This is a question I hear a lot!
Usually it means the person asking the question is only focussing on the number on the scale and that is not something I’m a huge fan of (but you can read all about that in my next blog!).
Hopefully you know by now that to achieve fat loss you need to be in calorie deficit.
The number one reason people who are tracking their calorie intake don’t see movement on the scales is simple… They are under estimating the amount of calories they eat.
Whether they are tracking via an app such as My Fitness Pal or Chronometer… or keeping a manual diary, it is very common, and very easy to record less calories than you consume.
Main ways to wrongfully track:
- Not weighing / measuring your food and estimating the amount.
- Not tracking EVERYTHING you eat and drink – the snacks, that latte, that slice of cheese… it all adds up.
- Eating out and not taking into account the added fat etc of restaurant meals.
- Choosing similar meal options in your tracker app/calorie book which is less than the meal you actually eat.
The second reason is related to the first and again, really common… Over estimating the amount of calories burnt through exercise.
FitBit, Apple, Garmin… all the activity trackers, the machines at the gym… nearly all will over inflate your calorie burn. AND if you have your activity tracker linked to your My Fitness Pal, all this will encourage you to do is eat back the calories you burnt.
DO NOT link your activity tracker to your MFP account, or you chosen calorie tracker app of choice. Figure out what your calorie intake should be to achieve fat loss at a sensible rate (read about that here: Calorie Deficit) set that in your app and eat to that… do not make it more complicated than that!