02 Sep Will a nutritionist or dietician help me lose weight?

Google, “how to lose weight”, and you’ll get everything from great information from reliable sources (like the Mayo Clinic and NHS) to junk science and empty promises, providing “easy and fast weight loss” tips.

Weight loss is complex. It’s not only about eating less, cutting carbs (hello, Atkins, Zone, Grapefruit, and Keto diets), and exercising more. How much we weigh depends on a myriad of factors, including genetics, diet, exercise, social influence, environment, health status, medications, stress, sleep hygiene, and more. And, in a diet culture where thin = healthy (which is not true), as dietitian nutritionists, we work to provide our clients with online and face-to-face evidence-based nutrition counseling to not only help them reach and maintain a healthy weight but also work to develop a healthy relationship with food and their bodies.

No two bodies are the same, so weight loss isn’t a one-size-fits-all program.

Why Do People Become Overweight?

Weight gain is rarely the result of one single issue. Many factors can contribute to unwanted weight gain:

• Highly processed foods. Modern diets are loaded with calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods that override your hunger cues. Think: soda, chips, fast food, and sugary coffee drinks.

• Sedentary lifestyles. Many of us spend hours sitting for work, commuting, or just relaxing. We’ve become a country of professional sitters. Even simple tasks like vacuuming have become automated. This evolution in our day-to-day lives has decreased how much energy we expend during the day.

• Stress and sleep. Chronic stress raises cortisol, a hormone linked to fat storage, especially around the midsection. Poor sleep further disrupts hunger hormones like ghrelin and leptin, making it harder to regulate appetite.

• Emotional eating. Food is often used as comfort, distraction, or reward. This leads to unconscious overeating and a disconnect from physical hunger.

• Medical and metabolic factors. Thyroid issues, insulin resistance, PCOS, medications, and gut imbalances can all affect your metabolism and make it harder to lose weight.

• Age: Our bodies change as we age, and the primary change is muscle loss. Smaller muscles require fewer calories. Our bodies naturally slow down, including our metabolisms, as we age. So a diet plan for a 60-year-old must be different from that of a 30-year-old.

In a world that equates fat with laziness, it is important to understand that “fat” isn’t a four-letter word, and weight gain is not a moral failure—it’s often your biology reacting to your environment.

Will a nutritionist or dietitian help you lose weight? Medical Nutrition Therapy for Weight Loss:

Here’s the good news: yes, a registered dietitian or licensed nutritionist from our team can absolutely help you lose weight. And not with fad diets or rigid rules, but with a personalized, evidence-based approach that works long-term.

Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) is not another diet. It’s a clinical, individualized nutrition plan created by a registered dietitian (RD) to manage or treat a medical condition. For weight loss, MNT focuses on:

• Comprehensive nutrition assessment

• Lab work and metabolic markers

• Tailored meal planning

• Behavior change techniques

• Mindful eating

• Long-term lifestyle strategies—not quick fixes

MNT is used to address conditions like prediabetes, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and PCOS—all of which are often tied to weight. Working with a dietitian through MNT means you’ll look beyond calories. You’ll learn why you eat the way you do, how to adjust patterns that aren’t serving you, and how to build sustainable habits that stick.

What determines a healthy weight?

EveryBODY is different, and each person’s “ideal weight” is also different. It’s impossible to fit the beautiful diversity of bodies on a chart or between the lines. (Remember those doctor visits?) Also, there’s a lot of complications when it comes to whittling down our health to a number, whether it’s a number on a scale or BMI. Weight is not the only determinant of someone’s health.

Each person’s “healthy weight” depends on age, sex, genetics, body type/frame, lifestyle, and more.  By working with a medical professional, you can not only sift through the diet culture noise, but also better understand your body’s needs.

A dietitian won’t hand you a generic 1,200-calorie meal plan and send you on your way. Instead, we’ll work with you to get the full picture: your health history, eating habits, stress, sleep, labs, and lifestyle. Then we can build a realistic plan that fits your goals—and your life. (Including your favorite foods and food traditions). It’s time to celebrate food, indulge in favorites, and with some modification and moderation, reach a healthy weight.

That’s the real difference between “dieting” and nutrition therapy. One is short-term restriction, fast results, and a high risk of bouncing back, starting the yo-yo diet cycle. The other is long-term transformation.

So if you’re ready to ditch the diet cycle and get serious about your health, it may be time to stop Googling and start working with someone who’s trained to help. Contact us to get started.