Dr Gemma Sampson · 24. What to do when weight loss isn't progressing the way you expect? (Ask a sports dietitian)

Are you trying to lose weight as a cyclist to improve your power to weight ratio and frustrating by the rate of progress?

Our Ask a sports dietitian question of the month comes from Jamie who asks:

I am struggling to work out why I'm not making any progress with my weight loss. For some reason this morning I weighed myself and I'd put on over a kg. Why do you think this is? What am I doing wrong?

As a sports dietitian, I regularly have conversations about weight loss, 'lack of progress' and the thoughts, feelings and emotional responses that follow.

Listen in to hear what I recommend when weight loss progress isn't what you expect.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Soundcloud or watch on Youtube.

Weight loss is not constant or linear

First. I want to highlight is that (frustratingly), weight loss rarely occurs is a constant linear line.

It's completely normal to go up and down which is why looking at the trendline long term and also having OTHER outcome measures of progress beyond just number on the scale is key to long term sustainability. Eg better recovery, coping with higher training load, new peak power inputs, fewer binge eating episodes, a better relationship with your body to help you keep motivated if there is a plateau.

Don't overthink the daily variation in body weight

Earlier this week I weighed myself pretty much every hour throughout the day over a 24h period to demonstrate just how much weight can change.

Funny enough I started and finished the day at 62.1kg with the highest weight 62.7 after eating breakfast and the lowest weight of 61.5 after I had sweated an absolute tonne during a 4 hour ride at 38 degrees. Over the entire day the number on the scaled varied by 1.2kg. Had my body composition changed?

Very unlikely!

Don't overthink the daily ups and downs of weight - it's often just changes in water, food and sweat! Look at the trend over weeks months and years. Lots of factors influence variation and you want to see a consistent change over weeks to consider it to be 'true'.

If you were to 'only' lose one kilogram a month on average for the next 12 months - would you look back and consider that a win? Or lack of progress because you expected that you 'should' lose two kilograms a month?

Where have you made progress?

Secondly I want you to take a moment to think about your actions and results when you conclude that you hadn't made 'enough' progress. Are you making positive nutritional choices from that headspace.

Our actions dictate whether we move towards our goals or away from them. And so often we allow our feelings and emotions to derail us away from our goals- whether that's snacking, going on a binge.

It's never just the food. It's becoming aware and learning to manage with everything that is influencing our food choices. Be it stress, travel, other people or thoughts that we are failing and not getting results soon enough.

Are you losing weight in a sustainable or unsustainable manner?

When it comes to weight, maintenance is key and too often I see clients lose weight rapidly in an unsustainable manner only to regain it back a few weeks later when they stop restricting and return to their usual food habits. Because they hadn't addressed the underlying behaviours influencing food choices.

These are exactly the sorts of behaviours, thoughts and emotions that I aim to help my clients work through and let go of so they no longer derail progress.

Are you giving yourself enough time to see results?

True weight loss doesn't happen overnight and many people aren't giving themselves enough time and consistency to see a true change.

Overnight changes and fluctuations are more likely to be fluid - not body composition.

Especially with women, but also with many men, I see that it typically takes at least 2 weeks of being consistent with nutritional changes to begin to see/feel physical changes on the body (clothes looser, feeling 'smaller' as such) and then another 2 weeks beyond that to see meaningful changes on the scale.

When I say meaningful, this is in terms of the weight loss actually being fat mass, not just water weight or losses in muscle. because that would likely influence muscle wastage, compromised hormone and immune function, reductions in your power and speed and cycling performance.

Play the long term game and consider what are you REALLY hoping to achieve when you say you want to lose weight?

Lower weight doesn't automatically mean more power on the bike and better performance - I often see cyclists with better performance, health and emotional/psychological relationship with food psychological outcomes at a heavier weight.

What is the real outcome you are looking for when it comes to weight loss?

Consider these outcomes - Would you regard these as failure or success?

Your weight stays stable and because you are better fuelled, you can cope with a greater training load, leading to better performance, recovery etc
Your weight trend reduces steadily (although up and down on a daily pattern) and power/speed/performance/recovery improves at the same time.
Your weight reduces rapidly and you achieve your 'goal number' but your power, speed, recovery and performance is worse

My priority for all my clients is long-term results and sustainability, for you to be able to adapt what you eat specifically to suit the training you are doing at the time, without the need for extreme deprivation and the yo yo up and down (which in the long term can really compromise weight change).

Weight loss is frustrating for many because it rarely is a case of do x and achieve y. There are many many factors that influence the rate of weight loss on an individual level.

Not losing weight isn't a failure. Maintenence is a win.

I like to remind clients that regarding weight - maintenance is actually a win. Especially when you are changing things up, adding new foods into the mix. By fuelling better in and around training, you are able to train harder, longer and be more efficient with food choices the rest of the day - which in turn leads to true changes in body composition.

Weight is a very fickle thing which is why I recommend people look at the long term changes rather than the acute. Overnight, weight can change dramatically due to fluid changes, salt intake carbohydrate. Eg if you ate more carbs yesterday, or if you carb load well it is normal and a good thing to be 2-3kg heavier because you will store 2-3g water with every additional gram of glycogen which is used up during exercise. Similarly - if you have done a long hard ride, in the heat, that has been under fuelled or have been dehydrated or not enough electrolytes, it is also very normal for weight to be ‘increased’ for a few days after from inflammation, fluid retention. Weight on its own doesn’t tell t he whole picture.

Also when it comes to weighing yourself - what thoughts and food choices are you then making afterwards because of this - are they smart choices? Or are they emotional eating choices? For some people it is better not to weigh themselves because of the negative head space they get to afterwards.

ACTION - Think of other measures of progress - beyond the scale

I want you to come up with 3 or 4 additional measures of progress beyond the scale that can help fuel positive nutritional choices (instead of emotional ones). This could be changes in energy levels, appetite, better recovery, coping with greater training load, new peak power outputs etc...

That’s all for today!

Gemma

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