To lose weight you will need to eat less and move more – that’s the formula everyone keeps telling you.

But if you have been trying to lose weight following this simple tip and you haven’t managed to lose a single pound, you’re not alone. In fact, any aspects of our eating choices and physical activity are determined by complex biological systems that lie beyond our willpower.

Every day we make hundreds of decisions, big and small. Many of these decisions are good, but sometimes we later realise that we’ve made a poor decision. Sometimes, we even know we are making a poor decision as we make it – this is often the case when it comes to our relationship with our food. We blame ourselves for not making the right decisions to meet our weight goals and manage to lose weight. We try to eat less and move more, but we don’t always succeed.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you know how hard it can be. It’s not as simple as the “move more, eat less” narrative want us to believe. There’s actually a lot of misinformation surrounding weight loss and obesity, a condition defined as having a body mass index (a comparison of your height to your weight) of 30 or higher. If you have ever been on a diet, you’ve probably been told that to lose weight, you only need to have a strong willpower. FALSE!

Obesity is a disease, not a lack of willpower. The closer someone gets to their weight-loss goal, the harder it becomes. This is why a lot of people give up. Your body doesn’t like change. For most overweight people, their body is actually trying to prevent permanent weight loss! This means your body is actually working against you to lose weight.

Another false myth is that exercise is the best way to lose weight, when exercise only helps 3% to 5% with losing weight (but it’s extremely important for maintaining weight once you shed the pounds).

So, why is it so hard to lose weight?

to lose weight

It’s a question many people have asked themselves, over and over. Aside from the obvious reasons — food is delicious, exercise is hard and time is short — there are many other factors that affect our attempts to lose weight and that many people don’t even know they fall victim to. Let’s face it – losing weight is tough, and it’s not because you or anyone else is lazy or just not trying hard enough. It’s because, for many of us, everything from our biology and our environments to our emotions make weight loss an uphill battle against both nature and nurture.

We have listed the three top reasons why it is so hard to lose weight – if you are aware of them, you’ll avoid common weight loss pitfalls in the future!

Diets don’t work for everyone – it’s (also) a matter of genetics

The best diet depends on the individual. What works for one person might not work for another. This is due to a complicated system of genetics, metabolism, environment and other conditions someone may have. Studies show that a low-carb for the first six months is the best diet for weight loss. But for weight maintenance, there’s not much difference between low-fat and low-carb.

Most of us realize that, one way or another, our genes show up in our jeans. After all, just like the genes our parents and grandparents pass down to us determine our eye and hair color, so, too, can they determine our body composition. While some people win the “skinny gene” in the genetic lottery, others are born with a genetic predisposition to being heavy or obese.

Exercise is not everything

Even if your goals don’t include a shredded stomach, the adage “abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym” is still relevant. You just can’t out-exercise a poor diet. Exercise should definitely be part of your overall approach to weight loss because it’s proven to aid weight loss (not to mention its long list of other health benefits), but it’s difficult to lose weight from exercise alone. Many people overestimate the number of calories they can burn from their workouts — it’s probably a lot less than you think.

Sleep, work load and stress work against you

Losing weight will be a helluva lot harder if you’re chronically stressed, sleep-deprived or overworked. nutrition and exercise are only two components of a healthy life that can lead to weight loss. While important, focusing too much on nutrition and exercise can cause you to overlook other factors that are just as important: sleep and stress management. Supportive friends, family members and significant others are also critical factors that lead to successful weight loss. If you currently feel you lack a support system, try having open conversations with your friends, family and partner about it.