Why Am I Gaining Weight When I Am Eating Less and Working Out?

Today’s question is✨ why am I gaining weight when I am eating less and working out? ✨

I’m 100% sure that the people asking this question are asking for a friend 🙂

So I’m gonna help out

There are three buckets we need to look at.

• Exercise
• Food
• Hormones

We’re gonna go through in order because the first bucket is the easiest to fix.

The second one is meh.

And the third is kind of ghetto.

So let’s start with exercise.

When your friend is eating less, working out, and gaining weight, they need to go into the Apple Health app.

Then look at the total amount of calories they are burning throughout the day.

The specific metric to look for is called “Active Energy”

They can also do this if they use Android or Windows.

I’m just going with Apple health because that’s what i use

Why Am I Gaining Weight When I Am Eating Less and Working Out? – exercise

What tends to happen is this.

When we start exercising, some of us will then become very sedentary the rest of the day.

I’m saying “some of us” because I’ve done this myself.

We will sit and lay around all day. And just not move the rest of the day.

Looking at active energy can help debug this problem so to speak.

When they check their active calories, if it’s anything less than 400, then it’s an easy fix.

They just need to move more.

Yes, in additon to doing a workout they still need to move more.

I know, insane 😲🤯

You would think doing a workout is enough.

But – alas – that’s not how the body works.

We need to make sure we’re moving throughout the rest of the day.

Gaining Weight When I Am Eating Less and Working Out – easy fix

Another thing they can do is to think back to when they weighed the amount they were happy with.

For example

Let’s say your friend weighed a certain amount in 2018.

And they wanna go back to their 2018 weight.

They can just go back in their Apple Health app to see the number of active calories they were burning a day in 2018.

And whatever that number was – 500, 600, whatever – that’s the amount they need to hit.

They want to hit that number, on average everyday to see real results.

It’s not enough to just workout.

That active calories number really matters.

Here’s a really easy way to burn more calories – day to day.

When your friend goes to Target, they need to park as far away from the door as possible.

Tell them to stop the nonsense of waiting for somebody to pull out before they park 😂

You know why I’m getting passionate? It’s because I’m talking to myself

I do that – and I’m trying to do better!

Why Am I Gaining Weight When I Am Eating Less and Working Out? – food

Moving on to food and nutrition

Many people that are gaining weight when they eat less and exercise have one thing in common.

They have been dieting for a long time.

Just imagine that digestion is like a rubber band.

Dieting is like pulling that rubber band repeatedly until it becomes slack.

Just like a rubber band, digestion is weakened when it is stretched too far by dieting.

And so if your friend has been dieting, chances are their digestion is weak and needs to be strengthened.

Quick way to improve weakened digestion

The easiest way to fix that kind of digestive stress is to simply eat juuuust a little bit more.

For example

1. An extra drumstick
2. An extra avocado
3. An extra sandwich

Just a little bit of something…

And over the course of about two to three weeks, the digestion should start to get stronger.

Because the body will get the message that there is no famine, starvation is not happening, there will be food.

And then our bodies can relax and let go of fat instead of storing it for a rainy day 😭

The time it’ll take for a person’s digestion to recover depends on how long and how severely they’ve been dieting and restricting their food.

If there’s any fear of food, I would recommend talking to a Registered Dietician.

I am Certified as a Nutritionist and Personal Trainer but I am not a Registered Dietician.

What they can do for you above and beyond the value I have offered here is this.

They can help create a tailored meal plan that will help your friend reintroduce an appropriate amount of food into their body.

Why Am I Gaining Weight When I Am Eating Less and Working Out? hormones

The third and final bucket they need to look at their hormones.

Hormones is anything from insulin to cortisol.

There are certain hormones that encourage the body to store fat.

So regardless of what we do with diet and exercise, if the body is releasing certain hormones, the body is storing fat.

And that’s just the way it’s going to be!

Easy Way to Balance Hormones

The single most important thing we can do to balance our hormones is to sleep.

Getting that eight hours of sleep is not a joke.

It is essential for our wellbeing and successful weightloss.

If your friend is getting enough sleep, hitting their active calories, eating enough then they’re gonna need to do some hormone testing.

There are labs that allow people to order hormone tests kits from home.

Others will have you order the exam from home then go to the lab to get it professionally done.

And some doctors will do it for you.

I have personally had my DHEA levels tested.

I have tested my cortisol levels.

Listen, I have tested all sorts of stuff 😂 because I love what i do!

It is fun and interesting to me.

I should have introduced myself sooner but better late than never

My name is Kola just like Coca-Cola.

I am certified as a Personal Trainer and Nutritionist.

I’m a wife. I’m a mom. And I’m just here to help

Take the quiz here and see if my workout programs are right for you…and your friend :).

Why Am I Gaining Weight When I Am Eating Less and Working Out? : Video