Not losing weight eating a clean diet? You eat healthy foods, but you're not losing weight. What's the problem? I am going to explain to you why you can't lose weight!
It is certainly frustrating to feel like you're doing the right things by eating healthy foods, but the common misunderstanding individuals have is that eating healthy foods or eating clean equals weight loss.
Clean eating does not equal weight loss. Eating nutrient dense foods does not equal weight loss. Do some people lose weight eating healthier foods? Of course, but it is not that common.
If you can't lose weight eating healthy foods, it is because you are not in a calorie deficit for your body. But beyond a calorie deficit there are several things that may be sabotaging you that you are not recognizing.
As a nutritionist who has helped over a thousand midlife women lose body fat, I see the same patterns of behaviors repeatedly. Many of those behaviors have nothing to do with calories and food.
In fact when women work with me, they realize through weight loss coaching that their struggle with weight loss had nothing to do with calories, diet and food. It was the deeper work that was the real problem preventing them from losing weight.
Those deeper problems (like a poor relationship with food, all or northing diet mentality, restrictive dieter's mentality as examples) were creating sabotaging patterns for them and keeping them stuck.
While many of them were eating clean, they were not getting weight loss results because the deeper problems were not being addressed. Those deeper issues do not get fixed by food, diet, nutrition or exercise.
In this Dish On Ditching Diets episode, I explain why you are not losing body fat despite eating healthy foods and the deeper issues likely sabotaging you with your clean eating mindset!
In this Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast Episode, You Will Hear:
- Why Eating Healthy Foods Does Not Equal Weight Loss
- There Is Not Right Way Of Eating or Best Way For Fat Loss
- Why The Mindset Of Eating Healthy Foods May Be Sabotaging Your Weight Loss
- How All Or Nothing Diet Thinking May Be Preventing Weight Loss
- Why You May Eat Healthy Foods But Still Have A Poor Relationship With Food
- Why You Should Not Expect Weight Loss Without The Inner Work
- The Number One Reason Why You're Not Losing Weight
Never Miss An Episode! Subscribe to the Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify or Amazon Music
Related Episodes
- Not Losing Weight In A Calorie Deficit
- Why Do I Sabotage My Weight Loss
- How Fast Can I Lose Weight
- Can't Seem To Lose Weight
- What Foods To Avoid To Lose Weight
Eating Healthy But No Weight Loss Podcast Transcript
Hello Friends! Today we are discussing the number one question I receive from women as a nutritionist helping midlife women lose weight sustainably, heal their relationship with food and get out of the all or nothing mindset.
The question I always receive is… “Megan I’m eating clean and I’m not losing weight.” Or sometimes it’s “I’m eating healthy, why I’m not losing weight?” Or “I eat low carb and I’m not losing weight.” “Why am I not losing weight when I eat healthy?”
If you're eating a healthy diet but not losing weight, it is no doubt frustrating, because you feel like you’re doing the right thing. You’re eating nutrient dense foods and that seems right when it comes to weight loss.
Eating Healthy Foods Does Not Equal Weight Loss
Like if the goal is to lose weight and get healthier, I should be eating healthy foods. Well, that’s not actually true.
So, while you feel like eating healthy foods is the solution to weight loss. It is actually sabotaging you and I have seen many, many, many midlife weight loss clients who were sabotaging themselves eating clean and not losing weight and I’m going to explain why today.
While eating clean, eating nutrient dense foods is good for your health (no doubt about that), losing body fat requires a calorie deficit. You can eat all healthy foods, but you can still be eating more calories than your body needs.
Your energy balance is off. You are still consuming more than your body needs. I’m going to circle back to the calorie deficit piece in a minute.
Because your mindset and relationship with food is the first thing I want to point out here. This thinking that there is a right way of eating, and a wrong way of eating is not accurate. This is a mistake most people make.
There is no right way of eating. There are nutrients you should be hitting for your health and a healthy weight. But the only right diet or right way of eating is what is right for you.
If you have right or wrong thinking with food, you are still in a dieter’s mindset and that mindset will sabotage you in weight loss and weight maintenance because you have a bad relationship with food.
Like you start a diet with the mentality of being good, which to you, being good means no fun foods. You cut everything out, try to be strict with your diet and then at some point it all falls apart. You feel like a failure, feel guilty and round and round you go.
That is what having a poor relationship with food looks like. You have foods in your mind that you would never eat while dieting and you have different foods you eat in maintenance. So, you’re always in a cycle of losing and regaining weight and you have a tug of war with certain foods usually nutrient void foods.
You haven’t quite learned yet that nutrient void foods can fit into a balanced diet. That should be the goal for anyone listening today. Having a balanced diet and getting out of the dichotomous thinking of good foods and bad foods and right and wrong eating.
Eating different foods when you diet than when you’re not dieting. That’s all or nothing diet mentality that you must throw in the trash.
No food is bad. No food is good. Are you a good person because you eat a salad? No. Are you a bad person because you ate a slice of cake? No. It is your overall dietary pattern that matters.
What are you eating most of the time? What is your caloric consumption over the last 3 months on average? Are you hitting your protein and fiber goals? Are you consuming enough fruits and veggies, getting omega 3’s and eating within your caloric needs? If you are, then there is plenty of room to fit in fun stuff like pizza, ice cream, chips, cake, eating out, etc.
Not Losing Weight Because Your Mindset Is Sabotaging You?
What I have observed with many of my clients is they are in the all or nothing mentality with food. They have this right or wrong thinking and a poor relationship with food and then they’re trying to diet and eat clean and they’re getting no weight loss results because they are too strict with how they eat.
So, when someone tells me I’m eating healthy and not losing weight, or I eat clean and I’m not losing weight. It’s a red flag to me that they likely have an all or nothing mentality with food and that mentality causes them to periodically overeat certain foods they try to restrict or avoid.
Because they are overeating those foods they struggle with periodically, on average their caloric intake is much higher than they realize. In their mind, they eat healthy foods most of the time.
But they don’t realize is that the all or nothing diet mentality, poor relationship with food and potentially, using food to distract from their emotions is causing an excess of calories, so it’s kept them at maintenance or even gaining weight.
This is why I always say, these are the things that need to be fixed before trying to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight. Dieting more makes these problems worse.
So, the mindset of I eat healthy foods means nothing to me as a nutritionist because mentality you still have this all or nothing mentality, a poor relationship with food, or you use food to distract from your emotions, then it does not matter that you’re eating healthy foods.
Because it’s your mindset that is creating the overconsumption of calories periodically keeping you stuck. Honestly, I see this pattern so frequently with clients.
You can eat all the healthy foods in the world, but if you are periodically overeating the foods you struggle with then that is why you are not losing weight. That is also why you need to fix the root cause and many women I speak to, are not aware that those are the root causes so they’re kind of confused like I eat healthy, why’s nothing happening. This is why.
You have cracks in your foundation and way of thinking about food. Fix how you see food and you will lose weight.
Not Losing Weight Because Healthy Foods Have Calories
Now circling back to the calorie deficit piece. It is never as simple as calories in and calories out. But there are a lot of people in this world who think if they eat healthy foods that they should naturally be at a healthy body weight. That is not true. You can still be eating more energy than what your body needs.
I have seen this a lot with my midlife weight loss clients who work with me. Some of them are eating health promoting foods which is great, and they have a good relationship with food, but they’re confused why they have excess weight.
And they are missing the calorie piece of the weight loss equation. They don’t understand they are not in a deficit and that they are eating at maintenance or in a calorie surplus.
If we think about certain healthy foods like salmon, avocado, nuts, seeds, nut butters, olive oil. These foods have a lot of calories. Two tablespoons of olive oil have 238 calories.
Most people don’t even pay attention to the amount of oil they are cooking with. They tend to overlook those calories because they assume it’s a healthy food, so the calories don’t count.
I did a video on olive oil and the calories in olive oil last month and there were hundreds of people in the comments saying that olive oil is healthy and that we should not be worried about the calories and I’m a terrible nutritionist for pointing out the calories in olive oil.
There were also other people making claims that none of the olive oil gets absorbed by the food, it’s only absorbed by the pan and therefore, you’re not eating those calories. None of these things are true. Truthfully, it’s scary people believe these things.
Peanut butter is another food that is calorically dense. Two tablespoons have 188 calories. Most people are measuring peanut butter with tablespoons and when you do that, you are very likely eating more calories than you realize.
Weighing it out in grams is going to give you the most accurate calories that you are consuming. But 188 calories for two tablespoons is not that much food.
Very easy to be over consuming that just like avocado, nuts and seeds are easy to over consume. Quite a few of my clients are snacking on nuts throughout the day, grabbing handfuls of nuts and unaware that they are eating 500 to 1000 calories.
I’ve even seen some clients adding MCT oil or butter to their coffee because somewhere they heard this is magical for fat burning. But it’s not magical for fat burning and if you are not losing weight, this is why because that’s 200 calories you are adding to your caloric intake daily.
When you start weighing foods out and tracking them, it is very eye opening to see how little the portion size of some healthy foods really is.
I know in my own 80-pound weight loss journey this was incredibly eye opening. I just had no idea what I was eating, how unbalanced I was eating and how many calories I was eating until I started doing this.
This, in my opinion, is why a lot of people are overweight. They think eating healthy foods equals weight loss or eating clean equals weight loss or eating low carb equals weight loss. Eating healthy foods does not equal weight loss.
While eating healthy foods is great and will keep you fuller than eating donuts all day, you still need to be eating in a calorie deficit to lose weight. Same with low carb. You still need a calorie deficit to lose weight. Same with fasting. You still need a calorie deficit even if you fast.
Whether or not you believe it or realize it, calories always count to your metabolism whether you count calories. Energy balance dictates your body fat. Calories are simply a measurement of energy, and you can eat fast food in a calorie deficit and lose weight. You can eat twinkies in a calorie deficit and lose weight. I shared a study on that in a previous podcast episode.
Tons of studies have been done on different ways of eating and losing weight and all the studies repeatedly show as long as you have a calorie deficit, an individual will lose body fat. It is known that protein is key for losing body fat, managing hunger, having more energy and staying fuller. Same with fiber. Dietary fiber is an important nutrient for your health, energy, and fullness.
That’s why when clients are beating themselves up for not eating perfectly healthy foods 100% of the time, I coach them that the goal of being healthy and losing weight is not to eat like a clean eating robot daily.
The goal is to create a doable, realistic and practical way of eating that has healthy foods plus fun foods so that they can sustain that way of eating until they’re 85+ years old. It’s called balance and it takes work to create your balance.
It’s easy to follow the rules of some diet so that you can shut off your brain and not think about what you’re doing, but you are ticking time bomb when you do that.
At some point, you will go back to the foods you cut out and overeat them. Restrict and overeat. That is a cycle many individuals are in because they have a poor relationship with food and having an all or nothing mentality with food. Part of that poor relationship and all or nothing mentality stems from not understanding that all foods can fit.
You’re trying to be perfect all the time with how you eat which is not a realistic expectation or enjoyable one. No one eats perfect all the time. That’s all or nothing mentality. Being super strict with your diet is not the goal.
So, when I am coaching my clients, I am helping they re-focus their thinking, so they’re not mentally consumed with all the things they think they’re eating wrong but rather focusing on adding nutrients like protein and fiber and balanced meals and understanding what their energy needs are.
That said, you do have to take time upfront before losing weight to create that balanced way of eating that works for you and you do need to understand that calories are one part of that equation.
In my experience working one-on-one with clients, I have seen them over consuming high calorie foods that are healthy foods and not recognizing it. Grabbing handfuls of nuts and seeds throughout the day to snack on.
Not being aware of the calories in their cooking oil, dressings, cheeses, the types of proteins they are eating are higher fat proteins, spoonful’s of peanut butter. So, when I do nutrition audits with clients what I always see is most of their calories coming from fat sources. Fat has nine calories per gram. Carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram.
If most of your calories are coming from fat sources, it is very easy to be overconsuming calories which is contributing to you having excess body fat. Typically, I see very little lean protein and very little fiber.
So, if your macronutrients are out of balance, you can very easily be over consuming calories periodically and not realizing it. I see this with midlife clients constantly. They are assuming that because the foods they are eating are healthy that somehow calories don’t count. But they do count.
Energy balance is what dictates your weight. And I think for midlife women, there is a lot of denial that calories play a role during peri-menopause and menopause. Calories still count during midlife.
The only way your organs are functioning and keeping you alive is through energy. Your body may not be utilizing very much energy. You may be more tired and sleeping poorly which results in you moving less and eating more food.
You may be moodier or have stronger emotional reactions to things leading you to self soothe with food and alcohol. You may be moving less throughout the day and sitting more because you’re more tired, moody and stressed.
Stress, lack of sleep, mood, emotional reactions all influence what we do with food, exercise and movement.
I just had a client the other day say to me in our coaching call that she really thought it was her hormones that caused her to have gained ten pounds when she came to work with me, but now that she’s been working with me for three months, she realizes it was not her hormones.
It was her lack of protein causing her to over consuming calories. She was consuming most of her calories from fat that was not keeping her full because her protein and fiber was so low. Her lack of steps was also part of the problem.
I see these same patterns so often with my midlife clients. This is why I think it is so important for women who are struggling with hormone issues to get help from a doctor because if your hormones are impacting your sleep, mood, and emotions then it is going to impact your behavior with food, movement and exercise.
You do not need to suffer transitioning into menopause - menopause.org is a great resource to find a doctor near you who can help.
But these are patterns I see with midlife clients repeatedly and chances are high, if you’re a midlife woman struggling with weight gain, these are some of the things that are preventing you from losing weight or causing you to gain weight.
You might have been able to get away with these behaviors before, but not anymore. It’s kind of like someone who has a heart attack. You can get away with certain eating habits and exercise habits until you can’t get away with them anymore and then suddenly, you have a heart attack. It’s the same thing with weight gain during midlife.
The average midlife person gains two to three pounds a year. That doesn’t seem like much weight gain year over year, but over ten years you’ve now just gained twenty to thirty pounds. The first ten pounds you gain, you may kind of dismiss it and just squeeze yourself into your clothes or buy a few larger items.
But then when that twenty or thirty pounds happen, you sort of feel like your body is working against you. It’s not your body working against you, it’s just been a slow drip of weight gain over time.
This is the reality of how most midlife women gain weight. A slow drip over time and you don’t realize it’s happening until it really catches up with you. Kind of like a heart attack.
Now I do have some clients who have gained weight in shorter periods of time, usually because of chronic dieting. They were on a very low-calorie diet, lost weight and came out of that diet swinging in the other direction of overeating causing weight gain quickly.
But generally speaking, most women have gained weight slowly over time not recognizing it which is why if it came on slowly, it will also come off slowly.
So, bottom line is if you are eating clean or eating healthy, but you are not losing weight. It’s because you are not in a calorie deficit. You need to be eating in a calorie deficit to lose body fat.
And, the balance of your macronutrients matters for your health, your metabolism and to keep you full in a calorie deficit. If your protein and fiber are low and most of your calories are coming from fat sources, you may need to adjust your macronutrient balance because that will cause an overconsumption of calories.
Eating healthy foods or eating clean doesn’t mean you get to eat unlimited amounts of food.
I also want to remind you that the scale is not always a good measurement of whether you are losing body fat. Taking measurements is the best way to assess body fat loss.
Measurements will always show progress before the scale. If you are a midlife woman trying to lose body fat, it may take the scale a long time to catch up with you if you are under muscled. It really depends on your body composition, diet history, activity level, many factors play into what is happening with the scale.
Body composition is often misunderstood by other medical professionals and doctors so make sure you are taking measurements. I have seen with men, typically their scale numbers will decrease right away but that is because men have more muscle mass than women.
So, for women who are midlife you need to be assessing all your data not just the scale by itself because you may be missing your progress if you are only looking at the scale then feeling hopeless and wanting to give up. You can be a lower number on the scale and still be skinny fat.
Having a high body fat percentage even at a lower scale weight puts you at risk for higher inflammation and developing chronic diseases. Remember, health is not a scale weight and the right scale weight for you may be higher than you realize because of muscle.
Additional reminder that just because you have been tracking calories does not mean you are in fact in a calorie deficit. Just because you got a calorie deficit number from an app, a coach, or online calculator, does not mean that is a calorie deficit for your body. I spoke about this in my last podcast episode 140 – Why Am I Not Losing Weight in A Calorie Deficit. If you have been stuck for a while, I recommend you listen to that episode where I discuss ten reasons why you’re not seeing weight loss in a calorie deficit.
Ultimately, if you have been struggling with losing weight for a while doing this on your own it is time to get someone to help you. I think we are very biased when it comes to our own habits and behaviors, and it is very easy to miss a lot of things you are doing and not see them for yourself.
I see this frequently with clients who when we begin working together, we begin to see that there were all these other things that were out of alignment that they didn’t realize.
Either from them misunderstanding things about nutrition and weight loss, or they just were not allowing themselves to see what they were doing or their poor relationship with food or their all or nothing mentality or all the above.
I mean you would never try to fix your own car if it broke down. You would take it to an expert. You wouldn’t spend years and years trying to research and figure it out how to fix your car on your own.
An expert can help you figure out what’s going on, design a plan for you and give you the accountability and coaching you need to focus on the things that will help you reach your goals. You are always welcome to schedule a consultation with me to discuss your situation. The nutrition consultation is an assessment just like you do with a doctor or a dentist the first time you see them.
We will discuss your diet and exercise history, your mindset with food and what areas you feel you are struggling with. Based on that, I will provide you with an initial assessment of what needs to be worked on for you to reach your goals and how I would help you with that if you chose to work with me. That consultation is at no cost to you and there is no obligation for you to work with me, so you have nothing to lose by scheduling a consultation with me. The link for that is in the show notes for you.
Before we wrap up, I want you to remember that eating healthy does not equal losing weight. Eating clean does not equal losing weight because you still need a calorie deficit, and calories count whether you count them or not!
Leave a Comment