Do you hear that?
Drip, drip, drip.
That’s the sound of sweat falling from the brows of a person exercising to lose weight?
Drip, drip, drip.
Why is it so hard to lose weight?
It is common for millions of people to make resolutions to lose weight. Resolutions that usually fizzle out around the new year.
And some of you reading this have already started Googling around for weight loss program, figuring that any problem is easier to solve if you throw some money at it.
But also, as many serious people who aim at losing weight, you probably have a low tolerance for BS. So one thing you’ll find out, for instance, most weight loss programs have a failure rate of 97% over the long term.
You’d wonder:
Why is it so hard to lose weight? Even after spending a fortune on weight loss?
While it is certainly possible to lose weight and put it off, there is a lot nobody is telling you. Not because it is a secret, but because most people don’t actually want the truth. They want to believe it is easy, fun, straightforward.
If anything, though, it is the opposite, and that brings us to the first reason why it is so hard to lose weight:
Reason #1: Nearly Everyone Assumes the Basics and Focus on Miniature
It is not because the whole population is lazy.
It is not because people don’t have enough money to eat healthy, either.
And it is not because everyone is not counting calories enough, no.
It is because nearly everyone assumes the basics and focus on miniatures. And every person in the weight loss world is giving you incomplete information.
You can’t even get a straightforward answer to basic questions like:
- Should you go to the trouble of joining a formal weight loss program or just start one yourself?
- Which weight loss approach works? What should you start with?
- Are there any medical conditions that make weight loss so hard?
- What’s the difference between people who lose weight and those who don’t?
It is infuriating, but listen:
When it comes to weight loss, 99.99% of people should know only one thing:
Eat less and move more. Only elite athletes need to do more.
But instead of accepting these simple truths and work on them, people love to focus on miniatures. You’ll hear:
“Avoid carbs.”
“Don’t eat before you go to bed because fat doesn’t burn efficiently when you‘re sleeping.”
“If you eat mostly protein, you can lose lots of weight quickly.”
“Eating grapefruit in the morning speeds up your metabolism.”
Maybe, they’re correct, or they’re not. But that’s isn’t the point. The point is people love to debate miniature. Then they end up confused, and weight loss starts to feel like swimming upstream.
The Painful Truth About Going from Fat to Thin
Let’s get this straight:
The number of people who go from fat to thin and stay there statistically round down to zero.
Every study says so. No study says otherwise. None.
None here means that 5+ years of weight loss are obscenely rare that they don’t appear in the chart. Studies can’t even find enough of such people to put in their research.
But that guy or girl exists. We all know the famous examples. However, it is a rare freak situation.
And one fact brings everything into clear perspective:
Weight loss is a caloric deficit.
Unless you have a genetic disorder, ovarian cyst, thyroid problem, or any other medical-induced weight gain, you can’t fight the math. Excess calories get stored, and it is what makes people fat over time.
But you know what the big problem is?
Most people assume this simple fact, so they spend months or even years following a pathway with zero chance of succeeding in the long term. Eventually, they give up or start over, but, again, they invest months or even years following weight-loss strategies that don`t work.
The reason?
It is not because they are dumb. It is not because they are lazy.
It is because they overlook the basics.
And if you want a fighting chance to lose weight consistently, you‘ll need to understand the concept of calories.
It isn’t about being a calories-counting nerd (though it isn’t wrong). Instead, it is about taking the calories knowledge with you in every food you take.
It means you won’t exercise yourself to death only to undo your hard work by going for a sandwich that hides 500+ calories under the healthy-claiming package.
It means you won’t spend the rest of your life on an extreme diet that deprives you of essential nutrients and hard to maintain.
More importantly, it means learning to get into the habit of tracking calories in and calories out to help you consciously think of the consequences of your decisions, instead of making imaginary bargains every time you want a snack or want to make excuses about exercising.
Is any of this easy? Simple? Fast?
Hell no. Building a body that radiates power and vitality can be the most difficult thing you‘ll ever do in your life.
But it is doable–not through sheer luck or genius way, but by learning to condition your mind in a way few people do.
This begs the second reason why many people struggle with weight loss.
Reason #2: Forgetting that Weight loss is Energy Deficit
Most people say calorie counting doesn’t work.
But listen:
Weight loss is a caloric deficit. And to lose weight consistently, you must strike a sustainable balance.
So, while counting calories isn’t mandatory for weight loss, the concept of calories-counting is critical in creating a sustainable deficit.
For that reason, let’s break down the concept of the calorie.
A Calorie is a unit of energy.
1 pound of fat = 3500 calories
To lose 1 pound of fat, you have to build a caloric deficit of 3500.
And you can only create a calorie deficit with either dieting, or exercising, and better with a combination of both.
So how much calories do you need?
What’s Your Daily Caloric Need?
The number of calories you need depends on your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). And we’re going to calculate that right now.
So, dust off your calculator, pull out your pen, and let’s stamp out the guesswork in determining the number of calories you require.
We’ll use the Harris Benedict’s Equation, which has two parts:
- The first part determines the number of calories you burn daily to support both your body weight and sustain your body function when doing nothing all day, your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)
- And the second part determines the energy you use in your daily activity.
And if calculation gets your adrenaline pumping, click here to generate your numbers automatically. I’ll wait for you in the how-to-create-sustainable-caloric-deficit part.
On the other hand, if you love math, and prefer to generate your number manually, time to suit yourself.
The BMR Equation
Men, here’s your equation to complete:
Your BMR = 66.5 +(13.5 × Weight in Kgs) + (5.003 × height in cm) – (6.755 × age in years)
Women, here’s your equation:
Your BMR = (65.51 + (9.563 × Weight in Kgs ) + (1.850 × Height in cm) – (4.64 × Age in Years )
Now we’ve got your BMR; let’s calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) based on your daily activity.
The Total Daily Energy Expenditure Equation
Your estimate Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is:
BMR × 1.2 (if you’re Sedentary/ do no exercise/ do desk job)
BMR × 1.375 (If you do a Light activity/ light exercise/ sports 1-3 time a week )
BMR × 1.55 ( If you do Moderate activity, or Sports 6-7 times a week)
BMR × 1.725 (If you’re very active–do hard exercise every day/ exercise 2 times a day.)
BMR × 2.25 If you’re Extra Active (Hard exercise 2 times a day or practice for a marathon or triathlon
How to Create a Sustainable Caloric Deficit
Now that you know the amount of energy to support your life and daily activities let’s create a sustainable caloric deficit that gets you a consistent weight loss.
When starting, maintain a below-20% calories deficit.
The truth, however, is:
Many people ignore maintaining a sustainable calorie deficit and create a bigger not-easy-to-maintain deficit. Then their approach flops, and they start to think weight loss is unattainable.
It is a pitfall. And to avoid it, start it small. For instance, if your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) = 2500 calories, the best deficit would be:
80% of 2500 calories = 2000 calories
If you maintain a 20% calories deficit and simultaneously adjust it according to your weight loss progress, it is almost a guarantee you’ll maintain weight loss.
But to maintain such a deficit, you’ll need to choose the source of your calories correctly and adjust your lifestyle. This takes us to the third reason why people struggle with weight loss.
Reason #3: Looking For a Silver-Bullet Diet for Weight loss
Diet is like a cheat code for weight loss. Select it properly, and you can transform a dull, lifeless body into a body that generates power and vitality.
What’s surprising:
There is no silver-bullet diet to lose weight.
But some foods are super calories-dense that you eat them, you immediately start to get fat. Others are lean and nutritious.
So if you find yourself still coming up with excuses not to change what you eat, to get a leaner body, it is time you ask yourself one disturbing question:
How badly do you want to get in shape?
Because, to lose weight, you have to consume fewer calories than you spend. And when you take a closer look, dieting goes beyond eating fewer calories.
It is more about changing the diet to eat more healthily instead of just eating less. It is more about identifying the useless calories you’re eating and adjusting to the correct habits. It is even more of managing portion sizes and calorie intake.
But the problem with the notion of a diet is that it pre-purposes what you were eating before (Let’s call that your “regiment”) was normal. When in the real sense, it isn’t. Going to diet implies that you’re deviating from your normal regiment.
That’s not easy by no means.
But don’t get fooled, going on diet is the foolhardy measure. It is the surest way to lose weight. So how do you approach dieting?
Split Your Diet Across Macro Nutrients
Restricting calorie intake is only one piece of the puzzle.
To solve the other piece of the puzzle, you’d need to split your calories across the macronutrients. And macronutrients entails:
- Carbohydrates
- Protein
- And fats
1 gram carbohydrate = 4 calories
1 gram protein = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
Here is a follow-up question:
If one gram of protein and carbohydrates have the same calories, why is protein better in weight loss?
The answer is simple.
Your body burns about 20%-30% of calories in protein during digestion, thus, for every gram, you’ll have an average of 3 calories.
That said, you need all the three macronutrients for proper functionality.
- First, Protein in your diet promotes muscle repair, recovery, and growth. But more critical to weight loss, protein fires up the consumption of energy and increases satiety.
- Secondly, Carbohydrate fuels you during your exercise and replenishes your muscle glycogen. What’s essential is that carbohydrate is the ONLY source of energy to the brain and red blood cells. A no-carb diet cannot be a solution for consistent weight loss.
- Lastly, healthy Fat nourishes your body and support hormonal functions. But essentially, fat is crucial for brain operation and maintaining cell structure.
Meaning, you should avoid the pitfall of no-carb diets — they’re only short-term solutions. And it will fail over time.
Reason #4: Not Understanding the Science in Exercise for Weight Loss
Dieting isn’t the only way to weight loss.
In fact, with dieting, you can restrict calorie intake to the point you can’t limit any more calories. But, what if you haven’t reached the body weight you desire? That’s where exercise comes handy.
Physical exercise is an excellent weight loss supplement. It only has two things to do with weight loss:
- Increases your cardiac output
- And enhances muscle’s ability to extract calories and make use of nutrients from your bloodstream (boost metabolism)
And even though all exercises work when you stick to them, not all exercises are similar.
This begs the question:
How do you exercise to lose weight?
Let’s scrape a little deeper.
Aerobic Exercise: The Starter Weight Loss Exercise
There is a lot out there about which exercise results in realistic weight loss.
But listen:
Any exercise burns calories. But aerobic exercise is the mother to weight loss. And there are plenty of reasons why. And if you are going to reap maximally from your workouts, you must give those reasons a closer look.
So let`s start from the bases:
What’s Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise is a workout you do while breathing normally — you don’t hold back your breath.
It is any type of cardiovascular conditioning. A state in which your respiratory system can supply oxygen to your body part, and in turn, improves your skeletal muscle’s ability to utilize oxygen.
Building a powerful aerobic system is invaluable, whether you want to lose weight or just want to stay fit. Because aerobic fitness presents maximal muscular strength. And that’s what nearly everyone gets it wrong.
Why Aerobic Exercise? (if You Want to Lose Weight)
And there are plenty of reasons to start with aerobic exercises:
- First, Aerobic exercise involves large muscles that extract significant amounts of calories from your body.
- Second, it is a less-intense exercise. It allows time for your body to extract energy from stored fats in your body. Meaning you’ll lose weight in the form of fats.
- More importantly, training your aerobic system boosts the number of mitochondria cells in your muscles in response to the increased demand for energy by your muscle cells. In turn, your large muscles will start to vascularize to ensure an efficient supply of oxygen and nutrient.
- What’s more, you can do aerobic exercise for long without getting fatigued quickly
Anaerobic Exercise: How to lose Weight Even When At Rest
On the flip side, there is anaerobic exercise.
It is a workout you do past your normal breathing rhythm because it is pretty intense.
The exercise is excellent fats shredder even while you‘re at rest.
But there is one catch.
Anaerobic exercise isn’t for anyone starting a weight loss journey.
Why Anaerobic Exercise is Unsuitable for Beginners
- First, anaerobic workouts engage small muscle, meaning the calories it burns during the exercise is very little to encourage people to keep going. (But when you fully develop, anaerobic workouts burn calories even when not exercising. We‘ll talk about that in a few minutes.)
- Secondly, the exercise’s primary source of energy is the contracting muscle. Meaning you`ll not be burning calories from stored fats — you’ll not lose weight in the form of fat loss.
- What’s more, the exercise is pretty intense for a beginner, and you can`t do it for long. Many people get fatigued even before burning a considerable amount of calories.
That’s why you’ll hear a person saying, “I’ve been going to the gym, but I haven’t lost a pound.”
Here is what usually happens:
At the gym, most people exercise in an anaerobic state. They quickly get tired and go eating, thinking that they’ve burnt a considerable amount of calories.
In the real sense, they just got fatigued but burnt a few calories. So they end up with small or no-calorie deficit to allow them to lose weight.
But listen:
There is a smart way to go about exercising for weight loss.
Start exclusively with aerobic exercise (preferably the one you enjoy) to build a stable aerobic capacity.
Then add several anaerobic workouts later.
It frustrates seeing people working their ass off, sweating like a fish out of water, thinking that their undeniable hard effort will promote weight loss.
It is sad to see people performing at high intensity for prolonged durations, without realizing they are risking to inevitably lose their ability to burn fat as a primary fuel source. The human body can’t breakdown and convert stored fat to energy quickly enough to support the activity intensity above 70% maximum heart rate.
Fortunately, you now know. You know how to reward yourself with a consistent weight loss from exercise.
Bonus Way to Lose Weight
Bonus 1: Boost Your NEAT
NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) is anything that increases your energy expenditure (burn more calories) but isn’t exercise in particular.
For example, playing with your kids, carrying a shopping bag rather than a trolley, dancing to music rather than listening passively, taking stairs rather than lifts, and walking to your work can boost your energy expenditure. Changing your daily habit so that you move more or force your body to work a little harder subconsciously increase your body energy expenditure and thus promote a more significant calorie deficit.
And it is easy to think that these activities can’t bring any difference.
But even if your NEAT only increase the calorie deficit with 50-100 calories a day, that is still 350 -700 calories a week and brings you closer to your desired body weight.
It is the small daily habit that adds up, saving you the need for weight loss worry.
Why Is It So Hard to Lose Weight–In Summary
Money, time, current responsibility, past commitment — there are a gazillion obstacles standing in your way. The idea of dealing with all those things, of overcoming them, of finally getting into a position where you can get into a body shape that you always dream about — it seems nearly impossible. Not as distant as stars, perhaps, but it would certainly be like walking on the moon.
The good news?
While overcoming obstacles isn’t easy, it is possible.
But you have to take that first, scary step and open your eyes to a world where weight loss is possible.
And then you’ll realize you have everything — and I mean everything — you need to shred those extra fats off.
Right freaking now.
Now it is Your Turn
Now I’d like to turn it over to you.
Why is weight loss so hard from your perspective?