Simon’s Weight Loss Struggles
I had a client Simon. A strong personality.
He was shrewd hotel investor. Made his fortune developing property all around the world
You didn’t want to get on the wrong side of Simon.
He had a glare that could kill. When things weren’t going his way, he made sure you knew about it.
At 6 foot 5 he made a lot of the members uncomfortable.
Getting Simon to agree to any changes in his diet was tough.
Eventually we got some traction and agreed to change a couple of things.
He loved weight training. Anything where he could peacock and show his strength
But Simon lived for the scales.
At the first weigh in.
No change at all.
“Well look how great your diet is working.”
I try to explain it can take some time for the weight to represent how hard he was working.
He isn’t impressed.
In his profession, if something isn’t giving quick results, he moves on.
The following week stepping on the scale again.
.No change whatsoever.
Simon is becoming even more agitated.
He remarks “What’s the point in all of this training if I can’t even drop a pound”.
Understandably disappointed.
Simon was brought up looking at all these diets and fads you seen in every magazine.
Losing 30 pounds in 30 days, detoxes or shows like the biggest loser where people are losing 100’s of pounds.
Yet here’s Simon who can’t even lose as much as a pound in the last 2 weeks.
Lose weight or Lose a client
Next week was make or break.
I knew if Simon didn’t see some change it was game over.
The following Monday- Weigh in day.
Adrenaline pulsing through my veins arriving at the gym
I am supposed to be the expert and yet I can’t get this person to lose any weight?
I even contemplate making up some excuse to move away from the scales that day.
He arrives up the stairs. I gulp and say hello Simon.
He barely acknowledges my existence and goes straight to the scales.
He tears off his socks and jacket
He even takes off his wedding ring to be certain he has no excess weight.
He takes his step.
The needle on scale swings back and forth over his weight.
It settles..
3kg dropped!
Phew.
You could see relief on my face. .
And Simon can’t hide his smile.
Maybe I do know a thing or do about this coaching and weight loss thing after all.
What’s the Point?
You put your heart into your diet.
Following everything by the book.
Getting up at the crack of dawn to force yourself into the gym
Even knocking alcohol on the head.
Yet your weight doesn’t budge.
If you find yourself like Simon, don’t despair.
Here are three reasons why the scale might not budge on a particular week.
1) Water Retention
In an ideal world the body wouldn’t need to burn fat.
They have evolved as fat storing machines, built for famines and survival.
So the body doesn’t like it when you cut calories suddenly.
This can be very stressful for the body.
In response to this stress, the body releases a stress hormone known as cortisol.
Think of dieting liking starting a fire inside your body. Your body’s firefighting response is to call in cortisol.
One effect of cortisol is water retention.
So as you try your hardest to drop the weigh, your body tries to store as much as it can.
Your body might be burning fat.
But this could be masked by the amount of water the body stores.
This water weight can last a number of weeks so be patient with your weigh ins.
2) You Gained Muscle
It’s not uncommon to start exercising with a new diet.
If you are improving in the gym, then you could be gaining muscle.
This has multiple benefits for your health.
On the scales though, this will not show.
Muscle is also 85% water, so you could be gaining both muscle and water.
3) You are not in a calorie deficit.
If you haven’t lost weight in the first 2-4 weeks don’t fret, it could be due to the points above.
If though six weeks pass and there’s no change, then it might be worthwhile to look further into the diet.
To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit.
So taking in less calories than your body requires.
If you still aren’t losing weight after few weeks, the amount of calories ate is the first thing to view
In nutritional studies people regularly under report the amount they are eating.
Whether from omitting details or genuinely forgetting..
When we look deeper, the weekend has regular binges, or there might be an excess of alcohol being consumed.
So if the scales isn’t budging. Grab a pen and paper and start tracking what you eat.
And yes those biscuits and chocolate do count even if you just had a couple of them.
The Scales is not a measure of you
r self worth
Every magazine cover, every tv show, every celebrity spouts the next big diet that has you dropping x amount of weight in a certain amount of time.
These can make it seem like you should be dropping massive amount of weight every week.
What none of these diet guru’s or weight loss stories ever show you is how their lives are after the weight loss.
Most end up putting all of their weight back on.
Scales As Feedback
That’s why I want you to use the scales differently.
Rather than being married to the scales, treating it as the only measure of health.
Instead just treat it as feedback.
The first instance like Simon is to get angry, question everything, question whether any of this is even worth it.
But the best option is to treat your weigh in as experiment
When a scientist goes wrong in an experiment, he doesn’t get upset.
He just tweaks something.
The same should be true with your own diet. Your weight doesn’t change?
Well investigate it further and if all else fails try something else.
So don’t throw the baby with the bath water when the scales doesn’t go in your favour.
It could be one of the three points above whether its water weight fluctuations, gaining muscle which you can’t change completely or maybe you are consuming more calories than you think you are and so aren’t losing weight.
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