3 Reasons Your Weight Loss Program is Not Working

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Toni Stobie-Hartley, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.

“In 2011, 18.3% of Canadians aged 18 and older, roughly 4.6 million adults, reported height and weight that classified them as obese, virtually unchanged from 2009. However, from 2003 to 2011, obesity among men rose from 16.0% to 19.8%, and among women, from 14.5% to 16.8%.
When those who were overweight were included, 60.1% (7.6 million) of Canadian men and 44.2% (5.6 million) of women had an increased health risk because of excess weight. The rates of overweight and obese females and males have remained stable since 2009.”

Why with all of the nutritional information and dietary experts available are these numbers so high? How could 60% of men and 44% of women still be overweight with the abundance of information out there-and why are these numbers not decreasing?

Maybe the strategies aren’t working-
Let’s take a look at 3 strategies that definitely don’t work:

1. Chronic dieting- you know who you are! Surprisingly – or maybe not, many people spend their entire adult lives dieting. That could be 10, 20, 30 years of decreased calories, deprivation, misery and only short-term success. If dieting were a strategy that worked everyone would see a lifetime of results after 1 diet. Perhaps after 10 years of failed trials, it’s time to let the diets go…
2. Removing your self from the game- significant numbers of people that are trying to lose weight use this little strategy. It’s called the “When I lose 10lbs I’ll be happy” strategy. This group makes a conscious decision to remove themselves from life until they lose that weight. They think that the additional weight makes them not their real selves and stops them from sharing themselves with the world. We, the rest of the world, are missing your gifts and want you on our team.
3. Diet foods and artificial sweeteners- research shows that after all these years of the mock food being available that there is no correlation between long term weight loss and the chemicals that are being consumed. There is actually research to demonstrate that artificial sweeteners can increase your appetite and can cause us to gain weight. Whoops! Not a good plan, the better plan would be to eat real food.

Here’s the happy list, great strategies to consider:

1. Eat- meaning, allow your body to let you know what it needs. Become your own nutritional expert and find your natural appetite. You do this by developing a positive relationship with your food. Eat for the joy of eating, nourish yourself and trust your body to guide you. It will.
2. Be kind to the skinny people- yes, that what I meant to say. This one is directed mostly to women (and a few men I know!). Some people look at each other, criticize, compare and silently wish bad things to people that are of the skinny variety. It happens so frequently that it is almost normal behavior. What a great opportunity for all of us to grow and evolve in how we treat others. Judgment of others will never empower us to get what we want- lets raise the bar and embrace those skinny people.
3. Call in your reinforcements- sometimes we cannot do things alone. We cringe when we are asked to love our bodies as they are, right now, right or still getting there. It’s a challenge when we spend much of our time talking harshly to ourselves about what we need to work on, where we are failing and how we never seem to get to where we set our goals. If you aren’t ready to love your body right now find the supports in your life that love you and your body for what they are-you. Let them take over the love thing while you sit back and watch what happens. Prepare to be amazed!

Weight loss is a process-a growth process; learning to nurture and support yourself on the journey will set you up for long-term success.

Working with a health coach is a great way to support yourself and achieve your goals.