Why Am I Losing Weight So Slowly?

September 8th, 2010 | Posted in Diet tips | No Comments » | Share this article

Faster, faster, faster! Everyone wants to see a physical, a visual, a statistical transformation as fast as possible, and especially after you’ve really started working out for, say, a solid month, you might be wondering where that speed is.

I get tons of questions like this:

• Why is the weight coming off so darn slowly?
• Where are the big changes?
• What’s going on with my body that’s taking so long?
• Should I switch tactics if I don’t see a fast enough change? I’m exhausted every day!

There are good and solid answers to all these questions, and they’re probably a lot more simple than you think.

1. It’s Not Just About the Weight.

If you really want to measure your changes, get out the measuring tape. You need to see how your shape is changing, you need to see the inches falling off, even if the weight isn’t. When you’re strengthening your body and building some muscle underneath that fat, you might not see the results on the scale, but you’ll see them everywhere else. Worry about the fat afterwards, or don’t worry about it at all — what you really need to do is get yourself in shape, and the rest happens naturally.

2. The Early Changes Are All “Under the Hood”

Everything you’re doing at the beginning is near-invisible. I know this is a tough pill to swallow, but you really have to — until you hit your second or third month of training, a lot of you won’t see many visual results at all.

Why is this? Because your first 30 or 60 days of training is really about building up your strength and creating a more functioning machine under the hood. It’s a simple, straightforward process:

1. You start building your strength. Your muscles begin to develop and you feel stronger in general.
2. The muscles start consuming fat. Once your muscles (and this won’t be very visual at all) reach a point where they need more fuel, they’ll start “consuming” the fat you’ve stored on your body.
3. The fat gets consumed even when you aren’t working out. All those strength-based workouts put your body in a state of higher oxygen consumption, and your lean, strong muscles start to need fuel even when you’re not working them hard — in anticipation of future workouts. Eventually, this has a huge visual effect. But it’s not super-fast.

Don’t Change Tactics

You need to be patient. More than crash dieting, getting in shape through strength training is about the long payoff. If you start going to the gym or working out smarter at home, and you’re frustrated because it’s been 4, 5, or 6 weeks and you feel like you’ve been sweating and grunting like crazy — for nothing — don’t quit!

Seriously — all those days of effort have setup your body for a huge transformation that is literally about to take place before your eyes. Instead of losing water weight and suffering from a calorie deficit that slims you down without doing anything else right, all that strength training has invisibly transformed your body into a fat-burning machine under the hood.

When you hit days 60-90 and beyond, suddenly your newly lean, toned, and strong body (which might still be hiding under some of that stored-up fat you have) will start asking for that fat during the day, while you’re sleeping — whenever. You just can’t walk around with lean, stronger arms, legs, and back without some of that fat getting consumed as fuel.

That’s when you’ll see the changes — and in some ways, they’re almost more dramatic than a fast, diet-based weight loss. You’ll look better, healthier, beach-ready, in great shape — your clothes will fit better and people will be continuously asking for your secret.

But you absolutely need to be patient. That’s the trick with strength training — it works so well because it’s the natural, smart way to lose weight and get fit. But because it’s natural and smart, it’s also not instant or illusory. When it happens, it happens, and it happens right.

Move Away From That “Why” Question and Get to “When”

Quit asking “why am I not losing weight fast enough” and just ask “when” the transformation is going to kick in — it’s not a question of if, just when. Every workout, every lift, every piece of strength training you’re doing is getting your body primed for that healthy, solid, proper, smart transformation that will happen. You just need to have faith and put the work in. The rest will come — just not in 2 or 3 weeks!