QUESTION: Dear Tom: I’ve been going to the gym for the past year now, but Ihave only lost 2 pounds. I eat about 1800 calories a dayand I do 3 cardio and 3 weight training sessions a week. I am5 feet 5 inches and 128 lbs. I would like to be at 120 lbs.
To lose 8 more lbs isn’t a lot to ask, but I’m really frustrated.I’ve been VERY persistent, and I rarely cheat except once eachweekend, but at this rate, it will take me another 4 years forme to reach my goal! Please help!
Vicky
ANSWER:
Don’t worry, it won’t take another 4 years! In fact, you can reachyour target wt. within the next month if you start getting feedback,charting results and making some strategic changes to your program.
First, it’s important that you understand how a year could go by withalmost no progress.
Have you been doing the same nutrition, same calories, same cardio, same weight training and the same intensity for the entire past year with no changes? If so,then you shouldn’t be suprised if you’ve continued to get the SAMEresults (very little).
If you do more of the same, you usually get more of the same.
Caloric intake, for example is not something you calculate onceand then never pay attention to again. Calories have to becalculated and customized for each individual in the beginningand then adjusted continuously in “real time” during the courseof a fat loss program, based on actual results.
Just because you start at 1800 doesn’t mean your caloric intakeshould stay there. Calories may need to be increased or decreaseddepending on whether your goals, your body weight and your activitylevels change and based on your weekly progress (or lack of).
Which brings me to another point. I am a huge fan of usingprogress charts. There is a saying in business management andsports coaching:
“What gets measured gets done.”
When you start “keeping score” and tracking performance rightdown to the numbers, it’s almost miraculous how this awarenessof how you’re doing translates into improved results.
When you track your body composition results every week, if aweek or two goes by with no results, then you don’t continuewith more of what got you no results, you change some variablein your program immediately!
An old Turkish proverb that says,
“No matter how far you’ve traveled down the wrong road,always turn back!”
Of course, you don’t have to throw out your entire program, you can simply “tweak” ONE or maybe two variables within the same program.
Also, when you measure, track and analyze muscle versus fat(body composition), instead of just scale weight, you mighteven discover you’ve gained some lean body mass and this offsetsthe drop on the scale (which means it’s possible you made moreprogress than you thought).
Now, back to the calories. To break a plateau, you can takea reduction in calories, or an increase in activity, either ofwhich will create a deficit if you are currently in energybalance, or increase your existing caloric deficit.
1800 calories may not provide a large enough deficit for somewomen, and in fact, the majority of women your height, weightand activity level usually are losing fat safely and successfullyon 1500-1600 calories per day. (for men about 2200-2500 calories, avg.)
At the end of the day, fat loss boils down to calories in versuscalories out, so if you plateau, you may need a simple caloriereduction, provided you don’t restrict too low for too long(which tends to trigger your body’s “starvation response.”)
As for your cardio program, 3 days a week of cardio worksfor many people, but usually, I would consider three weeklycardio sesssions a maintenenance workout or at best a startingpoint for beginners,NOT a “maximum fat loss” program.
Example: this week, you could increase your cardio from 3 sessions to4 sessions. If you combine the decrease in food intake with an increasein calories burned through activity, that will almost certainly getyou burning fat again.
If it does, then stay with 4 days a week of cardio. If not, the nextweek go up to 5 days a week. Repeat this simple “feedback loop” processas many times and for as long as necessary.
Also remember that more (often) is not always better. You can alsoincrease the intensity and get more calories burned in same amountof time. This feedback loop process can be used to make decisionsabout your training intensity, duration and type, as well as frequency.
Whichever strategy you choose to break the plateau, remember Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity:
“Insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expectinga different result.”
Although this seems like common sense to some people, what happenedto you is really quite common because it does appear that you’re doingeverything you’re “supposed to be doing” with perfectly good intentions.
You have have all the key elements there: You’re exercising(weights and cardio). You’re watching your nutrition, and you’ve been disciplinedand consistent in following it.
The trouble with many popular programs – even good ones – is that they aretoo dogmatic. Their entire program may revolve around “X” number ofcalories, “X” days per week of cardio and “X” days a week of weights….
And you’re not allowed to “tamper” with that “holy grail” formula.
I can understand the rationale for a simple diet and exerciseprescription for a beginner in order to not confuse them with toomany choices, but what if it doesnt work after a month, three months,six months, A WHOLE YEAR? What if there are no options, what then?
In NLP, there’s a principle, (borrowed from cybernetics), called The Law of Requisite Variety, which says,
“The person with the most flexibility is the personwith the most power and the greatest chance for success.”
You need to know what to do when you’re not getting results…you need options and choices for breaking plateaus, and that’simportant because plateaus happen to everyone – including me.
Some people think that hitting a fat loss plateau means there’s something wrong with them. But plateaus are natural and normal. In fact, you could look at itthis way:
Hitting a plateau means your body is healthy and your body isfunctioning normally, because normal function of the body is toadapt effectively to stress, to protect you and to maintainhomeostasis.
Exercise is a stress. Dieting is a stress. It’s natural for yourbody to adapt to them. When you adapt, you must place a new”positive stress” onthe body if you want continued improvement.
If you want to learn more details about how to change your programto break plateaus and make continuous progress as fast as safelypossible, then I recommend you take a look at Burn the Fat,Feed The Muscle (BFFM).
BFFM has flexibility, feedback and performance tracking builtright into it. Chapter 4 in BFFM teaches the “BFFM feedbackloop method”, and shows you how to chart progress and adjustyour diet and workouts on a weekly basis, to keep you makingprogress or get you back on track if your progress stalls out.
There is no reason to allow even a few weeks, let alone an entireyear to go by without results. But you can’t expect to get differentresults if you continue doing more of what’s not working.
Keep after it! Be persistent… but also be flexible!
Your friend and coach,
Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
www.BurnTheFat.com
www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com
Tom, you wrote”There is no reason to allow even a few weeks, let alone an entire year to go by without results. But you can’t expect to get different results if you continue doing more of what’s not working.”I never heard it being said that way before. Simple, but brilliant….You are so right. when I added more day to my workout and longer run on one day it truly make adifference in added weightloss and more days I exercise the more days I felt great not just weightloss win win…..
Vicky, on top of Tom’s suggestions, i recommend these little tweaks to help your BFFM diet program.Drink 750 ml of water first thing after you wake up and then half hour later do your cardio for 30 minutes. Be sure you keep hydrating your body throughout the day. i would recommend around 3 litre of water per day(including the 750 ml that you will take in the morning).Also, whenever you eat your meals always eatin the following order protein, green veggies,complex carb and fat. Thiswill make a whole lot difference to your calorie intake. You may even be suprised to notice that you will end up having a reduced calorie intake as days go by because of reduced cravings.Also, watch for the hidden sugar intake, especially raw fruits. Although it is not a good advice to give up fruits, may be try to avoid fruits for few days and see if you see any change.Toms book says look for results every week or at least every other week. For any change in diet to have an impact sometimes, for some people, it might take longer than a week or two – sometimes three – four weeks. So somtims us just stick with it a little longer.So try them all and let us now the results..Good Luck..
Dear Tom,Thanks for your most recent newsletter. I am in a similary situation to Vicky.I have been going to the gym for about 15 months now and although my fitness levels are up my weight loss has plateaued.I have lost almost 5 stone to date but for the last 2 months or so I haven’t lost anything – in fact in the last 2 weeks I have put a few pounds back on and I am starting to worry that I will put it all back on!.I have recently been and seen a dietitian but that has left me with more questions than answers.I found the information in you email informative and useful and I will give it a try.Thanks for the advice.Julie
I would love to show this post to my mother but I believe she would get mad but she has been on a diet for 5 YEARS and has not lost a pound!.
Mark your weight today on a graph chart and also mark your goal two weeks down the line. Join the two points by a straight line. Start marking your weight on the chart every single day. On days when your weight is on the line, you are doing fine. On days when your weight is above the line, you need to eat a few calories less and workout a little more. On days when your weight is a little below the line (and it will happen too!) starve less and strain less in your work out! Relax!I am sure you will smooth sail to your goal in two weeks and again in twenty weeks!
It baffles me how people could continue to do the same thing without any results. Heck, if I don’t see results EACH week, I adjust my approach. Life is too short to continue on such a bootless endeavor.When I do my cardio, I’ll run anywhere from four to five miles a day at between 85-90 % maximal heartbeat. At the end of each workout, I feel like I could kill over of a heart attack LOL. The fat has no choice but to fall off. Iknow intensity is a subjective thing, but I wonder how many people TRULY push themselves each and every workout.While I may enjoy doing the same form of exercise (running), I always adjust the incline, terrian, duration, etc, anything to make it more difficult, if only a little.It is human nature to opt for the path of least resistance, I wounder how many people push themselves far enough outside of their comfort zone to make continual and substanital progress.