The real reason you’re not losing weight and how to solve it
By Ange
Many women think that to drop body fat they need to drastically change their diet and nutrition habits. They often think they need a ‘meal plan’ or to follow a restrictive plan with set ‘rules’. In this article I hope to share a HUGE secret that will hopefully redirect your attention to a factor that will ultimately lead to change.
Our behavioural choices around food is what will really dictate our long-term success. When you think of these behaviours we are considering habits or things we do on a ‘repetitive’ basis that will ultimately lead to lack of progress in the fat loss department.
The science of fat loss
To drop half a kilogram of body fat per week we need to reduce caloric intake by 3500 calories per week. This means you need to reduce your intake by 300-500 calories per day. The good news is that you do not need to be a calorie counting mastermind to do this, but you do need to have awareness of your daily repetitive behaviours. If your body weight is currently stable (neither tracking up or down), then the good news is that you just need to reduce what you are eating in a day by a margin that will be significant enough to cause change and not too much that you can not consistently follow.
Bites, sips and licks all add up
Everytime you put food into your mouth, the calories add up. If we are trying to reduce the Unfortunately many of us mindlessly graze, snack or taste our or other people’s food throughout the day without even noticing. Lets run through some common 100-150 calorie oversights
- Finishing your son’s piece of toast
- Grabbing a cookie from the tea room
- An sneaky, extra top up of wine
- Picking at some left over cake, croissant or other delicious bakery treat
- Grazing on crackers and hummus while preparing dinner
- A few leftover easter eggs
A little extra can move you out of a weight loss zone
Following this ‘a little extra’ might also be sabotaging your results too. I want to be clear, there are no good or bad foods! All foods should be able to be enjoyed in moderation, even when dieting. However, by applying the ‘extra 100+ calorie’ we can highlight some common mis-steps that might be getting in the way of our results.
- An extra latte
- 1 cup of rice (instead of ½ cup
- 2 pieces of toast instead of 1
- 2-3 extra tablespoons of greek yogurt
- Adding an extra tablespoon of peanut butter to porridge
- 20 extra almonds
- An extra tablespoon of olive oil to cooking
- 3 dates
Let’s chat strategy!
So what can be done to help combat some of these self-sabotaging behaviours?
- Prepare all of your meals/snacks ahead of time so that you are less likely to graze or add extra to the meal
- If there is food that triggers you to mindlessly eat, keep it out of sight or reach. By making it less convenient to access, you are less likely to grab it.
- Continue to work on interrupting your mindless eating by keeping a journal of your behavious around food. By bringing your attention to them, you will be better equipped to tackle them and break the habit loop.
- Get a coach to help you. Having a coach is an amazing way to keep you accountable to your goals and required action steps. A great coach will also help troubleshoot roadblocks as well as empower change.
Do you need SUPPORT TO CREATE CHANGE?
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Our founder
Ange Drake is an personal trainer, women’s empowerment coach and fitness blogger in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. She is the director of one of the few womens’ only strength training gyms in Melbourne, 23W. Ange helps women to learn how to use strength based training, nutritional strategies and a positive mindset to transform their bodies, relationship with food and mind.
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