I’ve tried everything, but nothing works
“I’ve tried everything, but nothing works"!
Includes the key things that can start getting you results and a simple checklist to help you get started straight away.
You’ve cleaned up your diet, reduced sugar, started cooking more from scratch, and you’re trying to move more. You might have joined the gym and thrown yourself into some pretty vigorous and exhausting workouts.
However, the weight just isn’t shifting. Your energy still dips mid-afternoon. Your cholesterol hasn’t improved. Your HbA1c is edging upwards. Or perhaps you still feel bloated, foggy, tired or just plain fed up with it all.
The effort is there.
The results just aren’t.
Most people who have reached out to me over the years are certainly not doing nothing. They’re motivated and very informed. They care about their health and, more often than not, they’re already doing quite a lot.
But they’re just not getting the results they want from all that effort.
If you’re otherwise fit and healthy, have had the all-clear, or even if you do have medications, hormonal changes or an underlying health condition in the mix, how you eat, move, sleep and look after yourself can still make a meaningful difference to how you feel and function.
If you're feeling stuck, read on for my take on why you may not be getting the results you desire.
The following are what I like to call the Sunshine & Strength ☀️ Foundations. They underpin almost everything else you do for your health, and if they're overlooked, it's much harder to get the results you want from anything else you might do.
1) Are you supporting your metabolic health?
I honestly believe we’ve been sold a very simple version of health. And when something is made to sound simple, it’s very easy to blame ourselves when it doesn’t work.
We’ve been given some version of “eat less and exercise more.” Or even, just eat “healthy”.
Of course, how much we eat and how much we move absolutely matter. So does eating well.
But we've also been bombarded with before and after photos, people who have lost 10 stone, six-week transformations and programmes promising that if we just follow the plan and work hard enough, the results will come. It's simple!
Then we have the government Eatwell plate…......
And when this doesn't work, we can be left feeling as though we've failed, or that the answer must lie in something “extra” like another diet, supplement, medication or intervention, rather than stopping to ask whether we've really supported the foundations in the first place.
Unfortunately, “healthy” and an “eat less, exercise more” approach don’t always mean metabolically supported
When I say metabolically supported, I mean supporting your body's ability to regulate blood glucose and respond well to insulin. And in turn, use energy efficiently, maintain muscle and regulate appetite. This is all super important!
Your underlying metabolic health influences so much more than your weight, from your energy, blood sugar and appetite to your hormones, inflammation, body composition and wider health.
There’s a huge difference between eating what looks healthy, exercising more and eating less, and creating the conditions that properly support your underlying health and physiology.
Eating “healthy” or simply “eating less and moving more” only touches the surface of what can influence your health, and ultimately how well you feel and function.
So, if you’re doing all the “right” things and still not getting the results you want, here’s what I’d look at.
The following are what I think of as the Sunshine & Strength ☀️ Foundations.
These are the things I believe are worth getting right before worrying too much about the icing on the cake. I haven't covered everything, this blog would be even longer than it already is! - but these are the foundations I would cement first.
Getting these right can, in themselves, make an incredible difference to how you feel, function and the results you get.
2) Firstly, what is your blood sugar actually doing?
Perhaps you eat breakfast, and you're hungry again two hours later. You need something sweet after lunch. Your concentration disappears at 3 pm. You reach for coffee to get through the afternoon and then find yourself standing in front of the cupboard at 8pm wondering where your willpower went.
Or, maybe you are hardly eating anything....
These could be a clue that it's worth looking more closely at the composition and timing of your meals and how you feel over the day.
Are you getting enough protein? A good hand-sized amount - length and thickness - around 20 - 30 grams of protein.
Enough fibre? Not 5 a day but more like 10 per day from all those colourful plants, fruits and veggies.
Are you eating carbohydrate predominantly on its own?
Do you get dizzy or irritable if you don’t eat often?
Do you use caffeine, sugar or nicotine to keep going?
Do you find it difficult to concentrate?
Do your meals actually keep you satisfied and full until your next meal? Does you energy, mood and appetite feel balanced until your next meal?
And what happens to your energy, appetite and cravings in the few hours after you eat?
Do you have a slump in energy mid afternoon?
Are you sustaining and enjoying this way of eating, or are you constantly feeling hungry, restricted, or craving “all the things?”
Are you craving all the "things" early, late afternoon?
Those are some everyday clues that can tell you quite a lot. If you're experiencing large swings in blood sugar throughout the day, you may also notice fluctuations in energy, hunger, concentration and cravings, all of which can make eating well feel considerably harder.
Working towards balancing your blood sugar will support many health changes you're trying to make.
3) Are you building muscle, or just exercising?
This is a big one!
Going for a walk, running, or even going to the gym doesn't necessarily mean you're giving your body enough stimulus to build or preserve muscle. Particularly through midlife and as we get older, muscle really matters.
We naturally become more prone to losing muscle as we age, driven by hormonal changes, reduced muscle-building signals, lower activity, inadequate protein intake, some medications and the simple fact that we often stop challenging our muscles enough.
Skeletal muscle isn't just there to make you stronger or change the way your body looks. Although it does this amazingly well!
It's one of the largest and most important metabolic tissues in your body and plays a huge role in your metabolic and overall health.
After you eat, your muscles provide a major place for glucose to go. They can take glucose out of your bloodstream, use it for energy or store it as glycogen for later.
And when your muscles contract during exercise, they increase the uptake of glucose without relying entirely on insulin to do the job.
I like to think of exercise as a dose of medicine. Just one bout of activity increases the number of glucose receptors present on your cell walls. This massively increases the uptake of glucose out of your blood stream and reduces the overal amount of insulin required.
Why a walk after a meal is good.
Regularly building and using your muscle creates a larger, healthier place to put and use that fuel.
The muscle you are building, or maintaining, is actively working for you, supporting your blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, metabolism, body composition, strength, resilience and long-term health.
That's why I don't just want you to exercise.
I want you to build and protect your muscle.
We are so often encouraged to exercise almost entirely through the lens of burning calories.
I'd much rather see someone strength training sensibly and progressively 3-4 times a week, walking regularly and moving throughout the day than repeatedly exhausting themselves just to burn calories.
4) Next - How is your digestion?
As a very basic starting point, are you opening your bowels regularly? (Sorry to be so blunt!)
Ideally, stools should be soft, formed, comfortable and relatively easy to pass. You shouldn’t be sitting on the loo straining.
Regular bowel movements matter far more than we often realise. They’re not just about feeling less bloated, they’re an important part of how your body eliminates waste and maintains a healthy gut and microbiome.
Good digestion and regular bowel movements support hormone, metabolic and wider health.
Your gut bacteria also play a part and interact with fibre, bile acids and hormone metabolites passing through the gut, producing short-chain fatty acids, compounds that communicate with the immune system and your metabolism.
This is all super important as it has wider implications around your body. What happens in your gut doesn't actually stay in your gut!
It doesn't mean constipation or hard stools are causing all your health problems or your inability to lose weight, but if you're trying to improve your health and you're only opening your bowels every few days, regularly straining or constantly feeling bloated and uncomfortable, it's something worth paying attention to.
For regular, healthy stools
Fibre, fluid and movement are your foundations. Eat plenty of vegetables, fruit, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds, drink enough water and move every day.
For an extra helping hand, try 1- 2 kiwifruit a day or add ground flaxseed/linseed to yoghurt, porridge or smoothies. These can help support stool frequency and consistency. Be sure to increase fibre gradually and drink plenty of fluid alongside it.
And don't ignore the urge to go!
The goal? Regular, soft, formed stools that are easy to pass, no straining required!
If your gut is constantly uncomfortable, you're regularly bloated after meals, you're struggling to open your bowels or your bowel habits have changed, please go and get a check-up!
5) Are you really sleeping well?
And I don't just mean “I go to bed at 10pm.”
Are you actually sleeping?
Do you fall asleep reasonably easily? Are you waking several times during the night? Wide awake at 3am? Do you wake feeling refreshed, or reach for coffee before you've properly opened both eyes?
And what happens before bed?
It's not just about blue light. Scrolling, emails, news and TV keep your brain alert and processing information when you're asking it to wind down. Evening light can also delay melatonin and the body's natural signals for sleep.
You don't need a perfect screen-free evening, but giving your brain 30 minutes or so to wind down can make a difference.
Slowing things down before bed, including your heart rate, can help prepare your body for better-quality, deeper sleep.
I like to think of it as creating a runway into sleep rather than expecting your brain to go from 100mph to asleep in five minutes.
Your body is doing an extraordinary amount while you're lying there doing apparently nothing.
We are told so often how important sleep is, but regularly getting too little or disrupted sleep really can affect insulin sensitivity, glucose regulation, hunger and appetite, as well as recovery from exercise and how much energy you have the following day.
And then there is the wonderfully unscientific reality of feeling knackered!
When you've slept badly, you’re probably not going to go to the gym or want your evening walk, you're less interested in cooking dinner, and saying no to the biscuit tin or extra glass of wine becomes so much harder.
6) What is your stress actually like?
This isn't simply “Do you feel stressed?”
You may not actually feel stressed.
But are you constantly rushing?
Thinking about the next thing while you're doing the current thing?
Working through lunch?
Living on caffeine?
Going from work to children to dinner to emails and then collapsing into bed while your brain continues having a committee meeting at 2 am?
Relying on your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) to get you through the day.
Your stress response is there for a reason.
Hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, help mobilise energy, glucose into your bloodstream when your body thinks you need to act. Useful when you might actually need to run away from something.
It's less useful when the “threat” is every little thing from the moment you open your eyes to the moment you try to close them, and you've been that way for the last six months or few years.
Chronic stress doesn't magically prevent fat loss.
But it can influence sleep, appetite, glucose regulation, food choices, recovery, ability to build muscle, and how much you move.
So, perhaps you don't need to try harder
Maybe, rather than trying harder, you need to look a little more closely at the foundations supporting your metabolic health.
Sometimes there isn't one dramatic thing going wrong.
There are several foundations that could use a little more support.
And when you start strengthening those foundations, things can begin to feel different. Steadier energy, more predictable appetite, better sleep, improved strength, better blood sugar regulation and a way of looking after yourself that doesn't feel like a constant battle.
Improving these foundations can make a meaningful difference to how you feel and function.
It isn't about doing everything perfectly.
It's about understanding what your body needs, finding your biggest opportunities and building the ordinary habits that support it.
One ordinary day at a time. ☀️
So, where do you start?
If you haven’t already, subscribe to my newsletter just here. You will receive my free Sunshine & Strength ☀️ Midlife Health Check to help you look at the different areas influencing your health, identify where you could use a little more support and work out where to start.
This is also a quick checklist to get you going.
If breakfast leaves you starving by 10 am, ravenous by lunch or you are struggling to stop the nibbles later in the day, start here.
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Add 20–30g of protein plus some fibre to breakfast and notice what happens to your hunger and energy over the next few hours.If you're exercising or going to the gym but not really challenging your muscles or getting progressively stronger, start there.
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Aim for 2–3 strength sessions a week, gradually increasing the weight, repetitions or difficulty as you get stronger. Start with body weight, go to the gym, or get some dumbbells or resistance bands at home.If you exercise three times a week but spend most of the rest of your day sitting down, start here.
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Try a 10-minute walk after meals, get up every hour and look for little opportunities to use your body throughout the day. Take movement "snacks" small periods of movement throughout the day. Walking, squats, lunging, star jumps - whatever gets you moving more.If your digestion is sluggish, and you're only opening your bowels every few days or having to strain, start here.
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Start with fibre, adequate fluid and movement. Try 1–2 kiwifruit a day or ground flaxseed in the morning with a glass of water for some extra support.If you're exhausted because you're only getting six hours' sleep, start there.
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Create a 30-minute runway into bedtime to help your brain and body wind down. Aim to lower your heart rate before bed. Try meditation, hypnosis or some supplements to help.If your food and exercise are pretty good but you're permanently rushing, wired and running on caffeine, start there.
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Find 5–10 minutes in the morning and then once or twice a day to deliberately slow things down. Walk outside, breathe slowly, sit quietly or do absolutely nothing for a few minutes. Consciously try to be aware of your composure and how you feel to build awareness.If your diet is currently somewhere between “could be better” and “let’s not talk about it”… start here and get some protein and check out my Sunshine & Strength nutrition guides.
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Forget the fancy stuff for now. Start by getting a good serving of protein and some colourful plants onto your plate at each main meal.
Choose one small thing you can realistically do most days.
Then build from there.
Work out where your biggest opportunity is right now, and start there.
One ordinary day at a time. ☀️
For a personalised look at your habits and your biggest opportunities for better health, as well as where to start, download my Free Sunshine & Strength ☀️ Midlife Health Check just here.
Download here
Get in touch - You can also get in touch with a question or query on an area of health, nutrition and lifestyle you may be struggling with in my FREE Q&A. I will answer it anonymously in an article or blog.
Take a look at my courses - If you’re ready to go beyond reading and start putting this stuff into practice, take a look at my courses designed to help you turn better health knowledge into everyday habits that actually stick.