Why healthy living is a better long-term goal than weight loss

When it comes to eating well, shifting your focus from shedding kilos to healthy living is a smart move. Here’s how to make it happen.

You might think feeling motivated to shed a few kilos will automatically have a beneficial knock-on effect for your diet, helping to make it healthier than ever.

But research shows that’s not always the case, with the results of a 2022 study suggesting it’s not uncommon for the diets of people trying to lose weight to be less balanced and unhealthier than they think.

“When we focus purely on weight loss as a goal, it can become all-consuming and we begin to create some unhealthy habits along the way, too, without even realising,” clinical nutritionist and KYH Nutrition founder Andrea Zapantis says.

Online healthy lifestyle program The Fast 800 nutritionist and recipe developer Gabrielle Newman agrees.

“Focusing solely on weight loss often creates unrealistic expectations for what is achievable and sustainable,” Gabrielle says.

“This can lead to yo-yo dieting, over-exercising or under-eating.

“While doing this may achieve some weight loss, these behaviours will have many negative effects on not only your physical health, but your mental health, too.”

How focusing on healthy living helps

Andrea says successful weight loss is about creating small, healthy changes to your diet and lifestyle, rather than cutting things out cold turkey – and shifting your focus can help make this happen.

“When we focus on building less restrictive, healthy eating habits – for example eating seven cups of vegetables and two pieces of fruit a day, as well as committing to filling up on fresh, whole foods rather than processed foods – it shifts the focus from ‘I can’t’, ‘I shouldn’t’, ‘I’m not meant to’ and ‘I’m not allowed to eat that’,” Andrea says.

“This can help with both improving diet quality and assisting a healthy weight-loss journey.”

Research supports this idea, with one study showing people who have “I shouldn’t” guilt-related feelings about chocolate cake as opposed to simply viewing cake as a celebratory food, are not only more likely to have less healthy eating behaviours, they’re less likely to achieve a weight-loss goal, too.

Making the move from weight loss to better health

If concentrating on healthy living is more effective than focusing on weight loss when it comes to eating well – as well as making other healthy habits stick, such as exercising regularly and prioritising sleep – how do you find motivation to do it, particularly if you do want to lose some weight?

“Having a weight-loss goal in mind can be helpful,” Gabrielle says.

“But being singularly focused on it can lead to feelings of disappointment or failure when weight-loss goals aren’t met, if the changes you’ve made aren’t sustainable and your weight plateaus, or if you start gaining weight back.

“So, rather than focusing on getting to a specific number on the scale – which can feel very daunting and demotivating if you have a bit of weight to lose – think about some non-scale goals or things you’d like to achieve by improving your health.”

A few suggestions include wanting to:

• Improve your energy or have more stable energy levels throughout the day
• Improve your sleep to wake up feeling refreshed
• Reduce stress and feel better able to manage stress when it comes up
• Improve blood markers
• Feel stronger and fitter

“When you shift your goals to aim for a healthier lifestyle, rather than what the scales say, the motivation is the achievement,” Gabrielle says.

“Once you see the benefits of living and eating well, such as improved energy and better sleep, or being able to walk further than two weeks ago, focusing on these positive outcomes can help you stay motivated and committed to your goals.”

More on healthy living: 

• When healthy habits become too much of a good thing
• How to plan and stick to healthy eating on a budget
• When is the best time of day to exercise?

Written by Karen Fittall.