Losing weight and burning fat DOES NOT have to be a losing battle! You have more control over it than you think.

Small tweaks can make a BIG difference.

Here are a few reasons why you’re not seeing the results you’d like:

• You’re not strength training. Often, people who are not losing weight don’t do strength training. The more lean, sleek muscle you have, the faster your resting metabolism is because muscle is the body’s most metabolically active tissue.
• You’re not exercising in a way that forces your body to adapt. The adaptive response requires energy; it raises your body’s energy needs. The body will then dig into stored fat for this energy.
• If you’ve been strength training and the weight hasn’t been coming off, it may be because you’re not doing much more than merely going through the motions.

About a year ago I was training a woman, and I told her to do squats. She started trying to do body weight squats when I stopped her and then handed her two 10 pound dumbbells (one for each hand).

The woman’s mouth fell open, but then I said, “You’re going to do eight reps of your squats but this time you’re going to hold a 10lb dumbbell on each side.”

“I can’t do it with that weight!”

“Oh yes you can. Trust me. You’re going to complete all eight rep.”

The woman said her goal was to lose weight, but nothing was happening despite regular workouts. She began her squats, and it wasn’t easy. She had to fight her way to the eighth rep, but she completed eight full repetitions.

I said,”Now that’s the way every set should feel like. Apply this effort level to all of your sets for every exercise. You won’t lose weight if you keep doing something your body is efficient at. You must do something that forces you to struggle. Working at it equals weight loss.”

A month later the woman reported having dropped an entire dress size.

Moral of this true story: Exercises that require you to push harder will burn fat and spark weight loss, especially when paired with sensible eating.

• You eat mindlessly. Every little sample and nugget counts. One tablespoon of gravy is 100 calories. A “little bit here and there” adds up. Avoid eating when you’re focused on other things, such as watching TV or you’re on the computer.
• You drink diet sodas. Artificial sweeteners often trigger hunger.
• Too many processed foods. These trigger hunger, and too much white sugar and high fructose corn syrup will get stored as fat.
• You skip breakfast. Breakfast, even if it’s only a cup of yogurt, tends to tame later-day appetite. Skipping it can make you feel entitled to overeat later on.
• You hold onto the treadmill. This has got to be one of the most weight-loss-sabotaging habits out there. The body has absolutely no reason to burn more fat in response to make-believe walking.
• Instead, pump the arms and get winded to force your body to adapt. Remember, the body won’t adapt to something that it’s very efficient at doing (e.g.,walking while holding onto something for support).
• You don’t do HIIT: high intensity interval training. This form of cardio blasts fat.
• Inconsistent exercise habits. Regular exercise means the difference between success and failure. Even if you’re doing everything right in the gym, consistency is the MOST important thing.
• Poor sleeping habits. Research shows that under six hours of sleep and over nine are strongly linked to excess body fat.
• Too much daytime napping. Excessive inertia means a slowed metabolism to accommodate it.

Before you blame your parents and grandparents for having “the wrong genes,” review your lifestyle habits to find out what can be modified to promote fat loss.And remember I’m always a phone call or email away and can help you on your road to fitness SUCCESS!