Why Diets Fail: Healthy Strategies For Long-Term Weight Loss
When it comes to weight loss, conventional wisdom would tell you that it is a simple math problem: burn more calories than you take in, and you’ll lose weight. Eat less, move more, and you should steadily lose those unwanted pounds. There are even calculators online to estimate how many calories you’re burning and how many you’re eating. Simple math, right?
In actuality, weight loss is not this cut and dry. While it is technically true that if you burn more calories than you consume you will lose weight, there’s a lot more that goes into it. Your metabolism isn’t controlled by a math problem. How many calories you’re actually burning is affected by many factors including hormones, the type of exercise you're doing, the amount of sleep you’re getting, and even the type of foods you eat.
The “calories in, calories out” theory has led many to adopt the crash dieting strategy – starve yourself and exercise more, and you’ll lose weight, right? You probably will lose weight, at least in the beginning, but there are a few problems with this strategy. First, your body will respond to this reduction in calorie intake by lowering your metabolism and burning fewer calories. It will also increase production of hormones that increase your appetite. Eventually your body’s hunger signals overcome your willpower, and you start increasing calorie consumption again. Except now, your metabolism has slowed down because of your crash diet, so you rapidly gain the weight back – maybe even more.
Why does your body fight back against your efforts to lose weight? When you significantly reduce calorie intake suddenly, the body thinks it is starving and there must be a famine. The body’s survival mechanism in times of famine is to lower your metabolism and store fat in order to survive. Which leads us to the second problem with dieting – you don’t just lose fat. A significant percentage of the weight you lose on a diet will likely be lean body mass (your muscle). Muscle burns significantly more calories than fat, even at rest, meaning your metabolic rate will be higher with more muscle mass. Losing muscle is another factor that will decrease your metabolism and affect your ability to lose weight in the future. What often happens then is when you gain weight back, a higher percentage of it will be fat. So many times, you end up worse off than when you started.
The muscle loss problem is also a potential issue with GLP-1 drugs (like the ones that rhyme with words like Prozempic and Begovy). Some research has suggested that up to 40-60% of weight lost on these drugs is lean mass, while other studies put the percentage around 15% or less. Regardless of the actual number, muscle loss can be a problem when using this weight loss strategy, and it is very common to regain weight after stopping these medications.
If dieting isn’t an effective long-term strategy, what are some healthy lifestyle factors to focus on that can help with weight loss? Here are some ideas that can help:
Focus on diet quality over quantity. Instead of simply counting calories, addressing the quality of the foods you are eating can help you feel full longer, regulate hormones such as leptin, ghrelin, and insulin that control your appetite and weight, and increase metabolic rate. Increasing high-quality protein, healthy fats, lower glycemic carbs, and fiber from vegetables and low-sugar fruits while restricting refined carbohydrates and processed foods can help you lose weight and regulate appetite, even without counting calories.
Reduce stress. Chronic stress can cause increased cortisol levels in the body, which can lead to increased blood sugar levels, insulin resistance, and increased fat storage, particularly around the liver and belly. Finding ways to manage stress, including proper sleep and rest, moderate intensity exercise, deep breathing, spending time in nature, and engaging in hobbies you enjoy can help decrease stress levels and restore your body’s natural cortisol rhythm.
Get Enough Sleep. Research has shown that lack of sufficient sleep leads to overeating, weight gain, and increased abdominal fat storage. Sleep helps regulate hormones such as leptin and ghrelin that control your appetite. Lack of sleep can also cause increased cortisol and insulin resistance, which lead to increased fat storage. Most people should shoot for 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night. If you are spending the right amount of time sleeping but are still not feeling rested, you may want to make an appointment with a practitioner to check for a potential sleep disorder.
Exercise properly. Many people trying to lose weight will spend hours upon hours running or slaving away on cardio machines at the gym. While this will burn some calories, it is not necessarily the most effective approach to lose fat and improve body composition. In fact, excessive cardio can lead to disrupted cortisol rhythms and end up having a negative effect on fat loss. Strength training, on the other hand, has been shown to increase muscle mass, leading to increased metabolism. It can also prevent the loss of lean body mass that typically happens with dieting. Strength training and high-intensity interval training also increase Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), the “afterburn” effect where your metabolism is elevated for a certain amount of time after exercise. Adding in some strength training and/or high-intensity training at least 2-3 times a week can be a helpful addition to your other weight loss strategies.
Hopefully this busted some myths about weight loss and gave you some healthy lifestyle strategies that can help you maintain a healthier weight in the long term. If you are still struggling with reaching a healthy weight and need some more support, we can help! Schedule a free discovery call to see if one of our programs is right for you.
Sources and References
https://www.aicr.org/news/the-3500-calorie-weight-loss-myth/
https://chriskresser.com/how-to-lose-weight-without-trying-on-a-paleo-diet/
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/19495.htm
Neeland IJ, Linge J, Birkenfeld AL. Changes in lean body mass with glucagon-like peptide-1-based therapies and mitigation strategies. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2024 Sep;26 Suppl 4:16-27. doi: 10.1111/dom.15728. Epub 2024 Jun 27. PMID: 38937282.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/112138
Leidy HJ, Clifton PM, Astrup A, Wycherley TP, Westerterp-Plantenga MS, Luscombe-Marsh ND, Woods SC, Mattes RD. The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Jun;101(6):1320S-1329S. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.114.084038. Epub 2015 Apr 29. PMID: 25926512.
Jönsson T, Granfeldt Y, Ahrén B, Branell UC, Pålsson G, Hansson A, Söderström M, Lindeberg S. Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2009 Jul 16;8:35. doi: 10.1186/1475-2840-8-35. PMID: 19604407; PMCID: PMC2724493.
https://chriskresser.com/10-ways-stress-makes-you-fat-and-diabetic/
https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/lack-of-sleep-increases-unhealthy-abdominal-fat/
Cox CE. Role of Physical Activity for Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance. Diabetes Spectr. 2017 Aug;30(3):157-160. doi: 10.2337/ds17-0013. PMID: 28848307; PMCID: PMC5556592.