297. Why You’re Not Losing Weight on a Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet (Especially Over 50)

If you’re over 50, eating healthy, and still not losing weight… this episode is for you.

We often hear that a whole-food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. But what if your “healthy” habits are actually working against you—stalling weight loss, raising blood sugar, and keeping you stuck in a cycle of frustration?

In this episode, we break down the surprising truth about plant-based diets, especially for women navigating hormonal changes after 50. If you’re tired of doing everything “right” and still not seeing results, this episode will help you understand why—and what to do instead.

Tune in to discover how to finally break free from the cycle of weight gain, inflammation, and confusion—and learn how a low insulin and inflammation lifestyle can help you lose weight, keep it off, and reclaim your health for good.

Click here to watch the full video now!

Click here to watch Carol's interview!

>> Register for 3 Big Mistakes That Sabotage Weight Loss After 50 at https://www.zivli.com/training

Resources From This Episode

>> Insulin Resistance Diet Blueprint - https://www.zivli.com/blueprint?el=podcast

>> Free Low Insulin Food Guide - https://www.zivli.com/ultimatefoodguide?el=podcast

>> Join the Zivli Program Waitlist - https://www.zivli.com/join?el=podcast

>> Test Your Insulin at Home - https://www.zivli.com/testing?el=podcast

Have a question? Email us at: support@zivli.com

Transcript

Hey there and welcome back to the Reshape Your Health Podcast. host Dr. Morgan Nolte. Today’s episode comes from a recent YouTube video, so if the audio sounds different, it’s because we pulled it from a video, not my normal podcast mic set-up. 

We’ll link to the video version in the show notes for each of these episodes because the videos will have some helpful graphics in case you’re more of a visual learner. 

I hope you enjoy today’s episode and gain massive insight into why a whole foods plant-based diet may not be the best option for adults over 50 to reach your weight loss and health goals. Let’s get to it!

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A lot of women over 50 who want to lose weight are trying to do the “right thing” by following a whole-foods, plant-based diet. After all, it seems like the healthiest choice, right? 

Packed with fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes, it’s natural to think you’re giving your body what it needs to lose weight and thrive. 

But what happens when you’re not seeing the results you expect? You’ve put in all the effort—shopping for fresh ingredients, preparing your meals, doing all those dishes, and following the plan—but still nothing seems to be working.

If you’ve been eating healthy but still aren’t losing weight—or worse, notice your blood sugar creeping up—you might be feeling frustrated, discouraged, and confused. 

It’s like you’re doing everything right, but the results are just not adding up. And here’s the thing. 

If you keep going down this path, not only will you continue to be disappointed with your lack of progress, but you might be setting yourself up for even bigger health issues down the road.

If you ignore the warning signs—those stalls, those frustrating plateaus—then you might find yourself stuck in a cycle that’s difficult to break. 

The longer you keep trying to force something that isn’t working, the more you’re going to dig yourself deeper into a hole.

If you can relate to these struggles, type a yes in the comments and let me know your experience with a plant-based diet.  

I’m Dr. Morgan Nolte, founder of Zivli where we help you lose weight, keep it off, and get healthy with a low insulin and inflammation lifestyle

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Think about this: if you were in your car, driving down a road, and you suddenly hit a dead-end, would you just sit there, hoping the road would open up? Of course not. 

You’d backtrack, reassess, and figure out a new route. That’s the approach you need when it comes to your health and weight loss. If something isn’t working, you have to be willing to stop, take a step back, and reevaluate.

Let me tell you a story that might hit close to home. One of our Zivli members, Carol, had always struggled with her weight. At 60 years old, she considered herself a “professional yo-yo dieter.” 

Like so many women, she would gain weight over the holidays, then diet to lose it before summer. But after having children and going through menopause, things started to change. 

Carol noticed that it was becoming harder to lose weight, and her health started deteriorating. 

By her 50s, she developed fibromyalgia, and she began accepting that this was just what happened when you “got old.” Sadly, she even began planning her life around the pain.

But then Carol made a bold decision. She switched to an animal-based diet—specifically keto—and within just three days, she started seeing results. 

For the record, I don’t think everyone needs to do keto to see results. I don’t do keto. 

But a healthy keto diet does fit into a low insulin and inflammation lifestyle - and that is really the only way to lose weight, keep it off, and improve your health, especially after age 50 when your hormones start to change. 

The proof is in the pudding. A year after she started a keto diet, she had lost 30 pounds, gotten off blood pressure meds, and her fasting glucose and insulin levels were normal. 

Her fibromyalgia was in remission, and her migraines drastically reduced. The pain she had been living with for years was gone. 

She was running 5Ks, experiencing improved sleep, and, best of all, she felt like she had gained back the life she had lost.

Now, I’m not here to tell you that you need to go keto or eat a high-animal-protein diet. But Carol’s transformation highlights something important. 

A dietary pattern that may have worked to lose weight or maintain your weight in your 30s and 40s may not be the same one that works once you hit your 50s, 60s, and beyond. Here’s why. 

As you age, and especially after menopause, a few key hormones are dropping - specifically estrogen, testosterone and human growth hormone. 

At the same time, the hormones cortisol and insulin rise. This hormonal cascade creates the perfect storm for insulin resistance to develop. And insulin resistance will halt weight loss and create a host of other health issues if not addressed. 

It’s a root cause for so many conditions commonly attributed to “getting older” like high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, obesity, diabetes, and certain types of cancers and dementias. 

And a plant-based diet, especially if it’s high in carbs and low in protein won’t be effective for weight loss or muscle health. 

If you want to regain control not only of your weight but also your health, a low insulin and inflammation lifestyle is the only thing that will work. And unfortunately, most whole-food plant-based diets just aren’t designed well enough to counteract these hormone changes. 

The first problem with a whole-foods, plant-based diet as you age is that it’s primarily carbohydrate-heavy. 

Carbs—particularly starches and sugars—are what most plant-based diets are built around. When you eat foods high in carbs, your blood sugar rises, and in turn, your insulin levels rise. 

And here’s a fact that may surprise you: You cannot burn fat if your insulin is elevated. Think of insulin like a “traffic cop” in your body. 

When insulin levels are high, it’s directing your body to store energy—aka fat. When insulin levels are low, your body is allowed to release stored fat and burn it for energy. 

The key to fat loss is making sure that insulin stays low so your body can actually burn fat. So if your diet consists primarily of carbohydrate-rich foods, this can keep your insulin levels elevated, which in turn makes fat burning impossible.

There are three main types of macronutrients: carbs, protein, and fats. Carbohydrates—specifically starches and sugars—cause the most significant blood sugar and insulin response. 

Foods like grains, beans, legumes, fruits, and vegetables are healthy, but if you’re eating them in high quantities, you might unintentionally raise your insulin and stop your body from burning fat. This is especially problematic if you’re struggling with blood sugar issues to begin with. 

The second major problem with a whole-foods, plant-based diet is the lack of quality, concentrated protein. 

Protein is vital for maintaining muscle mass, staying full after meals, and stabilizing blood sugar. As we get older, we need even more protein to preserve muscle and ensure our metabolism stays efficient. 

But many plant-based diets don’t provide enough essential amino acids, and this can lead to a whole host of issues.

If you don’t get enough protein, you’ll feel hungrier more often, which could lead to overeating or cravings for sugar and carbs. 

It also puts you at risk for losing muscle mass, which directly impacts your metabolism. Think of it this way: muscle is like the furnace of your body, burning calories even when you’re not moving. 

Fat, on the other hand, is like an attic—doesn’t do much for you. If you’re losing muscle, your metabolism is slowing down, which makes it harder to keep weight off.

What’s more, not all protein is equal. While plant-based protein can be healthy, it’s not always as bioavailable as animal-based protein. Your body absorbs more protein from animal sources, meaning you’ll get more out of the food you eat. 

85 to 95% of animal protein is absorbed compared to only 50 to 75% of plant protein. The exception for this absorption is plant-based protein shakes with isolated plant protein.

Plant-based proteins like beans or quinoa are not as efficient at providing all the essential amino acids. 

This means that even if you’re eating a lot of plant-based protein, your body might not be getting everything it needs unless you’re heavily supplementing with protein powders. 

Animal proteins, such as beef, chicken, eggs, and seafood, contain all the essential amino acids that your body needs, and they’re more easily absorbed. 

Plus, these are low in carbohydrates and calories so won’t spike your blood sugar or insulin, and will help you meet your nutrient needs in a way that creates a sustainable calorie deficit to lose weight. 

For example, if you eat 30 grams of protein from steak, your body will absorb about 27 grams. But if you eat 30 grams of protein from quinoa, your body will only absorb about 18 grams. 

A lot of people think quinoa and they equate it to high protein, but that's simply not true. Our recommended serving size of protein per meal for adults over 50 is around 40 to 50 grams, or about the size of your hand and cut up meat or scrambled eggs. 

Most aging adults are eating far less than 40 to 50 grams per meal. For example, to get that minimum dose of protein from steak, you would need about four ounces. 

This would have 181 calories, 5 grams of fat and no carbs. 

Compare that to how much quinoa it would take to get 30 grams of protein. And remember, this is lower quality protein and less would be absorbed. 

You would need three and a half cups of quinoa, which is almost 800 calories, 13 grams of fat, 123 grams of starch, which is represented by the net carbs, and 15 grams of fiber.

Clearly, the animal-based protein option would be better for both your weight and blood sugar management.

So if you’re trying to get all your protein from plants, you may unintentionally lose muscle mass, making it even harder to maintain a healthy weight as you age. 

At the same time you’re undereating protein, you’re overeating carbohydrates. This keeps insulin higher leading to weight loss resistance and higher blood sugars. 

Lastly, there’s inflammation. Depending on your gut health, some plant-based foods might actually be causing inflammation. 

Foods like grains, sugar, dairy, and alcohol can contribute to low-grade, chronic inflammation. And here’s the problem: inflammation drives insulin resistance. 

Other people may be more sensitive to oxalates or lectins, which are high in plant foods. So eating lots of plants is actually far more inflammatory than animal products for them. 

If you’re eating foods that keep you inflamed—whether it’s grains, legumes, or certain vegetables—you might be unknowingly sabotaging your weight loss goals.

Even though these foods are generally considered “healthy,” they could be making it harder for your body to manage blood sugar and insulin, which are crucial for weight loss. 

Think of it like trying to run a race with a heavy backpack. Even though you’re doing everything right, the extra weight of inflammation is slowing you down, and likely keeping you bloated and gassy.

And let’s not forget about the simple concept of overeating. Even if you’re eating plant-based, healthy foods, overeating can still stall your progress. Think of food like fuel for your body. 

If you water a plant too much, it won’t thrive. Your body works the same way—if you eat too much, even healthy food, your body will store the excess as fat.

So if you’re following a plant-based diet and still struggling to lose weight, these could be part of the problem. 

But here’s the good news: it’s not about abandoning the plant-based diet altogether. It’s about adjusting it to suit your unique needs. You can still enjoy whole foods, but you need to be strategic about what you’re eating, how much, and when.

The key to sustainable weight loss and better health is about balance—understanding how the body works, how macronutrients affect insulin, and how to manage inflammation and muscle health. 

You don’t need to follow the latest trend or force yourself into a restrictive diet that doesn’t suit your body’s needs. 

It’s all about creating a lifestyle that supports your health goals, and that includes keeping insulin and inflammation low while ensuring you’re eating enough high-quality protein.

If you want to learn more about how to fine-tune your diet and lifestyle for better health, including how to manage insulin resistance and inflammation, check out our Insulin Resistance Diet Blueprint. 

It’s designed to help you understand the science behind what’s actually happening in your body and gives you easy-to-understand tools for managing weight, blood sugar, and overall health.

Remember, a short-term diet will never be the answer. It’s about creating long-term, sustainable habits that work with your body to help you feel your best and live a healthy, vibrant life.

I hope you enjoyed this video. Be sure to subscribe to this channel and turn notifications on so you know when I post a new video. For more information on the benefits of an animal-based diet, check out this amazing interview I did with Dr. Georgia Ede, author of Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind. 

Hers is the best book I’ve read that breaks down the potential dangers of a plant-based diet, and clearly explains the benefits of eating animal products for your health. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video!