Have you heard about the 80/20 rule for weight loss? Different versions of this rule exist, but the principle I’m referring to states that if you want to lose weight and improve your health, 80% of your success comes from what you eat and the other 20% comes from exercise. 

For years, I believed this to be true. I know that what we eat does have a huge impact on our health and on our weight. I also agree that the food we eat impacts us more than how much we exercise. But the more I work with clients and reflect on my own experiences with weight loss, I have recently begun to question this rule.

Diet and exercise are just two pieces (and probably not even the biggest ones) that determine how we look and feel. So today I want to share with you why the 80/20 rule for weight loss doesn’t give us the whole picture.

The 80/20 Rule for Weight Loss Doesn’t Work

If all that was involved in losing weight was eating healthy and exercising, I don’t think we would have the obesity epidemic on our hands that we are currently facing. I mean, the 80/20 rule makes it sound so simple. Eat healthy foods and exercise 4-5 times a week…and you’ll be at the ideal weight!

Unfortunately, it’s just not that simple. Thousands of diets have been created that tell you exactly what to eat, how much to eat, how often to exercise, and what exercises to do, but they don’t always help people lose weight and keep it off for good. 

So what’s missing from these diets that focus on only what you eat and how you exercise?

Other Factors to Permanent Weight Loss

The biggest missing piece to most diet programs is working on the thoughts and beliefs that cause you to self-sabotage your weight loss efforts. (You can read more about “why you don’t do what you know you should do” here.) In order to be able to lose weight and keep it off permanently, we must address our mindset so that we can figure out why we don’t follow through on eating well and exercising.

Because, let’s be honest, even if someone tells you exactly what to eat and what exercise plan to follow, how long do you actually stick with that? Are you able to lose weight and keep it off long-term?

While mindset is the biggest factor that is often overlooked, several other factors are worth considering:

• • Emotions: We must deal with our emotions so that we stop turning to food to deal with them.

• • Sleep: Sleep is critical to our weight loss efforts.

• • Stress: When we are stressed, our body actually produces more cortisol. And do you know what cortisol is? It’s a fat storing hormone! If we don’t manage our stress, it will be extremely difficult to lose weight and to keep it off.

• Toxins: We are exposed to toxins and chemicals every day in our water, the air, plastics, food, and so on. The problem is that our bodies try to protect us from these toxins by storing them in our fat cells. Additionally, toxins can disrupt our hormones and other bodily systems, which makes it really difficult to lose weight.

While this list is not exhaustive, my point is that even if you eat a perfectly “clean” diet and exercise regularly, you could still have difficulties losing weight. Frustrating, right?!?

So often we underestimate the impact that these other factors have on your health. I can tell you from personal experience, though, that even if you are eating a real foods based diet the majority of the time and are working out regularly, an imbalance in another area (like sleep, stress, emotions, or toxins) can really prevent you from seeing the results that you want so badly.

Simply put…diet and exercise are not always enough to truly improve your health. If you’ve relied on these two factors alone in the past and have struggled to maintain an ideal body weight, then the good news is that there is hope that things can be different for you! It is possible to feel good, to lose weight, to increase your energy, and to be truly happy. You just might need to try a different approach.

How to Approach Weight Loss Instead

Since diet and exercise alone don’t work for most people, here are the foundations for weight loss that will actually work:

• • Be willing to do the inner work. By this, I mean that you must be willing to become aware of any thoughts, beliefs, and emotions that are preventing you from losing weight for good. If you’ve struggled with weight for awhile, the chances are good that focusing on this area will be extremely helpful for you.

• Eat real food. The diet industry has seen so many fads, trends, and false information over the years. The best way to eat is to eat the food our bodies have been designed to eat…real, whole foods that have been minimally processed. These are foods like meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, good quality fats, and natural sweeteners like honey.
• Get active. Don’t stress out about going to the gym for an hour every day. Instead, find physical activity that you enjoy and can stick with. High intensity interval training is a great option for a quick, but intense, workout that will lead to great results.
• Become aware of lifestyle factors that impact your health. As much as we tend to underestimate the impact these factors have on us, it is crucial to begin looking at areas like sleep, stress, and toxins.

So Now What?

I completely get it…thinking about health and weight loss in these terms can be overwhelming because there are so many factors involved. Personally, I made these changes over the course of a couple years. And, to be honest, I’m still learning new ways that I can improve my lifestyle in order to optimize my health and to enjoy life more.

A great place to get started with this new approach is to join the FREE 5 Day Weight Loss Challenge. This challenge is a great way to jumpstart permanent weight loss without restriction or deprivation.

Also, please feel free to reach out to me if you are ready to lose weight, feel better, and have more energy, but would like some support to make the whole process simpler!

I’d love to hear from you! Tell me about your experience with the 80/20 principle in the comments below. Has it worked for you to focus on diet and exercise alone? Or do you think focusing on one of the other factors could be helpful?