Lack of progress in terms of fat loss is by far my most favorite conundrum to help clients tackle. I would be thrilled to spend the rest of my life being the Nancy Drew of fat loss. Let’s say that in order to lose 1 pound of fat per week, you need to eat 1500 calories per day on top of working out. That means that your average for the week needs to be 1500 for that to register as a 1 lb loss on a scale.
Monday and Tuesday are on point. So, you go out with your dudes or dudettes on Wednesday. It was a hard day. You threw caution to the wind and drank Chardonnay.
You had a great Thursday, so you reward yourself on Friday with a few glasses of wine.
Then on Saturday, catching up with “This Is Us” on demand got at your feelings so hard that you needed the Cabernet to ease the emotional stress. You got back on track Sunday.
So let’s do the math. The hard truth about alcohol is that it is a very calorie dense drink that is way easy to over do. Most servings of wine are 5-6oz and pack over 150 calories per serving. That’s 150 calories for less than a cup. I’d wager that more often than not, we don’t measure, and we have more than one glass.
The point is that it is EASY to add 500-1000 calories to your day without really recognizing it. So, in this scenario, while 4/7 days of the week are spent on track, the other 3 are spent in a calorie surplus, taking the weekly average above 1500, which means no 1 pound fat loss for the week. This scenario would put a person at about a .4-.5 pound loss for the week, if that. I have seen this scenario more than anything else on the “reasons why you’re not losing fat” list.
It doesn’t have to be the alcohol. Plug in any food. You’re NOT a failure for trying and working hard and not seeing results. Making good choices does NOT have to feel depriving and overwhelming. It just requires prioritizing. Give yourself options. Don’t let that stuff own you, it’s the other way around, yeah?
You can do it. Go get it.
-LA
