I exercise 6 days a week and eat clean, but I’m still not seeing any substantial amount of weight reduction’.

This is a common complaint posed by many who are new to a particular exercise program. You might be working out with proper form and intensity and even be taking good and healthy nutrition, yet still not see the weight scale go down. In fact, some even witness weight gain in the first couple of weeks into a workout regimen and begin to lose hope until they give up on their weight loss goals.

If this is your reality, you are not alone and just hang in there; fortunately, there are many reasons that can explain your situation. The factors usually come down to physiological changes that your body undergoes in addition to that of lifestyle. Knowing these can be important for helping you identify the errors you are making. Here are a few questions you need to ask yourself to determine whether you are making all the right decisions with regards to weight loss.

1) How ‘Healthy’ Are Your Meals?

It is possible for you to have a completely different view of what is defined as ‘healthy food’. For many who are new to a specific workout program, eating healthy is akin to starving yourself in an effort to eliminate fat in the quickest possible time. This is not considered eating healthy at all, but rather can lead to either of two things. Firstly, your body will activate its defence mechanism and try to go on survival mode. By keeping yourself without food and drink for too long, it will cause your body to hold down to every ounce of fat in the body to keep it as a source of energy. When this happens, you do not lose fat.

Alternatively, you will see substantial drops in your weight, but will grow weaker. This is because instead of losing fat, your body begins to lose muscles that are important for keeping you strong. Overtime, your body’s cravings will increase to the point that on cheat days, your body will rush to storing every bit of food as fat. In short, it will be a lot quicker for you to gain pounds and not help you have any real sustainable weight loss in the long-run.

For you to lose weight, you need to eat healthy in the right portions. Doing so will help your body have the right amount of fuel to workout.

2) Are You Lifting Weights?

Lifting weights is very important for fat-loss. It helps you develop muscles that enable you to have a higher metabolic rate, which is responsible for helping you burn a lot more calories. Lifting weights does not necessarily mean that you have to perform bench presses and dead lifts, especially if you are a beginner. Dumbbells or kettle bells that are low in load are more than sufficient for toning you muscles and taking your fat-loss up a notch.

3) Are Your Muscles Under Too Much Stress?

Those who see no weight reduction or even weight gain in the first few weeks into a workout program is mostly due to greater body stress as a result of working muscle groups with high intensity. When this happens, your body naturally releases stress hormones known as cortisol that build up liquid in your muscles. The resulting water retention, thus, increase weight in your body, which is why you either see no weight loss or acquire a few extra pounds.

This is part and parcel of a workout program; overtime, the cortisol levels fall, which is why it is necessary that you continue with regular exercise and clean eating.

4) Eating Healthy, But Too Much?

Are you doing clean eating, but eating too much? It is perfectly possible for you to eat chicken breasts, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and brown rice and still not see any significant weight loss provided that you are eating in large quantities. While we don’t particularly promote counting calories, you need to understand that when calories consumed outweighs calories expended, you will gain weight. For visible amount of weight loss, consuming under 1600 calories is recommended. If you exceed this amount, you are unlikely see any great results.

5) How Much Sleep Do You Get Every Night?

If you get at least than 8 hours of sleep or more on a daily basis, then you are allowing your body enough recovery to restore strength and vitality for next day’s workout. The longer you sleep, the better it is for your body to normalize cortisol levels released for compensating for muscle soreness arising from doing intense workouts. This gives you body the energy and room it needs to resume its natural fat-burning activities. Testosterone levels are also increased during sleep that further lead to calorie burn.

On the other hand, if you sleep less than 6 hours, your body will release more cortisol hormones that will only delay or limit your potential to lose weight.

6) Do You Consume The Right Portion Of Macronutrients?

Macros are important for supplying your body with the right combination of nutrients and food sources that can help cement your weight loss and muscle building goals. These consist of proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats and have to be consumed in the right portions to see drastic results. A suggested 30:20:50 ratio for protein, carbohydrate, and healthy fat is ideal.

This will be adequate for preventing body weakness and stop your body from going into the survival mode in order to restrict fat loss.

7) Are You Exercising With Proper Form And Intensity?

A simple reason why you are struggling to drop pounds is simply because you may not be putting too much effort into your workouts. Ask yourself if you are performing all exercises with the right form and high intensity and you may just find that you are slacking a bit. Sure it is challenging, but you must ensure that your body is capable of performing difficult exercises the further you go into the program.