Health and Fitness Coach

Fitness Tips: Been training 4-5 times per week but STILL not losing weight!


joanne would like to know:
Hi I am 36years old and 5ft and weigh 84kg i have been going to the gym for 1 year now and have not lost any weight but my body shape has changed a bit. I was going 4 to 5 times per week doing a pump class, rpm or the cardio room doing rower 10min then treadmill 6.0 1 min in 10% incline and 2 min normal for 20min then the x trainer on aerobics for 10mins. Since not losing much weight i am now just concentrating on the rpm class for 4 -5 times per week and using 5kg dumpbells at home. I am desperatley needing some progress soon. Can you give me any suggestions. PLEASE!


Find out more about my online fitness training, including training programs and diet plans.
Hi Joanne,
It's all about your diet! I know plenty of super fit overweight people. I even trained a guy who was gaining weight training for a marathon! So my fist suggestion is to get your diet in check. There are many ways to do this but my top three suggestions are:
  1. Start calorie counting. Go to the calorie king website, join (its free) and start monitoring your daily intake. Get it down to 1200-1500 cals/day. Thats 3 x 300cal meals and 2 x 150 cal snacks. Use herbal teas and water to overcome the initial hunger pangs.
  2. Join Lite and easy: It's a weekly delivery of calorie controlled food. Even if you only do it for two weeks you will start to learn about portion sizes.
  3. For an initial boost, replace 1-2 meals per day with weight loss shakes. Complete powder is my favorite (chocolate).

As for your training. The frequency is good (4-5 times/wk) but you need to seriously ramp up your intensity. You need to be at absolute maximum effort at the end of each Pump class. Your muscles should be sore the few days afterwards. RPM is good but again you need to challenge yourself. Reduce the rests between tracks, dial up - big time! Keep your pedal speed in time with instructors legs. 

With your cardio program try this:

  • Rower 1000m as fast as you can. Record your time and try to beat it each session
  • Treadmill 30min: 10% incline for 3min, flat for 2min. Then 6.8km/hr for 3min, 6.0 for 2 min. Keep alternating those for 30min. Any reason why you aren't jogging - even a little? jogging will get you faster results. Try this, even if you think it's too hard, you can always hop on the side for a quick 10sec rest then keep going. After a few times you will be fit enough to do it without stopping.
  • X trainer 15min as per your aerobic program. 

Like I said, diet is the key and you really need to get down to 1200-1500cals per day. Sometimes it takes some mindset training to look at your obstacles and what is holding you back, sometimes it's just education, other times there are some emotional road blocks that need to be cleared.  If you need some support around this I'm here to help.

Amelia



Find out more about my online fitness training, including training programs and diet plans.

Tags: weight loss, exercise, diet