If You Feel Stuck At The Same Size When Trying To Lose Weight…

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

No question/request too big or small 😎

❝I keep trying in different ways but whatever I do I just don’t lose weight, is this something that’s just me?❞

Well, we can’t diagnose from afar (or at all, actually; we are not doctors, let alone your doctors), so we can’t comment on whether there’s something exceptional going on in your case, but we can say that certainly many people report experiencing what you are describing.

Let’s start with some good news: if you weight is staying the same, then your weight is stable, which for most people is a good thing!

Next, some extra good news: if you are doing the “correct” things (healthy lifestyle habits in general), then you are getting benefits regardless of what the bathroom scale has to say about it.

For example:

• If you are eating healthily (especially: plenty of plants for fiber and polyphenols, and sufficient protein/carbs/fats from good sources), then you are flooding your body with the nutrients it needs to keep you well
• If you are getting your recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week (ambling around counts), your heart will be thanking you for it
• If you are sleeping well (i.e. at least 7 hours of good quality sleep per day), your body will be better able to take care of itself in the ways that it needs to
• If you are abstaining from harmful substances (e.g. alcohol, tobacco, red/processed meat, etc), then those substances will not be harming your body
• If you are looking after your mental health (which for most people most of the time includes managing stress adequately) then your physical health won’t be held back

For more details on these, see: These Top Few Things Make The Biggest Difference To Health

Special note on that about the exercise and heart health: in fact, the American Heart Association made a statement on this one recently, saying such things as:

❝Independently of weight loss, physical activity and exercise programs improve major cardiometabolic risk factors, including hypertension, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia, which are highly prevalent in patients with overweight or obesity.❞

You can read the statement in full, here: Role of Physical Activity in Obesity Treatment and Cardiometabolic Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

It’s also worth bearing in mind that a lot of people, especially women and especially over a certain age, often overestimate how much weight loss would be healthy.

Media tells us we must be thin to be healthy, but science is a little more nuanced, and regular 10almonds readers may remember how “overweight” BMI is a protective factor for people over 65 and actually reduces mortality.

So for this reason, you might want to: Stop Trying To Lose Weight (And Do This Instead) ← this is about metabolic health in a more general fashion, and is very important

All that said, if you’d still pressingly like to lose some weight, then you might want to swing by: Hit A Weight Loss Plateau? Here’s What To Do

Want to learn more?

You might like these main features on getting your body just the way you want it, sustainably and healthily:

1. How To Lose Weight (Healthily!)
2. How To Build Muscle (Healthily!)
3. How To Gain Weight (Healthily!) ← this one’s specifically about gaining healthy levels of fat, for any who want/need that

And also:

Can We Do Fat Redistribution? ← yes we can, but there are caveats

Take care!