Do you feel your doing everything right but can’t seem to reach your desired Health and Fitness Goal?
Well here are a few reasons as to what could be holding you back.
1 – You have cut your calories as a whole instead of keeping your protein and Fats as your main source of fuel.
Slashing total calorie intake doesn’t work if its not balanced well. You will feel sluggish through out the day and during your workouts, your cortisol levels will go up causing more stress in your life, you will lose muscle mass, your metabolic rate will cool down and slow down your metabolic process.
Instead of slashing your calories on a whole you should firstly worry about getting in sufficient Protein and Fats.
Your metabolic rate will elevate with sufficient protein intake due to your body burning more calories breaking down protein.
2 – Your not getting in enough good fats.
When your body is eating a lower carb diet you must substitute that with fats. When you lower your carb intake but don’t increase your essential fats you are more than likely going to feel tired and sluggish due to the decline in energy rich foods you are providing your body with.
When you do start this kind of eating (which does wonders for your body composition) you must let your body adapt so you can be burning fat as fuel as opposed to just breaking down your carbohydrate intake that constantly is being ingested.
Increase fats to around 35-45% or your daily intake whilst keeping protein high to keep your energy levels sustained and brain functioning well.
Choices to include: olive oil, olives, avocado, mixed nuts, coconut oil, fish, good quality grass fed meats.
3 – You need to create an energy deficit.
When your goal is to burn fat you must have a slight deficit meaning you need to burn more energy than you put in.
This will be crucial you get the amount of food right due to lowering your food intake too much leads to weight gain, inflammation, cholesterol build up, hormone imbalances and minimal fat loss.
Initially you will see some weight loss but your body quickly responds to what your trying to do and goes into defense mode.
What you can do – Get your dietary habits balanced for the outcome you want to see. To lose body fat you need that slight deficit of what your body is burning through the day but don’t go too low. Keep your protein high.
Keep up your weight training up to promote the maintenance of muscle and keep your cardio intervals in your plan to raise your metabolic rate and burn more body fat.
4 – Keep weight training as the priority and NOT tedious amounts of cardio.
There has been a lot of research done on this topic whether cardio alone is better for fat loss or weight training.
Research does show that long duration cardio lowers muscle mass leading to a slower metabolic rate and can become a viscous cycle when performing a longer duration activity losing muscle mass yet eating more food through out the day. So over a long period of time of eating more whilst your body doesn’t need it due to the muscle loss you gain fat.
A solution would be in your weight training keep your bigger compound movements in your program, keep on moving through your workout but still go heavy with correct form. Add to the mix some short interval training 2 – 3 times a week and feel your body heat up and burn more fat.
5 –You’re not sleeping enough and giving your body adequate rest.
When we don’t get enough sleep the effects can range from gaining fat, poor concentration levels, dopy, slow, irritated very easily, anxious, stressed, hungry and sick.
Our 24-hour sleep cycle (circadian rhythm) will influence our bodies to produce hormones and neurotransmitters for our bodies to work well and stay balanced.
Of course when the body doesn’t get enough sleep this will create an imbalance which will cause the hormones to get all out of whack, our bodies wont break down food as efficiently, inflammation build up, higher cortisol levels, insulin resistance can occur, slow down recovery from exercise, decrease protein synthesis and effect coordination and cognitive response.
This will keep going on this negative path till you get the rest time you need to function well.
Solve this by sleeping in darkness, turn all electronic devices off around you, set a regular bedtime and give your body some relaxation techniques to calm the mind.
These common issues can be solved with fixing up the basics and creating good habits to give you long term results:
Get you macronutrients amounts right according to your health and fitness goals
Get sufficient rest to give your body the chance to recover and function how it should be.
Keep up your weight training as this leads to better fat loss over time. Muscle requires more energy in your body so you will be burning body fat faster and well on your way to a leaner physique.
Keep your body hydrated. Keep sipping through the day. Your body cant catch up quickly if you have missed a few hours of water intake and will also curb cravings.
Keep your fruit and vegetables up. Micronutrients are packed with phytonutrients and antioxidants and very fiber dense.
Plant based foods are great for prevention of diseases and lowering inflammation
To get the right advice with planning you nutrition and training programs to maximize your results get in contact with Get Motivated to see how our coaches can help you get the result your after.