Over the years that I’ve done personal training and boot camps in San Jose, I’ve seen a lot of well intentioned people get really frustrated that they’re “doing all that they can” to lose weight and the scale still won’t budge.  

My experience has been that a lot of my customers get the exercise part down pretty well (could be because when I show up, they have to work out!).  It’s the food part that holds them back from shedding body fat.

There are a number of reasons why weight loss doesn’t happen when we think we’re doing everything right. Over the next few weeks, I’ll give you a few solutions to help you bust through your weight loss plateau.

Solution #1:  Measure your food

Please don’t shoot the messenger, but if you’re hanging on to extra weight, one of the reasons may be that you’re still eating too much. I was reminded of this today as I looked over a new client’s food journal. Although she was making some decent food choices most days of the week, she really had no idea how many servings of food she was eating.  Big mistake.  

We can’t simply pour high fiber cereal into our bowl and call it a “serving”.  It might be 3/4 of a cup.  It might be 2 cups.  Depends on your bowl, doesn’t it?  You’ve got to measure it.  Yes, I know.  What a pain in the butt.  Here’s the thing–you don’t have to measure every single time!  But, you’ve got to do it at least once so that you know how much 1 serving of a particular cereal looks like in your bowls.  Read the label for serving size and then measure it out and dump it in your bowl. You need to know what 8 oz. of non-fat milk looks like in your glasses.   You need to know what 4 oz. of chicken, fish or beef looks like on your plates.  Get the picture?  You need to be a label reader and a measurer.

My suggestion:  Get out your measuring cups and buy a food scale (I got a cool electronic scale at eBay for $20!).  Weigh and measure the foods you commonly eat at home.  You’re gonna be surprised.  As a rule, we eat portions that are WAY too big.

Does this sound tedious?  Well, yes, perhaps it is, but it’s not a forever thing. And here’s the bottom line:

Do you want to look and feel better?  If you do, measuring stuff for a few weeks is a small price to pay.

This solution alone could save you a few hundred calories a day!

The moral of this story:  If you’re trying to lose weight, know (really KNOW!) how much you’re eating.

I’ll be back next week with solution #2.

Committed to your success,

Becky