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If you’ve been struggling to lose weight or are stuck in a cycle of yo-yo dieting, you might be feeling frustrated. After all, when the pounds just won’t shift, despite your best efforts, it can be incredibly deflating
You might be questioning whether you’re following the right diet – especially when there’s so much conflicting dietary advice out there. It can be difficult to separate fact from fiction, leaving us unclear on the do’s and don’ts of healthy weight loss.
With that said, we’ll explore nine potential reasons why your diet isn’t working.
1. You’ve taken an all-or-nothing approach
When trying to lose weight, it can be tempting to take drastic measures to shed the pounds quickly. However, while consuming fewer calories than you burn is needed to lose weight, research shows that dropping your intake too low is counterproductive. Not only is eating too few calories unsustainable, but it also makes the whole process miserable.
When you dramatically reduce your calorie intake, your body enters ‘survival mode’ – kickstarting several survival mechanisms to preserve fat and energy, including slowing down your metabolism. This means your body burns fewer calories both at rest and during exercise, making it more difficult to achieve and maintain weight loss.
In this study, when overweight individuals were asked to consume 890 daily calories, after three months, their total calorie expenditure had decreased by an average of 633 calories per day. Another study found that the resting metabolic rate of people who consumed 1,114 calories per day slowed down twice as much as that of people who consumed 1,462 calories per day.
Extreme calorie restriction can also lead to intense hunger, food cravings, and episodes of binge eating – making it even more difficult to stick to your diet.
2. You may be eating more than you think
As well as eating too little, research shows this can go the opposite way – with many people underestimating how much they eat. For example, in his book Mindless Eating, Brian Wansink’s research revealed that overweight people often underestimate their food intake by over 50%.
Everything from portion sizes and mindless eating to a general lack of awareness around calorie content can play a role in this. For example, portion sizes, particularly in restaurants and packaged foods, have increased significantly over time, and research has revealed that we have a tendency to eat more when dining with others.
For this reason, some people find it helpful to track their food intake when on a weight loss journey. Research has consistently shown that people who track their calories in food diaries lose more weight than people who don’t. If you’d find it useful to follow a calorie goal, it’s best to follow the guidance of a trusted macro calculator, like this one from Myprotein.
That said, food tracking isn’t suitable for everyone. Studies have linked it with an increased risk of developing disordered eating habits – so it’s best to avoid calorie counting if you feel it could lead you into unhealthy patterns. Eating intuitively, according to your body’s natural hunger signals, can be just as effective when it comes to sustainable weight loss.
3. You’re eating back calories burned through exercise
Staying active is key for health and can be a great weight loss tool. However, research shows that it’s by no means the most important ingredient for reaching a healthy weight. Studies show that formal (organised) exercise only accounts for 5-10% of your daily calorie burn. We burn far more calories through essential body functions and general daily movement.
Nevertheless, it’s not uncommon for people to base their calorie intake around their activity levels. But studies show that fitness trackers and smartwatches aren’t always accurate in estimating calories burned. Some have been shown to significantly overestimate calorie expenditure – sometimes by as much as 93%!
In this study, Apple watches were found to overestimate calorie burn by 40% – meaning a supposed 600-calorie workout may only have burned 360 calories.
It’s also important to note that calorie burn isn’t determined solely by activity levels. Factors like age, stress, sleep, muscle mass, and hormones all play a role and often aren’t accounted for by fitness trackers.
Lastly, viewing exercise only as a way to burn calories can lead to a negative relationship with exercise. Remember, exercise shouldn’t be a punishment for eating or a way to ‘earn’ more food – it should be an enjoyable way to become the strongest, healthiest version of yourself. Only then does it become sustainable.
4. You’re following someone else’s diet
When it comes to weight loss, there’s no one-size-fits-all formula. We all have different bodies, backgrounds, lifestyles, and needs. So, while one diet might work for someone else, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be right for you.
Take this study, for example, which found that even identical twins respond differently to nutrients like fat, sugar, and carbohydrates in food – largely due to differences in gut bacteria.
For this reason, it’s important to find what works best for you.
5. You’re not focusing on diet quality
When dieting, it can be tempting to focus on calorie intake alone. After all, what’s the difference in having a packet of crisps over a banana if they contain similar calories anyway…right? However, while calorie intake is important, it’s not the full story.
Research has consistently shown that diet quality is key. Not only does the type of food we eat affect how the body burns calories, but certain foods are also known to increase cravings. Specifically, research suggests that ultra-processed foods often lead people to consume more calories compared to when they eat whole, unprocessed foods.
In this study, two groups of people were offered meals with the same calorie content, as well as similar amounts of sugar, fat, salt, and micronutrients. The only difference was that one was made up of unprocessed foods and the other of ultra-processed foods. The participants were instructed to eat as much as they wanted and, after two weeks, the study found that those eating the ultra-processed food gained weight and ate an average of 500 more calories per day.
As a result, eating a predominantly whole-food diet can work wonders for curbing cravings and preventing overeating.
6. You’re not eating enough protein
As well as prioritising whole foods, research also suggests that certain nutrients, like protein, may be particularly important for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
Firstly, of the three main macronutrients (carbs, fats, and protein), protein is by far the most filling – partly because it reduces levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin. This means eating more protein can help you feel fuller with less food. In this study, when overweight women increased their daily protein intake from 15% to 30%, they ate 441 fewer daily calories without intentionally restricting their diet.
As well as helping you feel full, studies also show that protein significantly increases the rate at which your body burns calories (called the thermic effect of food (TEF)), compared with other nutrients. Specifically, protein has been found to temporarily increase metabolism by around 20-30%, compared to 5-10% for carbs and 3% or less for fat.
Check out our article, 12 high-protein meal ideas, if you’d like to up your intake.
7. You don’t count liquid calories
While dieting is largely focused on food, liquid calories, such as those found in sugary drinks and alcoholic beverages, can soon add up.
For example, two glasses of red wine contain around 350 calories, while a simple coffee, like this Starbucks caramel frappuccino, could set you back by 380 calories.
Plus, because drinks don’t typically provide the same feelings of fullness as solid food, you’re likely to still be eating the same amount of food on top. Blood sugar spikes caused by sugary drinks are also known to intensify food cravings.
With this in mind, reducing your intake of alcohol and sugary drinks and choosing water as your primary drink can be helpful for weight loss.
Other common sources of hidden calories include cooking oils, spreads, and condiments like ketchup, mayonnaise, and salad dressings. For example, a simple 50g serving of mayonnaise contains a whopping 340 calories. While these foods shouldn’t be demonised, being aware of what you’re putting into your body can make all the difference to weight loss.
8. You’re not getting enough good quality sleep
Getting enough good quality rest is essential for health because it allows the body to rest, recover, and repair itself.
Research suggests that sleep can also impact metabolism, with studies identifying a link between poor sleep and weight gain. For example, in this study, when healthy adults slept four hours per night for five nights in a row, their resting metabolic rate decreased by an average of 2.6%.
Other research also suggests that poor sleep may lead to weight gain by disrupting appetite-regulating hormones and increasing food cravings. In this study, just one night of inadequate sleep led people to eat an average of 385 extra calories the following day.
Head over to our sleep and fatigue section if you’ve been struggling to sleep well recently.
9. You’re not taking care of your gut health
Experts are continually learning more about the central role of gut health in overall wellbeing – including weight maintenance. For example, there’s evidence that imbalances in the gut microbiome may contribute to weight gain.
In this study, when an obese person’s gut microbiome sample was transferred to mice, they gained more weight than those who received the microbiome of a healthy weight person, despite being fed the same diet.
Similarly, this study found that the gut microbiomes of identical twins (one obese and the other of a healthy weight) were completely different. This suggests that differences in the gut microbiome aren’t genetic and that having an imbalanced gut microbiome may play a role in weight gain.
The gut health section of our website has plenty of information on how to improve gut health if you’d like to learn more.
Final thoughts…
With endless streams of diet information available these days, losing weight can often feel like a task much more complicated than it needs to be. However, by separating fact from fiction, it’s entirely possible to reach your weight loss goals in a healthy and sustainable way.
For further reading, head over to our diet and nutrition section. Here, you’ll find information on everything from simple diet swaps to quick and simple recipes.
Which of these examples resonates with you? Do you have any other tips that you’d like to share? We’d be interested to hear from you in the comments below.
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