Can Slow Weight Loss Be Due To Genetic Limitations?
I’ve been training hard for a long time, and I’m beginning to think my slow weight loss may be due to genetics. Any suggestions?
First off, let me say that genetic limitations are real – some folks do truly have more difficulty losing weight than others – but what you do can greatly affect these so-called genetic limitations.
That you’re losing weight at all is progress and you should celebrate that.
Okay – onto the…
Weight Loss Solutions
What sort of diet are you consuming? Weight loss is almost entirely a matter of diet: both what you’re eating and how much.
Whenever a client or gymgoer asks me this question, upon exploration I find that their diet is inappropriate for weight loss.
Usually, they’re eating low-fat style: a lot of grains (but healthy ones), not a whole lot of protein.
This is no good; as we’ve described in the various articles on this site, weight loss depends not only on the calories you take in, but on where those calories come from.
In other words, “you can eat just 800 calories’ worth of cookies for your daily intake, but you ain’t goin’ to lose no weight!”
Next, it’s great that you’re an experienced exerciser.
The question is: what do you do in your exercise program?
This isn’t a glib question. Many people have this conception that all they have to do is get on the treadmill, pound away, and the bodyfat will magically melt off somehow. Not so.
While you can have success “doing cardio” to lose weight, the real deal is in strength training to build muscle mass and increase metabolic rate and adjusting your diet to increase weight loss.
Not only is it the most time-efficient method, it saves a ton of wear and tear on your joints.
Lastly, if you’re firing on all cylinders, strength training for muscle, eating right to create the proper hormonal environment for weight loss, and doing Mike’s High Intensity Interval Training to speed up the weight loss, and are still not losing fat, then I not-so-humbly suggest that you pick up a copy of the Dirty Little Book of Dieting.
This book contains all the little tricks Mike and I have picked up through our years of training clients and researching studies and exercise journals. We only included the things that worked, either in practical application or in the lab.
We don’t discuss “snake-oil remedies” like Hoodia or “miracle supplements” like the old Cortislim or Trimspa.
Jump Start Your Weight Loss By Losing 10 Pounds In 5 Weeks
Instead, we focused on things that were natural, safe, and clinically effective, as well as the best food and exercise strategies for weight loss.
The book also contains some of the exercise and nutrition strategies we detail in the website articles, along with specific programs and examples.