Working Out Every Day and Not Losing Weight?

Weight loss can be a tricky and frustrating game to play. The prescribed solution is to exercise more and eat less. But it isn't as cut and dry of a solution as it may sound. Maybe your clients feel like they are eating less and working out every day but the scale still won't budge. Check out what might be causing your clients to experience a weight loss plateau.

Calorie Intake: Extra Calories or Not Enough?

For weight loss to occur, the body must be in a caloric deficit. This means burning more calories than you consume. Most people aren't aware of how much they are eating in a day. In fact, people often underestimate their intake and report fewer calories than they are truly consuming. This can lead to a calorie surplus rather than a calorie deficit which may even cause weight gain.

Awareness of consumption is critical when weight loss is the goal. Working with your clients to track daily food intake can help support weight loss. In fact, studies have shown that individuals tracking consistently lose more bodyweight than those who don't.

On the flip side, some clients may not be eating enough calories. While a calorie deficit is necessary for weight loss, extremely low-calorie diets are not sustainable. Inadequate calorie consumption may push the body into starvation mode.

When the body is starved for calories, metabolism slows down as the body tries to maintain only those functions critical for survival. For women, extremely low-calorie diets may cause irregularities in menstrual cycling and negatively impact hormones.

Encourage your clients to download an app to help them track their calories and create an awareness of how much they are consuming each day.

Not Eating Enough of the Right Foods

What your clients eat plays a large role in their weight loss journey. Your clients may not be consuming enough of the necessary nutrients their bodies need to promote healthy weight loss.

Protein

Protein is a crucial nutrient in any healthy diet. Proteins are made up of amino acids which the body uses to build and repair muscle tissue and bones as well as create hormones and enzymes. Consuming more lean protein may help your clients feel full longer and suppress the hunger hormone ghrelin.

Energy expenditure (EE) is the amount of energy required by the body to carry out daily functions such as breathing, blood circulation, and digestion. Therefore, if EE were to increase, the body would burn more calories throughout the day. And protein may be just the solution.

Gluconeogenesis is the creation of glucose within the body from a non-carbohydrate source such as protein. Increased gluconeogenesis may increase energy expenditure. By incorporating more lean protein into their diet, your clients may experience increased EE which may help burn more calories and support weight loss.

Whole Foods

If your clients aren't reaching their desired weight loss goals, the first place to look is the kitchen. It is important to remember that food quality is just as important as food quantity when it comes to reaching a healthy weight. Whole foods are critical for overall health and wellness. They contain important vitamins and minerals the body needs to function optimally.

Whole foods are foods that are not processed at all or are subject to minimal processing. Think of foods with minimal ingredients on the nutrition label. Examples of whole foods include:

• Whole grains

• Legumes

• Beans, nuts, and seeds

• Fresh fruits and vegetables.

Encourage your clients to focus less on burning calories and more on consuming a healthy diet. A good rule of thumb is avoiding processed foods and incorporating more whole foods to promote optimal health. A body functioning at peak efficiency is better able to support healthy weight loss.

Too Much Cardio, Not Enough Strength Training

Hitting the treadmill for a couple of miles of cardio is a great way to work up a sweat. But if your clients are only doing cardio when they hit the gym, they may be missing out. Cardio is effective for reducing body fat. However, in excess, it can also lead to decreased muscle size and weaker muscles. Weight loss from decreased muscle mass is not healthy weight loss and should not be the goal.

By incorporating strength training, your clients can build strength, improve lean muscle size, and even counteract age-related muscle loss. More importantly, weight training may also have beneficial effects on reducing body fat.

During exercise, muscles require a large amount of energy. With the help of oxygen, muscles can break down fat and carbohydrate stored in muscles, liver, and fat cells. When you exercise, you breathe faster and your heart works harder to pump more oxygen, carbohydrates, and fats to our working muscles. However, where strength training is most effective is in the after-burn effect.

Post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) is more commonly referred to as the after-burn effect. This phenomenon describes how long oxygen uptake remains elevated even after exercise. Oxygen uptake remains elevated so that muscles can be restored to their resting state. They do this through the breakdown of stored fat and carbohydrates.

The extent and duration of the after-burn effect are dependent on the length, type, and intensity of the exercise routine. Longer-lasting exercise that incorporates large muscle groups, results in a longer after-burn effect. High-intensity strength training can be effective at elevating long-term after-burn effects.

In addition, strength training may be an effective tool for long-term fat loss as well. Muscle size plays a direct role in basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR is how many calories the body requires to function at rest. And luckily, fat is the body's preferred energy source at rest. As muscle size increases, the demand for energy at rest increases. Therefore, increasing muscle size over time through weight training may increase BMR, which may aid sustained fat loss over time.

Encourage your clients to incorporate strength training into their workout routine. It is an important tool that can aid weight loss by increasing the after-burn effect and increasing lean muscle size which demands more calories burned at rest.

Not Enough Recovery

Recovery is an important part of a healthy workout routine. But it is often forgotten or ignored. Working out hard in the gym is great, but you need to give your muscles and body time to recover. Proper recovery allows for improved performance by allowing your body time to prepare for the next workout.

Sleep

Sleep health is an important part of recovery. It allows the body time to repair muscles and other tissues damaged during exercise. Insufficient sleep can impair recovery in multiple ways:

• Increased cortisol (stress hormone)

• Reduced production of growth hormone

• Increased risk of injury

• Decreased immune system function

Encourage your clients to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night to promote optimal recovery.

Stress

Cortisol is the stress hormone created naturally by the adrenal glands. It can be thought of as a naturally built-in alarm system. It is the body's main stress hormone and plays many important roles in the body:

• Managing how the body utilizes carbohydrates, proteins, and fats

• Increasing blood sugar

• Controlling sleep and wake cycle

• Boosting energy to handle stress and regain balance afterward

When you workout, your body experience a healthy level of physical stress, and cortisol is released. However, when you experience stress in excessive amounts it is not good for the body.

High levels of stress and elevated cortisol levels may:

• Decrease cognitive performance

• Decrease endurance

• Increase rate of perceived exertion

Encourage your clients to not overdo their time in the gym and to take note of their stress levels. Journaling can be a healthy outlet for your clients to deal with stress as well as finding activities that are fun and relaxing.

Hydration

About 60% of the adult human body is water. Water is involved in many vital bodily processes:

• Regulating body temperature

• Maintaining blood volume

• Transporting nutrients and oxygen

• Allowing muscle contraction to occur

When the body is adequately hydrated, it is less likely to retain excess water weight. Encourage your clients to consume water consistently throughout the day, not just during a workout. A good rule of thumb is to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water per day.

Be Realistic

Supporting your clients on their weight loss journey begins with understanding that a healthy weight results from a healthy lifestyle. Despite popular magazine photos, there are no quick fixes. Weight loss is a slow process.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to what a healthy body weight is. Have a conversation with your clients and understand their goals. Encourage them to find a place where they are comfortable in their body. When measuring progress, try using something other than the scale. The scale can't measure muscle gain, fat loss, or improved quality of life. Talk with your clients about how their clothes are fitting or if they have more energy throughout the day. Healthy weight loss is possible when your clients ditch the scale, find an activity they love, and start to see healthy food as fuel.

Interested in learning more about nutrition and healthy weight loss? Check out ISSA's Nutritionist course. Learn how to help clients uncover the whys behind their eating habits and how to build a healthier lifestyle for the long term.