(5):2266. PMID: 22535969; PMCID: PMC3387402.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment
Zinchenko, Anastasia & Henselmans, Menno. (2016). Metabolic Damage: do Negative Metabolic Adaptations During Underfeeding Persist After Refeeding in Non-Obese Populations?. Medical Research Archives. 4. 10.18103/mra.v4i8.908.
Ingels JS, Misra R, Stewart J, Lucke-Wold B, Shawley-Brzoska S. The Effect of Adherence to Dietary Tracking on Weight Loss: Using HLM to Model Weight Loss over Time. J Diabetes Res. 2017;2017:6951495. doi: 10.1155/2017/6951495. Epub 2017 Aug 9. PMID: 28852651; PMCID: PMC5568610.
Shcherbina A, Mattsson CM, Waggott D, Salisbury H, Christle JW, Hastie T, Wheeler MT, Ashley EA. Accuracy in Wrist-Worn, Sensor-Based Measurements of Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure in a Diverse Cohort. Journal of Personalized Medicine. 2017; 7(2):3. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm7020003
Mary F. Dallman, Stress-induced obesity and the emotional nervous system, Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 21, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 159-165, ISSN 1043-2760, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tem.2009.10.004
7 Things Stopping Your Calorie Deficit
The epitome of Weight Loss.
The foundation of all that you need to lose weight.
Martin MacDonald once said:
“Weight Loss is as simple as “Calories In vs Calories Out” but “Calories In vs Calories Out” just isn’t that simple”
And he is right. He is as right as they come. We have all heard the saying to lose weight you just need to eat less and move more but if you have any concept of how hard weight loss can be you will realize that this phrase is just short-sighted and far too simplistic for someone who needs help.
Because eating less is a very difficult thing to do consistently enough when you want to lose weight.
So here are 7 Things Stopping Your Calorie Deficit:
1. Not Eating Protein and Veggies At Every Meal
Oh, golly. The first one is really about eating Vegetables.
COME ON ADAM
But this is hella important.
Protein is a truly wonderful Macro Nutrient for many reasons…but why I am always preaching about why you should have it in your diet is because it fills you up. Your body takes a much longer time to digest protein than any other Macronutrient. This basically means it will keep you fuller for longer [1]. The way in which this works is it helps keep Grehlin at bay. Grehlin is your hunger hormone that tells your brain you want food.
So keeping that happy is a good idea.
As you already know from my Article on your Metabolism that you have read haven’t you? Good. Great. Well as you know Protein has a higher Thermic Effect of Food as well and therefore will burn more calories when it is being digested than other Macronutrients.
I personally would suggest you aim for 2g per kg of bodyweight each day.
AIM FOR…
That's a lot of protein if you have never tried before, but it will inspire you to start eating more and trying to get it increased. Which is what we want.
Read My Article that has helped 100s of people understand more about their Metabolsm right here: Is Your Metabolism Broken
What about the V-word then? The dreaded Mushroom. Seriously…is there a vegetable worse than a Mushroom?
Vegetables are Calorie Friendly foods. They have far fewer Calories in them than other foods, and therefore you can eat far larger portions of them. Which again keeps you filled up for longer.
For example….
100g of Spinach contains 24kcal
100g of Oven Chips contains 202kcal
100g of Chicken Breast contains 165kcal
So as you can see…you can eat A LOT more Veggies as oppose to anything else at the same quantity.
2. YOUR DOING TOO MUCH HIIT
Let me be clear…I love running and Cardio Exercise. I love lifting weights.
I very rarely get less than 10k steps in a day and I promote walking and cardio work to everyone in The Fitness Collective.
And all my clients follow Strength Training protocol.
However…HIIT has been known to damage your ability to control your Calories. Studies have shown that those who participate in HIIT might burn a few more calories in the session, but they then have a much higher appetite after the exercise session will then consume up to 350kcals more than someone who has followed a traditional Strength Training Programme. You also think that you have worked so hard you are entitled to be more relaxed around your diet. [2, 3]
It can sound so enticing when you hear about the idea of High-Intensity Interval Training. The idea of burning more calories in less time in the Gym. Who wouldn’t want that?
But in truth…let's say you do one 30min HIIT Session. That’s all you will do because of how exhausting it is.
Whereas if you did a Strength Training you might spend an extra 10–15mins in the Gym…but you will end up burning more calories overall for your workout.
Added to this many of the headlines regarding HIIT relate to a comparison against Steady-State Aerobic Exercise eg Running a 5km. [4]
Not a Strength Training Workout.
3. YOUR FOCUS IS IN THE WRONG PLACE
If you have been looking at my work for a while I would fully hope that you're a true member of team Calorie Deficit.
And by that, you know the only way to create Fat Loss is understanding your Energy Balance.
Calories In vs Calories Out
Now if you are starting your weight loss journey, or have tried in the past I am almost certain your top priority was activity.
Get a Gym Membership
Get a Personal Trainer
What Workouts to do?
Go for a run
etc etc
Your focus was on Calories Out.
If you send the word focus to the other part of the equation so that you begin to address your Calories In…
The Calories Out will take care of themselves.
I’m sure you have heard the old adage…you can’t out-train a bad diet. But the truth is you can’t out out-train a calorie-dense diet.
There is no good or bad…but if you are making the Calories Out your priority and focus…you will find a Calorie Deficit very difficult to create.
I’m not saying don’t exercise. Training is very important for your Health and your global wellbeing…and it will help you burn some calories and improve your body composition so you begin insuring yourself against future fat gain. But you must pour your focus into your Calories In.
4. YOUR CALORIE DEFICIT IS TOO BIG
You have to trust me here.
Your Calorie Deficit is too big. As in…you are allowing yourself too few calories.
If you have been at this for a while and you see initial results and then they stop you have probably set your Deficit to too low. What then happens is you end up in a cycle. You have a deficit, you maintain that for a few weeks maybe a month, you have seen some good results, but its hard work. You get tired, grumpy, and sick of tracking all foods and you just run out of steam. You then stop thinking about your calories and they start creeping up. You start eyeballing your portions and the calories start sneaking in more and more before you know it…you are no longer in a Deficit.
And all this has happened because your initial experience in the Deficit was far too hard.
By beginning with a smaller Calorie Deficit and allowing yourself to eat more within that Deficit you will find it far less restrictive and far more sustainable.
Yes…the results might not be as fast as you honestly want. But they will last a lot longer and you will still be able to have a night out with the girls.
I call that a Win Win Win.
If you want to find out how to set your Calories in a sustainable way then watch this:
5. YOU WANT IT TO HAPPEN TOO QUICKLY
Quick question…
What do you think a decent amount of weight to lose each week is? Say you went to the gym two to three times, started eating a little more nutritiously and made health a little higher on your priority list…
What would you expect to lose each week?
Was your answer 2lbs a week? Maybe 3–4lbs a week?
No, I didn’t read your mind. I just know that you think 1lb a week for weight loss is too slow. Despite the fact that 1lb a week is incredibly realistic, incredibly sustainable, and would signify incredible progress.
By wanting more…you are damaging your chances of success. By wanting it to happen quicker you are damaging your chances of success.
Why the rush? Why the sudden it must happen in 3 months?
You need to take a long hard look at your health and you should want to incorporate it into a part of your life…just like work, finances, socializing and family. It should be part of what makes you up…not what defines you for three months and then not for another 6 years.
Look, it's perfectly OK to be in Year 7 of your 5 Year Plan.
Because really…if you have balance and have found a system that is working, even if it is slower than you initially wanted then what does that matter? Really?
And if you need proof of 1lb a week being normal weight loss…not slow weight loss…then watch this:
6. YOUR NIGHTS OUT
I’m not here to tell you to stop socializing. I really am not. Really.
Because you are a human being. And you have friends and family and you have to live your life right? And if I told you to not go out and enjoy your life you would just ignore me anyway…and rightly so.
The issue here really comes when you drink to excess. Although alcohol does pack a punch in terms of caloric value (about 9kcal per gram).
I will always allow my clients to do what the hell they want…but consider this little story of a night out and let me know if it resonates with you:
Night out with alcohol.
Get a kebab on the way home.
Eat toast when home…put kebab under bed
Eat kebab for breakfast because you are hungover.
Lay in bed all day feeling sorry for yourself.
Try to cheer yourself up with a Domino’s (other Pizza is available)
Eat half of that.
Still not moved all day.
Go to sleep
Wake up….eat the rest of your cold pizza
Feel a little better.
Get a text from a friend about going out.
Feel like you need to feel like you have actually done something this weekend.
Meet up with said friend…
Have a drink or five.
Get a kebab on the way home.
Eat toast when home…put kebab under bed,
Eat kebab for breakfast because you are hungover.
Spend all day in bed and get no steps in.
Take about 3–4 days to regain your energy levels from lost sleep and feeling groggy
Finally, get back on track maybe Friday.
Then its the weekend again…
I have done this. If I haven’t done all of this (like a Kebab for Breakfast) but I have definitely noticed the huge drop in discipline, activity and focus after a night out.
When you see Trainers on Instagram piling on the “Weekend Calories” bandwagon…its not because we don’t like fun.
Its because you see it as one night out.
We see the effect it has on everything for the next three to four days.
7. YOU SPEND TOO MUCH TIME LETTING THE SMALL THINGS STOP YOU DOING THE BIG THINGS
Here is a conversation I had on Instagram with someone this week. This was someone who is at the moment doing Keto. By her own admission, she knows it is unsustainable due to the extremely low carb intake it requires.
When I asked her what she would then move into this was her response:
Now her suggestions aren’t that far off.
Other than the fact Protein itself doesn’t increase muscle mass. You can’t just eat Protein and magically grow muscles. To magically grow muscles you need anabolic steroids…which I do not recommend.
However, she has a Fat Loss goal. She would prefer to spend time figuring out the new regime of Intermittent Fasting, counting her Carbs and Fats, and then making sure her protein has gone up proportionally as well.
Maybe it is just me…but I read that and thought…BLIMEY. That's a lot of words. A lot of figuring out. When really all she would need to do is operate a system like my Five Awesome Rules For Fat Loss Life and its all taken care of.
This girl has missed the point, and its not her fault. But she has got bogged down on the small things.
Other examples are things like:
Cardio or Weights?
Bike or Treadmill?
BCAAs or Protein Powders?
Keto or Intermittent Fasting?
Macro Splits?
What Vitamins to take?
Normal Potatoes vs Sweet Potatoes
I’m sure you get the point.
You could spend all day thinking about this…and not actually go to the Gym…or move.
Or track your calories.
There's a massive reason most of my message is always about the same few topics…because those are the big things that make the biggest changes.
If you really want to start getting results, and getting them fast…stop worrying about the small stuff that will give you 10% of the result.
And do the Big Stuff that will give you 90% of the result you want.
You will thank me.
Oh and if you want the Five Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life…its right here:
Did you find this useful?
You can Join The Fitness Collective which is my Membership Group. In there I give Monthly Updates, Live Q and A’s, I provide you with new workouts each and every month, and write guidance on your fitness journey.
To find out more about The Fitness Collective you can click here: The Fitness Collective
Please share this with your friends and anyone else you may know who is worried about training in a gym, and feel free to follow me using the links below…
And if you want to get updates on when I publish new articles, publish new podcasts or anything else then please remember to sign up below
And above all remember this…for as long as you are trying your best no one can ask for more from you.
Coach Adam
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And are Progress Photos useful to use?
The infamous “Progress” Picture. Some of this Article will sound damn obvious. Some of this article will shock you to your core.
But the overall aim of this Article is, like so much of my content, designed to change your perspective on two things:
How you feel about your own “Progress” photos
How you feel when you look at other people’s “Progress” photos.
One of my favorite progress photos is the following:
“I finally had the courage to upload my Progress Photo…it wasn’t easy but I managed it”
The reason I love this Meme so much is that it sums up the entire point of this Article.
Table of contents for: How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And are Progress Photos useful to use?
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And are Progress Photos useful to use?
What is a “Progress” Photo?
I’m sure you have heard about them…or seen them. Even if you are ever so slightly interested in fitness or have ever logged into Facebook or Instagram I am almost certain you will have come across a Progress Photo.
A “Progress” Photo is a picture of someone on one day in time, typically when they started a new program placed right next to the same person a few months on when the program has finished.
And you are “expected” to see a difference between Photo A and Photo B.
They are also sometimes called “Before and After” photos.
I dislike this term more because it gives a finite beginning and end, which I don’t think is helpful for you.
Now it's great for the Personal Trainer that made you do it in your 12-week program and wants to exploit you and your pictures to try and get more clients…because as far as they are concerned it is Before and After.
Before you ever knew them.
After you are finished with them.
They now don’t give a fuck about you because they have their marketing photo. Its a classic, use, and abuse. In and Out. Kick to the curb.
And it disgusts me.
Disclaimer: I have been known to use my client's photos for marketing purposes. But none of them has ever done a 12-week shred with me. None of them have been with me as a client for less than a year. And they all understand that its a part of the sad world I exist in. I have also never edited a progress photo in order to create a better image of the result. But I am definitely in the minority.
I wish I could sell Personal Training without them. I really do. And I try to use them as little as possible. I very rarely use my own photos to sell how good I am as a Trainer because just because I can get a ripped body for myself doesn’t mean I know how to coach someone else to that end.
And that is a very important point. If you are choosing a Trainer based on how they look…then you are falling for a very easy trap. Anyone can follow a plan and get results themselves…the art of coaching is to be able to get someone else to do that, someone who isn’t you, who has a very different life and who needs very different guidance not just from who the trainer is, but also from all of their other clients too.
You are an individual.
And this is part of the problem. The market decides what sells…and you…yes…you…I know you have judged someone’s training experience based on a “Progress” photo you have seen of them. You have made a snap judgment on their trainer…and a snap judgment on the person based simply on a once in a moment photo.
And that is what sells.
I also think we all have a responsibility when posting them. Whether it is myself to try and garner business or yourself to demonstrate your hard work and to show how you have changed.
I always think…whenever I chose to use a “Progress” photo…I always think what effect will this have on someone somewhere?
Will one of my clients who is struggling right now see it and feel worthless?
Could someone see it at the wrong time of day and it means that they sink further into darkness?
Could it inspire someone to make a change?
I generally do not give a flying hoot about what I post and if someone is offended by what I say…I know they can move on, and I certainly can.
But a “Progress” photo has slightly different energy…and I have a responsibility to make sure that they are used in a more progressive way…and if you are reading this…I would like to think I have stopped and made you think about that too.
And this is based in reality. A trainer I used to work with created an online program that was based around a 6 Week Fat Loss shred. The image they used of their “client” (personally I had never seen them work with them and there was no Social proof for this either over the 5 years I had known said person) was of “this client” looking “large” and then “small”.
The tag line was “6 Week Transformation”
The advertising for this was huge. This woman was almost life-like in size on the website and the online ads and Social Media pictures were in your very in your face. But what really got to me about them was the following: It was all a lie.
This “client” did not do this program.
This “client” did not change her body that much in 6 weeks.
The people who did do this program never got results like that in 6 weeks — so imagine how they must have felt when all was said and done?
Luckily, I never worked with the trainer personally…we were just both in the same industry in the same town. But this is what really hurt most about it.
I was in a session with a client. A client who has struggled with weight her entire life. The issues with her weight have permeated through into her Mental Health and for the first time in her life she felt like she was learning and beginning to get to where she wanted to get to.
She was targeted by this advert online and the posts…she sent them to me…feeling very lonely late one night and asked me:
“Is that true?”
I told her the truth that the whole thing is a lie and the transformation took a good four or five years, and her response was this:
“That makes me feel really sad. That makes me feel so small and so unworthy. I’m so glad it isn’t true, but that picture makes me feel so angry because for a while I thought it was true…and it made me feel horrible”
We have a responsibility. We need to do better. We need to stop putting finances above people’s mental health in an industry that is about Health. We must stop selling lies and impossible truths just because we have egos. It's not helping you, and it's not helping your clients.
The worst bit…the program did really well in terms of sales. The results? Well, I’ve never seen a “client” who actually went through the system on any campaign from this trainer since….nor have I seen any of their progress photos on social media.
This brings us quite nicely to…
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And are Progress Photos useful to use?
How Should You View “Progress” Photos?
Let me be clear. As much as I think they can be bad for the majority of people to see…they do have a place and can be effective for you in tracking your goals. I think they are a terrible way to draw clients in due to how untrustworthy they really can be.
It's more like the “Progress” photo itself isn’t the problem…but like with all things it's the way we personally view them.
When I was at Drama School we would be constantly working on a play. And every so often different people would come into rehearsals and critique the play. Whether that was a Movement Director, a fellow student, a Fight Director, a Voice Coach, a Casting Director, a Producer, the productions Composer and the Lighting Designer. You also had the Set Designer, Costume Designer, Script Writer (if they were still alive…alas I never met Shakespeare). Oh, then there's the whole Stage Management Team as well.
All in all about 30 people.
That wasn’t involved in all of the rehearsals They just had to show up and go away again. But every time they would show up an interesting phrase kept creeping into the rehearsal room:
“It’s a work in progress”
I used to view this as an excuse in case the people watching thought it was totally rubbish…and we would have time to make it better.
Then I was in Twelfth Night…and our Director, James Kemp, spoke to us about how a play is never finished. How a Production is never finished. How every night you must keep digging and digging, you must keep finding new things to discover because that is how you keep a play alive.
And no one wants to sit through a very stagnant three hours of Shakespeare.
You see, this is what your “Progress” Photo is.
It's not a beginning and an end.
Your fitness, if you have taken it on, and want to improve it should never exist with the concept of a beginning and an end. You must always be searching, always be digging, always be developing and letting your experience reveal new truths to you as you go.
There is no end. Just exploration.
A “Progress” photo doesn’t do that. A “Before and After” photo doesn’t do that.
Therefore I think it is a lot more healthy for you to view these photos as
“Work In Process”
Not just your photos, but those of others you see on the internet as well. They are just Work In Process.
I take a photo of myself after every single training session.
And yes…I do have narcissistic tendencies, but that is not why.
Its a lot like my article on “Your Scale Strategy”
Read my article that has helped 100s of women improve their relationship with the scale right here: Your Scale Strategy
The more you expose yourself to a picture like this then the less pressure you will feel first when you see it of yourself, and secondly when you see others. Yes, you might not notice progress as much…but who cares? Like with everything in Fitness…there is no end game. There is no finite; just exploration.
All Work In Process photos must be taken with a huge pinch of salt because they are quite literally just an image of someone frozen in time.
The drawbacks of what you see in a Progress photo are huge.
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And Are Progress Photos Useful To Use?
What are the Pros and Cons of “Progress” photos?
Well…as we are here…let's start with the Cons:
Some of the biggest cons are that you have no idea about these elements of the subject's health:
Their relationship with food
Their mental health
Their hydration levels
Their physical health
Their relationship with exercise
All of these things could be very much affected…and the more “drastic” a “progress” photo is…and the more professional the photos look the more extreme we can assume the pendulum swings.
I know of BodyBuilders that get to a point where they can only drink what they pass when getting ready for a photoshoot — they also can’t get health insurance…due to the state of their livers.
Yes…that is the extreme side of the equation. But it all counts. Because every time you flick through Instagram and see a very shredded person…it still makes you feel like crap. Even a little. It makes you say “I’d never be able to achieve that” and that isn’t good enough.
Some more cons:
It is well known that people have had their own “progress” photos stolen to sell products and programs they never participated in.
The use of lighting can affect a huge amount of the way you look when they are taken (there is actually a thing called “anabolic lighting”)
They can easily be edited to make the subject look a lot better than they are.
Here are two photos…one on the right I edited on my phone…and the other is the original.
Please excuse the towel…
You can see my Pecs look a lot bigger in the edited photo due to the enhanced shadow, and the coloring looks a little off…but you are comparing like for like. How many “Progress” photos do you see where the subject is comparing all things the same?
I used a specialist app to edit this photo and these are some of its features:
Reshape — including Detail and Bloat (this might sound defunct but it makes your muscles look so much bigger if used well)
Retouch — teeth whitening, smoothing.
Brighten / Darken (very useful for anabolic lighting)
Tall — yes, you can actually make yourself taller
But my favorite feature is the following:
Stickers — Male Ab Stickers, Male Chest Stickers, Female Ab Stickers, Collarbone Stickers, Cleavage Stickers (yes, you can actually put someone else's breasts on your photos — I use this feature personally a lot)
I was going to put a funny photo in here of myself with that feature…but some things just can't be unseen.
In the photo above, I have managed to increase my arm size, my pectoral size, and I was able to darken my Abs so they looked so much more defined, and so that I look a lot more muscly and ripped than I actually am.
It took 5 minutes. Maybe less.
And…this app…is totally free.
Other Cons?
They build pressure on you
They can de-motivate you when you don’t see any progress
They can feel like a much bigger deal than they actually are
They can be very exposing and scary if you have never done them before
If you don’t know how to look at them, and what to look for you may never see the progress in them. I have had a number of clients submit photos to me and despite huge differences, they just don’t see them. Being subjective towards them can be very diminishing. I’ve had full-blown discussions with clients to try and show them what I can see in a photo…they just never believe it.
And this is why I don’t think they are an effective way to draw clients into programs either…
Let’s say I took on 100 clients into a 12 week program and made them all eat 1000 calories or less each day. I would get some amazing before and after photos…trust me. Especially if I only took on clients who had a BMI of 25+ for this program.
Now only about 10% of that number would actually get to the end. I now have 10 clients.
Of these 10 clients, lets say…maybe 5 or 6 of them remembered to do their photos at the beginning, and maybe 2 or 3 remembered to do them at the end.
I had 100 clients. I now have 2 or 3 that I have amazing photos of…to then use to sell the advocacy of the program to you.
You are buying into a program that has revealed 3% of its truth.
If I gave you a 3% chance of success in any program would you want to spend £100s on that?
Hardly seems honest, does it?
97 people, who failed. 97 people who you have no idea about and 97 people who the trainer can’t even remember their names.
On the internet also…there are many accounts that produce these comparison photos…and I kid you not…they don’t even use the same person in both photos. This is no joke. I promise you.
When I saw this it got me thinking of a checklist you should probably ask yourself every time you see a “Before and After” photo. It's really important you protect yourself from stuff like this. So always use the following filter when you are looking at photos of this nature:
Are there any Pros?
Well, yes. There are.
Photos can be and should be used as another way to track your Work In Process. They can reveal a lot. They can reveal things that the scale might not reveal.
They can build huge confidence in people, as they can be challenging, and overcoming a challenge can move you into growth.
And when they reveal development…it is a great feeling.
It really is a nice feeling. But that is chased with trepidation because I’m sure in the past you haven’t seen progress from one photo to another…and it has stopped you in your tracks.
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And Are Progress Photos Useful To Use?
How Should You Take A “Work In Process” Photo?
There are rules on how it should be done…and in all honesty mine are a terrible example for a number of reasons — which when I explain below you will understand more.
I would also like to take this moment to TELL YOU TO DO IT.
But only if you agree to the following:
1. Its a Work In Process photo and you remember that at all times — there is no end to the process.
2. You understand that its only one method of tracking your work in process — the scale, measurements, the way your clothes fit, and what other people say to you are all huge indicators of progress too.
3. You will only compare every two to three months (you can and should take them much more regularly so you get to practice and used to taking the photos)
4. You follow the best practice as laid out below…
If I had a dollar for every client that said to me…
“I wish I took photos at the beginning”
In fact just this week one of my clients in The Fitness Collective said just this. Word for word.
Get my enitre library of resources and learn how to Build Confidence, Burn Fat and Build Muscle by Joining the Fitness Collective right here: https://www.thegymstarter.com/the-fitness-collective-sign-up
And I understand why you don’t want to when you start.
You feel scared of failing, and you definitely don’t want a photo to remind you of another moment where you failed. Plus…you’re in this to lose weight…because deep down there are parts of your body you hate…and a “reveal all” photo to send to your trainer when you can’t even make love with the lights on just isn’t happening. Full Stop.
It is a challenge. And a photo isn’t mandatory. But if you have someone who believes in you, as much as I do. If you have someone who is your number one cheerleader then of course you aren’t going to fail and that photo could be something you are immensely proud of and giving yourself that opportunity could be life-changing.
So this is how you do it:
1. Always take your progress photos at the same time of day. Mornings are preferred…as much fewer variables are in play ie: how much food you have eaten that day and therefore how bloated you are.
2. Try and use natural lighting as much as possible. Go outside and get the photo as it is going to be a much truer reflection.
3. Use the same clothing — never change your clothing. It's ok to have a progress photo in a T-shirt, but remember that won’t tell you the whole story…but if you need that comfort that’s ok. But always where the same one!
4. Use the same phone, and put it in the same position! Do not change lenses, do not change angles and do not do it like a selfie. In fact the phone should always be lower than you think. Usually, the best position for the phone in relation to you is about in line with your belt buckle.
5. Put the phone about 6 feet away from you so you can capture your whole body from toe to head on the screen.
6. Keep the phone completely parallel to your body. Do not angle it upwards or downward as it is a variable you will not be able to repeat.
6. Stand naturally…no flexing, no tensing, and no worry. Just be you. Because you are all that matters.
7. Try to put the gridlines evenly across your body, and make sure you stand in the center three boxes. Like this:
And that’s it.
Nearly.
Now the photo is taken…
You then have to wait a minimum of 8 weeks and then repeat the process.
Then…and this is probably the most important part of Work In Process photo.
Send the photos to a professional who can look at them objectively.
I promise you…you won’t see what they see…and what they see is what is really going on. You will be hell-bent on seeing a reduction in your belly, but you will ignore all the differences in your posture, your muscular development, the difference in confidence and so much more.
It takes practice and work to really see what is going on in photos…and that is something you do not have experience in.
I tell you what…if you got this far in this article…email me and I will look at them myself for you…to help you…just email me on adam@thegymstarter.com
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And Are Progress Photos Useful To Use?
Conclusion
I really hope your biggest take away from this article is the following:
Stop viewing these photos as “Progress” photos or “Before and After” photos. Looking at them in that mindset is helping people manipulate you into buying into very large untruths about their work and the effectiveness of losing weight.
I want you to start realizing they are a “Work In Process” photo.
There is no end. It's just where you are at over this last two to three month period.
A Work In Process photo is useful, but it only reveals one very small and slim side of someone's story. It doesn’t tell you their relationship with food, what drastic measures they have had to go through to get the photo in the first place.
Its just two photos…two or three months apart. You have no idea how happy that person is…and I bet even though they lost some weight…they still aren’t happy.
Because this is the kicker: Losing Weight doesn’t make you happy.
The work and focus on the process of looking after yourself might. But reducing the size of your body will not make you happy…so stop thinking that it will…and above all stop thinking that the people you see in these photos are happy.
If they look happier on one photo compared to another its because they have manipulated it that way…they have slouched and sunken in the first one and stood up straight in the second one.
There’s more to this than you think.
So let's get you focussed on the Process. On the work. On the toil.
And let's get you viewing these photos with a more critical eye when you see them….
And let's get you viewing your own ones as quite simply…
A Work In Process.
Because that is beautiful. Just like you.
Did you find this useful?
You can Join The Fitness Collective which is my Membership Group. In there I give Monthly Updates, Live Q and A’s, I provide you with new workouts each and every month, and write guidance on your fitness journey.
To find out more about The Fitness Collective you can click here: The Fitness Collective
Please share this with your friends and anyone else you may know who is worried about training in a gym, and feel free to follow me using the links below…
And if you want to get updates on when I publish new articles, publish new podcasts or anything else then please remember to sign up below
And above all remember this…for as long as you are trying your best no one can ask for more from you.
Coach Adam