5 Reasons why you’re not losing weight from exercise alone

5 Reasons why you’re not losing weight from exercise alone

People exercise for a range of different reasons, however weight loss tends to be the main motivator.

Unfortunately more often than not, exercise alone simply doesn’t work or is only a short term solution that eventually leads to all, and often more of the weight lost being gained again. This unhealthy cycle of short radical bursts of exercise (The ‘New Year Resolution’ syndrome) followed by bouts of prolonged inactivity and often poor health can leave many feeling frustrated and lost.

Here’s 5 reasons that you may not be losing weight from exercise alone.

1. You have poor gut health:
Your gut bacteria can affect how your food is digested, how fat is stored and whether you feel hungry or full. Most of us have varying degrees of gut dysfunction as a result of years of poor food (particularly highly processed foods) and drink choices that damage the gut microbiome. Addressing your gut health is the quickest and most effective way to ensure your weight goals are achieved.

2. Your body wants to maintain it’s ‘Body Weight Set Point’ (BWSP):
Your body has a set point where it tends to naturally stabilize (it’s called homeostasis), and it can creep up over time as a result of poor lifestyle choices. When you exercise and put your body into a calorie deficit (by burning more calories than you consume), most people lose weight. The problem is, your BWSP does not come down in line with your weight. It stays at your pre-exercise weight and it does everything it can to get you back up to where it was before, to get it back in balance.

The body does this by activating hunger signals to make you feel tired in the hope of reducing your energy expenditure. This makes it harder to keep exercising and forces you to rely on ‘will power’ to resist the hunger cravings.

As soon as stop exercising for any length of time your weight goes back to the previous BWSP …and often rises resulting in you regaining all the weight and more.
Addressing your Gut Health lowers your BWSP resulting in permanent weight loss. The vast majority of “diets” also do not address the BWSP, hence people fall into the cycle of “Yo-Yo” dieting.

3. You think about what you do in the gym, but not in the kitchen:
There’s a saying; “You can’t out train a bad diet”, and it’s 100% true. It does not matter how much you exercise, if the fuel (your diet) that you put in your body is bad, you will not get the results from your exercise.

As you exercise, your body needs more fuel. Put the wrong food in and your body simply won’t function (it’s like putting diesel in a petrol engine!). So many people ‘think’ they have a healthy diet, however, are actually causing more damage than good. Without a healthy diet to support your exercise, you really are wasting your time, energy and often money.

Simple things like protein with every meal. Eliminating starchy carbs and ensuring you have sufficient water intake each day will make a huge difference.
 
4. There are 24 hours in a day:
Exercise alone does not account for non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT); This is the energy expended for everything you do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. If you sit for long hours in your jobs this sedentary time may not be offset even with an hour or so of exercise. Aim to get your NEAT up every day by simple measures; take the stairs, stand at your desk, park further away etc.
 
5. Your exercise routine is wrong:
You may be doing too much cardio. Yes cardio is good for keeping your heart healthy, boosting your metabolism but doing too much of it (or only doing cardio) can reduce your lean muscle mass, which is essential for increasing your metabolism to burn more calories each day
The body may also become more endurance-focused, storing fat as energy to ensure it has plenty of reserve fuel to keep you going for all those kilometres & miles. Cardio also dramatically increases your appetite, making you more susceptible to unnecessary snacking or overeating.
Including short burst of high intensity interval training can be a more beneficial option.
Strength training combined with cardio is the most effective as the more muscle tone your body has, the more fat you’ll burn.

Also remember that it’s not how long you exercise for, it’s how hard you exercise that get results and of course make sure you recover properly. Recovery and rest are often more important than the workout itself. During those periods, your body does most of the actual fat burning.

Establishing a workout routine where you work your entire body one day and then take the next day to do light cardio, stretching, or complete rest is generally the most effective way to achieve weight loss results.

There are many reasons why you might experience a halt in your weight loss, despite your best efforts. If you are feeling stuck, reach out. We would love to give you the knowledge and tools you need to help you get back on track and smash your goals.

Let us show you how you can exercise you way to optimal health.