Let me guess, you want to lose weight but cant, right?
Or maybe you know someone whos always complaining about not being able to lose weight, right?
You want to, you think you’re doing everything right but the lbs are just not falling off like you wish they would.
Well I got you so pay attention and brace yourself because I am about to slap you with some real talk, the EXACT reasons why, and facts.
By the end of this article you’re going to know exactly how to force your body to burn fat and learn what you have been doing wrong(probably many of these combined), and what you need to STOP doing and start doing so you can get the lean, sexy body you want that delivers confidence.
But first lets eliminate your first idea/thought/theory as to why you’re not losing, “starvation mode”
What is starvation mode?
Starvation mode is the supposed state a person is in when an excessive approach to weight loss has slowed their metabolic rate enough to completely prevent further weight loss from happening. (or possibly weight gain) even through a calorie deficit.
In order to lose fat, you need to create a calorie deficit. This is achieved by eating less and burning more. However when a person thinks they are in a deficit but isnt losing weight they most often assume its starvation mode preventing them from losing.
You know the…
-Im not eating enough calories
-Im not eating 6x per day to stoke the metabolic flame
-Im burning too many calories/overtraining
-Been in calorie deficit for too long.
I also hear people complain that its triggered because they yo-yo diet, go too many hours without eating, eat only 1x per day, skip breakfast, or losing weight and gaining it back causes it as well.
But the concept is that basically your body isnt allowing you to burn fat and you are pointing blame at your genetics, your body, etc, that version of starvation mode.
And the only way out is by eating more or working out less.
So let me be frank, this is utter bullshit! Starvation mode is a myth. It does not exist in the way you think it does.
Whats really happening is you’re making numerous mistakes and that 1200 calories you claim to be eating on average is more like 2200-4200.
Let me explain.
The ONLY way the human body will dig into its fat stores for energy is IF their is a calorie deficit present. THE ONLY!
So if you are not losing, what does that tell you?
NO LOSS = NO DEFICIT. PERIOD!
I am the master at fat loss, so much so my nickname is “Master Shredder”, I’ve written two books on this, and run a successful personal training business for almost 2 decades.
The one thing I hear from literally almost 100% of the new clients, people on social media all the damn time, is this victim mindset, lack of taking personal responsibility mindset “I just cant lose any weight. Im doing everything right”
WRONG! Youre not even close. This phrase is pure bullshit. And once I teach them what to do, they melt fat and get shredded QUICK! If you want to see some examples go here, these are just a few. There are 1000s of stories like this worldwide who all in the beginning had the exact same “I just cant lose any weight” mindset. https://phenomenallyfit.com/before-and-afters/
So pay attention to what Im about to say, this article is going to be lengthy but it will change your life. Share it with spouses, workout buddies, or that cry baby friend thats always complaining. lol.
Just remember, if you create a calorie deficit, you will lose 100% of the time. I dont care what your family looks like, what genes you think you inherited, what race you are, what sex you are, this is the HUMAN body.
Just know your excuses, the starvation mode theory, and mindset are BS. I can prove it.
Proof #1. The Minnesota Starvation Experiment.
Every single calories controlled study that I’ve ever seen, on any animal, that created a calorie deficit resulted in weight loss 100% of the time. A calorie deficit = weight loss always.
Lets talk about the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. In this study, ill show pic below, 36 men were put on a 24 week long “starvation diet” consisting of only 2 meals per day and containing a total of 1,560 calories. Those calories were also reduced further along the study to ensure weight loss continued.
For these men, this represented an estimated daily deficit of 50% below their maintenance and they had to walk 22 miles per week as well. (this is why they were so frail, no lifting)
Guess what happened?
All of the participants lost approximately 25% of their starting body weight and reached 5% body fat. (Shredded AF if they were lifting)
Check em out.
Does this look like “Starvation Mode” kicked in and kept them from losing any weight?
Does this look like their 2 meals per day and low calories stopped them from losing weight?
Or that being semi starved for 6 straight months prevented them from losing weight?
Absolutely not! This experiment proved the exact opposite. you will keep losing until you die.
Now, no fitness pro is ever going to recommend extremely low calories like this (for men) for 6 straight months thats crazy. As you can see they are extremely emaciated from the muscle loss. Because your body if in long periods of deficit(months) will start to dip into muscle, and burn if for energy.
When aiming for fat loss, you are only deficiting for 6-13 days straight by my recommendations.
Now keep in mind these guys metabolic rates did slow some, but it was mainly because of the loss of muscle and weight. Less of those means less energy needs. But it does not come to a screeching halt like most of you think it does.
Your body burns calories 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. If it doesnt YOU DIE.
Are you dead? Clearly not, which means you’re burning like a furnace right now.
Lets look at a few real world examples where there is also proof that if there is a deficit present you lose 100% of the time.
-Anorexics reach deathly skinny levels and sometimes die.
-Starving children in Africa, millions of people die annually from starvation(extreme deficit)
-Holocaust victims were also deathly skinny from being starved.
All examples of people who were consuming less food than I will ever recommend under any circumstance for long periods.
We want a deficit, but we also want to have muscle and look sexy. Bones arent sexy. lol.
So for all of you thinking “Im eating too little. Im not eating enough. Im not eating often enough so my body is holding onto fat. my metabolism is shot. My genetics….” is pure bullshit I just proved it.
Now lets talk about why your body stores fat.
Its really simple, you overate. You consumed more calories than your body burned for the day/week, and the excess consumed gets stored as disgusting body fat.
This is very simple to do if you arent working out EVERY day. The average female burns about 1300 calories just to sustain life, the average guy about 1900. So if you dont workout and eat say 1400 calories ladies you store 100 calories as fat.
But lets be real, most of you eat garbage and consume about 3000+ calories per day and dont workout, which is why the average female in America is 5’3″ and 171lbs. Ladies a FIT version of you would be 105-120max (well developed legs)
Guys the same applies to you, no workout, you eat say 2000 you get fat. But lets be real, most of you live off fast food and your intake is like 4000-5000 per day. which is why the average man is 50lbs overweight and has 40 inch waist.
Most people do not workout, or only workout 1-3x per week, and eat garbage, so getting fat is EASY.
Now if those same people trained HARD the women will burn 2000 on avg, the guys over 3000(we have testostone, more muscle)
Now if they LIMIT their calorie intake by eating CLEAN, mainly protein and veggies and created a deficit, a healthy deficit, they would burn fat every single day.
Women 2000 – 1500 (deficit) = 500 calories burned from fat
Guys 3000 – 2200 = 800 calories burned from fat
You do that for a week and thats basically 1-1.5lbs of fat lost per week. Really its faster than this but I’m just giving an example.
You do this consistently and within 3-6 months you are going to be down 20-50lbs or more. Every single time. I see it all the time. From people that were just like you “I just cant lose any weight” mentality.
So now you know starvation mode is bs, and how you got fat and how to burn fat so lets discover what you are actually doing wrong thats leading to you getting more calories than you think you are and preventing your loss.
Just know first, you are either eating more calories than you think you are, burning less than you think you are, or both and no deficit is present.
Being lean, defined, ripped, shredded is purely having LOW body fat levels. You already have the lines in arms, legs, shoulders, and even have abs, you just cant see it because its covered by a layer of fat. Lose the fat, you get lean, defined, ripped, shredded. These are all just different degrees of being lean.
Ladies, the ideal body fat you are looking for is around 12% body fat. If you want more defined abs, lower like 10%.
Guys, the physique most of you are looking for is around 6-8% with defined abs, arms, shoulders, chest, back.
So lets talk about 11 things you are probably doing that are leading to you not losing any weight.
The REAL reasons why you’re not losing fat
#1. You’re not weighing and tracking your portions
You’re eyeballing your food, guesstimating and over eating unknowingly. No deficit, no loss.
You think you’re eating 1200 calories a day, but arent measuring shit, and really eating 2000, 3000, 4000+ calories per day. Studies prove people eat a minimum of 50% more calories than they think they do.
This is why its VITAL you are weighing portions and tracking your food intake. So you KNOW exactly how much you have eaten and when you are done.
I have a saying “If you eyeball your food, no one is going to be eyeballing you” because youll be fluffy/fat/chubby.
#2. You’re not tracking macros.
Which means you’re probably not measuring and overeating calories, no deficit, no loss.
Macros are your Protein, carbs, and fats measured in grams. You eat a specific amount of each, to hit your desired calorie goal.
For example:
Macros ladies 1500 calories comes from 56g carbs(veggies), 150g protein, 75g fat.
Macros Men 2200 is 82g carbs, 220g protein, 110g fats.
You MUST track your macros and calories for ACCURACY to create a calorie deficit. If you arent tracking you have NO idea what you have eaten or when you are done.
We us an app called myfitnesspal on your phone. It does all the work for you.
To create a deficit you have to reduce one of the macros, we KEEP as much protein and fats as possible because they are vital for your muscle, health, hormones and metabolism. We cut the carbs to create deficit. But unless you are tracking you have no clue where your numbers are and could be wasting your time in the gym to look the same.
So track your shit! This is THE MOST important thing to do when it comes to fat loss. So get uncomfortable, learn, and master this.
#3. You’re not eating clean.
You’re eating foods that you think are healthy but are NOT. And in most cases still overeating them and getting excess calories. Or even if you are being disciplined with portions these foods will still inflame you, make you retain water, weigh heavier on the scale, and make you look softer. But I know most of you arent being disciplined, so I know you’re overeating these because they trigger hardcore cravings you cant control.
What foods are these that are thought to be healthy, but arent?
Whole wheat bread, whole wheat products of any sort, ezekiel bread, 7 or 9 grain bread, granola, cereal, gluten free cookies are still a cookie packed with sugar, crackers, protein shakes(sucralose damages gut and triggers cravings), protein bars are candy bars, yogurt (pure sugar), sports drinks (pure sugar). etc.
In most of your cases, 99.999% of you, do NOT have the discpline to stop once you start. You cannot stop once you have a bite and one bite leads to more bad decisions for that meal and the rest of the day. Gaining you excessive calories for the day and week.
1500 calories of cookies vs 1500 calories of protein and veggies are both going to have a different result. Both a deficit (ladies), but they are going to have a different metabolic effect on your body, hormones, workouts, recovery etc.
So although calories are king, and you can lose weight eating cookies, you will be losing muscle, feeling like shit, have hormonal issues, be lethargic, crappy workouts, and look inflamed, water retentive, and fatter.
True Clean is foods that come directly from a plant or directly from a healthy animal. Steak and broccoli. Chicken and asparagus. Eggs and spinach. You know, the boring foods you’re avoiding eating. Yea, those are the ones that will take you to Sexy Ville.
So toss out all those foods and fill your kitchen with healthy stuff. Or your mind will just subconsciously convince you why you need to eat it. “You had a stressful day. I dont care. Ill start tomorrow. Ill start monday”. You know Im right.
You’re making life harder by having it in your home. Toss it or struggle with your weight. Your choice.
#4. You’re doing cheat meals
One of the fastest ways to ruin all your results is by doing cheat meals. These arent cheats, cheats would be getting you to your goal faster, these are sabotage meals. Because one bite of bread, cakes, icecream, pizza, will lead to a binge for not only that day, but for DAYS or WEEKS after.
This is one of the biggest reasons why MOST trainers clients look like shit. Because most trainers encourage cheat meals and once the client starts the food is so dopamine spiking, rewarding, getting them HIGH, they cannot stop. Which means a planned high calorie day of 3000 ends up being 6000+ for that day and days after.
On top of that, these foods are highly inflammatory, which make you lethargic, and trigger injuries or aches and pains in your workouts. Which means LESS workouts, less effort, less calorie burn for you for days or weeks after.
We do not do CHEAT meals, we do REFEED meals. Which is the same concept of getting a high calorie/high carb day but with CLEAN foods. So instead of garbage dominoes pizza, you make your own keto pizza with clean ingredients. Or instead of eating bread, pasta, and icecream, you eat fruit and sweet potatoes.
And still LIMIT your intake. By my recommendations we do REFEED days every 7 to 14 days. Deficit for 6 if you’re leaner, refeed day 7. If you’re heavier, deficit for 13 days refeed 1day.
But we DO NOT CHEAT. Got it? Good.
#5. You’re eating out too often.
Once again an easy way to overeat calories. you have no idea the portion sizes, ingredients, the farms they get their foods from, etc. Restaurant food is designed for 1 thing, to taste good. They dont care about your abs. They use food, and ingredients that are calorie packed, for there foods.
Even if you order smart, you can almost guarantee what you’re eating is 50% to 100% more calories than you think it is. You do this daily, or multiple times per week, and you can easily be overeating and delaying or preventing any results whatsoever.
Theres a common trend of those who eat restaurant food the most and being the most overweight.
I get it, eating out is good times with those you love, but you have to keep it to a minimum. Id save it for refeed days only mainly.
So stop being lazy and COOK your own meals for the majority of the week.
Dont know how to cook?
So what karen! Get your ass in the kitchen and learn! Theres tons of online videos, articles, and books on this. Not knowing doesnt excuse you, LEARN!
#6. Youre Weighing your proteins cooked
“WHAT??? OMG I do that”
Is probably what you’re thinking huh? This is one of the most common mistakes, I used to do this too until I too learned the hard way.
The calories in your proteins (beef, fish, turkey, seafood) are to be weighed in the RAW form. This is the state the nutritional info is for. NOT the cooked.
Most proteins lose 25-50% or more after cooking. So in other words if you’re weighing out 8oz of cooked chicken thighs, this could be 16oz of calories worth. You do this for 3+ meals per day and you’re overeating 1000+ from protein. No deficit, no loss. Period.
So account for the RAW form. Theres hacks to this but thats another article in itself.
Im sure your mind was just blown, most trainers dont even know this. Now you understand more why that scale isnt moving, huh?
Weigh it raw, track it!
#7. Tracking the wrong brands
Lets say you are eating clean, weighing portions correctly, tracking macros, not cheating, and doing everything right, but still not budging, you’re probably tracking the wrong brand in your app.
Mainly speaking about protein sources, not all proteins are the same. Steak from one farm could be 500 calories for 8oz, but over 1000 from another farm. So another common mistake is you’re tracking and eating the low calorie, wrong brand, but eating the high calorie brand.
So verify the nutrition info in the app vs the farm/package/website of the brand you get your food from. Most packages today have barcodes you can scan on your app, then choose serving size. But you need to Verify.
This is a common mistake I’ve made and I see people do all the time.
#8. You’re not burning enough calories
Your workouts are either inconsistent, non existent or they straight up suck. lol
You need to burn calories 7 days a week if fat loss is your goal, you have to BURN calories so you can eat your deficit amount and burn fat. They all arent going to be beastmode, some will be active recovery days, but you must put in the sweat and effort daily.
Or you starve. Your choice. Workout 7 days or Fast on the days you rest. Im sure after one day of fasting youll realize putting in workout is more fun and easier.
But you need prioritize LIFTING not cardio. You can get ripped doing zero cardio if your macros are DIALED and your lifting workouts are intense.
For example:
Typical gym goer that never gets results
Does this
10 reps of bench press, rest for 5 mins texting.
10 reps, rest 5 mins
10 reps rest 5 mins.
Moves to the next exercise. This is boring, a waste of time, and isnt burning shit for calories.
Heres how to train intense!
Bench Press 10 reps, Pullups 10 reps, Squat jumps 20 reps. Rest 90. 5 rounds. Then choose another 3. Then another 3.
See the difference? Who do you think is going to burn more calories? Who do you think is going to get sexy faster?
Clearly the one training intense.
Then if you want to accelerate this you add on some sprints at the end of each lifting session and youll get shredded quick! (But only if your diet is on point)
#9. You’re not holding yourself accountable
There are a few things you need to do to hold yourself accountable so that way you get to the next level.
Tracking your food, weighing portions is one of those.
Training 7 days or starving the day you dont is one.
Weighing yourself daily is another. If you’re lighter its not going to drop much or down consistently, but if you are heavier it should be.
Doing a body fat test every week on same day, same time. This and weighing are simple self accountability hacks that will make you step your game up. When you know you’re gonna step on that scale or get a thorough body fat test done you will subconsciously work harder and being disciplined, in your workouts, and being consistent.
Selfie Sundays. Take a selfie in swimsuit or undies every sunday at the same time this too makes you work harder because you dont want to see no progress.
Make a habit of doing all of these and watch what happens to your physique! Youll blow peoples minds!
#10. You’re not hanging around the right crowd
“Show me your friends and Ill show you your future”
“You become like those you spend the most time with”
This is a fact. The biggest determining factor to your success in life and with your body is WHO you associate with the most.
Right now you’re probably hanging out with a lot of people who are overweight, out of shape, and dont have getting sexy as a priority.
What do these kinds of people want to do? Eat out and drink. A LOT.
They are fun, I get it.
But guess what else they do?
They eat all the garbage you are trying to avoid.
They offer you a bite or buy you foods you shouldnt be eating.
“Omg this is so good, just take a bite. one bite wont hurt. try this omg! Taste this (sugary drink)!”
You know exactly who I am talking about. It might even be you, you might be THAT friend. lol
You hang out with 5 obese friends, youll be the 6th.
You hang out with 5 lazy friends, youll be the 6th.
But this also works the other way, if you hangout with 5 ripped friends, youll become the 6th. So surround yourself with those that are going to take you where you want to be and limit the time spend with those sabotage friends. And make sure you tell those sabotage friends they need to be supportive of your new life, not offer you food, or you will not hangout with them. Yes, you must be this straight up.
So there you go! Im sure you found probably 10 reasons why you arent losing any weight. lol Or at least a few. Fix those and you will become INCREDIBLE!
I know this is long winded but it had to be written, this information has to get out, Americans as a whole are fat and not living to their true potential. Getting a fraction out of this life that they could be if they were healthier, more energetic, lean, confident, sexy, and happier with themselves.
Thats why I spent HOURS of my day putting this together for you, to help you and help others become YOUR best version of you.
If you like what you read, then youll love training with me in person or online. Or love one of my books. Or love following me. So Ill put some more info below.
Make sure you share this even if we never do business together, i dont care, i want to save as many lives, and shape as many lives for the better, so SHARE THIS. Save this link on your phone, reread it often, send to spouses and your friends.
Im doing my part to #MakeAmericaSexyAgain
I love you guys, I appreciate you. Thank you for reading and sharing.
Heres some links for you.
https://linktr.ee/CoachDaymond
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