Why diets fail and what needs to be considered to successfully lose weight!

You may be one of the 70% who end up weighing more shortly after ending a diet than you did at the start!   So, let’s look at why diets fail and what you can do to successfully lose weight.

By exploring what it is exactly that is making you put on the weight, I can support you to make the changes you need for your body type. There are numerous reasons why you may struggle to lose weight.  It could be a food intolerance, a hormonal issue or even stress making it difficult for you to manage your weight.

Sometimes it could be psychological reasons that may be preventing you from reaching  and then maintaining your desired weight.

However, by exploring what the underlying causes are, you can take the right steps to successfully lose weight.

Why don’t diets work long-term and how to lose weight?

Calorie-restrictive diets do not work in the long-term.  A simple survival mechanism means that our bodies will always figure out a way to lay down stores of fat.  If you deprive your body of food and place it under stress by significantly restricting calorie, then it releases cortisol.

Indeed, chronically high cortisol makes weight loss harder to achieve.

To succefully lose weight you need to manage stress in whatever form it shows up!

In fact, there are many other obstacles to weight loss that have little to do with your calorie intake or how much you exercise.  These involve nutritional and hormonal imbalances, leaky gut, changes in your micro-biome, environmental toxins and even your genes.

So, what are the key things we need to look at if you want to successfully lose weight? And also for this to be in an effective, healthy and sustainable way?

Balance hormones:

The monster hormone that causes weight gain, inflammation and chronic disease is insulin.  The consumption of sugar, flour and refined carbs can cause a spike in your insulin levels. When this happens just a bit too often, your cells become resistant to its effects resulting in more insulin being produced. As a result, you can become trapped in a vicious cycle of insulin resistance and increased insulin production.  This insulin resistance then becomes a major factor in weight gain. Similarly, it becomes a major barrier in your ability to successfully lose weight and keep it off.

Balanced blood sugar levels are critical if you are to successfully lose weight.

These are typical signs that your blood sugar levels are out of balance:

• Extra weight around your middle,
• cravings for carbs and sugar,
• “crashing” (especially after eating carbs), having “moobs” (man boobs)
• feeling angry when you are actually just hungry

Consume metabolic-enhancing foods:

Protein-rich foods give your metabolism a boost by requiring more energy to digest. Known as the TEF (Thermic Effect of Food), it refers to the number of calories needed by your body to absorb the nutrients in your meal.  Other foods such as chilli or ginger can have metabolic enhancing properties. Besides which eating the right foods can also help control the speed at which food enters the blood stream.

A hidden food intolerances can yet another reason as to why diets fail

Having an underlying food intolerance can be a trigger for inflammation and hormonal imbalance which may be a factor in weight gain. I find clients often know deep down what foods are problem foods for them.

With a little bit of guidance and coaching on eliminating these foods and introducing alternatives, you can make a tremendous difference to how you feel and look. You might like to look at my post on whether gluten could be making your life a misery.

Ensure healthy thyroid function:

Your thyroid gland regulates your metabolism.  Iron, zinc, and selenium are all required for its proper thyroid function. However, some foods hamper thyroid function. Consuming lots of raw cruciferous vegetables, soy products and foods high in gluten may be reducing how effectively your thyroid functions.

If you have never been tested for thyroid dysfunction, it may well be worth testing. But, tests carried out by your GP do not provide the full picture and people are often told their results are normal.   Had they tested all the relevant markers they would have seen a very different picture!

However, these are general guidelines, and you cannot look at them in isolation. Your body is unique to you.  All these factors have a complex and interconnected part to play in how your body metabolises the food you put in your mouth.  Nutritional therapy is an evidence-based practice that looks at your requirements on an individual basis.

It is only by addressing all these issues personal to you and combining this with positive lifestyle changes that you have any chance of sustaining a healthy weight.

Finally, could there be a psychological reason blocking you from achieving your goals?

You may find that there are psychological blocks that are preventing you from achieving the weight that you so desire.

This is where Wellbeing Coaching comes into play.  By looking at all aspects of your life, we can work out what are the underlying barriers to your weight loss.  Or to you maintaining your desired weight.

By helping you to explore the reasons why you want to make changes and what motivates you, we help you to achieve your goals.  Also exploring your fears, noticing how you self-sabotage and your negative self-talk, we can start to turn things round. Then you can successfully lose weight and, just as importantly, maintain the desired weight.

Together we can set goals that you know you can manage.  And by identifying the small changes which you can make, I can support you to take charge of your health.

Make why diets fail a thing of the past! Go for long-term weight loss with Coaching or Nutritional Therapy. Contact me to see how we could work together and to establish if we are a good fit!