Classic mistake. You come to the gym, and you sweat every day. You are careful with your food, and yet you can’t lose one stinkin’ pound!
Rachel Ezelius
1. You think you are working harder than you really are.
Classic mistake. You come to the gym, and you sweat every day. You are careful with your food, and yet you can’t lose one stinkin’ pound! Of course, it is your thyroid, right? Unfortunately, even after all of this you still may not be doing enough. Let’s say that during an hour at the gym you burn on average 400 calories. If you do that five days a week, you have burned an extra 2,000 calories. That sounds like a lot, but since a pound of fat is 3,500 calories, it just isn’t enough.
On top of that, for your dedication to your workout, you feel justified in rewarding yourself. You think you can get away with that extra glass of wine (150 calories), that one-slider appetizer (500 calories each), that one Starbucks pumpkin spice latte (400 calories) and that extra chocolate cookie from Panera (440 calories). But you really can’t.
2. You eat at the all the wrong times.
If you work out at 5 am and eat your biggest meal at 5 pm you are doing it all wrong. You wouldn’t pay the parking meter after you were done parking and ready to drive away would you? So why would you feed your body only at the end of the day? During the day the body must figure out how to sustain normal daily functions. When you do not eat enough calories to fuel your body, your body burns your muscle for fuel. Then later, when you do eat calories, your body can’t retroactively use them, so they end up getting stored as fat.
3. You assume health means low-calorie
If you go to eat at McDonald’s or a Farm to Table Organic restaurant where do you think you will eat more calories? I’m not talking about the quality of the food but strictly calories. It may surprise you! A MickeyD’s Happy Meal is 400 calories; the Egg McMuffin is 300 calories, whereas one organic, gluten-free dinner roll can be 300 calories, one 6-ounce piece of almond encrusted wild salmon can be 1000 calories. Healthy foods are not necessarily low calorie.
4. You eat the wrong foods.
Are you pumping yourself full of Crystal light, low-calorie yogurts, fat-free pretzels, and dressing-soaked salads? Calories or lack of calories does not guarantee weight loss success. Artificial sweeteners still activate the parts of your brain that like carbs and may encourage you to overeat in them. Iceberg lettuce is not a veggie that is going to help in weight loss, especially if you cover it with a high calorie, fatty dressing.
So what can be done? A healthy relationship needs to be established between portion, calories, treats, eating healthy and working out. Helpful tools can include things like online journals, meal planning, and counting calories. If you feel stuck, contact your registered dietitian for help!
About the Author
Rachel Ezelius, RD
Rachel Ezelius is a Registered Dietitian who manages Fitness Incentive’s Eat Smart program. Questions? Contact her
by email: eatsmart@fitnessincentive.com. Click here to learn more about Eat Smart
More From Fit to Print Autumn 2017
