You’ve been working out for a while, sweating it out at the gym, doing cardio and weight training but as for results… the less said the better.
You don’t seem any leaner, the needle on the scale has barely moved, and as for having six pack abs… forget about it. Why is this happening? Why aren’t you seeing the results you should be having?
Here are 5 common reasons why people who go to the gym aren’t seeing the results they think they should:
1. Lost time – Just because you spend an hour at the gym doesn’t mean that you’re getting 60 minutes worth of workout. Most people waste a lot of time at the gym talking to other people, watching TV, or just sitting idle drinking coffee or some dubious energy drink.
You need to make sure you don’t have any lost time at the gym. Focus on working out and not doing anything else with your time.
2. Muscle mass - While you may not see any reduction in weight, this doesn’t mean that you’re not getting any results. The reason is muscle mass.
You will likely gain some muscle mass when you do strength workouts. Muscle weighs more than fat. This means that even if you lose fat and gain healthy, lean, muscle tissue, you might not see your weight decrease. However, your clothes will likely fit better and you will appear more toned and fit.
3. Eating right - You can’t outtrain a bad diet. Even if you exercise dilligently, you can’t expect to have the results you want if you don’t eat right.
You have to eat right in order to avoid putting in more fat than you take out and you have to give your body what it needs to build more muscle tissue.
The point is that if you don’t make sure to eat a healthy, lean, and sensible diet, no amount of workouts will make you look and feel as good as you want.
4. Believing the calorie counters on workout machines – I have to say that I look at calorie counters myself whenever I do cardio on a machine. It’s fun being able to keep some sort of track of how you’re doing but those calorie counters are far from accurate. In fact, you shouldn’t trust them at all.
Often, you may be burning a lot less calories than what those counters say so it’s not the way to determine how much you can eat and still lose weight.
5. Increasing intensity – Basically, the more intensive your workout the more calories you burn. Naturally, you need to progress gradually and to build your overall fitness overtime, but if you feel that you’re not getting the results you’re looking for, increase the effort you put in.