Weight Loss: How can I lose weight and keep it off?

10/27/2025 | Dr. Laura

Photo by i yunmai on Unsplash

Have you ever had the experience where you feel like you’ve tried everything to lose weight, and the number on the scale hasn’t changed? Or maybe you’ve lost a couple of pounds and the next week they come right back? These experiences are common among individuals trying to lose weight, especially among women.

So what do you do? Counting calories is the number one way to kickstart your weight loss journey. You can consult with a dietician or nutritionist, or your primary care provider to get a good estimate of a healthy calorie intake that will allow you to be in a deficit (meaning you’re burning more calories than you’re consuming).¹ Another resource is to use an online calculator if you’ve already been cleared by your provider to lose weight, such as this online Calorie Calculator. Once you have this number, break out the measuring cups because now it’s time to do the detective work. Are you tracking your calories correctly - is that actually one tablespoon of olive oil in the pan? Or are you doing the ol’ wrist roll and drizzle (this can sometimes be 3-4 tablespoons, which can be an extra 300 calories!). How about your coffee creamer? Or when is the last time you measured out your snacks into a recommended serving size? Is the snack you’re having actually one serving size? Or did the company sneak it up to 1.5.

This can sound like a lot of change, but once you spend 1-2 weeks measuring out your food intake (both liquids AND solids), you begin to relearn serving sizes and where most of your calories might be coming from. What we don’t want to do is restrict, or give ourselves strict rules for what we can and cannot eat. This tends to backfire, which actually makes sense - if you spend your whole day thinking about not eating chocolate cake (don’t think about it, not what it looks like, or tastes like, or smells like) all you end up doing… is thinking about chocolate cake! The best way to succeed is to incorporate the things you love into your daily or weekly calorie goals so that you can enjoy them AND continue to lose weight.

How can you do this? That’s what we at HHAWC are here for! We can help you master these behavior changes, in addition to adding in a physical activity component that allows you to improve your health while also burning more calories. Surprisingly, this doesn’t need to be 1+ hours at the gym every day! This can be as simple as getting up and moving around every 45 minutes, or finding ways to add 10 minutes of movement to your day. Pain getting in the way of your physical activity goals? We can help with that too! We will work with you to make a schedule that sets you up for success, with support every step of the way.

It’s also important to note that a higher level of stress and poor sleep can also make it more difficult to lose weight.²³ By targeting both of these areas, we can set you up for weight loss success. This might look like using tailored coping strategies for your stress and anxiety, creating and maintaining healthy boundaries within your relationships (including your relationship with yourself!), and implementing stimulus control for your sleep. The specific plan will depend on what your goals are - and if you don’t have a plan yet, we will help you create achievable goals based on a timeline that suits your needs. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions you might have. We look forward to hearing from you!

Disclaimer: These posts are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional mental health care. Viewing or interacting with this post does not constitute a therapeutic relationship.