Have you ever heard the phrase, “Eat less and work out more”? I am guessing the answer is yes. Maybe from a doctor, social media advice, your neighbor, a friend, or some random trainer at the gym – regardless, I am sure that you have heard it. 

But what if someone has been doing all the seemingly right things…like monitoring their diet and increasing exercise, and still aren’t having success losing weight?

If you’ve struggled with weight loss for a while, odds are you know that this “simple calories in vs calories out” equation does not work. I will die on the hill that eating fewer calories than you burn is an ineffective method for weight loss, especially for women.

Let’s be honest, if all it took was to count calories, pretty much every female would be the exact weight that they wanted to be. So, it has to be more than just that. 

Okay, so what exactly is weight loss resistance? Weight loss resistance is when you have done all the right things but haven’t seen any progress – typically for months to even years and is also combined with other symptoms like low libido, chronic fatigue, poor sleep, GI symptoms, and more. Some women will even see the scale go up despite their attempts. This is due to metabolic dysfunctions with your thyroid or adrenals, hormonal imbalances, or insulin resistance.

In most cases, stress, inflammation, or insulin resistance is the main culprit and sometimes it is a combination of all 3! 

You may read this and think Oh gosh! Something is crazy wrong with me!  If you did, don’t panic! There are a few areas to dive into deeper if you think that you may have weight loss resistance. The very first thing that you need to understand is that some of your tireless weight-loss efforts may be exacerbating underlying issues. I promise that eating less, working out more, and sleeping when you are dead isn’t the mindset to have.

Here are some things to focus on:

1. Stress

Our stress hormone cortisol is amazing – literally, we would die without it. Cortisol plays a huge role in blood sugar regulation and fat storage. Knowing that it plays a role in those two things, can start to paint a picture of why chronic increased cortisol can start to become an issue. 

A few things that you can do is:

• Get ruthless with your stress management
• Decrease intense workouts, especially if this is an everyday thing
• Fueled workouts 
• Decrease alcohol 
• Decrease caffeine 
• Eat to balance blood sugar 

2. Inflammation 

This is a buzzword that you may be quick to ignore, but the truth is that inflammation is caused by toxins – and we are surrounded by toxins every single day. Sources of these toxins include pesticides, antibiotics, heavy metals, mold, fragrances…honestly, this could go on forever. Inside our bodies, poor gut health can also contribute to inflammation. Aside from this, chronic stress and unmanaged blood sugar are two other major contributors to inflammation – do you see the cycle that is starting to form?

A few things to try out:

• Eat to feed the gut – think fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fermented foods
• Eat to support the liver – cruciferous vegetables 
• Get more fresh air
• Switch to non-toxic makeup, lotions, perfumes, etc
• Be mindful of chemicals that you clean with 

3. Insulin Resistance 

Last, but certainly not least in this weight loss resistance trifecta, is insulin resistance. Insulin is responsible for signaling to your muscle and liver cells that they need to take in glucose from the blood. Once glucose is stored in the liver and muscles, any excess will be stored in your fat cells. All of this storage is used to fuel your body at a later time – when working out, fasting, and to keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day. 

With insulin resistance, your body is unable to respond to insulin the way that it should. This can mean poor blood sugar management, and irregular hunger and satiety cues. 

Issues with insulin are prevalent before issues with blood sugar. This means that you can have a good A1c and good fasting glucose numbers, and still have issues with insulin. 

So, what can you do?

• Ask your doctor for a fasting blood insulin test – standard lab values range from 2.5-25 uUmol/mL.
  • However, more research is starting to show that the optimal range is between 2-7 uUmol/mL with anything greater than 7 uUmol/mL being associated with higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Other things: 

• Eat to balance blood sugar
• Strength train 
• Daily walks – especially after meals
• Stress management 
• Increase sleep 

There is no cut-and-dry answer for how or why weight loss resistance happens – we are all biologically different! But hopefully after reading this, you noticed that blood sugar regulation and stress management both play a huge part in the weight loss equation. This is exactly why we teach these two individual things as part of our pillars for a healthy metabolism inside Metabolism Makeover. It is NOT just calories in and calories out. 

If you feel like you may be struggling with weight loss resistance, working with someone 1:1 can help to create an individualized plan that is specifically right for you.

You can do that by applying for VIP here.

If you are interested in understanding more about the 6 pillars to a healthy metabolism you can sign up for our next round of Metabolism Makeover! 

Your MM Coach, 

Brianna