Latest / Fit for Hiking / Ep. 128 95% of People Will Gain Back the Weight They Lose - Here's Why
Transcript
- Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a long time fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. In combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. What's up guys? Welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host, Brady, and I am so excited to talk about this topic today because we are getting close to the new year, which is absolutely mind boggling. We are in the final weeks of 2025. If you are listening to this in real time, and I really want to get into a topic that is so, so relevant as we head into the new year, because we all know that New Year's is the time where people start to think about their resolutions, they start to maybe get serious about goals that they let fall by the wayside throughout the rest of the year. And unfortunately, the reality is 95% of people who set weight loss goals or fat loss goals, or even fitness goals in 2026 are going to fail. That is a very, very high failure percentage. And there's a 95% chance that if you set those goals for yourself this year, that you also failed. And hopefully the people listening to this podcast are in the 5%. I would like to believe so, because if you're listening in this podcast, that means you're a go getter. You're working on improving your health, you're leveling up. You don't want to just stay comfortable, right? But that is the statistic for majority of people. They are going to fail. They're going to just rebound and gain the weight back. So today we're going to talk about why this happens and how to not be in that 95%. If you want to be a part of the 5% that is successful and actually maintains this one year, two years, five years from now, then we need to talk about it so that you can do things the right way. One time. I don't know about you guys, but like, I don't want to work really hard to get a result in any area of life and then just immediately backpedal and lose that progress. Like, I don't have that type of time to waste that type of energy to waste. I mean, that's just crappy all around. So let's do this once, right? Like I did the whole thing of losing weight and gaining it back for years in my 20s. I can tell you firsthand how much that sucks to work really hard at something and then immediately lose the weight, because I really didn't set the proper foundation for myself to do things consistently the right way. Now that I've done it successfully, I can tell you I don't want to ever have to do it again. I want to just maintain. And it's so much easier to maintain than it is to get the result. So if we know how to maintain that is literally gold and it will get you through the rest of your life if you have the proper habits and mindsets. Okay, so let's dig in. Why are 95% of people who lose weight gaining it back? Let's talk about it. There are five main reasons. Five main reasons why 95% of people who gain weight lose it right back. Number one is that they are dieting instead of building a metabolism. Okay, dieting and cardio. These are two of the biggest deterrents for your metabolic health. Two things that will definitely set you back in building a strong foundation with your metabolism. If you want your metabolism working for you all the time around the clock, not just having to manually burn calories, not having to live in a deficit, then you need to focus on eating enough consistently, not falling into these diet trends, and not doing too much cardio, which is not really setting you up metabolically for success. So most weight loss methods, if we're honest, are focusing on eating less and doing tons of cardio. They're not focused on building muscle, and that is one of the biggest pitfalls for people when it comes to long term maintenance, especially women. We work out like we are literally afraid or allergic to muscle. Even if we say like, no, I want to get toned. Yet we're still only picking up the £5 weights, yet we're still only going to the fast paced classes. We're only doing cardio, we're only doing hit. We're only running. Those are not going to build muscle. Pilates is not going to build the muscle that you need to have a thriving metabolism, or to actually shape your body in a meaningful way. The people that you're seeing on Instagram or TikTok who have really awesome physiques from Pilates is because they lifted weights for a super long time, or are currently doing that in conjunction with their Pilates, and they're honest about that. They'll even say it. They're like, I'm not going to be able to build a toned physique from Pilates. That's just their reality. Okay, so you need to be doing methods of exercise consistently every single week that are supporting your muscle growth, or at least muscle maintenance at least minimum. We don't want to be losing muscle like most women do as they get older, okay? That is why so many women complain about having a slower metabolism as they get older. It's not because their metabolism is just broken Now it's typically because one, they're actually moving way, way less than they think they are. Think about when you're a kid. You're like running around 24 seven. My three year old daughter literally never stops moving. And it's like, okay, we are not the same. We don't do that. When we get older. We want to sit. We want to conserve energy, right? We want to rest as much as possible. So probably not moving as much as you think you are. Also, you're not doing anything to maintain muscle, and muscle is your metabolic tissue. So those two things combined make it look like your metabolism is just failing. You know, you're just not doing the things that you need to for a strong, thriving metabolism to make it easy to stay lean, long term people who have more muscle, they can eat more, they can burn more calories at rest because your body has to work harder just to maintain that muscle tissue. That's why when you see super lean people, they can actually, like kind of splurge a bit more. They can afford to eat more calories from time to time because one, most of the time they are dialed in with their eating right. You might see them in that one instance of a social event where they're eating a lot. They're probably not eating like that 24 over seven, but also when they do, they have more metabolic flexibility because their metabolism is resilient. They can burn more calories at rest. They're not just manually burning calories through cardio all the time. And then it's like, if you skip a day or you skip a week or you skip a month, then you lose all your progress, right? That is not the same when you have muscle. So slower metabolism, more fatigue, less food tolerance. All of that is a result of dieting a ton and tons of cardio. This is a big reason, honestly, why weight loss shots don't work well long term. Why? Studies are already showing that people struggle to maintain the results once they get them. Again, a lot of people gaining a back 95%, gaining the weight back because unless they're pairing those shots, that medication with proper training to maintain muscle so they're not losing equal parts fat and muscle and their everyday eating habits, then it's going to be really, really hard to maintain, right? Otherwise, what are we doing? You're just losing body fat and muscle rapidly, but you're not actually preparing your metabolism for when you come off of that medication. Now you've metabolically adapted to hardly any calories. You don't have muscle that your body needs to keep alive. And also you're coming off the medication. Your appetite goes back to normal. So that's a recipe for weight rebound okay. So think about muscle as your metabolic insurance. Cardio while it is great for health benefits, is not going to be your best friend when you want to gain muscle and have a higher metabolism, and dieting is definitely not going to support you metabolically. If you're living in a calorie deficit year round, that is going to mean metabolic adaptation. Okay, that doesn't mean that you are living in starvation mode. That's a myth, but it does mean that your body is now used to less calorie intake because you've been doing that consistently. That's why you need to be smart with your diet phases. It's okay to be in a calorie deficit for strategic fat loss, but if you're living in it, yes, your metabolism will suffer. Okay. Moving on number two. People who gain the weight back chase short term results instead of long term habits. Typically, these people are the ones who are like, I want to follow this diet. I want to do 75 hard. I want to do these like quick fix type of things because they just want the result as fast as humanly possible. They're not thinking long game, they're not thinking five years from now. They're just thinking right now. I want the results. I want to be skinny right now. So extreme plans are going to work faster. That's the mind f like that's why people get tripped up. And this is why as a society we go towards the quick fixes because they they do work. They're faster than doing it the right way. This is why like it's really hard to actually sell a quality program that will support people long term because people want the quick fix. It's sexier, it's flashier, but they're not livable. They're not something that you can continue doing, which is why you gain the weight back. Okay. When the program ends, old habits are going to return because nothing was sustainable. None of the habits that you were doing actually formed to long term. And typically they were very unsustainable in general. So you were doing things like trying to do cardio five days a week, cutting carbs, cutting sugar, um, eating 1200 calories, all of these things. Yes, they will help you lose weight quickly, but can you actually do that the rest of your life? What is your plan long term? Right. So if the plan doesn't fit real life, it's not going to last in real life. Think long game. Number three. Hormones are ignored, especially as women age 30 to 50. We are stress sensitive. You can't just ignore the results in the rest of your body that are going to happen as a chain reaction to the stress that you're putting your body under when you go into these extreme diets or intense cardio twice a day. Type of deals. Okay, so stress under eating, poor sleep, excessive cardio, all of those increase cortisol and disrupt hormones. Okay, so I'm not saying that any sort of weight loss or fat loss is going to ruin you hormonally, but if you're not doing things the smart way strategically, with a plan, with moving from fat loss to maintenance properly, then yes, this is not going to be great hormonally. Okay, so body is going to fight weight loss and increase hunger and lower energy when cortisol is off. Okay. You can't out discipline hormonal burnout. I am a testament to this. I experienced it myself in my 20s and it was an extremely frustrating place to be, and I wish I would have known all the stuff that I know now that I talk about on this podcast, so I could do things the right way to avoid having my hormone levels off and my inflammation extremely high cortisol, extremely high. Doing a million things, spinning my wheels, trying to lose weight and actually gaining weight instead. Very very frustrating. Number four. They lose weight without knowing how to move to maintenance. This is a really big thing, and we just did a podcast episode of this of understanding the difference between transformation phase and maintenance. So definitely go back and listen to that. If you're intrigued by this topic. Most people are taught how to lose weight. Maybe not always the best way, but yes, they can do it, but they don't know how to transition from your fat loss phase to maintenance. They don't have any sort of exit strategy to move correctly to a place where they're maintaining, without just gaining all of that weight back. How do you increase calories? How do you move away from maybe quite as much movement? Um, how do you maintain that structure without rigidity for the rest of your life? Or maybe move towards intuitive eating, right? All of these things take a bit of strategy, and this is why working with a coach typically obviously a good coach, right? Not a mediocre one who knows what they're doing and they can help you plan for this so that you can maintain the results. Maintenance, honestly, is a skill. You have to learn it and you have to practice it. Otherwise, regain is honestly inevitable. If you don't get really good at doing the things and the habits day to day, that will help you maintain, the reality is you're going to be stricter in fat loss. That's why maintenance is theoretically easier. But most people just try to do absolutely nothing. They try to go from doing all the things to none of the things and then expect to maintain, and that's where they get it wrong. So yes, you don't have to be quite as strict to maintain, but you do still need to do a lot of the things that helped you lose the fat, just not maybe as intensely. Yes, you're still going to have to be mindful of your calories and portions, but you're not having to eat in a deficit anymore. You're not having to maybe track so meticulously. Okay, so that's just an example. And number five the all or nothing mindset. This is something I talk about quite a bit, because I really believe that the all or nothing mindset derails more people than honestly anything else in the fitness and health space. This is the culprit for why I stayed stuck for so long in my 20s, losing weight and then gaining back the same £5 and then some over and over and over again. And this happens to so many people because our mindset is our foundation for everything in life. The longer I am on this earth, the more I become a firm believer that like, if you don't get your mindset dialed in, your life is going to suffer. Like your habits will be crappy, your choices will suck, you're not going to feel good. You're going to have crappy attitude, right? You're going to let life happen to you and become a victim to so, so much. So instead of really getting a hold of your mindset and looking at, okay, am I being a victim right now? Where am I having this all or nothing mindset that's holding me back? Because your mindset affects your thoughts, which affect your choices, which affect your habits, which affect the results of your life. Right? We are a result of our our thoughts, our choices, our habits. What we're doing on a daily basis will absolutely become the outcomes of our life. So it's very, very important to dial in your mindset first and foremost. If you want to be able to maintain healthy habits, and getting a hold of this all or nothing mindset is crucial. So if you notice yourself doing this, I want you to just pay attention the next week to where your thoughts go when something is off. Okay? So let's say that you follow a workout plan, right? And something happens on Wednesday that throws you off. Maybe you end up having to work until like 8 p.m. because something negative happens at work and you got to stay and work late or your kid gets sick, right? I'm living this one real time almost every single month right now. Your kid gets sick and now they're staying home from school. You're having to cancel everything, and you don't get to focus on the things that you thought you were going to get to focus on that week. If that one off day turns you into I already messed up, so I just cannot do it this week. I'll start Monday. I'm completely derailed. I can't I can't do anything like I. Since I can't work out, then I can't do anything. I can't even do a ten minute workout at home. I can't focus on my nutrition. I can't go for a walk, right? If it goes from all or nothing to you that fast, then you definitely need to address this. This cycle creates repeated weight loss and regain yo yo dieting more than anything else for that exact reason. Because the second that something comes up that's a blip in our radar that throws us off. We don't know how to be resilient, we don't know how to pivot. And we just go from, I'm doing all the things to, okay, if I can't do all the things that I'm doing, none of the things. Okay, so the most successful people by far, who lose weight and keep it off are adaptable. Adaptability is the best skill for long term weight maintenance, because you need to be able to adapt to whatever life throws at you. Okay, you need to be someone who works out consistently, who goes for walks, who prioritizes your nutrition, who gets protein in, who drinks the water, who focuses on sleep and stress recovery. No matter what is happening in your life, it doesn't matter if you have visitors in town. It doesn't matter if your whole household is sick. It doesn't matter if you move or change careers or go through a divorce or have a child, whatever. And I'm not saying every week is going to be perfect. Absolutely not. But can you still focus on some of the things, even if you can't focus on all of the things? So for instance, even if your household is sick and you're not going to the gym, can you still prioritize getting out for a ten minute walk every day? Probably. Can you still get protein at every single meal? Yes. Can you still eat a fruit and veggie portion every single day? Yes. Okay, so there are still things you can focus on, even if you can't do all of the things, even if you're not checking all the things off the list. Okay, so definitely look for these patterns in yourself. And notice when you are tempted to do the like, oh, I popped a tire. I'm going to go ahead and slash the rest of them. If you are doing that in your health and fitness, or even in your like personal goals or your business goals or whatever it is that whatever that looks like for you, definitely getting to the root of that and working on it is going to transform your life in so many ways. All right, you guys, I hope that this has been helpful. I also want to share about our awesome January Habit Routine Reset challenge. Okay, so in January, starting Jan one, we are doing a 30 day challenge, which within our coaching program all about habit formation, getting lean, and kickstarting the new year in the best possible way. With all of this, we are working towards being able to maintain the results right, having strategy, doing things smarter with our training and eating so that you don't become part of the 95% that just gains the weight back. Okay? Also, this is no risk, meaning you get the results or your money back. That's how confident I am. Okay, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If anything, you might actually win some free months of coaching because if you are consistent and you get the results, you can be eligible to win up to two months free of coaching. That's a $900 value, you guys. So really awesome opportunity. Nothing to lose, zero risk. Honestly, if you don't do this, I don't know what you're thinking. So DM us at the fit underscore for Hiking Instagram page. DM us reset and we will get you more information on this. There are limited spots so definitely jump on it. Don't dilly dally. You can also just check the link in the show notes. I'm going to link straight to where you can buy the challenge if you want to just go for it. But if you want to kind of talk through it more, then definitely send us a message at the Fit Underscore for Hiking Instagram page. We'd love to chat with you there and get you some more information. Very, very excited about this challenge inside our community. All right. Thank you guys so much for listening to the show. As always, your support means so much. If you can drop us a rating and a review, if you can share it with other people. All of that really, really helps support small shows like this. I do this out of the love in my heart for you and for this community, so it's really appreciated when you get that love back and I will chat with you in the next episode. Have a great week! Thanks for tuning into this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this. Be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at ponytail on Etrailer.com. Happy and healthy trails.