Q:I exercise like crazy. Why am I not losing weight?
A:
There are many potential causes of this phenomenon. It is not uncommon at all.
- One potential cause is that over-exercising can actually cause your body to hold onto fat. When you exercise every day to exhaustion, your body can become accustomed to the need for readily available energy and can consequently hold onto body fat.
- Another reason could be that you are over eating to compensate. When you eat the calories that you feel like you have burned, you often end up thwarting your efforts at weight loss.
- Yet a third reason could be because you are doing the same exercise that you have always done. Marathon runners often run into this. When you do the same exercise (running, walking, elliptical), your body begins to burn less and less exercise as the body becomes conditioned to that type of exercise. Over time, you burn far less calories than you did when you first started. This can lead to plateaus or even weight gain.