Why You Are Not Losing Body Fat

By Christine Hronec 

A lot of you guys have resolved to no longer focusing on the scale and you're like "okay, I want to drop body fat" and you feel like you are not losing body fat. I want to talk about the most common reasons why it's not happening for you.

The first reason why you are not losing body fat is because you are eating too much. Very simple. It sounds so basic in order to drop weight. Now, we're not talking about fat just yet, we're just talking about weight. You need to take your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) which is your body's basal metabolic rate, plus all the energy and calories you burn in a day. Those two items added together is your total daily energy expenditure. In order to sustain your current body mass, you need to be eating that number of calories. Now, if you are not in a caloric deficit, you will not lose any body mass.

Here's the problem. Some of you are losing body mass, but you are not losing body fat. One of the biggest misconceptions is that people say, "you know what, I need to eat less, I need to exercise more,” yes, to a point.

You're trying to lose body fat. I'm not talking about losing muscle, I'm not talking about losing water, I'm talking about just the parts of your body you don't like. On the part that makes you look fat. If you just want to lose that, that is something that you cannot just wing. You cannot just do more cardio and eat less and expect to lose body fat, you're also going to lose muscle and you're going to lose water.

Your body is going to get rid of your protein first and your body is going to want to hold on to your fat more. Why, because fat is more energy dense. If you are starving, your body wants to keep the fat as a longer term, sustainable energy source to keep you alive. Your body is going to want to get rid of the protein first, so that is why your body will get rid of muscle first.

If you are eating too much and your macros are not dialed in, you will not lose any body mass whatsoever. So don't fool yourself and think that you can just wing it because if you want to go from point A to point B, you do need to be more strategic. If you have a very specific goal, if you are just looking to improve your overall health, mental well-being, those types of things, yes, you don't need to count your calories. No, you do not need to track your macros, but don't be surprised if you're putting out all of this energy in going to the gym and you think you're eating healthy, but I'm telling you guys there's just so much to be said for dialing in your nutrition.

Number one, you are most likely eating too much.

Number two, your body is not able to metabolize body fat. Why, because you are drinking too much alcohol. If you are drinking alcohol, your body cannot store alcohol anywhere. There is no alcohol reserve anywhere on your body. Alcohol is a poison, and your body can't hold it. The second alcohol comes into your body, your body needs to break it down and turn it into something else. When that is happening, all other metabolic processes stop. I repeat, all other metabolic processes stop and that includes fat oxidation. So, when you consume alcohol, your body passes its ability to burn body fat for 48 hours, sometimes even 72 hours. I do not recommend consuming any alcohol if your goal is to lose body fat. This goes for fitness competitors, this goes for people who are getting ready for their wedding, people who have a photo shoot. Alcohol has to be the number one thing out the door if you are serious about those types of goals.

Now, it does not mean alcohol is going to necessarily make you gain weight. You can have a drink or two, a shot or two worth of spirits and not gain weight, but you're not going to lose body fat. So, for anyone of you guys who are more serious about really making changes to your physique, you have to cut out the alcohol. I know this sounds basic, but you have to do so.

Number three, another reason why you are not burning body fat is you are eating too little. Yes, you are eating too little. I actually just had a client who came to me, a distance runner who was only eating a hundred thirty grams of carbohydrates. When we first started, we were able to drop 4% body fat in her first twelve weeks together. We have increased her carbohydrates all the way up to 270 grams of carbs up from 130 grams of carbs. She was not eating enough. She was working out too much, not eating enough, not having enough fuel in her body for her body to part with the stored body fat. We did a bunch of macro adjustments and I've been coaching her every week.

There are lots of circumstances where you need to eat more. It's going to vary on a case-by-case basis, but if you have been in a caloric deficit for so long and nothing is changing on your body, meaning, you are not seeing any changes in your measurements, you are not seeing any changes on the scale, you look at your picture, your skin texture, your ability to train in the gym. If you are just tired and worn down and have no energy, you most likely have been in a caloric deficit for far too long and as a result, you are not able to part with your stored body fat.

Now, that happens because if your carbs are too low for too long, what happens is your insulin levels drop. When your insulin levels drop, another hormone called leptin, your leptin levels will drop. Leptin is the hormone that tells your body it is starving. It tells your body, "I need to hold on to my body fat as a means of survival." If those levels get too low, you're not going release any sort of body fat.

There are times when it makes strategic sense to increase your insulin like having a refeed day because that's going to pull up your leptin levels and getting you out of that plateau, getting your leptin levels reset, to allow your body to know, "ok, I'm not starving, it's okay to part with stored body fat."

Ultimately, at the end of the day, if you truly want to change your physique, you really want to be more concerned about dropping body fat. It doesn't mean more cardio, this doesn't mean losing weight, it means you need to be very strategic about your macronutrient intake and having them carefully dialed in against your total daily energy expenditure.

If you're confused about how to do that, I highly recommend getting a consultation. That is where you could get a phone call with me or a member of my staff, where we will walk you through your calculations. We'll talk to you about your energy input, your energy output and about where you should be tweaking to make sure you are fine-tuned. I'd hate to see you guys wasting precious time and energy when just little tweaks will make a huge difference. So, if you want to get a consultation go to www.gaugegirltraining.com. You have the opportunity to choose working with me or a Gauge Girl Training certified nutrition consultant.

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