I work with women, from all walks of life, mostly women in mid-life, 40-ish plus who want to manage their weight, have more energy and feel better in their body as they age.

When these women come to me, they feel confused and overwhelmed with all the conflicting nutrition and wellness information and advice out there, and they are struggling to make any of it work for them.

For years, they’ve used the same strategy to shed a few pounds - eat less and move more. While it’s worked in the past, albeit for a short period of time, it’s not working so much anymore.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

The BEST KEPT weight loss secret that the diet industry doesn’t want you to know.

Dieting to achieve intentional weight loss almost always results in unwanted and unintentional weight regain, regardless of your age. As you age however, dieting itself may result in unwanted weight gain.

Eat less, move more may “work” temporarily in your teens, 20’s and 30’s, but it’s certainly not going to work long term or as you near / enter your 40’s.

Here's why:

Weight loss requires a calorie deficit, meaning you have to burn more calories than you consume in order to lose weight.

The formula for weight loss looks something like this:

IF calories in < calories out THEN calorie deficit

While this is seemingly simple, and scientifically correct, it’s not so straightforward in real life.

Most diets and programs will tell you to eat less and move more to achieve this caloric deficit and ultimately your weight loss goals and while it might work in your teens, 20's and 30's and may even work for some of you in your 40's it's almost always a short term fix.

It’s also not a guarantee and may not work for you at all.

Why Diets and Caloric Deficits Don’t always work

Apart from the fact that calorie deficit can be really difficult to achieve and sustain long enough to see actual result on the scale, there are so many reasons why a diet or caloric deficit approach to weight loss may not work for you.

Let’s break these down into two categories. Energy in vs Energy Out.

ENERGY IN

Not all the calories you eat are absorbed 100%

The amount of calories you absorb is not equal to the amount of calories you consume. This depends on how the food is processed or cooked, your digestive capacity and the fiber content of the foods you eat.

For example, soluble fiber forms a gel in the intestinal tract, slows absorption of digested protein, carbohydrate, and fat into the bloodstream and prevents some calories from being absorbed altogether.

Nutrition labels can be off by up to 20%

This means that something may say it’s 100 calories per serving but it can be anywhere from 80 to 120 calories per serving. This variance can add up to a lot of calories when you consider everything you eat in a day.

ENERGY OUT

The energy you burn depends on many variables that are not all controlled by you including:

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the amount of energy your body uses at rest and to support bodily functions. This represents 60 - 75% of the calories you burn and is influenced by your lean muscle mass, age, gender, climate and genetics.

The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the amount of energy it takes for your body to digest, absorb, and metabolise the food you eat. About 10% of the calories you eat are burned by TEF. Protein is the most thermic macronutrient, with approximately 25-30% of the calories you consume from protein being used for digestion and metabolism (carbohydrates are 5-15% and fats are 0-5%)

The thermic effect of physical activity (TEPA) is the amount of energy burned during all physical activity and accounts for 15 - 30% of energy expenditure. It can be further divided into exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT) and non exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). EAT is calories expended during planned and structured exercise while NEAT is energy burned maintaining and changing posture (laying, standing, walking, stair climbing, spontaneous muscle contraction, fidgeting, cleaning), singing, and other activities we do daily. How much we burn during EAT and NEAT varies widely from one person to the next and is almost impossible to measure accurately outside of a laboratory environment.

So realistically, the formula for weight loss looks more like this:

IF {calories consumed +/-20% - calories not absorbed} < estimated calories burned through {RMR + TEF + TEPA (EAT + NEAT)} THEN calorie deficit THEN weight loss (or not)

While I can’t argue with the basic laws of thermodynamics, relying on this formula has many drawbacks and limitations:

Accuracy - Tracking all of these things with 100% accuracy is nearly impossible outside of a laboratory environment. While there are on-line calculators for most of these things, their accuracy is questionable and at best, serve as a guideline which may be sufficient for some people and not others.
Quality - It doesn't consider the quality of the calories you eat and its impact on health - the reality is that not all calories were created equal. While energetically speaking 100 calories of jelly beans is the same as 100 calories of strawberries, the nutritional quality of strawberries (dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals) far out weighs that of jelly beans (pure sugar). There will also be more volume in the 100 calories of strawberries which means they will be more satiating.
Control - Not all of these things are within your control. Your age, genetics, upbringing, climate and underlying health conditions all have an impact on how much energy you absorb and expend.
Sustainability - the amount of hypervigilance and the minutiae required to track all of this is unsustainable for most people and may perpetuate disorder behaviours around food and exercise, especially for those with a history of disordered eat habits or eating disorders.

Why Calorie Deficit Diets Only Work Short Term

As we’ve learned so far, according to the basic laws of thermodynamics, body weight is all about energy balance. So long as energy in / out are balanced, weight is maintained. When the scale tips in one direction vs the other, we have weight gained or lost.

However, as we’ve also learned, this energy balance isn’t 100% within our control.

Here’s why.

Even if you are able to achieve weight loss successfully on a diet, it may be difficult to sustain due to metabolic adaptation, your body's defense against weight loss.

What is metabolic adaptation?

Metabolic adaptation also called adaptive thermogenesis, is a physiological process that helps us survive in times of food scarcity. It’s role is to ensure that we have enough energy to survive and perform essential functions.

It goes hand in hand with weight set point theory which states that your body likes to stay within a specific weight range and that it will work hard to keep you in that range.

In simple terms, when your calorie deficit increases and your weight drops below your weight set point range, your body responds by:

decreasing your energy expenditure (RMR slows down, you subconsciously move less/have less energy for exercise)
increasing hunger hormone (grehlin)
decreasing satiety hormone (leptin)
increasing stress hormone (cortisol)
increasing insulin resistance in response to increased cortisol and causing blood sugar instability

Essentially, you’ll stop losing weight and you’ll likely begin regaining some of the weight lost (sometimes with interest).

Can change your weight set point range?

While metabolic adaption is a scientifically sound concept, the idea that we have a weight set point range is highly debated in the nutrition and wellness space.

Some believe that weight set point is genetically predetermined, we have no control and it can’t be changed.

Others believe it’s more of a settling point based on social, nutritional and environmental factors.

The reality is that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

While our genetics and age certainly do play a role, so do our eating habits, behaviours and environment.

You may not be able to change your weight set point range with one extreme short term quick fix caloric deficit, and while you may never have full control over your weight set point range and where you body decides to settle, you have some agency over your choices and you may be able to lower your weight set point range over time by changing your habits, behaviours and manipulating your environment.

How do you lose weight without dieting? Can you lose weight without a calorie deficit?

And this is the million dollar question now isn’t it? How do you manage your weight, increase your energy and feel better in your body as you age, without dieting and being in a caloric deficit?

Is it even possible?

As I’ve said before, I don’t want to argue with the basics of thermodynamics.

In order to lose weight you MUST be in a caloric deficit.

Inherently, there’s nothing wrong with the concept of eating in a slight caloric deficit. After all, it’s just about energy balance.

That said, achieving said deficit may not be supportive to your health journey if calorie intake is too low and results in nutrient deficiencies, you’re hangry all the time, or if you’re over training to achieve it.

It may also have a negative impact on mental health if you’re not able to see it for what it is, data, and you become hypervigilant about every morsel of food you eat.

If weight loss or weight management are your goal then here’s an alternative to consider that doesn’t require dieting and/or being hypervigilant about your caloric deficit:

Take Action On Your Own Terms - Chose to nourish and care for yourself for it’s inherent benefits by focusing on health promoting habits that you CAN control. This includes:
- breaking unsupportive patterns (emotional eating, mindless snacking, skipping meals, under nourishing, over training, under sleeping, over stressing, not having any boundaries etc...)
- balancing your meals (focus on lean protein, fiber rich complex carbohydrates like vegetables and fruits, and healthy fats)
- eating mindfully and for your unique needs (tuning into your hunger and satiety cues, listening to your body and giving it what it needs to thrive, focusing on nutrient dense whole foods and limiting highly refined foods will allow you to achieve an energy balance that is effortless for you to maintain without having to count or track energy in/out)
- improving digestion
- regulating blood sugar
- finding physical activity that you enjoy doing so you can move your body intentionally, joyfully and consistently
- improving sleep quality
- actively managing stress
- setting boundaries and practicing self-care
- supporting mental health
- setting yourself up for success by curating your environment to reduce reliance on willpower
Acceptance - Acknowledge and accept that:
- the number on the scale will never be 100% within your control, even if you practice all of the best health promoting habits
- you may never weigh what you want to weight or what society wants you to weigh because you of your genetic pre-dispositions. The reality is, it will be easier for some women to achieve a certain weight and body composition than it will be for others due to genetics, age and upbringing (eating and lifestyle habits since childhood)
- it’s normal for your body to change through the ages and stages of life, and that’s ok
- the amount of sacrifice you have to make to achieve an ideal body standard may come at the risk of your mental health and may impact you quality of life. Ask yourself if it’s worth it
- you're more than a number on a scale and you deserve to prioritize your nutrition and self-care and feel good in your body regardless of what that number says

Showing up for yourself from a place of self-love, respect and compassion and practicing health promoting behaviours for their inherent benefits will increase the likelihood of a change on the scale if that’s what your body needs and help you feel your very best.

As an added bonus, the better you feel, the more confident you become, the happier you are, the more pleasant you are to be around and the better you look to yourself and others.

The Bottom Line

While energy balance is important for weight management, how you achieve that balance is important.

If you’re a woman in midlife 40ish plus who wants to manage your weight, have more energy and feel better in your body as you age, but you’re struggling to make any of the traditional “eat less and move more” diet advice work for you, then I invite you to book a free consultation with me to chat about your goals and how I can help you.