Weight loss can be frustrating. Many times you think you are following the plan perfectly but are not the results you want because of hidden calories that you do not even notice.
It has to be the diet right?
What do most people do in this situation?
Most end up stopping the lifestyle change all together or go back to their initially bad habits because they think nothing is ever going to happen.
You know you’re not eating the ‘wrong’ foods, and you’re sure that you’ve been hitting your fat loss macros.
So what gives?
You’re probably consuming hidden calories that you don’t even know about…
Have you ever been offered something to eat by a friend and thought, “that looks good, I’ll track it later” only to forget when you get home? Or upon reaching the day’s end with a slew of leftover macros, you decide to throw caution to the wind and eat roughly what you’ve got left?
Chances are, neither of these situations will make a huge difference to overall progress, but if you’ve hit a wall and you’re stumped and confused as to why you’re not progressing, then these untracked or loosely estimated calories could be the culprit.
“That looks good, I’ll track it later“
This is why it’s so important to log everything, and not just rely on your intuition. This is especially true the closer you get to your goal.
2. You Eat Out Too Often
Eating out can (and should) be part of a flexible diet. After all, what kind of life is it if you always have to say no to friends and turn down invites to dinner?
But the thing is, there’s a lot of room for error when eating out. It’s not easy to accurately estimate calories at restaurants, and the larger and more junk-like the meal, the further off you’re likely to be. Not to mention you have almost zero control or knowledge on how the meal was made, how much it was made with etc. This is especially true with beginners (people beginning their new habits generally do not know how to intuitively eat just yet)
You’ve got strategies you can use to help you hit your macros when eating out, such as asking for sauces and dressings on the side, picking simple dishes to make estimation easier, requesting that meats be grilled rather than fried, and looking at nutritional data on websites. But chefs can vary in how they prepare your dish, and you still don’t have total control over how your food is cooked.
3. The Macros are WRONG
Shock, horror! How can macros be wrong? Aren’t there laws about the information that goes on food packages?
When you learn that labeling laws allow for “caloric rounding”…
There are, but manufacturers are sneaky and there are loopholes they can get through. Take the popular sweetener Splenda for example:
While it’s listed as calorie-free, each packet actually contains around 1 gram of carbohydrate and 5 calories! This means that if you have a couple in your morning oatmeal, one pack in every coffee you drink throughout the day, a few more in some Greek yogurt, and so on, you can rack up an extra 15 to 20 grams of carbs and close to 100 calories.
The same goes for calorie-free sauces, spray butter, sugar-free jello, and similar items. The suggested serving sizes are often so small that even though the label says ‘calorie-free,’ but the actual amount you have is closer to 15 or 20 calories. While there’s no need to ban these items, you need to realize that they do still have calories. If you eat a lot of them (as many dieters do in an attempt to combat cravings) then your calorie count will start to add up.
Be on the lookout for sugar-free gum, diet drinks, and even some protein bars too, as these can often list ‘net carbs’ which is the total carb content minus the fiber. To hit macros precisely, you should be tracking the total carb content, fiber and all.
4. Drinking Your Calories
Coffee doesn’t need to be counted in your macros if it’s black. If not, you’ve got to count it.
We’ll leave out coffees like cappuccinos, mochas, and frappuccinos that obviously have calories in them for the moment, but did you know your plain old coffee made at home can increase your calorie intake without you realizing it?
When you add anything to your coffee, be it milk, half-and-half, or other assorted varieties of creamer, that’s calories you’re adding in. These macros should be counted.
5. Mindless Snacking
When people mindlessly snack, they really do not even pay attention how much they are eating. They eat 2 oreoes here and a handful of popcorn there and so on. This causes a massive amount of calories because everything adds up (not too mention, "snacks" are usually not that healthy). Here at Strive Fitness and Performance we do not use the word "snack". Most people think of "snacks" as an apple or a piece of cheese.
Instead we want to think of each moment we eat as a meal.
How would you make the "snack" into a meal?
By counting the macros in the meal. Take the apple. It is a carb. So what is missing? Fats and proteins are the missing component in the equation. In order to make this "snack" into a more nutritious meal, we could add some peanut butter (fat) and a protein shake (protein). Now not only are we getting enough food, but we are also more full, which eliminates cravings in the long run.
6. You Are Eating From A Bag
We’re all guilty of this one:
You eat a handful of trail mix, nuts, chips etc. No measuring, no portion control. This may sound harmless, but
A. You have no idea how much you actually just put into your mouth
B. You never really stop with just one handful
C. Think about how many mindless calories the many handfuls throughout the day will add up to.
So what are we saying? That you can never eat out? That you have to weigh your veggies to the precise gram? That you must enter every single packet of Sweet n’ Low into your tracking app?
No, not at all…unless you’ve hit a plateau.
Plateaus are going to happen during any fat loss diet, and the go-to step is generally to either reduce calories or add cardio so you stay in a deficit and carry on progressing.
However, if you’re already on low macros and struggling to see why your body isn’t changing in the way you want it to, the first step should be to make sure you’re being honest with yourself and not eating any hidden calories that aren’t being accounted for.
When it comes to assessing weight loss, there are two main camps when it comes to how to assess progress. Some people live and die with the number on the scale, and some people say “screw the scale”. Here at Strive Fitness and Performance we are in the middle when it comes to assessments. On one hand, we help the majority of our clients change their mindset away from just using the scale to determine everything. On the other hand, we also use the scale as one of our many assessments.
Over the last couple of months, I realized that people only depend on the scale because that is the easiest to assess and that is what the majority of the media showcase as progress. Some people pair that up with dropping pant sizes which is a better indicator of progress. Most people, however, miss out on a huge way of assessing whether or not they are making progress. Most people don’t take into account how healthy their bodies are….And to be honest, if your body is not in a good place, you will certainly not get the desired results you are looking.
Do any of these sound familiar?
Majority of these people have gotten great results one way or another….Some are even eating clean and can’t seem to understand why their results have stopped.
To be fair, rarely is this the fault of the individual coming to me for help.
Take a moment and open another browser. Google “fat loss diet” and see how many ridiculous $10 eBooks are out there telling you that they can guarantee your results in 8 weeks.
Seriously!?
The madness needs to stop. It is in large part why YOU, the person reading this blog, are stuck.
My goal is to help you understand your body a bit better – and hopefully how to make small adjustments using biofeedback first, and assessing weight loss second.
This approach is counter-culture to what is currently popularized by most articles which will recommend that you only make changes based on the scale.
But screw the scale, that thing will you drive crazy! You can read HERE why the scale fluctuates throughout the week and throughout the day
Let’s get into REAL results, SUSTAINABLE results – RESULTS that you can feel good about!
Biofeedback Marker #1 – Hunger
One of the first questions I ask my clients each week is how they feel….let’s call it the conversation starter
This is quickly followed by questions about hunger.
Let’s be very clear on something – hunger is inevitable in any dietary process. You are eating less calories than before….And hunger is the bodies response.
In fact, losing hunger is one of the SINGLE WORST THINGS you can observe in a dietary process.
You see, hunger is very strongly correlated with a metabolic response. Whether you are looking to lose weight, gain weight, recomp, or simply perform better – you should always be operating with a small degree of hunger.
Please note the use of words there – “small degree of hunger” – this is not an excuse for the BS starvation diets out there that want to rely on the fact that the hunger response is a good thing….that’s just nonsense.
So the question begs – are you HUNGRY? And how has hunger changed since your last assessment?
Let’s start with hunger by itself. If you aren’t hungry then we likely need to fix that. There are a few exceptions (early stages of a keto based diet, early stages of a long term fat loss diet), but for most we would like to create a mild hunger response.
In absence of a hunger response, first look at caloric intake and you will notice one of two things:
1 – calories are too high
2 – calories are dangerously too low
Seems odd that both ends of the spectrum can cause this, huh? I hear ya….
Let’s start with number 1, calories being too high. The fix here is simple, decrease calories (yes, that’s why they pay me the big bucks.) Typically I recommend dropping anywhere from 10-20% of total calorie intake, depending on the current surplus.
Unfortunately, scenario number 1 is rare, and scenario number 2 is all too common – people simply aren’t eating enough. (surprising right)
I’m not sure if this is from fear of food (and potential fat gain), or just simply lack of education – but it is absolutely the current trend.
The fix here is simple, but not easy to implement. First and foremost – more calories are needed – that’s clearly not rocket science, but it needs to be stated.
The real magic is in HOW we increase those calories, which can be done in one of two ways:
1 – increase daily caloric intake by 10-20%. This is the reverse of what we did in scenario number 1, and is very favorable for most people not eating enough. The depth of the current caloric deficit along with a current assessment of other metabolic factors is what will determine the degree of caloric increase.
2 – a strategic, periodic overfeed (refeed). This involves intentionally overfeeding on certain days (at given intervals) to help restore metabolic function while in a caloric deficit. This is usually part of a well controlled plan rather than going nuts one day and calling it a "cheat day".
As with most things diet related – creating a current assessment is key. Take a look at how many calories you’re consuming, and what your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is. If the gap seems extreme and you aren’t hungry – it’s probably time to start increasing calories.
Additionally, if you have been hungry in your journey and suddenly lost that hunger response, it is likely time to eat more for a few days (refeed).
Biofeedback Marker #2 – Sleep
Sleep may be the single most important factor to recovery that exists. I don’t care how good your training program is and how detailed you are with your nutrition, if you aren’t sleeping then you aren’t recovering!
But the intent of this is not to tell you to sleep, but rather to look at sleep as a biofeedback indicator.
So the question used in assessment is simple: “How has sleep quality changed?”
Are you someone that normally sleeps well and suddenly can’t?
If so, that is likely a sign of under recovery.
But how do we fix it?
There are 2 ways:
1 – Increase direct recovery protocols (food intake)
2 – decrease direct stressors (training volume/intensity)....Yes, You may have to tone down the amount of workouts (especially cardio)
As is usual, the real solution is usually a combination of both.
Start to pay attention to how your body reacts to what you do to it…It will tell you if it is happy. When you have a poor night’s sleep – note what the workout was that day and what other stressors were present that day. See if similar workouts become problematic moving forward, and if so then it’s clearly time to implement additional nutritional recovery on those days (post workout carbs).
Once again, knowing yourself, your periodization, your goals, and having a consistent assessment of what is going on is ESSENTIAL to making the right adjustments from biofeedback.
Truthfully this article could go on for days in reference to Bio Feed Back Markers but I will conclude with the hope that you understand assessment is far more than the number on the scale.
Real change happens from the inside out, and real coaching is about far more than physical changes.
How are you approaching your nutrition?
