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QUESTION:
Dear Tom: I’ve been going to the
gym for the past year now, but I have only lost 2 pounds. I eat
about 1800 calories a day and I do 3 cardio and 3 weight training
sessions a week. I am 5 feet 5 inches and 128 lbs. I would like to
be at 120 lbs. To lose 8 more lbs isn’t a lot to ask, but I’m
really frustrated. I’ve been VERY persistent, and I rarely cheat
except once each weekend, but at this rate, it will take me another
4 years for me to reach my goal! Please help!
ANSWER:
Don't worry, it won't take another 4
years! In fact, you can reach your target weight within the next
month if you start getting feedback, charting results and making
some strategic changes to your program.
First, it's important that you
understand how a year could go by with almost no progress.
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Have you been doing the same
nutrition, same calories, same cardio and same workout for the
entire past year with no changes? If so, then you shouldn't be
surprised if you've continued to get the SAME results (very little).
If you do more of the same, you
usually get more of the same.
Caloric intake, for example is not
something you calculate once and then never pay attention to again.
Calories have to be calculated and customized for each individual in
the beginning and then adjusted continuously in “real time”
during the course of a fat loss program, based on actual results.
Just because you start at 1800
doesn’t mean your caloric intake should stay there. Calories may
need to be increased or decreased depending on whether your goals,
your body weight and your activity levels change and based on your
weekly progress (or lack of).
Which brings me to another point. I
am a huge fan of using progress charts. There is a saying in
business management and sports coaching:
“What gets
measured gets done.”
When you start “keeping score”
and tracking performance right down to the numbers, it’s almost
miraculous how this awareness of how you’re doing translates into
improved results.
When you track your body composition
results every week, if a week or two goes by with no results, then
you don’t continue with more of what got you no results, you
change some variable in your program immediately!
An old Turkish proverb that says,
“No matter how
far you’ve traveled down the wrong road, always turn back!”
Of course, you don’t have to throw
out your entire program, you can simply “tweak” ONE or maybe two
variables within the same program.
Also, when you measure, track and
analyze muscle versus fat (body composition), instead of just scale
weight, you might even discover you’ve gained some lean body mass
and this offsets the drop on the scale (which means it’s possible
you made more progress than you thought).
Now, back to the calories. To break a
plateau, you can take a reduction in calories, or an increase in
activity, either of which will create a deficit if you are currently
in energy balance, or increase your existing caloric deficit.
1800 calories may not provide a large
enough deficit for some women, and in fact, the majority of women
your height, weight and activity level usually are losing fat safely
and successfully on 1500-1600 calories per day. (for men about
2200-2500 calories, avg.)
At the end of the day, fat loss boils
down to calories in versus calories out, so if you plateau, you may
need a simple calorie reduction, provided you don’t restrict too
low for too long (which tends to trigger your body’s “starvation
response.”)
As for your cardio program, 3 days a
week of cardio works for many people, but usually, I would consider
three weekly cardio sessions a maintenance workout or at best a
starting point for beginners, NOT a “maximum fat loss” program.
Example: this week, you could
increase your cardio from 3 sessions to 4 sessions. If you combine
the decrease in food intake with an increase in calories burned
through activity, that will almost certainly get you burning fat
again.
If it does, then stay with 4 days a
week of cardio. If not, the next week go up to 5 days a week. Repeat
this simple “feedback loop” process as many times and for as
long as necessary.
Also remember that more (often) is
not always better. You can also increase the intensity and get more
calories burned in same amount of time. This feedback loop process
can be used to make decisions about your training intensity,
duration and type, as well as frequency.
Whichever strategy you choose to
break the plateau, remember Albert Einstein’s definition of
insanity:
“Insanity is to
keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result.”
Although this seems like common sense
to some people, what happened to you is really quite common because
it does appear that you’re doing everything you’re “supposed
to be doing” with perfectly good intentions.
You have have all the key elements
there: You’re exercising (weights and cardio). You’re watching
your nutrition, and you’ve been disciplined and consistent in
following it.
The trouble with many popular
programs - even good ones - is that they are too dogmatic. Their
entire program may revolve around “X” number of calories,
“X” days per week of cardio and “X” days a week of
weights….
And you’re not allowed to
“tamper” with that “holy grail” formula.
I can understand the rationale for a
simple diet and exercise prescription for a beginner in order to not
confuse them with too many choices, but what if it doesn't work
after a month, three months, six months, A WHOLE YEAR? What if there
are no options, what then?
In NLP, there’s a principle,
(borrowed from cybernetics), called The Law of Requisite Variety,
which says,
“The person with
the most choices and the most flexibility is the person with
the most power and the greatest chance for success.”
You need to know what to do when
you’re not getting results… you need options and choices for
breaking plateaus, and that’s important because plateaus happen to
everyone - including me.
Some people think that hitting a fat
loss plateau means there’s something wrong with them. But plateaus
are natural and normal. In fact, you could look at it this way:
Hitting a plateau means your body is
healthy and your body is functioning normally, because normal
function of the body is to adapt effectively to stress, to protect
you and to maintain homeostasis.
Exercise is a stress. Dieting is a
stress. It’s natural for your body to adapt to them. When you
adapt, you must place a new “positive stress” on the body if you
want continued improvement.
If you want to learn more details
about how to change your program to break plateaus and make
continuous progress as fast as safely possible, then I recommend you
take a look at Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle.
BFFM has flexibility, feedback and
performance tracking built right into it. Chapter 4 in BFFM teaches
the “BFFM feedback loop method”, and shows you how to chart
progress and adjust your diet and workouts on a weekly basis, to
keep you making progress or get you back on track if your progress
stalls out.
There is no reason to allow even a
few weeks, let alone an entire year to go by without results. But
you can’t expect to get different results if you continue doing
more of what’s not working.
Keep after it! Be persistent - but
also be flexible!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom
Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning
specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the
author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you
how to get lean without drugs or supplements using methods of the
world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid
of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com
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