“I’m on Track but Nothing’s Changing!”

It's not unusual for me to see clients who perceive that they are eating "perfectly” and "exercising consistently,” yet don't feel their weight is changing. Very few of us really know how many calories we must burn through exercise and how much, how little or what types of food must go in to promote optimal health.

One of the biggest overestimates that people have is the amount of exercise they are doing. I'm always happy when people are moving and not just watching T.V., sitting at their computer or reading the news. Yet things like dog walking are never really going to get the heart rate up sufficiently to burn enough calories to work off the amount of food we are eating. In fact very few people I've watched really walk their dogs at a brisk, sustained pace (and I admit it's tough when the animal stops and sniffs every bush). Similarly, going to the gym 3 times per week is admirable, but for a lot of people it's not enough. They should be doing something daily. If the 3 sessions are intense with a high heart rate plus strength training, great; but we then need to walk briskly or bike on other days.

We are an incredibly sedentary society. We think that the gym is the answer, but it doesn't mean we should stop moving the rest of the time. It's indeed hard with the lure of T.V., computers and cell phones, but we must move more. Every chance we get we should go outside and go for a short walk, or go downstairs and do some exercise (i.e. treadmill, resistance bands, weights, stationary bike, push-ups, etc.).

Food! What an incredibly difficult topic. Not only do we not know accurately how many calories are in the types of foods we eat, we really don't know how various foods affect blood glucose levels, hormones in the gut or fat cells that regulate our body metabolism. Don't be discouraged; simply decreasing calories often doesn't work, so we must also look at the timing of our meals (bigger, higher-protein breakfast and lunch, smaller supper, eating something healthy every 3 hours, etc.) and be absolutely vigilant about extras that creep in throughout our day. We never think about them, but they add up. Listen to your body, and become able to distinguish between "stomach” versus "head” hunger. Documenting foods/portions also helps improve awareness and allows us to be accountable to ourselves.

Everyone's metabolism is different. Some people assimilate food into fat much more readily than others, and we burn calories through exercise differently. One person your height and weight might burn 600 calories with an intense treadmill workout, but your metabolism might only burn 350 with the same effort. (Doesn't seem fair, does it?!)

All of these reasons are why experts around the world are desperately trying to find the gut & brain hormones that regulate weight (or genes that regulate those hormones) to better understand and find medications that might help people who have slow metabolism.

In the end, all I can humbly say is that we have to be ever so diligent with our food choices. For many, small additions (i.e. an extra glass of wine) will stall weight loss. We also have to truly look at our activity level. The American College of Sports Medicine is recommending a minimum of 1 hour per day of relatively intense exercise for adolescents. To me, this should be the same for adults. We can usually find the time – we just have to use it. Start small (i.e. 10 minutes) and build up your time/effort.

It may be slow, but if you are consistently eating well, and exercising most days of the week, the body fat will indeed go down.

So keep trying, always get back on track, and never, ever give up!

Dr. Doug