Have a good look at what you're doing outside of the gym:
- Do you drink lots of alcohol? The alcohol you don't burn immediately will be stored as fat. Alcohol will probably also inhibit your performance when exercising
- Do you smoke? This will reduce the effectiveness of your aerobic system (heart and lungs). It will also inhibit nutrient absorption.
- Do you feel you sleep well? Sleep is when your body repairs itself and builds muscle
- Do you have breakfast? All night you've been asleep and your metabolism drops; eating breakfast gives it a kick and gets you motoring. Skipping breakfast may be a false economy.
- Do you drive short distances? Or take the lift? Keeping active is more than getting hot in the gym - it involves raising your activity level throughout the day!
- Do you snack? Be honest! Sugars do horrible things to our energy systems - they encourage us to feel hungry, and then we eat more sugary things to fill us up.
- Do you drink sports drinks? These are full of sugar, and unless you are running marathons contain much, much more energy than you exert in the gym.
Try keeping a diary of what you eat, drink and all the activity you do in a day and how you feel about each thing.
