The Diet Dilemma: Why Just Cutting Calories Makes Weight Loss So Much Harder (And What To Do Instead)

Are you stuck in the frustrating seemingly never ending diet cycle? You know the drill: cut calories, eat less, exercise more. It goes ok for a few days, maybe even a few weeks if you’re lucky…but then the hunger and cravings get stronger, you start to feel sore and exhausted and you find yourself having to white knuckle it through the day to stay on track.

And that's when, inevitably, it all starts to fall apart. You blame yourself, feeling like you just don’t have enough willpower… just aren't "strong enough."...or can “never stick to anything”...

The weight creeps back on, often with a little extra just to add salt to the wound, and the cycle of frustration continues.

“Everything in Moderation..." Why It Might Be Keeping You Stuck.

If I hear "everything in moderation" one more time, I might just scream.

For so many of us, myself included, this well-meaning advice has actually been the reason we've felt stuck, frustrated, and even broken.

We tried it. We really did. Hell, we really want it to work because we don’t want to have to limit or give up our favorite foods…

But in a world overflowing with highly processed, hyper-palatable foods – literally engineered to make you crave more and more – "moderation" feels like an impossible, never-ending battle.

Why You Sabotage Your Diet (And How to Stop!)

Have you ever gotten to a point in your weight loss journey when things seem to be going smoothly, you’ve lost some weight and maybe you’re even getting close to reaching your goals, and then BAM! All of a sudden you find yourself off the rails...again?

Often it starts with something that seems small or a perfectly innocent thought like “I’ve been really good all day, I deserve to have a scoop of ice cream…” only to find a little bit later you’ve polished off the whole pint.” Or having that piece of a brownie that someone left in the lunchroom and then that turns into... “Well, I’ve already screwed up today I might as well eat what I want and get back on track tomorrow…” but then tomorrow just continues the downward spiral.

The 7-Day Experiment That Helped Me Finally Lose Weight And Keep It Off (and Can Help You Too!)

Are you doing all the things to lose weight? Dieting, counting calories, tracking every bite that goes into your mouth, "eating clean," hitting your step goal, pushing through workouts, chugging water… but the scale just won’t budge? If this sounds familiar you're definitely not alone. If you're feeling frustrated, defeated, and on the verge of throwing in the towel, thinking that maybe you're just destined to be overweight, please hear this - there is hope, and it might be simpler than you think.

That's exactly where I was too until I found out I was insulin resistant.

3 Weight Loss Mistakes

Tell me has this ever happened to you?

You put on a pair of pants and all of a sudden they're tighter than usual...its a little harder to get that zipper up and that button buttoned - then you wonder how you're gonna be able to breathe the rest of the day...

Or stepped on the scale and the number didn't budge or even worse it went up?

I remember that feeling all too well...part of me just wanted to give up and go fuck it eat and the other half wanted to buckle down and get super strict to get the fucking weight off…

What I did know was I didn't want to go up another jeans size ...again!

6 Things You Need To Know For Successful Weight Loss

Most of the weight loss advice that you get is usually focused around what to eat, what not to eat and how much exercise you should get, but while those are important aspects (exercise may not be as important for weight loss as we’ve been told…but that’s a post for another day), there is one piece of the puzzle that’s usually always missing – the mindset piece.

Lose Weight, Keep It Off, MindsetKristen DuckettFebruary 14, 2023Weight loss, Sustainable Weight Loss, Mindset, Fat LossComment

Is Your Diet To Blame?

We usually do it based on the results somebody else had. Maybe a friend tried it. Maybe you read a magazine article about it, or you saw it on social media...

We never really stop to think does this diet work for me? Does it fit with my likes and my dislikes, my lifestyle, does it work for the results that I’m looking for?

Are Your Weight Loss Expectations Realistic?

The diet industry has really f@^&ed us up - setting us up for all kinds of unrealistic expectations when it comes to weight loss.

You can't stand in line at the grocery store, watch tv, or scroll through social media without being inundated with all kinds of promises like:

The Perfect Diet??

We all want the perfect diet.

We want someone to tell us exactly what to do, what to eat, how many calories we should have…

We think that’s the way we’ll be able to lose weight.

And you absolutely can lose weight that way. But the trick is being able to keep it off…

Weight Loss, Diet ProblemsKristen DuckettDecember 26, 2022Weight loss, Sustainable Weight Loss, Diets

Don't Underestimate The Power Of Small Changes

We tend to discount the small changes that we make because we think: it’s not gonna be good enough, it’s gonna take too long, it’s not gonna make a difference…

How Comfortable Are You With Being Uncomfortable?

That's part of what makes weight loss so hard...you're making changes...changes to your diet...changes to your lifestyle...those are big ones.

That's gonna get uncomfortable sometimes. Your brain is gonna rebel, it's gonna want you to quit to keep you safe.

Why Your Diet May Be Making Weight Loss Harder

I work with a lot of women who, like me, have struggled with their weight for a long time.

And it's not for lack of trying. They are trying, in fact they’re working hard trying to do all the right things, eat healthy, exercise…but yet that damn scale still won’t budge!

More often than not, when we dive in and look at what they’re doing, what their diet looks like and their lifestyle it often turns out they’re eating too few calories

Do You Need Another Diet?

“I want to lose weight, but I am so sick of trying and failing diet after diet”.

I hear this all the time and I felt that way too.

There is no shortage of weight loss advice out there and it can be hard to wade through it all and find something that actually works…

I can say one thing with a lot of certainty - you don’t need another diet…you’ve done that already…you know how that turns out.

Stop Doing This If You Want Lasting Weight Loss

One of the biggest mistakes that I see women make when it comes to weight loss is eating too few calories…somewhere we got this idea into our heads that we need to be eating 1200 calories or less to be able to lose weight. And quite frankly that's bullshit!

1200 calories/day on a regular basis is just too low for most adults (see chart here)

Yes, you can lose weight that way…temporarily…

8 Reasons you might be struggling to lose weight

Discover the 8 top reasons why you may not be losing weight or seeing the results that you hoped for.

Navigating The Holidays Without Going Off The Rails On Your Diet

But it really doesn’t have to be that way you can still enjoy the holidays without having all the wheels fall off.

It just takes slowing down a bit (another challenge this time of year?), a little mindfulness and thinking ahead. But you can still have your favorite treats without feeling like you have to dig yourself out of a hole come January 1st.

Hunger & Cravings, Weight LossKristen DuckettDecember 17, 2021Holidays, Stop Dieting, Sustainable Weight Loss

The Magic Pill

We all want the magic pill that's gonna give us those quick and easy weight loss results.

But as good as that sounds, those things never really work….

Weight loss takes some effort - plain and simple - most things that are worth it do...

Any Diet That Starts With Your Being Hungry Is Doomed To Fail

You want to lose weight so you do the usual things to try to make that happen which usually includes things like cutting calories and exercising more….

This might go ok for a little bit... sometimes a few months, other times a few weeks... sometimes you’re lucky if you can make it to noon.