Chief Complaint: “I am Exercising So Much and Not Seeing Any Results.”

Let’s break this chief complaint down a little. We have to start by asking what we mean when we say “not seeing results.” Because when most people say this, they’re measuring one thing: the scale. 

Here’s how it tends to go for most women:

You’re motivated and you have a goal in mind: look more toned and hit your goal weight. You start an exercise routine and do all the right things. You feel like you’re sacrificing a lot to make your routine happen on top of work and your home life, and just having no time. You’re also cleaning up your eating, which just adds to the feeling of sacrifice. And because of all of this sacrifice, you feel like there should be a great reward. 

So you go at it for a week, and things are going well. Your pants are fitting a bit better, you’re feeling excited. Then comes the day you step on the scale to see all the fruits of your labor. You jump on the scale... just to see that you have lost no weight or have even gained a couple of pounds. 

What goes through your head? “This isn’t working. Why am I even getting up an hour early to do this? I’m never going to reach my goal. My body is broken. This isn’t gonna work for me.”

And then you start scrolling through Facebook, seeing all the people who are making great achievements and reaching their goals. You start making comparisons and feeling even worse. 

That’s the typical scenario of what can happen when we expect great results immediately with exercise and we don’t see them based on the scale.

Having an Honest Conversation

So let’s rewind and see how we can do things differently to avoid getting to that point. First, it’s 100% necessary to have an honest conversation with yourself. You have to dive into what is realistic and how you’ll measure results. Let’s say all you know and all you’ve ever done is measuring results in one way - the scale. If you continue to do that, you’re going to continue to get the same results and have the same thoughts. 

But if your goal is to gain muscle or lose fat, there’s not going to be a drastic change on the scale unless you have a significant amount of body fat to lose. Then again, your goal may actually be to lose scale weight, and that’s okay, as long as you have the honest conversation with yourself and decide what your true goals are. Then, you’re going to be able to develop a wonderful plan to reach that goal, consulting experts for help as necessary. 

Measuring Results

So now you know what your goal is because you’ve had that honest conversation. You’ve determined that this is a realistic goal for you. So how do you measure it?

If your goal is to be a lower number on the scale, you’re not as concerned with body fat percentage or what your photos look like, you use the scale. Super easy. But what if your goal is not weight loss on the scale but rather gaining muscle mass and losing body fat? That's a whole different approach.

Because it’s quite difficult for most body types to gain a bunch of muscle and lose a bunch of fat all at the same time, especially if you’re more of a mesomorph/endomorph, which most of my clients are. In that case, the best that we can do is feed ourselves in a way that we are slowly adding lean body mass and slowly decreasing body fat mass. 

Feeling Better

And what if you have that honest conversation with yourself and discover you just want to feel better? What if the result has nothing to do with the scale, with body fat percentage or lean body mass gain? What if truly the reason that you are exercising and eating to fuel your body well is that you just want to feel better? 

Well, that’s a great goal and that result absolutely will set us up for more success than we even realize. If you exercise for what it is, enjoying the movement of exercise, you're going to do it again and again. It’ll be part of what you do every day. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, it can even just be going outside and walking around the block, enjoying nature, and having the mindful experience that exercise can bring. The more you can get yourself into the place where you enjoy exercise, the less you’ll have the thought of, “I’m making a huge sacrifice.” 

See, if exercise can be for pleasure, to feel good, it will make you consistent, which is the hallmark of what will keep you going. And if you keep going, you’ll have amazing results: you’ll enjoy things more, be in the moment more, be fitter, and hit other goals like scale loss, body fat loss, and muscle gain anyway. 

The Relationship Between Exercise and Results

There is a science to exercising for results. You’ll often hear that if you’re trying to lose scale weight, exercise can sometimes be counterproductive. And that’s true. Even with the most strenuous activity, the amount of calories you usually burn isn’t so significant, but it does increase your appetite. So exercise won’t necessarily lead to a calorie deficit, which is what you need to do in order to see scale weight loss. 

Yet exercise is one of the best things you can do for yourself, so would you really want to give it up in order to lose pounds? Instead, let’s say you decide you want to lose scale weight and will incorporate exercise because it’s healthy. Start with a small amount of exercise. Notice how it feels in your body and what it does to your appetite. Then choose to slowly add more exercise or stay where you are. 

With a transformation goal, it takes more of a nutrition-combined-with-exercise approach. That means getting the correct and right amount of macronutrients. But counting macros isn’t always sustainable. You want to be able to go to restaurants and on vacation without food worries. That’s why intuitive eating is so effective. It requires trust in yourself, which combines mind and body awareness, making a mind/body pact to agree and move forward with what you planned for. That’s when the magic will happen.

It takes a lot of self-reflection to get there. But if you do so, the changes in your body and mind will happen by default.