Is Weight Loss Resistance even a real thing?
What would cause one person following a healthy plan to lose weight at a fairly steady clip (Woman #1) – and then another person’s weight to not budge (Woman #2)?
Let’s assume these two women are similar age, weight and activity (i.e., Woman in her late 40s, moderate activity, peri-menopausal.)
I’ve been her – and I work with women like her, so I have deep compassion and understanding of how frustrating this is. (If you want to go deeper on some of these concepts on your own, download my free Get Started guide.)
We can label it “Weight Loss Resistance” but I consider this more of a symptom. (Symptoms are so much more empowering than labels and diagnoses, don’t you think?).
There are 5 potential reasons why this happens. ( I’ve experienced ALL of these myself – and #5 – by far – was/is the hardest to overcome):
- HORMONES: Woman #1 may have more favorable hormonal function than #2. Imbalances occur in the peri-menopause transition and after having babies. (I developed Hashimoto’s after my third daughter was born.) Thyroid, adrenal and sex hormones can be very erratic, down-regulate and just get off kilter – especially after the age of 40. It’s a good idea to rule anything out and rebalance once you’re sure you’ve got everything else dialed in.👇🏻
- DIET: It’s quite possible that the diet for Woman #1 works great for her, but not for Woman #2. We’re all different! Let’s say they’re both following my anti-inflammatory, nutrient dense moderate carbohydrate (ModCarb) approach and drinking lots of water: Lots of protein and non-starchy veggies and strategic amounts of fruit, starch and fat in balance. If Woman #2 is very insulin resistant, she may be better suited for fewer carbohydrates or the Keto approach. I’ve seen the opposite happen where Keto doesn’t “work” for some women. It’s important to get support to figure this out – and also to make sure you’re not overeating within the approach you choose. If you’re overeating for your metabolic rate – whether that be Keto or any other diet, you won’t lose weight. Period. You have to give your body the chance to use it’s own fat stores for energy – and it won’t if you don’t let it by eating too much.
- LIFESTYLE: If you’re not sleeping, if you’re overtraining, if you’re sitting too much and/or if your nervous system is on high alert all the time — either due to constant busyness, trauma – your wiring/personality and/or patterns, your body will not want to release stored body fat. It’s that survival physiology I always talk about. The brain translates that stress into starvation and up-regulates fat storage and down-regulates fat burning. You have to slow down, rest, breathe – say NO more.
- FUNCTIONAL: There could be an immune (auto-, food sensitivities, toxin exposure), gut, inflammatory or metabolic issue that’s causing the body to store fat. When I was in my early 40s I discovered I had high levels of mercury and lead in my system which led to gut imbalances (candida), liver sluggishness, inflammation, etc… I had extreme fatigue, gained weight, couldn’t lose weight and just felt bleh and foggy all the time…When I treated these functional issues with Functional Medicine practitioners, I started to heal and the weight started to come into balance.
- MINDSET: I saved the most important for last. How you think and feel about yourself, your life, your body, your health, your diet and lifestyle will drive your actions > which drives your results. So if you’re inconsistent or impatient – If you’re off plan/on plan – overeating/drinking with portion distortion – Restricting and binging – Undereating all day and overeating all night – Undereating all week and overeating/drinking all weekend – Mindlessly or emotionally snacking, etc.. If any of these common patterns are there, done often enough, they will prevent weight loss and will cause weight gain.
Looking back on my journey, I realize that if I had started with my mindset (which unfortunately was warped since I was at least age 12), I could’ve saved soooo much energy, time and money by not dieting and chasing what was ‘wrong with me’.
I’m talking probably tens of thousands of dollars and twice as many hours.
I would even venture to say that I probably wouldn’t have developed Hashimoto’s or heavy metal toxicity, gut, adrenal issues and other hormonal imbalances IF I had managed my brain better > simply because I would have been more in tune with my body, my feelings, my stress – which would have led to better choices, less stress and healthier patterns.
But, alas, I can’t go back. I can only learn from my journey and learn from my failures. And to be honest, I’m still learning…always catching myself feeling stuck, rationalizing, justifying and making excuses – which is totally human – and totally OK – as long as I (and you) take full ownership of the BS, accept 💯 responsibility for our results – keep learning from each failure and keep moving forward.
xo,
Ev
