are you in a calorie deficit?

Here’s the unfortunate truth:

If you haven’t lost any weight at all after 6-8 weeks, you’re not in a calorie deficit.

And by “any weight at all” I really mean any weight at all. If you’ve lost 0.1-0.2kg, that means you’ve lost weight and are in a calorie deficit and are making progress. Perhaps progress not as fast as you’d have hoped for which you can make adjustments to speed things up a little, but if you’re losing any weight at all, you are most certainly in a calorie deficit.

However…

…if you haven’t lost any weight for 6-8 weeks, it simply means you’re not in a calorie deficit even if you think you are.

And that’s ok, but it’s a truth you have to face.

There could be all kinds of reasons why you’re not in a consistent calorie deficit, it could be cos there’s some error in your calculations such as only tracking meals and not tracking nibbles, bites, sips you’re having throughout the day. It could be cos of your lack of consistency, you’re in calorie deficit for 3-4 days, then off track for another 3-4 days, and rinse and repeat for 6-8 weeks. It could simply be your calorie targets are too high and you gotta lower them a little. 

Whatever the reason is, that’s ok. There’s no need for frustration, but do take the time and focus to identify the problem, make the adjustments, and keep trying again.

There’s a huge difference between just seeing the number on the scale go down temporarily vs sustainably losing weight. Sustainable fat loss is fat you lose and never ever gain back again. And that’s our goal here, to lose weight forever.

In order for sustainable weight loss to occur, you need to be consistent with your diet. You need to be consistent, and you need to be patient too cos as much as we all want it asap, it takes time. It takes a lot of time. More time than you could imagine.

But that’s actually good news, cos yes it takes a lot of hard work, yes we have to wait for a long time, but good news is it’s far from impossible. What makes it impossible is when we quit.

When you quit, then restart some time later, then quit again, then restart again some time later, all you’re doing is just going around in a circle. Aim to not quit, no matter how slow progress seems. Even if you lose 1kg a year and keep going and not quit, that’s 1kg lighter you’ll never ever see again on the scale, and in 5 years that’s 5kg less than you are today.

Sounds slow but could you imagine 5yrs ago if you kept up with some habits consistently till this very day? I think your today would look a feel a little different.

It’s easy to say and think stuff like “but I’m in a calorie deficit, it’s just not working for me,” when in reality that’s really not the case at all. Losing weight isn’t some spiritual process where the chances of being blessed is random. Everyone can lose weight, we can all do it. The process isn’t fun, the process isn’t quick, but it’s 100% achievable.

If something’s not working for you, take some time to figure out what went wrong and try again. Don’t give up, cos fact is you can absolutely do it.

—Po