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5 Reasons Most Weight Loss Plans Fail & How To Set Yourself Up For More Sustainable Success
![Noemi Adame, MD Noemi Adame, MD](https://mindbodygreen-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,w_50,h_50,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/usr/U0scuhq.jpg)
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"I have tried everything, and I am not losing weight."
At my holistic well-being clinic for women, I hear this almost on a daily basis.
By the time women consult me, they feel they have been spit out of the "wellness" industry gauntlet. Many of our patients have tried different diets, calorie restrictions, cleanses, workout trends, and apps. Often, they've experienced a cycle of rapid weight loss only to gain the weight right back. Some companies are happy about this: After all, if their clients regain weight, they return for more short-term weight loss over and over. The conventional methods for weight loss, such as calorie restriction or counting macronutrients, serve the wellness industry well—but not the women paying for them.
If healthy weight loss is one of your metabolic health goals for this year, here is my perspective on why you may be struggling to achieve it:
Not including building muscle in exercise routine
If you are not building muscle, you will not increase your basal metabolic rate1, which is essential for weight loss. Without increasing lean muscle mass and basal metabolic rate, the only way to lose weight is to be in a constant state of calorie deficit, which, let's be honest, is not sustainable.
While it depends on the person, I typically recommend that my clients do resistance training at least three times per week for at least 20 minutes at a time. This can involve exercises like calisthenics, body weight exercises, dumbbells, kettlebells, or resistance bands. (You don't need to buy tons of new equipment right away—you can use what you already have at home!)
I recommend spending each session focused on one or two muscle groups to allow for enough time for that muscle group to rest and repair. Warm up with 20-30 minutes of cardio and end each strength training session with stretching for holistic health and injury prevention.
Focusing only on quantity of calories instead of nutritional density
Our bodies are amazing. We have evolved to withstand scarcity2. When we consume fewer calories and operate in a state of hunger, our bodies will lower our basal metabolic rate3 to store energy4. Restricting calories will also elicit a stress response5, since living in a state of calorie deficit is miserable and unsustainable (see the trend?).
It all comes back to the idea that withholding nourishment is not natural for us as humans. If weight loss is your goal, consuming nutrient-dense, protein-rich foods that keep you satiated will be a far more effective—and enjoyable!—way to get there.
Instead of practicing food elimination, I advise clients to focus on adding to their plates nutrient-dense foods that will love them back: greens, grains, legumes, veggies, fruits, nuts, nut butters, and seeds.
When we fill our plates with nutrient-dense foods, there is no need for complex food math such as calorie or macro counting. We don't need to worry about whether a food is "allowed" or not.
Only tracking the number on the scale
Weight and BMI are not always accurate measures of metabolic health, and some well-being journeys are better off as "weight-neutral." Weight neutrality is a harm-reduction approach that acknowledges that health status is not always correlated to body size or the number on the scale.
Approaching wellness through a weight-neutral lens reduces the harm caused by weight stigma, calorie restriction, and diet culture. Not only that, a weight-neutral approach paints a much more accurate, reliable, holistic, and comprehensive picture of health at the macro and cellular level.
Weight neutrality is a harm-reduction approach that acknowledges that health status is not always correlated to body size or the number on the scale.
For example, when you first start resistance training, you may increase your muscle mass and decrease your body fat percentage. When this happens, the number on the scale may remain unchanged, especially early on. However, this does not mean you are not transforming your body. Many women give up at this point because they mistakenly think their interventions are not working.
For this reason, I recommend tracking other metrics besides weight and BMI, including:
- Basal metabolic rate
- Skeletal muscle mass
- Percent body fat
- Segmental muscle mass balance
- Energy levels
- Sleep quality
- Digestive health symptoms
- Somatic symptoms like headaches and joint pain
- Laboratory metrics such as cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, metabolic panel, hemoglobin A1C
- Micronutrient levels such as ferritin, B12, folate, and vitamin D
Not reframing your mindset
I guide my wellness patients to reframe their mindset on so many preconceived notions. Here are some mindset shifts I encourage:
- The number on the scale is not always accurate.
- The number on the scale is not always a relevant metric in your wellness journey.
- What constitutes a meal (meat, starch, vegetable "garnish") is different from what we have been taught to believe.
- An exercise routine doesn't need to look a certain way to be effective.
- The standard American diet (SAD) is not cheaper, more convenient, easier, or even tastier than consuming whole foods.
Not mobilizing a supportive community for accountability
A lonely wellness journey is destined to fail. Human beings are social by nature (even us introverts), and forming an accountability "pod" or ecosystem is essential for the success of your wellness journey.
I advise that anyone setting health goals identify one person (or better yet, a group of people) to help keep them accountable. Sometimes, it is actually best not to pick someone super close to you who loves you unconditionally. Those who love you the most may be more likely to go easy on you or let their responsibility to keep you accountable slide. Often, picking an accountability buddy who is not your best friend but is on a similar journey will be more effective.
Once you identify your buddy or group, you can decide how and how often you want to communicate. For example, your accountability team may choose to text each other every morning asking, "What is your goal to nourish your body today?" Or they can reach out at the end of the day with, "Tell me one of your wins from today." An accountability pod can also share photos of their meals with the group to serve as accountability and inspiration.
The takeaway
Women often struggle to lose weight because conventional weight loss methods are misguided. They focus on calorie counting instead of nutritional density, only track weight and BMI, fail to reframe outdated mindsets around health, and do not harness the power of accountability. Weight loss also is not the right goal for all women—sometimes, a weight-neutral approach will be far more sustainable and beneficial.
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