FRIDAY
I think there are some of you who may need a little pep talk or some sort of awakening as to why you are doing CrossFit 4-5 times a week and are not happy with your body fat composition. I hear from time to time from frustrated members regarding their training and lack of results they’ve been looking for. I usually ask for a food log and then it all stops there … Most of us know what we need to do with our diets, but would rather place blame somewhere else. If getting fit and being fit were so easy, then we’d see a lot less overweight people. So, here are 5 reasons why you may not be losing body fat. This is a short list of some of the most common reasons why people stall or quit on their way to achieving fat loss. I hope this may help you get more focused.
1. You’re eating either too little or too much. Eating too much is obviously going to prevent you from losing fat. Eating too little? If you cut calories too hard while exercising intensely, you’ll burn muscle tissue in response to the incredible stress.
Eating “enough” means fueling your body so you can build or retain lean mass and increase performance, while creating just enough of a calorie deficit to gradually lose body fat.
2. You don’t have a plan or support system. A good fat loss plan should outline basic things like calorie/macronutrient goals. What kinds of actvity you’ll be doing each day of the week and how long certain phases will last. It shouldn’t emphasize supplements or give you an overly restrictive list of foods. It’s all about balance.
3. You’re too rigid/restrictive with your diet. People who are flexible with their diets are the ones with the best overall body composition.
4. You’re not logging your food. You need to know how much you’re eating vs. how much you should be eating so you can make modifications to your diet that will result in fat loss without killing your performance.
5. You’re not prioritizing performance. Eat to perform. You should be eating to fuel your workouts to increase work capacity – strength, endurance and speed.
A great app you may want to use is called My Fitness Pal. This will help you calculate what your daily caloric/macronutrient breakdown is and then you can easily log in your food for the day. Once you use up your macronutrients, then you are done for the day and tomorrow is another day. This allows for flexible eating also called IIFYM (if it fits your macros.) You can have that dish of ice cream, but it will be deducted from your calories/macros for the day. As you log in your food your calories/macros decrease until you hit your goal for the day. It’s a little time consuming, but it’s also an eye opener. Some of the healthy meals you’re eating may be a little too large. You can still eat healthy and gain weight. You may be eating too much. Try the app to get an idea of what your caloric intake should be in order to lose that unwanted body fat. I hope this helps get some of you motivated again!
We have our youngest CrossFitter … Peyton!
Don’t forget this Saturday is Friends and Family Day during the 8 and 9 class. If you bring someone in that ends up loving CrossFit and wants to get started in the Elements program, you will get $50 off your next months membership. And don’t forget the Weightlifting class is back at 10 am!
STRENGTH:
Overhead squat
3/3/1/1/1
Go for a heavy single or work on form and technique
CrossFit WOD:
4 rds:
500 meter row
10 overhead squats 135#/95# RX+ 155#/105#