Have you been doing all the right things but still can’t see any results? Working towards a body goal is not always as easy as it may seem. There are so many tips and tricks to follow today. From the classic calories in vs calories out, new “fool proof” diets and intense work out schedules. With influencers online that telling you how they reach their dream bodies with ‘simple steps’. Loved ones who explored a new way that ‘changed their life’. Yet, you’ve been there and done that but still, feel stuck. Maybe you’ve even started to leave fad diets and started to explore the holistic health life, but still, are seeing no changes.
Let’s dive into the first, and most important, question. First, leave all the things you’ve been doing aside, then ask yourself this: Why doesn’t your body want to lose or gain weight?
Unwanted weight gain or loss, is your body telling you that something is wrong. It’s an imbalance of some kind. For some it might be as easy as calories in vs calories out is not balanced. This is definitely the first thing to look into: your eating habits. But what if you’ve already done that? Assuming you’re also already trying to move your body with some form of physical activity, so what next?
Weight management is not always black and white. If your body is out of balance, losing or gaining weight is certainly not a priority. It doesn’t matter how much you’re trying with dieting and pushing it at the gym, if you don’t find the root of the issue, you will stay at that plateau. It may even be that the things you’re currently doing, are what’s actually causing the imbalance. Let me give you an example:
A client of mine was having issues losing weight. He had an active job, he kept his calories low and trained as often as he could with a good balance between cardio and weight training. He cut out sugar, caffeine and alcohol from his diet. He drank 2L of water each day and plenty of herbal tea, but yet no change. On paper, he did all the right things. So why no results? The answer was stress and under eating. Boosting up calories was not an option, before learning stress management. In his case, there was no appetite in the ‘fight or flight’ state that his body was in. Frankly, his work and relationships were what was causing the stress. These issues are not always the easiest to address but that was the answer for him.
When you’re doing your very best but still can hardly see any results, you lose your motivation and trust in your ability to ever reach your goals. It might even be so disheartening that you give up and start to live a life that’s the opposite of what you know you should be doing. The feeling of failure often leads to self-destructive habits and or behaviours. If that somewhat sounds like the direction you’re heading in – Hold on! Everyone’s journey is not the same and some of us have to push a bit more. That, however, will only make the success even sweeter. Unfortunately, I can’t give you a straight answer because I don’t know your story. And everyone is different. What I can, and will, do is to give you clues so you can find the answer for your unique body. Get your detective hat on and dive into these questions.
- How many hours are you sleeping each night and how is the quality of your sleep?
- How stressed are you on an everyday basis? Is it constantly building up or maybe is there something in the background that is waiting to be solved?
- How are your relationships? Do you have ‘energy vampires’ hanging around that you need some distance from?
- How is your joy and happiness level? Are you adding things to your everyday life that light you up?
- Are you paying too much attention to the quantity of your food intake and nothing to the quality? All calories are not equal.
- How much food are you actually eating? Undereating is as bad as overeating.
- Are you aware of any intolerance or food sensitivities you carry? Eating food that doesn’t agree with your body causes stress in your stomach and through your body.
- How healthy is your gut? If you’re suffering from inflammation or leaky gut, you will be held back.
- Are your hormones balanced? How is your thyroid? They are the ruler of your kingdom and can definitely hold you back.
- What kind of training are you doing? Is it challenging enough? Or maybe it is too challenging and thereby causing your body under stress?
- Are you or your body holding on to toxins? Stubborn fat can be built up toxins. Bear in mind unresolved emotional problems can also be toxic.
- How is your metabolism? As we grow older it will naturally slow down but also if you’ve been restricting your food intake for a long time it will be running very low and this is a slow process to get going again.
- Do you take any medication that is making it harder? Might be worth asking your doctor.
- How much caffeine or alcohol do you drink? Overconsumption will lead to stress in your body and especially your liver.
- Are your macro and micronutrients balanced? Sufficiency in one area can play a big role in both weight gain as weight loss.
- How much water are you drinking? Not tea, juice or sports drink – pure water.
- Is your body feeling swollen, stomach bloated or holding maybe holding on to water?
As you can tell, it’s not as black and white as you may think. The hard truth is also that if you’re feeling a lot of pressure about the situation, stress is created and you will be running up the hill. Think back to the ancient human. Stress was a response that kept them alive in difficult situations.
I’ve gone through this myself so trust me when I say, I understand the struggle. A couple of years back I went all in with my fitness and was determined to reach my dream body and get a solid six pack. I worked my ass off and got down to 15% body fat. All went so well and my process towards my goal was steady until it turned the other direction. As a professional in the field, I should be able to get my body where it needs to be right? Well, I did all the right things and still started to put on unwanted weight. My training was balanced between hard workouts and relaxing stretching, the food I was consuming was healthy and nourishing, my sleep was hitting 7hrs but still, I kept gaining weight. For me, the issue was stress and an inflamed gut which both created problems for my already unbalanced thyroid. It didn’t matter what I did, the root hadn’t been addressed. My body was imbalanced.
What could be the underlying problem for you? Are there some signs that keep flashing that you’re not paying attention to? As much as they say ‘you can’t outrun a bad diet’, you also can’t run a car too far with millions of faults.
If you’re still feeling lost after a good brainstorm, reach out to me and let’s see how we can work together. As long as you’re open to a holistic approach, I’m here to help you in your journey so you can feel, and look, confident in your body.