Calorie Deficit But Not Losing Weight

A very common question I get in the first month of a training is "I'm eating well and training consistently and I'm not getting results - help?".

The answer is a simple one, but hard for people to hear. But we all need a bit of tough love from time to time.

You're not in a calorie deficit.

Some Scenarios I Often See Are…

1) You might be tracking calories but the amount of calories you are tracking is too much in relation to your activity these need to be adjusted. It is possible to be in a calorie surplus even if you are eating healthy foods .... I know 🤯😆

2) You might not be tracking accurately how many calories you are actually taking in. As humans we often under estimate our bad choices and over estimate our good choices. I often find people who track very low calories are in denial about portion sizes (guesstimating instead of weighing food) or maybe you do not track at the weekend and go ham on the vino, take outs and ice-cream ... this will push you back to surplus...ie not in a calorie deficit.

3) Your activity levels might not be as high as you thought. You can workout for 30 mins each day and still be sedentary. Increasing your steps is an easy way to increase your activity (calorie output) in a way that won't stress the body.

4) PATIENCE. Rome wasn't built in a day, if you are doing this right...It will take some time. 1 workout and 1 salad will not out do 30 years of eating junk and sitting on your bum 🤷‍♀️🤣 #sadbuttrue. Don't solely rely on the scales as a measure of progress, I would always recommend 2 methods of progress tracking (2 of these 3 are good options. Scales, measurements or pics). As we talked about the scales can fluctuate so much for so many reasons.

I will always advise my clients only stay in a small calorie deficit, which means measurements will move slowly but it also means they get to enjoy their life, get lots of fuel and nutrients in their body, not lose their absolute marbles and stay consistent.

See Dr. Michelle Hone's post in the announcements section of our Empowered Mama Support group for advice on how to calculate cals/macros.

Link to group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/258868508327283

Any movement in measurements is progress, do not get disheartened. Re evaluate, re adjust if needs be and be honest with yourself.  We all have to take adult responsibility for our own choices and actions.