I'm honored to be guest blogging over at Danica's Daily today. Before reading the post below, head over to her blog for a quick quiz on your eating and exercise attitudes and habits. Then read the post below for the 10 reasons you may not be seeing results, even if you're doing everything "right." And welcome to those of you popping over from Danica's!
(Photo: ~ggvic~ )
Here's what the quiz was really asking:
Question #1: Do you “phone it in” to your workouts?
Maybe you workout out of obligation. Or as a vehicle for time to read or listen to podcasts, or even for 30 minutes alone in your day. These are all fine supporting reasons to exercise, but when you exercise with intention, your results will skyrocket. Sure, "showing up" is half the battle, but once you're there, make the most of it. Only you know if you are trying your hardest.
This doesn't mean working out so hard you want to vomit or pass out each time. It means setting a goal -- a real goal -- for each workout and working your butt off to reach it.
#2: Do you eat enough?
Not enough eating calories slows down your metabolism, blah, blah, blah. Right? But seriously, if you are not providing your body with the fuel to make it through the day (with or without exercise), you are sabatoging your efforts. Furthermore, without the fuel to keep you going, you probably won't have energy and focus for high-quality workouts (see #1). Figure out what your caloric needs are, and be sure to fuel your body with food throughout the day. It is reasonable to adjust these calories based on energy expenditure (exercise) on a daily basis.
Remember, what you think about, multiplies...and this applies to an obsession with calorie intake. My clients with the best results are always holistically aware of their eating, but it is not their foremost thought at all times.
#3: Do you eat enough real food?
This is a biggie. Basically, highly processed foods (even "healthy" ones) affect your metabolism by way of dulling your insulin receptors. A guest post by the cool-sciency Darya (Summer Tomato) over at MizFitOnline explains insulin resistance and processed foods beautifully.
Choose "real" food when you have the choice. Choose food with as few ingredients as possible (preferably just one), and avoid synthetic sweeteners at all costs.
#4: Are you doing the exact same workout as a celebrity?
Seriously, do you take your friends' prescriptions? do you wear a shade of lipstick that looks terrible on you, but great on Angelina Jolie? Probably not; I hope not. Not everyone needs a personal trainer (yep, there I go, working myself out of a job), but everyone does have different exercise needs.
I do love reading Shape magazine's celebrity workouts. Why? Not because I'm going to follow Jessica Simpson's workout to a "T," but because there may be a cool exercise or two that I'm not using for myself or my clients. The best example of this is the ridiculous Tracy Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow media blitz. Ugh.
Choose a workout that's appropriate for you. If you can figure it out yourself, awesome. If you need some guidance, get it from a certified professional. Use other people's workouts for inspiration and a little variety (see Question #5).
#5: Are you stuck in a rut?
Is this you: Mondays - 30 minutes on the treadmill, Tuesdays - Yoga, Wednesdays - Turbo Kick, Thursdays - Full body workout (15 reps, 3x each), Fridays - Spin? Oh, it's the same workout you've been doing for the past 4 months? How bor-ed/-ing are you?
Consistency is good. Very good. But did you know even (especially) pro athletes practice periodization? That is, about every 6-8 weeks they switch it up. Take a break, back it off, or increase load, duration or intensity of their workouts. This is to "keep the muscles guessing" as they say, and to keep you from getting bored.
How can you mix it up? Have you tried working with a personal trainer before (try it with a few friends to keep the cost down and have fun), have you tried a boot camp? or CrossFit? or actually lifting heavy weights? or high intensity interval training (HIIT)? Then switch it up and mix it up again a couple months later. Rinse, repeat, and reap results.
#6: Do you get enough rest?
[For my regular readers, let me just get a big belly laugh, Hardee-Har, out of the way. I have a 6-month old, who, until this past weekend, hasn't slept more than 2 hours in a row since he was 10 weeks old. Far be it from me to lecture on sleep. Ok, that's out of the way.]
But I can't change the fact that that sleep deprivation (less than 4 hours/night) affects glucose metabolism and cortisol production, which is linked to decreased athletic performance. Also, women who sleep less are associated with higher rates of future obesity.
Does sleep deprivation cause chemical issues that affect metabolism? Does sleep deprivation cause you to make poor food choices? Or is sleep deprivation caused by food choices? Does it really matter?
Most of us can choose to turn of the television, choose to avoid alcohol and caffeine before bedtime, and choose to value restorative relaxation, or better yet, sleep, in our lives. And for those of us who don't have these choices, 5 minutes of meditation can do wonders for our metabolism and ability to function.
#7: Are you ignoring the most powerful muscle in your body?
Yep, folks, it's your brain. Do you plan to fail or fail to plan? Either way, set your intention to move your body each day. Make the choice when you wake up in the morning. You can come up with excuses all you want, but you know the truth about exercising. Either you did it or you didn't do it today.
So set yourself up to succeed. Practice positive self-talk. Tell others about your plans and create accountability. Recruit partners-in-crime. Seek out successful, motivate-d/ing people. Reward yourself for sticking with the plan. Believe in yourself and tackle each workout, each food decision one minute at a time.
#8: Do you hate to exercise?
Have you ever considered how often we'd exercise if exercise tasted like a bowl of ice cream? or felt like a full body massage? or smelled like peppermint (or your favorite scent)? The thing is, people who like to exercise usually have found something they really like to do. Something that reminds them of their favorite things.
MizFit even refers to her workouts as "playouts," taking any perceived dread out of the equation. Wanna know what counts as exercise: Horseback riding, ballroom dancing, jogging on the beach, Mommy and Me yoga, hula hooping, rock climbing, playground equipment surfing, tandem bike riding, freeze tag...you get the picture.
For me, it's going on a run one day and trying to do 100 push-ups on my BOSU another day. I loathe swimming. Any time I put swimming on my workout schedule, it seems like my entire plan is derailed. So now, I don't plan swimming workouts, 'cause I don't like to do it!
It's up to you to figure out what you like to do. Move your dang body. And love what you do.
#9: How honest are you with yourself?
This one also goes with Question #7. We all make less-than-perfect choices. In fact, my theory is that you don't always have to make the best choice presented to you, just a good one. That way, you're never beating yourself up in hindsight about what was best.
When you make a "not-good" choice, how well do you recover? Do you make excuses and compare yourself to others or "forget" about transgressions, like counting a half of a piece of pastry as "a bite"? Or do you draw a mental line, step over it, and move on? Seldom will one choice (especially an exercise or food choice) have such influence that it actually merits denial or self-flagellation. Use your energy to accomplish something else.
If you're honest with yourself, you can actually get away with more. If you skip dessert tonight because you had it for the past two nights -- cool. Pretending you are on a diet and skipping dessert, then eating three slices of pie after everyone's gone to bed -- not cool.
#10: Are you obsessed with the scale?
Weight-obsession is my main hang-up with Weight Watchers. I think the points system works well for portion control for most, and I know they're focusing more on eating real food instead of their proprietary frozen dinners, but what drives me nuts about WW is their insistence on tracking, well, weight.
And they are not the only ones guilty of this: Physicians routinely calculate BMI (Body Mass Index) using only weight and height, discounting muscle mass ratios and bone structure. Over the past several years, I've personally witnessed several clients who, come measurement day, have no net change in weight, but huge swings in fat mass lost and lean mass gained.
Without going into too much detail, there are several metrics by which to measure change and success. Body weight is just one. Body composition (body fat %), how a pair of jeans or dress fits, measurements (arm, chest, waist, hips, thigh, calf), fitness testing (mile, push-ups, etc.), energy levels and body image.
This is by no means comprehensive. Just the top 10 reasons I see time and again when people tell me they're doing all the right things but aren't seeing results.
