You’ve joined the gym, you’re working your butt off, you feel great but you were aiming to drop a few pounds and the scales aren’t budging. Surely it should have happened by now?
You’re not alone. We’ve heard it a million times. You’re putting in the hard work at the gym but it hasn’t happened as quickly as you wanted. Do not be disheartened, we’re here to give you the extra boost you need to get those scales moving.
Often we think that just turning up to the gym is going to get us those big results that we’d like to see. This can be a good start, but is certainly only the beginning of your exploration into you own health a well being.
So you’ve braved the sign up to your new fitness regime, what’s next to ensure that those scales start moving? Below we give our top tips for getting those scales moving. It’s not a hard and fast rule and there are always exceptions. We find that gym goers often fall into one of few categories.
- They exercise on an adhoc basis but don’t make any other changes to their diet or levels of movement between exercise classes.
- They train like a machine hitting the gym hard and frequently but do not see the changes in their body fat.
- They set an achievable and consistent exercise routine which they stick to. Bringing commitment and focus on making other changes to their diet and levels of movement between exercise classes.
If you fall into the first or second category, but you’d rather be firmly in the third, here’s some things you can try…
1. Don’t reward yourself with food.
You come to the gym to favour your energy balance to the side of loosing weight which makes you feel great. The only problem is you use that exercise to justify & reward yourself with a “its not that bad for me” or “I’ve earn’t it” snack. By all means pick yourself a reward but let’s make it a massage, a new book or some new trainers, something that will make you feel good without the calories.
2. Remember its not all about your movement in the gym.
Increasing your level of activity outside of the gym can play a huge part. Its called NEAT (Non-exercise, activity thermogenesis and put simply its all of the energy you use outside of sleeping, eating and sports/exercise. So making sure you go for a walk everyday, hitting an activity target, using the stairs where you can and generally leading an active lifestyle will all help to bump up the calories you have burnt throughout the day.
3. Watch your calories.
Tracking you calories is a great way to identify where you might be going wrong. Using My Fitness Pal or another similar app will give you an idea of the calories you are consuming and any deficit or surplus you may be in. If you are unsure where to start working with a nutrition coach who will work out your BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate) will give you a clear idea of how many calories your body actually needs will help you get to grips with the basic’s.
4. Be consistent.
You’ve probably heard us say it once or twice but consistency really is key! Unfortunately this approach is somewhat rare, as a society. We are always searching for the ‘quick fix’ (not helped by the promises of fast result with fancy exercises from the many fitness influencers found online). Most people tend to fall into more of a ‘yo-yo’ or an all or nothing approach which leads to periods of being ‘good’ or ‘getting back on track” and the flip-side periods of being ‘bad’ or ‘falling off the wagon’ giving your body no time to adapt. If you’d like some advice I teach nutrition principles with a huge focus on habits doing it this way will ensure that it doesn’t even feel like you are changing much at all. The truth of it is, to see big results you have to look at the big picture and really key down on your habits, we can show you how changing one little thing at a time can create some big changes in the future. After all turning up to the gym once or twice in a week is just a small part, there are 168 other hours in the week.
To meet with me to talk about our nutrition program follow the link below, we have a challenge starting on the 31st January, the perfect way to ease you into some fundamental nutrition habits!
https://msgsndr.com/widget/appointment/function-fitness/nutrition
Gemma
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