4 Reasons Why You Aren’t Seeing Fitness Progress

“Why am I getting stronger but not seeing the progress?”

You are showing up for your workouts and drinking your protein shakes. You are clearly getting stronger, feeling better, and kicking butt in your workouts.

“But why is the scale not budging and why can’t I see my abs yet?!”

So, why am I not seeing any progress?

Here are the usual suspects that may be stopping you from seeing your desired fitness results:

You aren’t in a caloric deficit.
You aren’t moving enough. (NEAT)
Your macros are off.
You aren’t living the lifestyle.

Just by making a few tweaks you can drop that last little bit of body fat and gain those results you’ve been hoping for.

I hate to break it to you though, this won’t happen with just a few resistance workouts a week. Those workouts are great, don’t get me wrong. They help you to build muscle and they can be a part of a fat loss program, but there are a few more things you will need to include into your routine. So let me talk you through these a bit more.

How to achieve fitness progress

You want to see results, so follow these 4 steps to start progressing with your fitness. Here’s how you can start:

Be in a calorie deficit

This is one factor that no one wants to listen to but losing weight is down to science. Your body has to be in a deficit to lose weight, that’s a fact.

I recommend using one of the many calculators online to find your maintenance calories, like MyFitnessPal.

Factor in your activity level and from there, create a 150-300 calorie deficit. Aim to meet this daily until you reach your goal. You can then shift over to your maintenance allowance from there. It might make it easier and more sustainable if you go back and forth between maintenance and deficit as well. The results might be a little slower but it can be more sustainable this way.

Make sure not to put yourself into too large a deficit because this can be harmful for your health and it is often not sustainable, meaning you are more likely to give up sooner.

Move more

Go get your steps in. Walking is so very much underrated in my opinion. Most people think they need to run on a treadmill or bike or burpee their way through cardio miserably. Nope, just get more steps in.

Why not get out on a vegan camping trip and take some nice long hikes with your friends?

Play with your dog, take the stairs, occasionally get the heart rate up, and have fun. I recommend going for 8000 steps, building up to 10,000 steps a day for weight loss and maintenance.

Find out more about NEAT here.

Get your macros right

By getting your calories from our first step above you’ll be able to factor your macronutrients. These are the fat, carbohydrate, and proteins in your diet. I don’t like to be too strict with this unless you are body building, but if you are trying to lose body fat and have a more toned physique it is important to pay some attention to your macros.

First step in this, be sure to get a sufficient amount of protein (try these amazing plant proteins) and be mindful not to overdo the fat. I like to keep the fat content below 20% of my daily calories and I try to avoid saturated fats like oil and fried food whenever possible.

Whole food carbs can be eaten in the biggest percentage as it’s your body and brain’s main energy source. You can take this step by step and tweak your percentages until you find what works for you.

Start by aiming to reach your protein target and staying within your calorie range or deficit. This alone may help you see results.

Live the lifestyle

You can’t keep these three steps above going if you don’t commit to the lifestyle of a healthy lean person! What I mean by that is create a plan and be consistent. Even on days when motivation is lacking, show up for yourself. Just like you would if you were trying to save money – you would create a budget and a plan to do so.

In this case, we are going to plan out our week. When are you doing resistance, when are you going to get walks or other movement in, when are you going to the grocery store, and what are you going to eat?

Part of living the lifestyle is also surrounding yourself with people who are either living the lifestyle already or those willing to help you live the lifestyle. Instead of calling a friend to grab a beer, call a friend for a coffee and a walk around the park.

Your body will start resemble your lifestyle choices. Not to say you can’t have those fun, let loose nights every once in awhile but its what you do most and consistently that will lead you to reaching your goals.