Why You Aren’t Losing Weight (and It Shouldn’t Bother You!)

When we make the decision to dedicate ourselves to a fat loss goal we are often very motivated and dive in head first, but most people are not mentally prepared for what to expect especially when it comes to the numbers on the scale. In this installment I will discuss what typically happens when we start a diet and training regimen and how to know if you are on the right track.

First I think that a short lesson in jargon is needed in order to frame our efforts appropriately in the context of our goals. I often hear folks say I want to lose weight. They may even say that they have a specific number in mind.  I was guilty of this myself when I started. However, this is a misnomer. Usually when we say we want to lose weight, what we really mean is that we want to lose fat. This is an important distinction. Also when we say we have a goal weight it is often attached to an image in our heads.  We are really more concerned with what we look like rather than how much we weigh. So our first takeaway is that first and foremost the number itself is arbitrary and DOES NOT MATTER.

So let’s pretend it’s your first week on a brand new meal plan. You do exactly as I coach and get your calories and macronutrients dialed in for fat loss and up your activity levels. After a week you have lost 3 lbs. The following week you’ve lost another 2 lbs. You’re happy with the results and tell me how awesome I am and that you’re on track to hit your goal weight in record time. Now I decide to introduce you to your new training regimen since you have the diet down.  You check in next week after a few training sessions, and you just know that you’ve crushed it and now expect to see even more weight loss. To your great disappointment, you actually GAINED 3 lbs. After some encouragement you shake it off and continue on the path only to weigh in the next week and learn that your weight hasn’t budged at all! Our instinct at this point is to feel that the program has gone wrong somehow or that we missed something. No worries. We are actually on track. 

What happened? If your pre-program diet is anything like the typical American diet, then categorizing it as “not great” is a huge understatement. However; cleaning up your diet by leaning less on carbohydrate intake and drastically cutting sodium by limiting the processed foods you eat while staying well hydrated allowed you to drop weight quickly in the first week. Yes you lost 3 lbs the first week but quite a bit of it was water.  Many of us don’t realize that these huge drops in weight are typically caused by water being released from our cells. High carbohydrate and sodium intake cause our bodies to retain water. This is why people who eliminate carbs see a drastic drop in their weight (as much as 10 lbs overnight) after about 5-10 days but they don’t look much different. The good news is that as long as you are in a calorie deficit you have definitely lost fat.

Your weight gain after training is also easily explained though it can be difficult to accept on a psychological level. When we are exposed to muscle stimuli in the form of the stress from training we trigger an inflammatory response. If the stimulus is great enough you will even experience soreness. This inflammation triggers a pulling of water to the muscles so even though you dropped water weight the first weeks, you can expect to retain a decent amount after being exposed to your training. As you continue training the inflammation levels out and you should see steady weight loss resume again.  That being said, even during the two weeks you did not lose weight you would have still lost fat. Tricky, I know.

One final thing needs to be addressed. During this process, you will be seeing some muscle gain (those gains are much more quick and dramatic in men) so it is important to understand that your fat loss will be much more than your weight loss. Because of this it is helpful to take body measurements and regular progress pictures so that you have confirmation of your body changing as the scale will deceive you. Over time, however, you will ultimately still be dropping weight on the scale on average. The amount will be determined by the degree of your calorie deficit.

In conclusion, don’t give too much “weight” to what the scale says (see what I did there lol). Trust the process and you will get the desired results. Continue your program until you hit a sticking point and then evaluate and make adjustments as needed. Happy fat burning. Until the next one.

-Chris