Why the Diet Stopped Working

"My weight just won't budge... So I went back to what worked in the past and... now it doesn't work anymore."

There was a time when you jumped into a fat loss protocol and things were firing on all cylinders.

Has this happened to you?

You lost a bunch of weight and looked great.

So you tried harder. Stayed consistent. And still...

Nothing.

So frustrating.

Why though?

Why did it work before but not now?

I'm glad you asked.

Let's address it...

Well for starters, the first time you attempt to lose weight will likely be the easiest.

Most of us are well past that point lol.

There's something that many people don't realize about fat loss and the adaptive, brilliant nature of our bodies.

Let's just ignore the fact that age, environment, hormones, and context may be totally different now then it was when you successfully lost weight.

In other words, being older, in a new environment, with hormonal changes, and a different phase of life can all be responsible for the old thing not working.

But we're going to set that all aside.

When you attempt to lose fat, you are imposing a stressor on your body.

Lack of calories and nutrients coming in = stress.

The goal is for your body to adapt by mobilizing stored energy (fat) and to burn it off.

However, when the stress becomes chronic.. meaning, you continue to eat less and never give yourself a break..

We see some negative metabolic adaptations occur.

I've talked about this a million times so we don't need to go in depth but the bottom line is.. your body adapts by down regulating your metabolism (along with other hormonal consequences).

Here's the part that most people miss...

Your body remembers!

Like an elephant.. it never forgets.

So let's say you were successful with a 1200 calorie diet and you lost 30 lbs (the diet and number are irrelevant, I'm just painting a picture).

Then, you felt like crap, life got stressful and you rebounded.

Gained all the weight back. Maybe plus interest.

If you're reading this there's a 95+% chance that this applies to you so don't feel bad.

Years go by and you've been struggling with your weight.

Eventually, you decide.. you know what.. that 1200 calorie diet (or whatever the protocol was) worked in the past.. let's do that again!

So you jump in and you're ready to get the same result as last time.. 30 lbs.. see ya later!

Only.. you don't lose anything.

Maybe 5 lbs.

But you quickly feel like crap and can't sustain it.

Your body remembers.

Once your body recognizes that same shitty feeling as before, it's like... oh hell nah.. and the adaptations happen much quicker.

The quicker your body adapts, the less progress you make.

Before, it took a while for your body to adapt. So you kept making progress. It was a new stimulus.

But now... your body remembers and adapts quickly.

No bueno.

Again, this is also ignoring all of the other variables that may be playing a role like age, hormonal state, environment, phase of life, other stressors, etc.

So the question becomes.. what do you do about it?

Once again, I'm so glad you asked.

Clearly, putting your body into the same stressed out state isn't going to work.

My guess is that you've tried that in a number of different ways with minimal results (if any).

So why don't we try the opposite?

Why don't we send the "safety" signal instead of the "stress" signal?

By eating enough calories, your body doesn't feel threatened. It doesn't feel the need to preserve energy.

Now, in order to lose body fat, you still need to manage energy balance but priming your metabolism first will make it 100x more effective.

In addition, we want to make the fat loss phase as painless as possible so your body doesn't adapt too quickly.

We accomplish that with a number of methods... refeed days, diet breaks, maintenance weeks, etc.

Essentially, we want to constantly remind your body that everything is A-OK.

Not only does it allow for more progress on higher calories and less misery.. it makes it more sustainable.

Then, we can also minimize stress by eating certain foods and macro ratios based on your lifestyle and preferences and remove some of the "decision fatigue" around food choices.

This allows for better mood stability and what our clients describe as "effortless consistency."

I really like that phrase but nothing worth having comes without effort (but I digress).

It also makes a huge difference when we align your nutrition with your training. Why? You guessed it.. better recovery = less stress.

That will also help with performance and body composition improvements.

To make sure you fall in the love with the process, we build in things you enjoy like alcohol, date nights, social events, restaurant meals so that you don't have to sacrifice your entire life for the sake of losing weight.

You can actually have balance, look lean, and feel great. Shocking, but true.

Lastly, we tie it all together by monitoring your biofeedback to ensure the metabolic signals are positive. In other words, we'll know if your metabolism is adapting too quickly and we can make adjustments to ensure that doesn't happen.

And that, is our 1on1 coaching program in action. It's the process we take in the Seasons of Fitness Method program that produces the most sustainable and lasting results for our clients.

Typically, they get leaner and more toned with more freedom and flexibility. And improve their relationship with food so they stop obsessing and stressing over what they eat.

If that sounds like something you'd be interested in accomplishing, and you would like to learn more about my program and if it might be right for you, send me a message to get on my email list.