Have you ever felt like you exercise all the time and eat healthy, but the scale just doesn’t want to move? You are NOT alone! Often it appears our effort isn’t matching our results. Here are five things you can do to get the scale moving in the right direction

1. EVALUATE YOUR DIET

Zoning in on nutrition is key. A recent study by Plos One followed members of a hunter-gatherer tribe in Tanzania. The study showed that tribe members were comparable to people following a common Western diet in most ways. The difference? Their nutrition habits. While the tribe members eat mainly whole foods, we tend to indulge in highly processed foods resulting in weight gain. The moral of the story is you can exercise all you want, but if your nutrition is not sound, you might struggle to lose weight. Here are a few things to consider when it comes to nutrition:

• ARE YOU EATING TOO MUCH? To lose weight, you need to be burning more calories than you take in. Are you good all week, but then overindulged on the weekends? Even one day of eating poorly can add up to a lot of extra calories
• AVOID THE HEALTHY SNACK SABOTAGE– Do you have a favorite “healthy” snack that you eat too much of? This has been an issue for me before. During the first few months of my competition prep this season, I had a trail mix addiction. I always had a bag in the house and would go through one every week. Just a few handfuls each day wouldn’t hurt me, right? It was organic, had nuts, seeds…what’s the big deal? Once the scale stopped moving and I dug deeper into my nutrition, I realized this one bag was an extra 1200 calories every week! Take a good look at items that you snack on to see if there is anything possibly sabotaging your results.
• NOT EATING ENOUGH? Our bodies are smart and work hard to keep us alive and healthy. If we are over exercising and under eating,  our bodies are going to go into survival mode and hold on to fat to keep us going. Also, our bodies need fuel to run optimally. Make sure you are putting “enough” good things in. Sometimes just adding in more whole foods or leafy green vegetables to your diet can help your body run more efficiently

2. TRACK YOUR FOOD

Start a food journal or download an app and track everything that goes into your body. Try to track every day for a week. This will let you know how many calories you are eating. Tracking may open your eyes to that high-calorie “healthy” snack that might be a detriment to your results. You might find that you are eating too few calories and that you need to eat more. Whatever the results are, tracking is a great way to focus on your nutrition and see where improvements need to be made.

3. REVAMP YOUR EXERCISE ROUTINE

Are you exercising what feels like ALL the time and not seeing results? Our bodies adjust to the stress we put them under. Below are a few things to consider.

• MIX UP YOUR ROUTINE. I teach group fitness classes on a weekly basis. When I start my training for competitions, my group fitness classes DON’T count towards my training. So not fair, right? They don’t count because my body is used to them. It knows how to handle the workout and the frequency. I must train differently to confuse my body. If you only do spinning classes, mix it up and try a boot camp class. Try something completely different and out of your normal routine.
• STRENGTH TRAINING. The more muscle you have on your body, the more fat you will constantly be burning. A lot of times with clients, I see them more focused on cardio. Adding in strength training can get you results. The scale may not move as quickly due to the muscle mass being added, but your clothes might start to fit better and you will probably lose some inches!
• EXERCISING TOO MUCH? During my competition prep this year, the scale was stuck for several weeks with no movement. I was strength training five days a week and doing cardio 6 days a week. INSANE. I started with a new coach and the first thing he did was drop my strength training down to four days every week and we dropped the cardio down to five days and shortened the amount of time. I lost weight the first week of these changes. Why? I had been doing too much. My body was under so much stress with all the working out, that it didn’t have time to recover properly. Doing LESS ended up giving me MORE results.

WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER WITH YOUR CARDIO. LISS (Low intensity, steady state) and HIIT (High intensity interval training) are the most effective forms of cardio to burn fat. Examples of LISS include 30-45 walking on a treadmill on an incline or the elliptical. You should feel uncomfortable, but like you could keep going for a long time. HIIT is an all-out effort for a short period of time followed by a longer period of lower intensity. For example, I do sprints on an incline or bike sprints with heavy resistance. I do 8 to 10 sprints for 20 seconds each followed by 1 minute and 40 seconds of active recovery

4. DRINK MORE WATER

Our bodies are made up of approximately 70% water. We need sufficient hydration for our bodies to run optimally. I aim for one gallon a day and increase this amount if I am trying to trim down for a competition or event. Invest in a water bottle that you can easily take with you and refill throughout the day. Track your progress and make hydration a part of your daily routine. It’s important!

5. BE DISCIPLINED WITH YOUR SLEEP

Our bodies need rest to burn fat and recover. We need sleep to reduce stress from our daily lives and even from intense workouts. Make it a point to get between seven and eight hours every evening. Develop a pre-bedtime ritual to help you calm down and get to bed at a decent hour every night. Improvement with your sleep can be a big contributor to weight loss.

Ultimately, the scale is not the deciding factor when it comes to your health!

Look at these five things to get the scale moving and see what happens! More importantly, always remember that the scale is not the ONLY way or the best way to track your progress. Take pictures, measurements, and see how your clothes fit. The scale does NOT dictate your health. Make the goal to put good things in your body, to move every day, and to feel good on the inside. Do this, and the rest will follow.