Do you exercise daily, watch what you eat and still can not seer the improvements you desire? Is getting summer ready just a dream?
You are not alone
You can look around in just about any gym and easily see 7 to 8 out of 0 gym goers in lousy shape.
They are sweating.
They come religiously.
They appear to work out hard.
So what is up?
No matter who you are or what your fitness, work or educational pedigree is, chances are one of these 7 reasons could be why you’re not getting leaner.
1. You’re eating the wrong foods
Now that we looked at your food quantity, you need to look at food quality. Strive to eat 4 to 5 lean protein meals, with healthy fibrous vegetables, like cauliflower, broccoli or asparagus. Eliminate trans and saturated fats Avoid excess bread, salt, sugar, and anything else that’s processed.
Limit high glycemic carbs,. opt for a limited amount of low glycemic carb foods like green apples, bananas, and sweet potatoes. While the exact foods you should be eating depend heavily on your body type, metabolism, and other factors, a good rule of thumb is to stick to all natural, whole foods.
Eat most of your starchy carbohydrates (like potatoes, brown rice, grains) on days when you do strength training or more rigorous exercise. On your rest days or when you’re doing light cardio, try to stick to just protein and veggies and not a lot of those starchy foods. Look for foods that have the fewest ingredients on the label.
2. You’re eating more calories than you are burning.
If you’ve already cleaned up your diet big time and you’re still not losing weight, it may be that you’re simply eating too much.
This is a simple premise, but yet so many people eat more calories than they are burning. They under count (leave out snacks, condiments, drinks and more). They over estimate their calorie expenditures when working out.
Fix this and you will be on your way to shedding fat. My suggestion, track calories and exercise using a log, or online application like Calorie Counter. In order to drop fat your body needs to run a calorie deficit, meaning you need to burn more than you consume. A deficit of 3500 will help you lose 1 pound. Aim to be -500 to -700 calories daily, which equates to 1.5 lbs of fat lost a week, when eating and exercising right.
3. You are Eating Too Fast
Eat slowly enough so you can stop just before you get full. Remember there is an approximate 20 minute lag time for the stomach to signal the brain that you are full. This is why is makes sense to start with a glass of water (great for digestion too), eat your healthy before your veggies and salad, while then eating protein and then your carbs.
4. You are not eating small frequent meals
Healthy snacking during the day will keep you from overeating during meals. I always green apples, sweet potatoes, some sort of healthy protein so I do not binge.
5. You’re not doing cardio
Cardio is a necessary part of your workout routine. It keeps your heart healthy, boosts your metabolism, and gives you a good sweat (you should break one daily). You need not do much, 20-35 minutes 4 to 5 x a week will suffice. If you are short on time, you can substitute a slow steady state session with a high intensity interval training (HIIT) session of 12 to 15 minutes.
6. You're Doing too Much Cardio
6. Walk into any gym, and you usually see the fattest people doing cardio. Why? Does cardio make you fat?
Well, indirectly too much cardio can make you fat. The leanest people know the value of resistance training to raise their basal metabolic rate (BMR) allowing them to burn fat 24/7 without further exercise. If you only do cardio—or do too much of it, what happens is you lose muscle and your BMR slows. Another downside is the more cardio you do, the better at it you do, so the less fat you actually burn. Why? too much cardio causes the body to become more endurance-focused, storing energy as fat to ensure it has plenty of reserve fuel to keep you going for all those miles
7. You’re not lifting weights ( or you just not liftung hard enough)
I discussed this before and this goes hand in hand with # 6. The more muscle you add to your frame, the more calories and fat you will burn 24/7. This is a fact. The muscle gain need not be extreme. Adding a couple of pounds of muscle does wonders for speeding up your BMR (resting metabolic rate).
Your workouts should be intensity-dependent, not time dependent. Keep this fact in mind: the harder you work, the shorter your workout time may need to be. That’s why it’s so important to maximize your time spent in the gym or fitness class so you can achieve that coveted ‘afterburn’ effect which keeps your metabolism revved for 24-48 hours afterward. For more on intensity check out these three great comprehensive articles,from Worldhealth.net, bodybuilding.com, and musclemagfitness.com,
Top 3 Principles of Workout Intensity, http://www.worldhealth.net/forum/thread/100809/use-the-three-principles-of-exercise-int/?page=1
High-Voltage Training Starts With The 3 Basic Principles of Intensity, http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/training_intensity.htm
High Intensity Training Explained, http://www.musclemagfitness.com/fitness-and-exercises/general-fitness-articles/high-intensity-interval-training-hiit.html
About the Author Jeff Behar 
Jeff Behar, MS, MBA, is a well-known health, fitness, wellness author and anti aging, champion natural bodybuilder (2014 Masters Grand Prix Champion, 2015 California State Masters Champion), and a recognized health, fitness and nutrition expert with over 30 years of experience in the health, fitness, disease prevention, nutrition, and anti-aging fields.
As a recognized health, fitness and nutrition expert, Jeff Behar's has been featured on several radio shows, TV, and in several popular bodybuilding publications such as Flex, Ironman and in several highly regarded peer reviewed scientific journals. Jeff Behar is also the CEO and founder www.MuscleMagFitness.com and www.MyBesthealthPortal.com and a Medical Commentator on exercise for The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, the worlds largest medical academy for anti-aging and regenerative medicine, provides medical professionals with the latest Anti-Aging, regenerative, functional and metabolic medicine.
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— Last Edited by Jeff Behar, MS, MBA, CIH at 2015-08-05 18:51:21 —
