Why you can’t lose weight (or keep it off) & what you can do about it.
Losing weight can feel like a never-ending cycle of ups and downs.
If you’re here, you likely have tried dieting in the past. Maybe you would even describe yourself as a yo-yo dieter - restricting calories (or carbs) to lose weight only to gain it back when you start eating normally again. Unfortunately, conventional dieting can lead to things like a slower metabolism and muscle loss, making you gain back even more weight and leaving you feeling defeated. Let's take a look at the biological mechanisms at play...
Beyond Calories
Your body needs a blend of macro- and micronutrients to thrive. If you suffer from anxiety or mood disorders, poor sleep, lack of energy, headaches, or other symptoms that make you think "if only I didn't feel this way I could...", it may be time to get a professional dietary assessment to see what essential nutrients are missing from your diet.
A Simple Equation?
It seems like weight loss should be a simple equation:
eating less + exercise more = weight loss
Right?
So why has that failed so many people in the past? This equation will likely work for a short period of time but when the weight comes back, you have to work even harder next time to lose the weight again. Keeping it off may seem next to impossible if you’ve been on this roller coaster before. That’s because there are biological defense mechanisms at play to keep you at your weight homeostasis.
Caloric restriction puts your body into survival mode. The cells of your body may begin to believe that you are in trouble - the lack of food must mean that you’re starving! Survival mechanisms start to kick in...
Below I have outlined two survival mechanisms that can impact your ability to lose weight.
Survival Mechanism 1: Metabolism Slows Down
When you restrict your caloric intake, your metabolism may end up slowing down to make up for the lack of food you are now providing for it. Your body wants to prevent weight loss as a means to survive. It eventually slows down the rate that it burns calories in order to conserve energy because it’s unsure when you can feed it next. Your cells are not aware that you are intentionally losing weight. A slowed metabolism is one reason why conventional diets don't work long-term and you may gain back more weight than you lost to begin with.
Survival Mechanism 2: Muscle Loss
When you choose to eliminate carbohydrates, you cut off your brain's preferred source of fuel. Luckily for your brain health your body has another defense mechanism that kicks in called gluconeogenesis. This is a process where your body can create glucose (sugar) out of non-carbohydrate sources. One of these sources is amino acids from muscle proteins. In order to lose fat and avoid muscle loss, your body requires adequate protein, fat and carbohydrate intake.
Muscle loss is a double whammy for your system!
Muscle is more metabolically active than fat - meaning that it’s easier to burn more calories naturally when you have greater muscle mass. Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is how many calories (energy) your body burns simply to keep you alive. Higher muscle mass = higher metabolic rate.
For example, a person with more lean muscle mass naturally burns more calories than a person with less muscle mass in everyday life.
At this point, chronic dieting may have decreased your muscle mass, BMR and metabolism.
Weight loss leads to reduced fat AND muscle mass unless you are doing something to preserve your muscle mass (like eating complex carbs, protein and strength training).
So, what is the RIGHT way to maintain weight loss? I'm glad you asked! Slow and steady dietary & lifestyle changes that allow your metabolism to stabilize along the way.
Calories: Quality vs Quantity
Your body breaks down and utilizes food differently based on the nutrient-density. Nutrient-dense foods are whole foods that contain a blend of macronutrients (protein, fat & carbs). These are the foods you want to fill your plate and belly with. Calorie-dense foods tend to lack nutrient-density, but, as the name suggests, have a lot of calories. These are found in packaged & processed foods. I like to refer to these as "filler foods" - foods that make you feel full but fail to provide nourishment beyond a full belly. The systems in your body require certain macro and micronutrients to function properly.
Let's break it down...comparing potato chips and beans.
If you eat 200 calories from potato chips versus 200 calories from beans, your body utilizes them differently despite being the same caloric value. Beans contain much more fiber and protein than potato chips, which contain little to no fiber, as well as lots of saturated / trans fat and calories. The fiber from the beans you eat feed your good gut bacteria (thank you prebiotics!) and the protein helps maintain muscle mass, produce energy, synthesize neurotransmitters and much more. The 200 calories from your bag of potato chips will fill your belly short-term and likely leave you feeling sluggish whereas the 200 calories from beans will nourish multiple systems in your body. See the difference?
What you can do: start with your low hanging fruit
Breathe. Approach this differently than in the past. Take a step back and look at your whole self. What area needs the most focus? Consider:
Food Quality: What foods are you fueling your body with? Do you consume the vitamins, minerals and amino acids that the complex biochemical processes of your body requires in order to thrive?
Food Quantity: How much food do you eat? Are you over-consuming calories? Are you under-consuming calories and slowing your metabolism?
Relationship with food: what drives you to choose the foods you eat? (or don’t eat…)
Exercise: Do you get enough movement? Do you get a variety of movement that involves aerobic conditioning, strength and flexibility? If you’ve been hitting the cardio hard and not seeing results, this is a great time to incorporate strength training to build muscle.
Stress: Do you need to work on reducing stress so your hormones are balanced and supportive of your goals?
Sleep: Are you sleeping poorly and too exhausted to make any of these changes? If so, consider sleep support as a root-cause therapy.
Hydration: are you drinking about half of your body weight in ounces? Example: a 180lb person should drink 90oz water per day. Adequate hydration supports the natural detoxification process of your liver.
2. Set realistic goals and expectations for yourself. Forget the “all or nothing” mentality that hasn’t worked in the past. Choose one or two areas outlined above and work at improving them slowly until the change becomes a routine. Crash diets shock your system - remember, this time you know it’s important to allow your body to adapt to its new norm to avoid things like slowing your metabolism.
3. Be gentle with yourself and give yourself grace. Not everyday will be perfect, and that’s okay! Take note of which behaviors leave you feeling better (or worse) and adapt your plan from there. Get used to checking in with your body and mind through the whole process.
4. Know when to reach out for help! It can be exhausting and time consuming to figure this all out on your own. There could also be some underlying factors working against your goals like missing nutrients, insulin resistance, PCOS or hormonal imbalances that can be addressed with the right protocol.
If you’re looking for personalized support so this time is indeed the last time, book a Discovery Call with me today to get started.
To your health and happiness,
Brittney
