Why You’re Not Losing Weight (Or You’re Struggling to Keep it Off)
I have a pretty good feeling that you’ve tried to lose weight at some point in your life.
Am I right?
Maybe you struggle to lose weight.
Or maybe you struggle to get to your “goal weight.”
Or once you get to your goal weight, you struggle to maintain it for long.
And I’m also guessing you’ve used some sort of dieting method to lose weight.
And by dieting methods, I don’t mean just extreme types of diets (hello, grapefruit diet, 3-day juice cleanse, and cabbage soup diet)…
Dieting also involves methods that prevent you from being in tune with your body, like being able to hear and respond to your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues.
Dieting also includes calorie counting, macro tracking, smoothie cleanses, and detoxes…
I have some bad news for you if you’re on a diet or counting calories and macros to help you control or lose weight.
Diets don’t work.
In fact, you should never diet again.
Why?
1) Because even if you lose weight by dieting, it’s almost impossible to keep it off for an extended period of time
2) There are a host of negative complications and unintended consequences from dieting that you MUST be aware of
In this article, I share with you the 6 key reasons you’re struggling with weight loss and why diets don’t work.
Then I’ll share the one simple strategy you NEED that will get you to your leanest livable weight (and will help you stay there)!
Reason #1 GENETICS
Did you know that genes control about 70% of your weight.
Yep, a whopping 70%!
Which simply means that your genes have set a predetermined weight range for you.
That’s not to say that you don’t have a little control over your weight.
You just might have less control over your weight than the dieting and weight loss industry wants you to believe.
Of course, there’s lots of things you can do to get to your leanest livable weight (which all fall into the ONE strategy you need that I share with you at the end of this article, so stay tuned).
Your leanest livable weight is the smallest amount you can weigh at your set weight range.
Anything lower than that leanest livable weight is nearly impossible to stay at for long.
The 5% of people who do lose a significant amount of weight and fall below their set weight range have to dedicate their entire lives to keeping the weight off.
A little tough love here if you’re thinking you want to be in that 5%:
There’s a better use of your time.
As author Glennon Melton wrote:
“Your body is not your masterpiece- your life is.”
To get outside your set weight range, you literally have to “battle biology.”
Your body will make you hungrier and hungrier so you eat more.
And then it will store some of that food as fat.
Reason #2 BRAIN
When you diet, some parts of your brain become more active and some parts of your brain become less active.
The parts of your brain that become more active are the areas that make you pay more attention to food.
You find food more tempting.
Simultaneously, your prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for impulse control, becomes less active.
Which means you’re less able to control yourself around food.
And the longer you’ve dieted, the stronger this brain activity (or lack thereof) becomes.
All of that to say, your impulse to eat increases.
Reason #3 HORMONES
Dieting dramatically affects your hormones.
Fullness hormones (leptin, peptide YY, CCK) decrease.
Which simply means that you don’t feel as full.
And hunger hormones (ghrelin, gastric inhibitory polypeptide, pancreatic polypeptide) increase.
Which simply means you feel much hungrier.
So you’re not as full when you eat, and you are consistently hungrier.
You’re urge to eat increases.
And these hormonal imbalances have even been detected in people ONE full year after they stopped dieting!
Reason #4 METABOLISM
Whether or not you lose weight, your current weight impacts your metabolism.
A smaller body runs on fewer calories.
A larger body runs on more calories.
As Dr. Traci Mann wrote:
“When you lose weight, even if starvation has no effect on your metabolism, your body will still burn fewer calories, simply because it is a smaller body to run.
This means that the number of calories you ate to lose weight eventually becomes too many calories to eat if you want to keep losing weight.”
Yikes.
So when you’re dieting and lose weight, you then have to eat even FEWER calories to continue losing weight.
Also, when your body thinks it’s being staved, your metabolism slows down.
That’s to protect you.
Your metabolism slows down to conserve energy, just in case you need it.
To quote Dr. Mann again:
“Unfortunately, this doesn’t make you feel full longer.
Quite the opposite.
It uses each calorie in the most efficient way possible, which allows your body to run on even fewer calories than it would need just based on the size of the body.
More calories are left unused and can be stored as fat.”
Again, yikes.
So to get to your goal weight, and then to stay at that weight, you need fewer calories in general than someone naturally at the size, AND you need even FEWER calories to then stay there.
Remember, you’re battling biology when you try to get outside your leanest livable weight.
Reason #5 STRESS
Are you a worrier?
Ever feel stressed?
Perhaps you toss and turn at night because you can’t turn your brain off.
Or family, finances, or work stresses you out.
Simply put, stress makes you release extra glucose (sugar) into your bloodstream.
And then that extra sugar gets stored as fat.
Restricting calories also increases the stress response.
When you restrict calories, you increase stress, which releases cortisol, which releases excess blood glucose, which is then stored as fat, which leads to weight gain.
Triple yikes.
And stress can creep into other areas of your life that prevents you from losing weight, like lack of exercise, overeating, and lack of sleep.
Which leads me to Reason #6 for why diets don’t work.
Reason #6 SLEEP
This is crazy:
If you’re sleep deprived for even one night, you’re motivation to eat increases and your impulse control decreases.
In one study where people were allowed 5 hours of sleep, they gained 2 pounds in 5 days.
Wow.
The next time you’re tempted to count calories or track your food in MyFitnessPal or another app, I implore to stop.
As you can see, the odds of counting calories and dieting working for you is slim to none.
Your genetics, brain, hormones, metabolism, stress, and sleep are all stacked against you and your weight loss goals.
Of course I’m not saying you throw in the towel and eat pizza and oreos and cake for the rest of your life!
You want to be healthy and happy.
Aren’t those the real goals, after all?
To feel confident and strong?
To feel energized and productive?
To be at peace and serve others?
To feel like you’re truly ALIVE instead of just going through the motions?
To feel like you’re thriving?
Here’s the truth:
You can be healthy, in mind, body, and spirit, without being skinny.
Skinny is not the goal. At least around here it’s not.
Because skinny won’t make you happy.
Skinny doesn’t give your life meaning.
Skinny doesn’t correlate with living a full, abundant life.
If you’re ready to let go of dieting and reaching an unrealistic “goal weight,” I’m ready to help you.
This is ONE powerful strategy you need to get to your leanest livable weight (and help you stay there!):
Instead of focusing on calories and a number on a scale, I want you to focus on your daily habits.
Why habits?
As James Clear writes:
“We don’t rise to the level of our goals.
We fall to the level of our systems.”
Habits will get you to your leanest livable weight.
Habits will help you feel more energized, focused, and like you’re in a “flow” state.
Habits can absolutely help you live the life you want to live.
Nourishing your body and soul with immune-boosting foods that give you energy can also help you live the life you want to live.
I have two ways to help you do BOTH:
1) Join my 7-Day Energy Boosting Meal Plan Challenge! Go from feeling low energy, stuck in a rut, and wondering what to eat to feeling nourished, energized, and satisfied! Inside, you get daily videos, a 7-day meal plan with breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks, two done-for-you grocery lists (one with ingredients sorted by aisle, the other with ingredients sorted by recipe), a link to all the items to your Instacart account, plus daily videos for accountability, support, and motivation. It’s only $17! What are you waiting for?>>
2) Have more energy, feel strong in your body, and eat healthy without dieting in my step-by-step course, Healthy Eating Made Simple. It’s helped busy people go from stressed, overwhelmed, and too short on time to eat healthy to feeling healthy, organized, nourished, and confident! Are you ready to feel the same? Learn more here>>
Speaking of feeling your best…
That includes having more ENERGY!
If you’re ready to have more energy, you’ll love my FREE guide:
7 Smart Strategies to Instantly Boost Your Energy and Focus!
Why?
As a business leader or parent, you put everyone’s needs above yourself.
The only problem is this leaves you feeling drained, burnt out, and like you’re running on empty.
You’re tired, battling constant fatigue, and feel like you don’t have enough energy to get through the day.
You wish you had more energy so you could feel more focused, productive, clear, positive, happier, and more present for your spouse, children, and business.
In this FREE guide, I share with you the key reasons you’re struggling with low energy (they may surprise you!) and 7 easy strategies you can use immediately to instantly boost your energy and focus!
