cardio

We all know that exercise is important, and provides a long list of health and medical benefits. But at the end of the day, many of us exercise with one clear goal in mind: to lose weight. How is it possible that we can work out multiple times a week (or even every day!) and still not lose weight?

I know this pain all too well. Most of our bodies have a comfortable size and body shape, and it takes a lot for us to change that size from where our body wants it. I have felt like no matter how active I am, no matter how hard I push myself in my workouts, I see very little change. But believe it or not, there still is hope! Take a look below for common reasons you aren’t losing weight, even though you feel like you should be.

You’re not pushing yourself in your workouts. I talk to a lot of people who are frustrated with weight loss, because they exercise every day and still see no results. You may be frustrated because you are using a workout program that originally helped you lose weight, but is now showing no benefits. The problem is that any time your body becomes used to a workout, it makes it easier for your body to find its way back to it’s desired shape and size, despite your regular workouts.

Let’s take running for example. If you are going for a run every morning, you may not lose any weight because your body is never hitting the fat burning zone. Based on your age and baseline HR, each person has a different “fat burning zone.” That means that unless you are hitting a certain BPM during your workouts, it may be good exercise, but you are less likely to start burning fat. Without hitting this fat burning zone, your body will only chip away at the fat that is easy for it to take away. That means the areas on your body which are already slim may lose weight, but you may not see a difference in your problem areas, like your thighs or tummy.

So how do you fight against this? Of course, many people will say to shake up your workout routines, and this is a great idea. However, even doing different things each day (legs one day, cardio another, etc) is not enough. Instead, every time you do each of these workouts, you should be mixing up your exercises. Personally, this sounds exhausting to me, and if I had to put that much creativity into each workout, I would simply never exercise.

Instead, there are several ways you can accomplish this without having to design creative workouts. The first that I like to suggest is fitness apps. There is a huge slew of free apps which will give you a list of workouts to choose from. This steps you through new workouts each day, without the need to create workouts yourself. The second suggestion I like to give is to push yourself in your current workouts. If you run each day, set goals for yourself to make yourself run faster. If you don’t like setting goals, try doing it only 3 times a week. Just make sure your goal is enough to push yourself: not so low that you continue to see little difference. That being said, don’t make it so high that it’s impossible to reach!

Your workouts are one-dimensional. Whether you only weight train or only do cardio, you are creating a recipe for poor weight loss. Let’s start with people who only weight train. By googling “best ab workouts” you will probably find tons of suggestions: from crunches to planking. However, while this will help strengthen your ab muscles, it will do very little to actually burn fat in those areas. That means that while your abs are getting stronger, you will only see so much benefit unless you pair these exercises with cardio, which will burn off that top layer of fat.

However, this does not mean exercising without weight training is effective. Let’s return to my previous example about running. Whenever people only do cardio, your body falls into a comfortable routine, and it becomes a lot more difficult to whittle your middle. Weight lifting is exceedingly important in burning calories, and you will actually end up expending more calories the more muscle you have (which helps you lose weight all day long!). To see even more benefits to weight lifting, check out the article by bodybuilding.com here.

Overall it is very important for both genders to partake in cardio and weightlifting. Just because you haven’t used the big weights at your gym before, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t now! If you feel like you will look foolish, learn how to use weights and various machines a few times with a personal trainer or a gym buddy. Soon, you will be able to apply what you have learned even when you aren’t working out alongside a pro.

Your diet doesn’t reflect your weight loss goals. A lot of us make the mistake of seeing weight loss as a calorie exchange. In other words, if we run 2 mile (losing about 200 calories), we believe that we can have a 100 calories snack throughout the day, and we will still come out ahead (because we burned off 200 calories while running). Technically, this is absolutely true: if the only difference in your diet all day is that 100 calorie snack.

The problem arises because typically the more we exercise, the more we crave heartier, more filling food. That means each time you eat, you might eat a slightly larger meal. You might eat slightly more of the sauce on your plate (adding calories without even realizing it). Whether we want to admit it, it is so easy for us to gain back the calories we have burned just through normal eating throughout the day. That means that each time we choose a small snack (with the idea that it still doesn’t cover our new calorie deficit) we are likely incorrect, because we have already used up part of that deficit through regular eating. Each small snack and meal we choose actually does matter.

The other way this harms us is when we forget how much everything we eat adds up. I fall into this trap a lot: if I am regularly exercising, I believe I should be able to reward myself. That means sometimes you may grab a small latte instead of a black coffee. Or you may choose to split a dessert with someone. Every now and then, this is true. But when “a small reward” becomes our constant mentality, we end up exceeding the number of calories we have burned. Soon, we are back at our normal weight once again.

This may sound depressing, because it feels like you can never indulge yourself. However I am definitely not suggesting something so extreme! Instead, try taking a few days to journal everything you eat (that includes the sauces and items used to cook each food). This will make you far more aware of what you are eating, allowing you to make better, healthier choices with each meal and snack. That way, when you choose to indulge yourself (with some chocolate, an icecream cone, etc) it’s not a big deal because you are eating well throughout the rest of your day.