Barely Eating And Not Losing Weight

Many of my clients, women over 35, tell me I'm barely eating and not losing weight. They come to me after years or decades of dieting and finding it harder to lose weight than ever before.

Since a calorie deficit is required for weight loss, it is often mis-understood by women that eating the least amount of calories is the best way to approach their weight loss goals. This is why many of my clients feel like they are barely eating and not losing weight.

Diet culture has also given the wrong message to women throughout the years that the only way to lose weight is by eating very little and exercising hours a day. This approach is too extreme and why many women will tell me they're eating 1200 calories and not losing weight.

While a calorie deficit does drive weight loss, the truth is the metabolism is smart. Its job is to keep you alive and it really does not care that you have fat loss goals. When you begin eating less food, the metabolism adapts to that at some point.

If you're a woman who's been dieting on and off for years, chances are your metabolism and thyroid are functioning at a lower rate due to metabolic adapation. The good news is if you've trained your metabolism to run off very little food at a lower rate, you can train it to run on more food at a higher rate!

I know this may seem counterintuitive to you, but I've had many clients in this scenario and they were always surprised that they were able to eat much more and lose weight.

Not only were they able to eat more food, they were feeling better, had more energy and their hunger was stable.

This is why I keep preaching on the podcast to stop dieting. There are real consequences to chronic dieting that impact hormones, hunger, satiety and metabolism.

And the more you eat too little, cut calories and do quick fix diets (detoxes, meal replacements, extreme low calories, cutting food groups, etc.), the more difficult weight loss will be for you.

It is very common for women to do a diet and think because that diet worked the first time to go back to that diet. Women in my practice will often say this with Weight Watchers. It worked before so they go back to it over and over again only to discover weight loss more and more difficult.

They also discover they have to eat less food to lose weight. This is why focusing on healthy habits first and fueling your body properly is so important so that when you do attempt a weight loss phase, it's easier and not such a strain on your metabolism and hormones.

In this podcast episode, I explain 5 reasons why you're not losing weight barely eating. I share the most common behavior pattern with food I see women over 35 in that causes them to stay stuck with their weight.

I also share why the mindset of being "good" all day backfires on you at night and why you overeat at night or on the weekends. Hint - the mindset of eating very little early in the day is sabotaging you! Listen to the podcast episode below for more details.

In this Dish on Ditching Diets Podcast Episode, You Will Hear:

• 5 Reasons Why You're Not Losing Weight Barely Eating
• The Most Common Reason I See Women Struggling To Lose Weight
• Why The Being "Good" Mentality Backfires On You
• Why You Eat "Good" During The Day Then Overeat At Night
• Why You Eat "Good" All Week Long Then Overeat On The Weekends
• Losing Weight The Right Way Is A Learning Process
• How Eating Too Little Leads To Metabolic Adaptation

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Related Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast Episodes

• All Or Nothing Mindset
• Eating Too Little Is Making You Fat
• 5 Most Underrated Weight Loss Tips
• How I Lost 80 Pounds Walking

About Megan

Megan is a certified nutrition practitioner, author, freelance food photographer and fitness instructor living in Phoenix, Arizona. On her blog, Skinny Fitalicious she shares EASY, gluten free recipes for weight loss. Follow Megan on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates.