These days, everything is a rush: send it now, call them now, hurry or I’ll be late for yoga! Life has become a race against the clock, affecting our daily habits more than we realise. But why am I not losing weight despite dieting and exercising? I follow every rule: watch calories, exercise until my legs beg me to stop and keep pushing every day.
And still, nothing seems to shift.
We rush towards the next goal without enjoying the present. The idea was to make the most of time, not swallow it whole without taking a breath.
Why can’t I lose weight?
Losing weight slowly can be difficult. Going slowly makes many people anxious. We have embraced a radical fast-food mentality: no time for the oven, no patience for a simmer. Who made everything feel like a downhill sprint?
One reason: people naturally want to achieve, finish and arrive.
You may already have scrolled to the end to see how much is left. We have been asking “Are we there yet?” for as long as we can remember. That urgency makes us see value only at the finish line, rather than in the process.
And that, my friend, is a problem.
Time to talk about nutrition
How easy it would be to click here and find a list of all the reasons you are not losing weight, neatly ordered with a big, perhaps underlined conclusion. Something explaining exactly what you are doing wrong, what to eat and how to burn energy like an oven containing a pizza you should have removed half an hour ago.
But that universal list does not exist. Nutrition works through lasting understanding: how your body functions, the role of each food and its nutrients, and when eating before, during or after training matters.
Remember: your nutritional needs differ from those of the person beside you.
Your lifestyle differs from the person who just walked past.
Your activity level probably does too. I have never entered a CrossFit box and seen everyone moving in perfect unison.
What feels like a varied, balanced diet to you may not even meet your cousin’s resting energy needs.
Your favourite afternoon snack of nuts and yoghurt would not suit a colleague with an almond allergy.
I need to know which diet suits me
And that is not straightforward.
Many of us know about food: how long pasta takes, whether fish tastes better smoked or strawberries are in season. Fewer understand what happens once we eat it.
This is where eating meets nutrition: the complex biochemical processes that turn food into nutrients and deliver them to cells. Those processes do not speed up just because you are in a hurry to lose weight.
Developing nutritional awareness means establishing habits. You may have heard the 21-day rule, but habit formation takes a variable amount of time, often longer. Practise useful routines: a meal pattern that suits you, carrying training fuel, planning menus, remembering meals, drinking appropriately and recovering after exercise.
Habits need effort at first. Once established, they make life much easier.
Most worthwhile things take time. An athlete demanding instant results may also run into instant problems.
Here are four shortcuts we do not recommend.
4 common diet mistakes
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Skipping dinner:
Some people skip dinner to avoid weight gain, then wake ravenous and overeat. A sugary breakfast may produce a rapid glucose and insulin response, but outcomes depend on the person and overall diet: skipping dinner does not inevitably cause weight gain.
Nutrition does not stop when you go to sleep. Your body remains active and continues using resources.
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Cutting out carbohydrates:
Some people remove carbohydrates to get lean for summer. If this leaves them underfuelled, recovery and performance can suffer and injury risk can increase. That does not mean carbohydrate restriction inevitably causes injury or that injury automatically causes weight gain.
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Assuming fewer meals always burn more fat:
If skipping a meal leaves you ravenous by 14:00, you may eat quickly and struggle to notice fullness. Leptin and ghrelin are among many appetite signals, not a simple on/off timer. Choose nutritious foods and a meal frequency that suits you; more meals do not inherently improve absorption or fat loss.
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Assuming more training always means better performance:
Stress is not only mental. Muscles are stressed by excessive exercise, poor rest or inadequate nutrition. Excessive oxidative stress can contribute to damage, though normal exercise-related signalling is also necessary for adaptation.
Include foods that support an overall healthy, varied dietary pattern, alongside adequate rest and fuel.
Breathe.
Stop rushing towards the finish line.
Think less about finishing and more about starting things that make you excited to get up each morning.
Whatever happens, enjoy the process.
Want to plan your nutrition around your goals? Visit our website to learn about our online sports nutritionists.
