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From 2 episodes

Is it harder to lose weight when you have a lot of weight to lose?

Answered by Nikkiey Stott and her guests · Updated

The short answer

Not necessarily. Nikkiey says that from coaching thousands of women in WarriorBabe, women with more weight to lose often have an easier time once the strategy is dialed in, because their metabolism usually hasn't been suppressed by years of yo-yo dieting. The hard part is the plan and the habits, not your body.

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  1. Nikkiey on why women with more to lose often lose it more easily

    Plays from 23:33 · Ep. 379: Do Macros Work If You Overeat? How to Break the Cycle

  2. Why weight gain is about habits, and why that works in your favor

    Plays from 0:53 · Ep. 379: Do Macros Work If You Overeat? How to Break the Cycle

  3. Calories or macros when you have 50 to 80 pounds to lose

    Plays from 11:35 · Ep. 5: Macros vs Calories: Which Is Better for Building Muscle?

  4. How raising protein can cut calories without feeling deprived

    Plays from 22:42 · Ep. 379: Do Macros Work If You Overeat? How to Break the Cycle

The full answer

On Ep. 379, Nikkiey explains that the women who struggle most are often the ones with less to lose who have dieted up and down for years. Their metabolism has been through those cycles and is suppressed. If you are carrying more weight, she calls that an advantage: once your approach is right, the scale tends to respond. This is what she has seen coaching thousands of women, not a guarantee, and she is clear that it's different for everybody.

She is also direct about how the weight got there: habits. Her point is that most overeating isn't about overeating everything equally. It is usually too many carbs and fats with too little protein. Her starting steps:

  • Raise your protein and get it in aggressively, since protein helps quiet hunger and switch on fullness signals.
  • Track your baseline intake accurately.
  • Only then decide whether you need a deficit. Some women won't at first, because more protein alone often brings calories down without feeling deprived.

On Ep. 5, Nikkiey adds a practical answer about what to track. If you have 40, 50 or even 80 pounds to lose, focusing on your calorie number will move you in the right direction, and macros are the next level once you've made that progress. If you want to do both at once, she recommends macros, because they can speed things up and help you build muscle for a more toned look.

So if you have a lot to lose and past attempts haven't stuck, the takeaway from the show is that your body is not the obstacle. The plan was. Get protein and tracking right first, then adjust from there.

From Nikkiey Stott and WarriorBabe's coaching. For education, not medical advice: talk to your doctor about your own health.

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