Why am I not losing weight?

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!

  • Chase Results, Not Pain: The Smarter Approach to Endurance Training
  • Own Your Shit. Advice for aspiring Athletes.
  • The Difference Between Passive and Active Rest & Recovery: What Every Athlete Needs to Know
  • Injuries Are Opportunities: Turning Setbacks into Comebacks
  • Training Stress Score (TSS): The Key Metric Every Endurance Athlete Should Understand
  • Endurance Athlete Recovery: 7 Subtle Body Signals That Predict Burnout
  • Mid-Race GI Distress: Triathlete and Ultrarunner Solutions for Fixing Nutrition Disasters During Events
  • How Endurance Athletes Can Maintain Fitness During High Stress Periods: Training Strategies for Busy Triathletes and Ultrarunners
  • Zone 2 Running: The Ultimate Guide to Building Endurance and Improving Performance for Runners and Triathletes
  • Heat Adaptation: Why Early Spring Heat Training Matters
  • The Identity Shift: Becoming vs. Mimicking an Endurance Athlete
  • Nutrition Month: Real Results Through Balanced Choices
  • The Power of Positive Self-Talk: Rewiring Your Mental Game for Endurance Success
  • Resilience: The Unsung Hero of Endurance Training
  • The Difference Between Good and Great: One Critical Choice
  • “The Overlooked Challenge of Endurance Sports: Handling the Post-Race Blues”
  • The Power of ‘Pause’: Mastering Recovery for Peak Performance.
  • Beyond “Toughing It Out”: Intelligent Training Through Illness
  • Debunking Running Terminology: What You Really Need to Know
  • Be Impressed by intensity, not volume.
  • Mental Muscles: Visualise Your Way to Endurance Supremacy
  • S&C – What does the C actually mean?
  • Rethinking Injury Management:
  • Walk Your Way to Faster Running
  • RED-S; Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport
  • Periodisation Deep Dive
  • Low Energy Availability (LEA):
  • How do we burn calories? Let me count the ways…
  • Fuel Up to Smash Your Endurance Goals:
  • Supercompensation – the effective but counterintuitive training methodology.