1. You are eating TOO much. Even if you are carefully measuring and planning your main meals, extra calories can sneak in during snack. It is VERY common to significantly under-estimating the number of calories you are consuming on a daily basis. If you’re not sure, write down everything you eat for one whole week.

2. You are not eating enough. You need to create a caloric deficit by reducing you calorie intake slightly. If you go too far below your maintenance calories, your body goes into starvation mode; sheds muscle and stores calories as fat, for a future energy source. Not eating enough supportive foods also lowers the amount of calories you burn….less thermic meals = less body fat burned.

3. You are not lifting weights – cardio burns calories but it doesn’t boost your metabolism. Resistance training is *critical* to maintaining your muscle and tone. If you’re not lifting weights while trying to lose body fat, you will lose muscle and tone and your metabolic rate will decrease causing you to burn fewer calories 24 hour-a-day!

4. You are simply not exercising anywhere near enough! You can only decrease your caloric intake so much before you start losing your fat burning muscle. The only other alternative is to increase calories out. VERY FEW people are successful at losing weight AND keeping it off without exercising almost everyday!! Make it a rule to be active at the very least 30 minutes a day.

If you’re having trouble losing weight, 20 minutes of exercise three times a week isn’t going to cut it! Most people who tell me they are *really serious* about losing weight are not willing to do what it takes to get where they want to be. If you’re not willing to make exercise a *serious* priority in your life, your chances of succeeding at losing weight and keeping it off are VERY small!
5. Are you impatient? Are you looking for *instant* results? When it doesn’t happen, you may give up. You HAVE to be resolved to the fact that it takes the integration of the Factors of Fat Loss and change WILL be slow yet steady! Try focusing on progress, not perfection

6. Are you any skipping meals? If so, do not expect to see results.  Skipping meals slows your metabolism causing body to store calories rather than burn them
7. Are you eating sugary foods or simple / refined carbohydrates?  White rice, white (non whole wheat) flour products, white pastas, soft drinks , sweetened drinks – like juice, and the hundreds of products that contain added sugar that’s deceptively listed on ingredient lists with names like sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, etc. turns off the hormones responsible for releasing your body fat and instead turns ON the hormones that store fat.

8. How many alcoholic drinks do you have each week? Alcohol stimulates your appetite, slows your metabolism, and it’s loaded with empty (sugar) calories!

9. Are you having fruits and/or vegetables EVERY time you eat? Are you taking your whole food multi-vitamin and omega supplements every day?

10. Are you planning and preparing your meals ahead of time? If you have not planned your meals, you are more likely to cheat and find yourself off track.

11.(BONUS) Are you drinking a recovery drink immediately post workout?  if not you are depriving your muscle the indregients necessary for repair and growth, and thus compromising your metabolism BIG TIME (For a great post workout drink visit www.synergize.getprograde.com.

As you can see, fat loss can be VERY difficult…….if you don’t want it bad enough to do what it takes. If you really want to change, quit playing around with it. Get serious about it and make it an absolute, non-negotiable priority in your life… and it will happen!

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