1. You do too much cardio 🏃‍♀️

The first thing women run to (excuse the pun) is cardio. Walk into any gym and first sight you’ll see is women using cardio machines and guys lifting weights. It's probably one of the reasons why women feel more comfortable doing it so they gravitate towards cardio. 

Cardio isn’t all bad, in fact, you should be doing it regularly. For losing weight in my experience it only works for a few weeks. It's great at helping you burn extra calories and more importantly improve your fitness and health, but it shouldn’t be the main element of your workout unless you’re training for an event that requires that much.

When you perform cardio your metabolic rate is boosted for a short time but your body soon gets used it and will have a less effect. 

During cardio sessions, you’ll burn a decent amount of calories but it ends there. Soon after you finish that run or spin class you stop burning calories. Other forms of exercise like lifting weights increases muscle mass and can lead to a higher resting metallic rate.

If you’ve performed loads of cardio before ever noticed how hungry (more like starving) you get? This is all due to the high-calorie burn of the activities you’re doing. Yes, you want to try and burn more calories throughout the day but in excess (like doing loads of cardio) you’ll probably feel so hungry and tired you’ll overeat anyway to compensate. Obviously, this isn’t great for fat loss as you need to have a regular calorie deficit to lose fat.

Definitely, perform cardio activities but be careful how much and try to pair it with resistance training (weights). I usually recommend interval type cardio and moving more (walking, washing the car, playing with your children at the park etc).

2. You don't lift weights 💪

Most women aren’t after looking like a bodybuilder so they tend to stay clear of weight training. They perceive it as a man's activity while also saying they don’t want to ‘bulk up’ with muscle. Another reason is they probably don’t feel confident doing it in the gym as usually it's full of douchbags (mainly men thinking they own the joint).

Bulk actually comes from a mixture of muscle and fat, not just muscle. Out of the two fat is the one that really makes you look bulky. Fat is 3x the size of muscle so side by side 1lb of fat would look much bigger than 1lb of muscle (see image).

If you’re after a leaner looking (less fat and more definition) body you should really lift weights. To get ‘tone’ you actually need some muscle there in the first place. The tone/definition comes from muscle and low body fat. Simply losing your body fat won’t necessarily make you look more toned. Slimmer, yes but toned, not really. You need muscle to give you the look you want.

Building muscle also increases your resting metabolic rate (a number of calories your body burns at rest) which leads to less body fat. Imagine burning more calories while you’re watching TV. Muscle gives you that ability. 

That means you get to look more awesome and consume more food at the same time. It's a win-win.

3. You’re not lifting heavy enough 🏋️‍♀️

Ok, you already lift weights. Awesome, high five! 🙌

But are you lifting heavier enough? Yep, those 2kg dumbbells don’t cut it.

Going back to not wanting to look bulky, women tend to go for lifting lighter weights because of the same reason. They feel if they lift heavier they’ll bulk up. 

That is sort of true but women have 10x LESS testosterone as men and remember what I said about muscle being less bulky than fat.

What does that mean? Testosterone is the reason why men have more muscle on their bodies and generally (I’m saying generally ladies before you start having a go) are stronger than women. Testosterone helps build muscle and women have very low amounts. This means women will find it really hard to build excessive amounts of muscle which would lead to a bulky body.  

Oh, but that female bodybuilder in the gym is massive you say. If she’s abnormally big it could be because she’s taking steroids which can boost her testosterone levels to help her get that big. You, on the other hand, don’t have that in you so you won’t ever get that size. In fact, men have real trouble buying up, it really does take a lot of effort and eating much more food than if comfortable.

Lifting heavier lifts will not only burn more calories but also builds muscle to help you look more ‘toned’ The end result is you being a total badass! Trust me, from my experience training women for nearly 20 years when they lift heavy they tend to look smaller and lose weight. They also get a real kick out of lifting heavy things, especially if it's more than a man 🏋️‍♀️

4. You don't eat enough protein 🍖

Want to look toned and lose weight? Eat more protein. 

Protein not only helps you build muscle meaning you look more ‘toned’ it also helps you eat less.

What??? Protein makes you eat less? Why has no one told me this? Probably because they can’t sell you their latest diet pill.

Protein will really make a difference to your waistline. High protein foods like chicken and fish in meals help you feel full sooner. This then leads to less food eaten on your plate. If you’re wanting to stay slim or lose weight, increasing your protein intake is a must. 

Going back to muscle, protein helps you body build muscle and recover from workouts. Remember what I said, more muscle = higher metabolic rate = more calories burnt = less body fat. 

5. You don't eat enough in general 😩

Eating less than 1000kcal not only is dangerous to your health it is also stopping you from losing weight. The odd day here and there isn’t that bad but doing this on a regular basis is going to end in a fatter body than slimmer one.

When your body doesn’t get enough calories for a long period of time your body can shift into what's called “Starvation Mode”. 

Your body thinks it's not getting any food for a long time and starts to drop your metabolic rate to preserve calories to help keep you alive. This obviously isn’t great if you’re trying to reduce your drop body fat.

Maintain a severe calorie deficit and your body starts to lose muscle leading to an even lower metabolic rate. Once you start eating more calories again you’ll most likely gain fat because your metabolic rate has dropped so much. Your body will also try to hold on to those calories just in case it goes through the same stress again.

The better way would be to drop your calories by say 200-500 per day and wait 2 weeks to what happens. If that there's no change adjust and wait 2 more weeks. Keep doing this until something starts to shift. Obviously, they’ll come to a point when you can’t keep dropping calories so try and be sensible. Don’t forget about moving more to burn calories as its an easy win.

Also, try to look to improve the quality of foods you’re eating before dropping calories. You may find you may not need to drop them as low if they’re coming from better quality natural foods. Good nutritious food actually takes more calories to digest and is used more readily and less likely to be stored as fat.

Some other factors that may contribute……..

You don't believe in yourself 😔

Over the last 20 years, two thirds of my client base have been working with women. The one thing I’ve noticed that stops women from achieving their goals is their lack of confidence in themselves.

Women tend to be harder themselves than men and this can lead to a negative attitude towards themselves. As soon make a little mistake or miss a goal it's a spiralling downward cycle of whats the point, I’m not good enough, it's too hard, I may as well give up…..

Ladies know that you CAN get the body you want. In fact, you can get whatever the fuck you like out of life, just have a little confidence in your ability to get it done. Women before you have done so why can’t you.

I believe in you and you should too.

You're too scared of what other women think 😱

Ask most women they’re ideal shape would be and it’ll look like a super-slim size zero actress or model. Ask a guy and most will say curves. Women aren’t helping other women feel comfortable in their own skins. Women tend to put so much pressure on other women to look a certain way. Ok yes, men can do this to women too but from those years of working with female clients, women tend to cut deep. You only need to look at women’s magazines to see how mu h pressure is on other women. 

Instead of trying to look like the rest and only doing things you think other women should do. How about you work on looking like the most awesome version of YOU and doing the things you love. You may rub some people up the wrong way but you’re sure the hell be happier.

You don’t need to look like a super model to be a sexy confident woman. You can be whatever shape you bloody well want and still be the BEST (insert mum, wife, friend, work colleague here) on this earth. 

Stop letting other women dictate who you are.

Your social circle isn't helping 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

We live in a world in which people love criticising and putting others down. Having friends and family that do the same isn’t going to lead to a happy you. 

If you have people around you that don’t support how you look, what you eat, your goals and what you love to do maybe its time to let them go, or at least start to spend less time with them. 

If you’re starting a new diet or exercise programme keep it to yourself until you know its the right thing for you. From there only tell the people that you know will support you.

People should be contributing to your happiness not taking it away.