That's Fit

If you're busting your tail in the gym, but the pounds keep sticking around, you're probably wondering why. If you're eating as healthy as you can, but your bulging waistline serves as no indication of your effort, you're probably wondering why. And if you're doing both of these things and more, you're probably ready to punch a hole in the wall and scream at the top of your lungs: "Why am I not losing any freakin' weight?!!!"

Okay ... calm down. Everything is going to be just fine, I promise. Tell you what, why don't you take a second to let your blood at least reduce from a boil to a simmer and then we'll start to deconstruct your approach and, as best, we can come up with a solution. To help us in this endeavor, we'll refer to a recent article published in the current issue of Maximum Fitness magazine, which is aptly titled 6 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight.

For the next six days, I'll offer one of the tips in the order that they appear in the Maximum Fitness magazine article. So, you can either wait to read them day by day or, if you don't have that kind of patience, you can run out to the bookstore and pick up a copy of the magazine. Your call. Either way, we're going to get to the bottom of all this and find out what's keeping the numbers on your scale from getting any lower.

Possible Reason #6: Your Exercise Program is Imbalanced. To maximize results from your weight loss and fitness efforts, it's best to follow a program that covers all the bases. Resistance training is a great way to build lean muscle and reduce fat, but it may not be enough by itself to produce the results you're looking for. Therefore, be sure to also include regular cardio sessions and spend some time stretching as well. The same logic applies for doing cardio by itself; you will drop pounds, but not as fast as you would if you also weight train. The solution? Take a moment to reevaluate your workout. Be sure to include both resistance training and cardio sessions throughout the week. And, if you opt to do them both in the same day, perform your weight training first and then finish with your cardio.

Well, that concludes this six-post series. I hope it was some help. For more diet and fitness tips to help you kick-start your weight loss, join us for AOL Body's America Takes It Off!