Why Does Weight Loss Feel So Hard?
These Three Studies May Reveal Some Answers
A fascinating look at mindset, hunger, habits, and the small shifts that can make healthy choices easier.
When trying to lose weight, you have probably thought:
I know what to do… so why is it still so hard?
We know the basics: eat more nourishing foods, move our bodies, stop when we are satisfied, get enough sleep, manage stress, and stay consistent.
Simple, right?
Except real life is not simple. Hunger, cravings, stress, emotions, schedules, sleep, and old thought patterns all show up at the table with us.
That is why one of the most helpful questions we can ask is not,
“How do I force myself to do better?”
But…
“How can I train my brain to work with my body together instead of fighting against it?”
Some research suggests that our thoughts, expectations, and attention influence our hunger, fullness, and stress hormones.
Let’s explore three fascinating studies showing how the mind may shape the body’s response to exercise, food, and stress—then use those insights to make practical tweaks that may increase our likelihood of success.
Study #1: Can our beliefs about our everyday daily lives change how our bodies respond?
In a 2007 study, researchers Alia Crum and Ellen Langer worked with 84 female hotel room attendants.
These women were already doing physically demanding work—vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, making beds, and walking during their shifts—but they did not consider themselves active.
Image by Mohamed_hassan from Pixabay
Researchers divided the women into two groups. One group was told that their daily work—vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, making beds, and other tasks—counted as exercise. They explained how these activities contributed to their physical fitness and told them how many calories each activity burned.
The control group wasn't given this information. Both groups continued their work as normal. No other changes were made.
Why is this interesting?
Each woman's workload remained the same. But four weeks later, the women who were told their work counted as exercise showed decreases in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and BMI compared with the control group.
The researchers interpreted the findings as evidence that mindset may influence the relationship between exercise and health.
(Crum, A. J., & Langer, E. J., 2007)
This was a relatively small study, and we need more research to prove this hypothesis, but I found it interesting enough to raise an intriguing question:
Could the way we think about daily activities affect how our bodies respond to them?
Here is an even more surprising experiment.
Study #2: Can our beliefs about what we eat produce a different hormonal response?
In 2011, researchers gave 46 participants the exact same 380-calorie milkshake but with two very different labels on the two separate occasions.
The milkshake itself didn't change, just the labels, and as a result, what the participants believed about the milkshakes.
On one occasion, participants were led to believe they were drinking a rich, indulgent 620-calorie milkshake.
On the other, they were told it was a sensible 140-calorie shake.
After each shake, researchers measured their ghrelin levels, a hormone involved in hunger and appetite. Ghrelin is often called the "hunger hormone” because it rises to cause hunger and falls after eating.
The results were remarkable.
After consuming the seemingly indulgent shake, their ghrelin levels dropped much more sharply than when they believed they were drinking the sensible shake. They also reported feeling more satisfied after drinking the “indulgent” shake and staying fuller for longer.
The participants had different expectations.
Therefore, their bodies responded differently.
With the “sensible” shake, the opposite was true. They felt less satisfied, and their ghrelin levels reflected as much.
You would assume that their blood test levels would be similar after each shake. After all, they were the exact same calories, nutrients, and macros.
However, the participants had different expectations and therefore different physiological responses. The researchers concluded that mindset meaningfully affected the physiological response to food.
(Crum A. J. et al., 2011)
That doesn't mean our thoughts override calories, nutrition, or the energy found in food. It does, however, suggest something useful:
The meaning we attach to food may matter more than we realize.
Think about the difference between:
"I can't have this because I'm dieting today."
versus
"I'm choosing this because I want to feel healthy and take care of my body."
The food may be identical. But what we tell ourselves about it isn’t.
Study # 3: Can mindfulness change our relationship with stress and eating?
The third study takes the idea in another direction.
In 2020, researchers studied 45 children ages 10 to 14 with obesity and anxiety. One group received a dietary plan. Another received the same dietary plan combined with mindfulness training.
The children followed the program for eight weeks. Those who also received the additional training focused on practical skills to help them become more aware of what was happening in both their minds and bodies:
Pay attention to breathing — They practiced breathing exercises to help settle the body and bring their attention back to the present moment.
Notice what the body is telling you — Through body-awareness exercises, they learned to recognize physical sensations rather than automatically ignoring or reacting to them.
Recognize thoughts without automatically following them — They practiced observing their thoughts and learning that having a thought doesn't mean they have to act on it.
Understand and manage emotions — They learned to notice emotions, including anxiety, and develop a pause between feeling an emotion and reacting to it.
Recognize the warning signs of anxiety — The children were taught to identify physical and emotional signals that could precede an impulsive response.
Practice mindful eating — They learned to pay closer attention to the experience of eating and to their internal cues rather than eating completely on autopilot.
Build the skill through regular practice — To reinforce the lessons, families practiced these new habits together at home using the provided exercises and instructions.
The goal was to help them become more aware of their thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and eating behaviors—and create a little more space between an impulse and a response.
After eight weeks, the mindfulness group showed significant reductions in anxiety, BMI, body fat, ghrelin, and cortisol. Some participants who continued the intervention for 16 weeks maintained lower BMI at follow-up.
This relatively small study of children may suggest that mindfulness training is a promising addition to traditional nutrition intervention alone. More studies are needed, but I feel this suggests a correlation between our mind and our physiology.
(López-Alarcón et al., 2020)
In these three studies, we can see this correlation between our thoughts and how our body responds. Our minds and bodies aren't separate machines. They're constantly communicating.
Can Our Thoughts Really Change Our Bodies?
We cannot simply think ourselves into different bodies. We cannot wish away biology. But I believe our mindset can affect how our biology operates.
The way we think about exercise can influence whether we experience movement as punishment or as something our bodies benefit from.
The way we think about food may influence our experience of hunger and satisfaction.
The way we respond to stress may affect physiological processes involved in appetite and health.
The way we talk to ourselves can influence whether we keep going when progress is slow.
That matters because many of us have spent years approaching health from the mindset of deprivation. Thinking…
"I need to eat less."
"I have to exercise."
"I can't have that."
"I've already blown my diet today, let’s splurge."
What if we tried something different?
What if We Use Our Thoughts to Work With Our Biology
Instead of asking, "How can we force myself to lose weight?",
we can try asking:
"How can I make healthy choices easier for my brain and body?"
That might look something like this:
1. Change the story around exercise.
Instead of seeing movement as something that must be done. I can see it as a gift: the ability to move, and a gift to my future self.
A walk is not punishment; it is a privilege.
Strength training is not a penalty; it is a way to protect my future independence.
Keeping active allows us to continue gardening, cleaning, dancing, playing with grandchildren, and walking the dog for years to come.
And as the first study reminds us, everyday movement counts.
Notice those activities, pay attention to the energy we are using, and recognize the benefits they provide.
When we think about movement this way, we may build strength, lose fat, and feel better in the process.
2. Stop treating healthy food like punishment.
If every healthy meal feels like deprivation, we’re going to spend a lot of energy thinking about what we’re missing.
Instead, we can focus on what we’re adding. More color. More fiber. More protein. More plants. More satisfying meals. More food that helps us feel good.
And we do NOT have to deprive ourselves.
We can choose low-calorie-dense foods. Then we can eat large portions and feel satisfied. Whole-food, plant-based foods are high in fiber and low in calories, which means we can eat generous portions and still lose weight.
Not all carbs are equal, and not all are evil, as some suggest. When we eat complex carbs in their whole form, they can be very beneficial for health and satiation. Plus, they are low in calories.
3. Pay attention to how you eat.
We do not have to meditate over every meal. Try really focusing on one meal a day. Make it an event.
Pause before eating, offer a prayer or a moment of gratitude, and really notice what is in front of you. Put the meal on a special plate, add a flower to the table, sit down, put away screens and distractions, and give yourself permission to relax and enjoy. Savor each bite, chew slowly, and notice the taste, smell, and texture.
As you eat, notice when the meal starts to feel less enjoyable. Let that be a gentle signal that you may be reaching satisfaction. You don’t have to finish the plate. But you don’t have to stop before being satisfied, either. The aim is to eat until comfortable, not stuffed.
If you eat more than usual, let go of the guilt. You didn’t fail. Instead, thank your body for hunger and fullness cues, and keep practicing listening to them.
4. Give your brain a reason to believe the change is worth it.
Instead of focusing entirely on a number on the scale, notice the other benefits.
The scale can be deceiving. Our weight fluctuates daily. The scale can be a tool, but it can also distract from the overall gains that come from consistency.
Instead, focus on the gains of your new lifestyle:
More energy.
Better mobility.
Stronger muscles.
Better sleep.
Being able to get up from the floor.
Walking farther without getting tired.
Feeling more confident in your clothes.
Our health goal is bigger than our weight.
5. Make healthy choices feel normal, not heroic.
Don’t worry about perfection. The goal is to make good choices often enough that they become our new normal.
If every healthy decision requires enormous willpower, the system won’t work. Gradually create a life where healthier choices become the easy.
Don't Think About Weight Loss as a Battle
Reframe the question from:
"How do I beat my body into submission?"
To
"How do I get my mind and body working on the same team?"
That shift changes the conversation.
There is nothing wrong with hunger. It is a blessing. It is our body’s way of keeping us alive. We can learn to work with our body’s natural hunger and fullness cues.
We aren't lazy because our bodies respond differently than someone else's.
We aren't failing because our weight doesn't change as quickly as we'd like.
And we don't have to spend the rest of our lives fighting our biology, because it’s complicated. Our environment matters. Our habits matter. Our genetics matter. Our hormones matter. Our sleep and stress matter.
These fascinating studies suggest our minds matter, too.
The thoughts we repeat, the expectations we carry, and the meaning we attach to our choices can become part of the way we pursue our health.
And that’s good news, because we may not be able to control everything our bodies do, but we can start changing the conversation we have with them.
We don't have to fight our biology. We can learn to work with it.
Sources
Crum, A. J., & Langer, E. J. (2007). Mind-set matters: Exercise and the placebo effect. Psychological Science, 18(2), 165–171. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01867.x
Crum, A. J., Corbin, W. R., Brownell, K. D., & Salovey, P. (2011). Mind over milkshakes: Mindsets, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response. Health Psychology, 30(4), 424–429. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023467
López-Alarcón, M., Zurita-Cruz, J. N., Torres-Rodríguez, A., et al. (2020). Mindfulness affects stress, ghrelin, and BMI of obese children: A clinical trial. Endocrine Connections, 9(2), 163–172. https://doi.org/10.1530/EC-19-0461
