Ever wonder why you “hardly eat” but can’t lose weight? Why you work out like a maniac but don’t lose weight? Why you follow Program X but see no results?

What secret forces are conspiring to prevent your weight loss? (Genes? Hormones? Aliens?)

The answers to those questions and more are in Leigh Peele’s e-book Fat Loss Troubleshoot. Leigh’s main goal is to get you in, get the weight (fat) off, and get you on with your life; dieting should not be a way of life but rather a brief phase. She looks at common misconceptions and “advice” and shows you why that isn’t right and what, instead, is. She also includes case studies from her clients that shows how she was able to find and fix what they were doing incorrectly.

A lot of the advice, you might be tempted to think, “Oh, I knew that already.” Oh, really? Then why aren’t you losing the fat? Sure, you might know a lot of this, but you haven’t quite put it all together. Leigh lays it all out; you get no more excuses by the time you finish reading.

The section that really hit me was on training & eating for your goals and getting enough recovery. If your goal is strength, you need to eat for strength and rest & sleep for strength. But if your goal is fat loss, you need to eat for fat loss (that is, in a deficit) and train for fat loss (that is, not so intense that you can’t function) and make sure your body is recovering. So sure, do the fat loss thing — and just the fat loss thing — until you’re at your goal, and then change goals.

FLTS is mostly a breakdown of the how’s and why’s and why not’s of fat loss. It includes calorie calculations for maintenance and deficits and an activity quiz to determine how much you’re really moving. In addition to FLTS, though, Leigh also offers “OPT for Fat Loss,” which is a workout and calorie deficit program based on everything you learn in FLTS so you don’t have to do it all yourself, and the “Metabolic Repair Manual.”

MRM is for people who have dieted for years and who may have created a slow metabolic response and/or other intestinal problems. (There’s a quiz in the manual to see if you qualify.) MRM takes you through a process of resting and slowly eating more until your metabolic response and digestion is normal. A plan that makes you eat more? Sounds crazy and like a recipe for massive weight gain, right? Except Leigh’s plan works and with little to no weight gain, and sometimes even weight loss! (See this thread in the JP Fitness Forums for one lady’s experience with MRM.) I’m only a Level 1 (little to no damage) mostly because I haven’t been able to stick to any “diet” for more than two weeks. =P

And, as if she hasn’t written enough yet, Leigh answers questions in the Fat Loss Troubleshoot forum at JP Fitness, and her blog has more info, articles, and comments. Subscribe to her podcast; sign up for the Subscribers’ section. Also, watch her Fat Loss Tips video. (Btw, the answer to the question “What secret forces are conspiring to prevent your weight loss?” is found in that video.)

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I really started following Leigh’s advice at the end of June (July 4^th holiday not included!). With BJJ/MMA only 3 days/week and injured toes, I had the time to pay attention. And it made a huge difference. In the last month, my clothes have started to fall off as I’ve lost weight. I have progress pictures taken back in May and some taken last weekend, and the difference is amazing. In the last month I’ve started to get “You’ve lost a lot of weight!” comments. (And one hilarious addendum: “Did you do it on purpose?” Erm, yes.)

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Update 08/15/08: Skwigg has reviewed both FLTS and MRM. (As for the grammar issues, yes, they’re there (and I had to hide all my red pens), but Leigh explained that she hired an editor who did a bad job. She’s the Fat Loss Troubleshooter, not the Grammar Queen, after all.)