Thursday, March 14, 2013

WHY AM I NOT LOSING WEIGHT?

I had a Facebook question recently that I thought I’d share with our Beacon-News readers too. She said, “I’ve been working out on the treadmill since mid January, and also been watching what I eat, but I really haven’t been losing any weight. Can you give me some tips?”

First of all, I had to congratulate her, because she realized there was a problem, set some goals, and took some action. She’s also made it through a couple months and established some good new habits.

This is no small point. Lots of people run out of gas after just a couple weeks—especially if they’re not seeing any weight loss. In her case, it probably comes down to tweaking things a little bit, or trying to do a little bit more.

In our Biggest Loser groups, if someone isn’t losing, I always ask them two questions. Are you getting all your workouts in, and are you hitting your daily minimum (calorie goal)? Usually, the first answer is no.

Keep in mind that in Biggest Loser, we ask them to do two workouts a day. There’s the normal cardio or weight routine every day in the afternoon or evening. But there’s also the wakeup workout which can be as simple as just walking 20 minutes (roughly a mile) in the morning before you start your day.

Just adding that second workout often adds a pound a week to their weight loss. Said another way, it takes most people from losing just a pound a week, to losing two pounds a week—or more!

When I lost my 35 lbs, I did the same thing. I was already pretty active with great cardio and weight routines every day, so I took one of our Schwinn Air Dyne exercise bicycles home and rode it every night for at least 30 minutes.

Many times, I did 45 minutes or even an hour. I figured I was going to sit there and watch TV anyway, so I might as well do something while I was sitting. Two years later, I still do it every night and I’ve kept the weight off. (I also do 20-30 minutes most mornings).

So that “bonus” workout is the ticket, because it helps you burn more calories. In the end, it’s math. If you keep your intake the same, and simply add some extra calories out each day, by the end of the week, you’ll lose another pound or two.

Now this doesn’t mean that you can eat more. It means you’re trying to burn another 500 calories a day through activity. If you do it seven days, you’ll have burned 3,500 calories which equals a pound of fat.

Next week, I’ll address the second question: “Are you hitting your minimum (daily calorie target)”? This is more important than you might think. Until then, feel free to contact me through Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tomdolanfitness if you have any questions or comments.

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