Exercising and not losing weight? What am I doing wrong?

It is generally recommended to combine a diet with exercise in order to maximize any weight loss results. It makes sense as exercise helps in burning extra calories, increase metabolism, get you fit and toned and also return a number of health benefits. Can’t go wrong with such a combination, right? Well, I am sure that there are a few people who would disagree with this. They follow this combination but they are not really getting anywhere. If you fall in that category of exercising and not losing any weight see what are some of the most common mistakes or what you could do better.

1. Not pushing hard enough

If you never exercised before and are in general inactive even going around the block for a walk can provide your body with a considerable challenge. However, if you keep on repeating that walk every day your body will soon get used to it and the walk will stop returning much results. This doesn’t mean that you should stop going for a walk or that the walk does not keep you healthy. But it is all about what are you looking to achieve. If you have a certain routine which you have been following since you can remember then you could be not providing any challenge to your body. So you could be going to the gym and losing your fitness instead of gaining it. Try upping the stakes a bit. Interval kind of training tends to provide variety and intensity so why not give it a go. You could still be working the same muscles but with a different exercise.

2. Inconsistent exercise

Exercising inconsistently can have the same results as not providing enough challenge. Time can be quite pressured for many people and keeping to a consistent gym visit or exercise regime can be hard work. Similarly some people could be working away often, or have family commitments which stop them from keeping to a time table resulting to exercising 2 days one week, not at all the next, 3 days the week after and so on. Unfortunately this inconsistency does not help in building your fitness. Try keeping to short intensive workouts. Have a 30 min workout which you could do from your living room for the days you can’t make it to the gym. Try making exercise as part of your daily routine, same way you brush your teeth every day or shower.

3. Too much aerobic

Don’t stay on the fat burning zone and add some resistance exercise. Relying too much on aerobic exercise could have the opposite results. As mentioned above try to provide variety to your workout and use a combination of resistance and aerobic. It may be that you do one day resistance one day aerobic or break your workout in 2.

4. I can get away with a treat post workout

Now this is the most common exercise mistake. Often people tend to consume more calories in general with the thought that they can get away with it as they do exercise.

Think about this way: some people advocate that in an hour of Zumba exercise you could use as much as 800kcal. This is not true for everybody. An average portion of cheesecake contains an average of 600kcal, a KFC meal contains an average of 1000kcal. Do the math and you may find yourself soon gaining weight instead of losing, especially if combined with the above 2 mistakes, inconsistency and non- challenging.

5. Diet matters

Exercise is not the passport to uncontrolled eating. If you want to lose weight just going to the gym may not return big results. If you are consuming 3000kcal a day it is only so much your body will burn in the gym, so don’t expect miracles. For best results combine your exercise with a balanced healthy diet which aims at weight loss. Do remember that you need to be consuming sufficient amount of calories to fuel the exercise.

6. Losing inches but not weight

A pound of muscle occupies less space than a pound of fat, fact. If you just rely on the scales you may find that they are not showing any weight change but your clothes may feel more comfortable. What could be happening is that with exercising you are actually increasing your muscle mass and also are getting toned. With exercise your body can change shape, especially as you get more toned.

7. It’s too early

How long have you been exercising for? If you expect to lose masses of weight in one or two weeks then you may be not be tuned to reality. It does take 2-4 weeks for any exercise fitness gains to come. Patience is the answer. Think that everybody is different and any changes in weight loss and fitness will take place according to each individual.

8. Medical or otherwise

If you are doing all the right things with diet and exercise but you are struggling to lose the weight and probably notice that you are putting on weight then it may be good to consult your physician. There are a number of health conditions which could influence your weight, with thyroid and hormonal imbalances such as menopause being two examples. Apart from health conditions, it could be other things such as medication, vitamin deficiencies or dehydration which could lead to excess water retention or other weight related problems.