One of the more controversial but highly popular articles I’ve ever produced was titled “Why are you still fat?”, where I identified and called out a number of reasons and BS stories people come up with as far as why their not getting their bodies looking the way they want.

You go to the gym all the time, (some of you) you watch what you eat more often than not, (or at least have convinced yourself you do) and do every thing you can to lose weight. (Sure you do)

In your own mind you’re giving it 110%, and have been following some sort of plan that either your under qualified trainerwho looks as him he himself needs a trainer, or some cookie cutter routine you stumbled across on social media developed by a self-proclaimed “coach” with a strong selfie game posted! How would you say that’s working out for you? If it’s going well, read no further, or perhaps read on and share this information with someone who may be struggling to see any progress.

Click here for the updated, upgraded, cold, hard truth of “Why You’re Still Fat”.

There is nothing more frustrating than putting in the work and not achieving the results we want. Can anyone relate?

So why does this happen!? Is the universe working against you? Are you just genetically big boned? Are you “carb sensitive”? (Which if you are, it’s only because you made yourself that way via piss poor eating habits?) Maybe you’re special in the sense that you don’t have the same 24 hours in a day as the other 7.4 billion people on the planet, and just don’t “have time” to eat right and go to the gym.

Let’s get real here…Fitness doesn’t discriminate based off race, gender, religious preference, eye color, or anything else of that nature.  Some people have better genetics than others, but that just means those who weren’t blessed with an advanced genetic profile, simply need to put in a little extra effort to ensure that genetic profile is altered and passed on to your off spring of future generations to come.

So WHY ARE YOU STILL FAT?

1) YOU SUCK AT COUNTING CALORIES

You are not the Rain Man of macros, and as such, have no business what so ever operating under the belief system you can figure out your macro nutrient intake down to the calorie, or accurately track how many calories you’re burning daily by your handy little fitness apps or Fit Bit bracelet.  Here’s a little secret and I hope this doesn’t take the wind out of anyone’s sales.  The world’s top fitness competitors, enthusiasts, and practitioners do not use these resources.  It’s just not needed and there are far too many variables leaving margins for error.  Also, these formulas leave a wide gray area of subjective opinion by the user.  I.E. You may “think” you’re training at “intense” and your normal daily activities  classifyas “active”, when in reality to the standards of said applications you’re lucky to be pushing slightly above “moderate” and “sedentary”, and as such, operate under the assumption you’re burning a lot more calories during the day.  So even if you’re off by only 3-400 calories, the bottom line is if you do not exist within a caloric deficitdaily, you will not lose weight.  The only proven effective way to dial in is conditioning your metabolism, and training your body via CONSISTENT macro nutrient intake and proper exercise.  Spread your meals out to no less than 4 meals daily, eat no more than every 4 hours, and ALWAYS utilize a protein supplement immediately post workout, followed by your next meal 45 min-1 hour after.

2) YOU ‘RE ON A LOW CARB DIET

I see this all to often and it irritates me more than anything.

Contrary to popular belief, avoiding carbs impairs physical performance and hinders fat loss. Now you may ask yourself, “why do I hear all these bad things about carbs making you fat?’. Well in short, that statement can be accurate. Carbs can and will make you fat if you’re taking them in from the wrong sources, at the wrong times, and in portion sizes un-conducive to your goals.  I.E. eating a massive bowl of pasta on the regular will screw up your progress, but eating a consistent portion that’s consistent to your goals routinely is just fine! Get it? Very low-no carb diets can produce rapid weight loss. No doubt. But a rule of thumb to remember as it pertains to dieting is if you lose it fast, you’ll gain it back fast. Carb restrictive diets are not sustainable and as soon as the dieter introduces carbs back into their diet, BOOM, all that weight comes back aggressively, leaving you fatter, bloated, and more depressed than before! This behavior also sets off all kinds of internal alarms in your body, which will make it more difficult in the future to lose weight again. To promote fat loss, ensure you’re taking in carbs from optimal sources and ALWAYS practice proper portion control.

3) YOU’RE NOT DRINKING ENOUGH WATER

Water is not only nature’s most abundant resource but it’s also a marquee piece of the obligatory weight loss puzzle. If you didn’t change a thing about your diet, regardless of how poor it was, simply drinking more water on a daily basis will help you begin to lose weight. The more water we drink, the less our bodies retain. Some other benefits of water are increased energy levels, flushes out toxins, improves your skins complexion, and aides in the digestion process. If you live on a steadfast diet of McDonalds twice a day currently, by simply increasing your water intake you’ll actually begin to start losing weight!  Don’t live on a steadfast diet of McDonald’s, just accept the analogy and drink more water please.

4) YOU ARE NOT TAKING A DIGESTIVE ENZYME OR PROBIOTIC

What if I told you there was a pill that you can take that would ensure your body uses more of the nutrients you put in it, and breaks down and digests anything extra it didn’t require decreasing the probability of residual calories being stored as body fat? It also promotes better internal health, reduces inflammation in the gut, and can trim inches off your waist in a very short period of time. Well, there is! Probiotics and digestive enzymes are essential not only for weight loss, but overall health and wellness in general. They are as important as the air we breathe and are responsible for constructing, synthesizing, carrying, dispensing, delivering, and eliminating many ingredients and chemicals our bodies utilize in its daily business of living. You need this. Invest in both and if you do not feel noticeably different within 15 days I will personally reimburse you.  Try me…

5) YOU’RE EATING “HEALTHY” FOODS THAT AREN’T HEALTHY

Sadly, not all food claiming to be “healthy” are healthy. Many companies will use very clever marketing and psychological tactics to convince you you’re making a solid decision by eating their product. I noticed recently when walking the cereal aisle that Cocoa Pebbles (my favorite thing ever) is now Gluten-Free! What it failed to mention was the hefty 10 grams of sugar present in a measly ½ cup serving! Things like potato chips with labels glorifying the fact they have “0 Trans Fat”, trail mix, smoothies, juices, frozen diet entrees, and energy bars often have more fat and/or sugar than large candy bars and an entire can of soda! And for some reason society has misconstrued and labeled certain fast food establishments as being safe and healthy.  A solid example here would be Chipotle.  The average customer at Chipotle consumes 1,070 calories per meal when dining in. Wake up people! You can’t get fit by eating out all, or even most of the time. As much as we all want to believe we can get away with eating these things and still look phenomenal naked, the reality is it’s never going to happen. Embrace this fact and move on.

6) YOU SNACK ON FRUIT

This is a common issue I come across with my weight loss clients. Yes, fruit is healthy in the sense it has vitamins, fiber, and anti-oxidants, all of which are essential components to ones health, but also are very dense in sugar and carbohydrates. If you aspire to lose that repulsive body fat in those stubborn areas, you need to view sugar as the Osama Bin-Laden of foods! Fruit can be ok when utilized in lieu of a traditional carbohydrate with a meal, preferably earlier in the day to provide ample time for your body to burn it off, but snacking in between meals on sugar and carbs certainly is not conducive to ones fat loss journey.You can obtain all of the dense nutrient content within fruit without the sugar and calories via reds and green drinks, and multi vitamins which you should be taking every morning anyway.

7) YOU THINK CARDIO IS YOUR EAT LIKE SH*T AND GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD

Well, it’s not. Cardio is an important part of the fat loss game, but the fact is traditional cardio sucks for fat loss. The issue here is we tend to not push ourselves out of our comfort zone while engaging in cardio, and simply coast along at a leisurely pace, rarely burning even close to enough calories to support our goals let alone out train a bad diet! Instead of the mundane, casual walk through the park pace you’ve grown accustomed to, instead incorporate HIIT training 2-3 days a week max. This will help you burn more calories in less time, and keep your body burning fat hours after the conclusion of your workout. If you’re able to talk on the phone, text, BS with the person on the machine next to you, or take selfies during your high interval periods, you are not pushing yourself hard enough. The more sweat and more out of breath you are, the better!  Also, keep in mind, weight training burns far more calories and is far superior for fat loss purposes than any form of cardio.  Again, a public misconception as a direct result of a lazy, misinformed society.  Replace your casual stroll on the treadmill or elliptical with an additional 20-30 minutes of weights.  Your body will thank you later.  But keep in mind as mentioned above, if you are burning less calories daily than what you’re consuming, you could lift weight and do cardio all day long and still not lose weight.  Change your diet, change your life.

8) YOU ARE TOO STRESSED!

So you’re stressed because you’re fat, and fat because you’re stressed. Stress on both a physical and mental level limits fat loss because it drastically elevates your bodies’ levels of cortisol. High cortisol levels reduce muscle growth and promote fat gains! (Especially in the mid-section) You mandatorily need to take time to relax, unplug, and decompress from life’s daily stressors. Keep in mind, there are terminally ill children and paraplegics out there who would love to have your problems instead of theirs. Act and think accordingly.

9) YOU DON’T TAKE SUPPLEMENTS

Nutrition is 80% of the equation as it pertains to achieving ones desired physique.  In my opinion, supplementation falls under this category as the majority of essential supplements enhance the bodies ability to utilize the nutrition we put into it.  If you feel like you don’t want or can afford to invest in supplements, you are making a bold statement to the world that the physical appearance of your body, as well as your health, wellness, levels of energy, ability to focus, mood, ability to slow down the aging process, and your sex drive are not important to you. (You way want to consult with your spouse or other ½ on the last one if you need validation) If you are one of these people, please immediately scroll to the bottom of the page and unsubscribe from this newsletter, because I cannot help you.  If you need some insight on what essential supplements I take and recommend, check out my essential supplement guide here.

#TRAINYOURBODYTRAINYOURMIND

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