Weight Loss Resistance: What is it, what causes it, and how can you overcome it?

Weight Loss Resistance: What is it, what causes it, and how can you overcome it?

You keep cutting calories, but you can't lose weight. Have you ever thought that there might be more to it than just how much you eat? 

If you feel like you're doing everything right, or you're in a calorie deficit and eating a healthy diet, but not making progress and are still having difficulty losing weight or maintaining a healthy body weight, you might be starting to wonder, " Do I Have Weight Loss Resistance?"

Remember, the scale not moving is just ONE symptom of how your nutrition affects your health. If you are experiencing ANY of the following symptoms, then you might be experiencing weight loss resistance, meaning it's time to look at what is at the other end of your fork and see how good you can feel with some adjustments in your daily nutrition...

9 Signs of Weight Loss Resistance: 

1. Always hungry:

It doesn't seem to matter how much you eat, how nourishing and healthy your meals are, what your calorie intake is, how much water you're drinking, etc... you're just hungry all the time!

2. Chronically stressed:

You've got a ton going on and your cortisol levels are probably high pretty consistently. Stress can have a significant impact on weight loss, and it’s a bit of a double-edged sword—it can either hinder or, in some cases, unintentionally aid the process, depending on how your body and mind respond.

3. Mood Swings:

Mood swings often tie to hormonal imbalance, like estrogen and progesterone, serotonin, and cortisol, which directly impact weight management. This affects how our body processes the foods we eat and also impacts our hunger, cravings, and calorie intake. Weight loss resistance itself can also trigger mood swings, flipping the script. When the scale won’t budge despite your efforts, this can really mess with your headspace.

4. Trouble sleeping:

Sleep significatly impacts our overall health and body function, and - yes - our weight loss efforts. This can especially be a challenge for postpartum women who have uncontrollable sleep interruptions. Less sleep means you’re hungrier, craving carbs and sugar especially, because your tired brain wants quick energy. This can impair our ability to lose weight, or cause unwanted weight gain.

5. Fatigue or energy crashes:

Feel like your energy levels are all over the place? Constantly bouncing back and forth between feeling exhausted, and then getting a 'second wind?' This is a strongly correlated to weight loss resistance by a number of mechanisms! Hormone imbalances, poor sleep, stress, etc. all can cause fatigue and difficultly managing energy levels. It also makes it more difficult to stay motivated and get enough physical activity to aid weight loss. We often also struggle with healthy eating when we're exhausted, ereaching for easier, and often higher calorie, foods.

6. Bloating or gas:

Bloating and gas could indirectly relate to weight loss challenges. For example:

• Unknown food intolerances (like lactose or gluten sensitivity) can cause bloating and inflammation, which might affect water retention or gut health, potentially making weight loss feel stalled.
• Gut microbiome imbalances can lead to gas and poor nutrient absorption, which some studies suggest may influence metabolism and weight regulation.
• Overeating certain foods (e.g., high-fiber or processed carbs) might cause temporary bloating, masking true fat loss on the scale.

7. Constipation or diarrhea:

Similar to the last point, this is likely a symptom of underlying digestive or metabolic issues that might interfere with weight loss efforts. Slow digestion can lead to water retention and a sluggish metabolism, making it harder to shed pounds. Frequent loose stools can indicate malabsorption (e.g., from celiac disease or food intolerances), where your body isn’t fully processing nutrients. This might lead to inflammation or nutrient deficiencies, which can mess with hormones and metabolism, potentially stalling weight loss or even make you gain weight.

8. Food Cravings:

Food cravings can absolutely be linked to weight loss resistance, often acting as both a symptom and a contributing factor. They’re typically driven by physiological or psychological triggers that can derail efforts to maintain a calorie deficit or healthy eating pattern. Cravings can stem from hormone imbalances, high cortisol, poor sleep, and nutrient deficiencies (pretty much everything above!)

9. Weight loss plateau:

A weight loss plateau can sometimes signal underlying weight loss resistance when the stall isn’t just a typical metabolic adaptation but a symptom of a deeper, persistent barrier to fat loss. Normally, a plateau occurs after some initial success—your body adjusts to a lower calorie intake or higher activity level, slowing your metabolism to match. But if that plateau drags on despite reasonable tweaks (like cutting calories further or changing exercise), or if it happens unusually early in your journey, it might hint at resistance rather than just adaptation.

What causes weight loss resistance?

Weight loss resistance can happen when we aren’t eating enough of the right foods, have the wrong caloric balance, not getting proper nutrition or food quality, poor meal timing, not getting enough sleep, and more. All of these things lead to inflammation, hormonal imbalances, and your metabolism not functioning at its best!

Although how much you eat (aka calories) is important, so is WHAT you are eating (aka food quality and nutrient density), WHEN you are eating it, and in what combinations! Not to mention very low calorie diets can also cause a decline in metabolism, hormonal imbalances (hello acne), fatigue, cravings and mood swings - all negatively affecting our ability to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.  Whether weight loss specifically is the main goal or not, you have to give your body the nutrients it needs to function optimally!

Notice how many of the signs and symptoms of weight loss resistance are also the causes? These things are interconnected and it can become very difficult to figure out why we're having difficulty losing weight and what exactly is stalling our weight loss efforts. It's rarely just one thing... typically there are several issues going on that have a domino effect on everything else.

Postpartum Weight Loss Resistance

Why does it seem like some moms just drop the baby weight super fast, while others struggle forever to lose it, or even deal with more weight gain postpartum?

Isn't breastfeeding supposed to burn a ton of calories and help the postpartum weight fall off?

Postpartum weight loss resistance is a real hurdle for many new moms, and it’s tied to a mix of physiological, hormonal, and lifestyle factors unique to the aftermath of pregnancy. Your body’s just been through a marathon—growing a human, shifting hormones, and adapting to delivery—so it’s not surprising it might cling to some extra weight, despite your efforts.

Why it can be hard to lose weight Postpartum:

1. HormonAL IMBALANCE:

After childbirth, hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin (which ramps up for breastfeeding) are in flux. These shifts can slow metabolism or promote fat storage, nature’s way of ensuring energy reserves for recovery and lactation. If you’re breastfeeding, prolactin might keep some fat around longer, even though you’re burning extra calories (about 300-500 daily).

Cortisol (again) — sleep deprivation and the stress of newborn life can spike it, telling your body to hold onto fat as a survival mechanism, which of course is going to affect our postpartum weight.

Insulin sensitivity can also take a hit post-pregnancy, particularly if gestational diabetes was in the picture, making weight loss trickier.

2. thyroid:

Postpartum hypothyroidism is a condition where the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough thyroid hormones after childbirth. It often occurs as a result of postpartum thyroiditis, which is an inflammation of the thyroid gland that can happen in the first year after delivery. Since our thyroid helps control our metabolism, it can have a direct negative impact on our ability to lose weight, or even cause weight gain unexpectedly.

3. Water Retention & INFLAMMATION

Many women struggle with holding onto extra water weight and deal with systemic inflammation postpartum. This is due to many factors, including what we've already discussed here, like: hormone imbalance, hormone changes, lack of sleep, low nutrient density, calorie intake, digestive issues, etc. systemic inflammation has a direct impact on weight loss resistance - not only does it cause us to hold more water, which affects how we look visually and what the scale says, but it also makes it more difficult for our body to lose weight like it should even when we are in a calorie deficit.

^^ these are just a few of the many common factors that impact postpartum weight loss.

Good news: We CAN overcome weight loss resistance!

Despite this all making weight loss sound complicated, which it can be, there is always hope! We CAN overcome weight loss resistance, stop unwanted weight gain, and lose weight!

The best place to start is with your nutrition and healthy habits!

Here are 4 steps to get started with overcoming weight loss resistance:

1. Prioritize a whole food based, balanced diet:

Cut out all processed foods and added sugars. Stick to REAL, WHOLE foods. This will instantly help your body function better overall from the inside out, which will have a positive impact on weight loss efforts. It doesn't mean you can never eat these foods again, but taking some time away will help to reset your body so that moving forward you can have more success when trying to lose weight and feel better overall.

2. Try an elimination-style diet:

Again, this doesn't have to be forever, but temporarily cutting out certain foods like gluten, dairy, and processed foods can help to pinpoint any food intolerances you may have that are causing digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, and are hindering your ability to lose weight. Once you heal your gut, you can reintroduce these foods slowly and strategically in a healthy way

3. Try a Reverse Carb Cycle:

Reverse carb cycling is a dietary strategy that flips the traditional carb cycling approach. Rather than having basic high and low carb days, we focus on strategic carb timing to optimize how our body metabolizes carbs to make them work FOR our weight loss efforts, and not against them. This also helps balance hormone and energy levels, while improving sleep, exercise performance, and mood swings all at the same time!

4. Start moving your body strategically with intentional exercise intervention:

While exercise can be another stress on the body, it is important to prioritize healthy movement to optimize your weight loss journey. If you're a mom who is looking to reconnect with your body and start feeling like yourself again, try the Natal App - you’ll have access to expert coaches and fitness programs tailored to every stage of motherhood at an affordable price.

30-Day Nutrition Plan to Balance Hormones, Overcome Weight Loss Resistance, and Lose Weight!

The 30-Day Slim Down meal plan inside the Natal app addresses ALL of the weight loss resistance symptoms we discussed in this article, as well as helping to optimize your overall health and achieve weight loss through balancing hormones, replenishing nutrients, and improving gut health!

This is more than just healthy eating: it's a reverse carb cycling, an anti-inflammatory meal plan designed to reset gut health, balance hormones, improve energy, and help you lean out. It optimizes metabolism and stabilizes insulin levels. Master portion sizes and make sustainable nutrition choices for long-term success—no calorie counting required!

The Natal 30-Day Slim Down also includes a breastfeeding-friendly version with specific protocols for new moms who want to safely lose weight while breastfeeding without negatively impacting breast milk supply or nutrient density like most weight loss plans that just focus on low calories. In fact, many women who start this program report eating more food than ever before while experiencing faster weight loss!

If you're currently having difficulty losing weight, unwanted weight gain, or you just want to optimize your overall health, don't hesitate to give this program a try! Remember, it's ALWAYS a good time to work on looking and FEELING your best! 

You'll quickly discover the incredible advantages, beyond even weight loss, of nourishing your body with metabolism-boosting foods that truly FUEL your FIRE! 

This nutrition plan has helped tens of thousands of women from around the world lose weight when nothing else has worked.

The Slim Down hormone balancing and weight loss meal plan is free inside the Natal app for all our subscribed members. If you're not a subscribed member yet you can access it on a 3-day free trial to try it out with us!

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