LA Times Studios may earn commission from purchases made through our links.

Many of us tell ourselves that come January 1st, we’re going to make healthier choices. We make promises to ourselves. We’re going to eat better, exercise more, and get more rest… among other things we know our bodies would thank us for.

But this year, in 2026, questions in search bars are actually telling a different story. Instead of people wondering how to lose weight fast, people are asking why their bodies stopped responding altogether.

Live & Well

Align your week ahead with longevity tips, wellness hacks, and expert insights from LA Times Studios.

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy.

Why does weight loss stall even when I’m consistent? Why does eating less feel harder than it used to? What is metabolic health? These are the questions people are asking now. And they reflect a shift happening.

People are no longer just chasing aesthetics but looking for metabolic clarity. We want steady energy, balanced blood sugar, and a body that works for us and not against.

RELATED: 7 Bedroom Layout Ideas for Genuinely Better Sleep

Why Does Weight Loss Stop Working Over Time?

For many people, weight loss doesn’t just stop all of a sudden. It’s more gradual. The scale stalls. Energy dips. We get hungrier. The same habits that once worked, now don’t.

From a metabolic and longevity perspective, Melanie Murphy Richter, MS RDN, Director of Communications for L-Nutra, the science-driven longevity company known for the fast mimicking diet program, Prolon, tells LA Times Studios this is where good intentions collide with human biology.

“Prolonged calorie restriction can initially improve metabolic markers,” an L-Nutra expert explains, “but when restriction becomes sustained, the body adapts in ways that ultimately work against long-term health.”

RELATED: How I Got Stronger After 50 and Which Habits Changed Everything

Richter points to the Biosphere 2 experiment as a real-world example of what happens under prolonged calorie restriction. In the early 1990s, a small group of people lived for two years inside a sealed research environment where they had to grow their own food and didn’t have access to outside supplies. While the goal was not to lose weight, by not having the access to more food, they consistently ate fewer calories than their bodies actually needed. Despite adequate nutrient intake, the participants experienced significant loss of lean muscle, became frail, and their metabolic function was suppressed.

“The takeaway from longevity science is that metabolic health depends on balance, not constant restriction,” Richter explains. Signals like insulin, IGF-1, mTOR, and thyroid hormones are essential for healing, immune function, muscle maintenance, and vitality. The problem arises when the body is never allowed to cycle out of restriction.

When you eat too little for too long, your body starts to slow things down. It burns fewer calories at rest, your hormones can get out of sync, and your system shifts into a storage mode. Weight loss stalls not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because your body thinks it needs to protect you.

RELATED: How to Tell If Your Gut and Brain Supplements Are Actually Doing Anything

What Is Metabolic Health — and Why Weight Alone Doesn’t Tell the Story

Weight and BMI are often treated as shorthand for health, but L-Nutra researchers view them as limited tools.

“Metabolic health is defined by function rather than appearance,” explains Richter. Instead of focusing on a single number, metabolic health is assessed through patterns across fasting glucose and insulin, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, waist circumference, inflammatory markers, liver enzymes, sleep quality, and energy stability.

What matters just as much as the numbers themselves is how they’re read together. Someone can have blood sugar that looks “normal” on paper while their insulin levels are already working overtime, which is often an early sign of insulin resistance. Normal lab results can be misleading.

RELATED: Inside Next Health’s Rethink of the Gut–Brain Connection

Subtle shifts, like triglycerides slowly creeping up, “good” HDL cholesterol drifting down, or A1C inching higher but still technically in range, can all signal that the metabolism is under strain long before a diagnosis ever shows up.

Our bodies often send us signals sooner than we realize. Feeling wiped out after meals, if we experience energy crashes or blood sugar swings, having a harder time handling carbs, not sleeping well, or even gaining weight around the abdomen are common early signs that our metabolic health may be starting to slip. “By the time weight changes or diagnoses occur,” Richter notes, “the metabolic system has often been under strain for years.”

RELATED: Inside Kris Jenner’s Peptide Routine: Can Hair Growth Really Be Biohacked?

Smarter sleep starts here

Why Eating Less Can Worsen Insulin Resistance

If we’re trying to lose weight and we stop seeing results, the knee-jerk reaction for many of us is to eat even less. It feels logical. But from a metabolic standpoint, that could actually make things worse.

“Chronic restriction is perceived by the body as stress,” explains Richter. Cortisol rises. Thyroid output slows. Muscle tissue becomes less responsive to insulin. Glucose is conserved for survival, while fat storage becomes more efficient.

Over time, instead of improving metabolic health, insulin resistance can quietly get worse.

“This response is often misread as a need for more discipline,” Richter says. “In reality, weight is often being held because the body is under-fueled, under-recovered, or chronically stressed.”

That’s why adequate nourishment matters more than most people realize. It isn’t the enemy of metabolic health. In many cases, it’s the missing piece that allows insulin sensitivity and hormonal balance to find their way back.

RELATED: Think You’re Bad at Focusing? Dr. Zelena Says It’s Not Your Fault

Why Biology Matters More Than Willpower in Weight Loss

“For decades, weight loss messaging centered on daily behavioral perfection,” Richter explains. “Eat less. Move more. Repeat indefinitely.”

That framing put all the pressure on us, even as rates of insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction continued to rise. The arguable turning point could be when GLP-1 medications entered the picture. They made something harder to ignore: when biology changes, results change. Appetite regulation improved. Insulin dynamics shifted. Energy balance became easier to manage, without relying on constant restraint.

“That moment clarified an important truth,” says Richter. “Sustained metabolic change often requires intervention, not perpetual willpower.”

L-Nutra’s Prolon, follows that same logic using food. Instead of asking people to restrict every day, it concentrates the challenge into a short, intentional window, followed by a return to eating normally. “Concentrating the challenge into a defined window is far more aligned with human physiology,” Richter says, “and far more sustainable long term.”

RELATED: Are the Next GLP-1 Drugs Finally Going to Outrun “Ozempic Face”

Gut health hacks for a longer life

We’re told that our metabolism wasn’t built for constant control and that it evolved to move in rhythms, responding to periods of challenge followed by recovery.

“Periods of lower food availability were temporary and followed by nourishment,” explains Richter. Short, strategic metabolic challenges can improve insulin sensitivity, increase fat oxidation, and activate cellular maintenance pathways.

What matters most though, is what happens afterward. “When restriction becomes continuous, stress hormones remain elevated, metabolic rate declines, and the body becomes less efficient at using energy,” Richter says.

RELATED: 2026 Facial Aesthetics Predictions, According to Dr. Cat Chang

From a metabolic perspective, brief, intentional periods of stress can be beneficial when they’re clearly defined and nutritionally supported. During these windows, nutrient-sensing pathways quiet down temporarily, which allows the repair processes, like autophagy to increase.

“That stress is intentional, supported, and time-bound,” Richter explains. “It’s followed by refeeding, which is when rebuilding occurs.”

That recovery phase is what makes the approach work. It supports immune regeneration, tissue repair, and the restoration of normal hormonal signaling. By cycling stress and nourishment, the metabolism can make the needed changes and actually strengthen rather than slow or break down.

RELATED: The Next Era of Wellness Is About Personal Data, Not Popular Trends

Discover the newest breakthroughs in longevity

The conversation around metabolic health has started to change. The focus is seen to be shifting away from strict rules and more toward approaches that actually work with and for the body over time.

“The next era moves away from universal rules and toward biological context,” Richter notes. Rather than asking people to live in a constant state of control, L-Nutra believes it will emphasize strategic intervention, adequate nourishment, and recovery as equally important components of health.

This shift also asks us to trust ourselves more. Years of restriction and trend-driven dieting advice have left many of us unsure how to read and respond to hunger, fullness, our energy, or even recovery cues without an app or a detailed plan telling us what to do.

“Longevity depends on restoring the feedback loop between the body and the brain,” says Richter. “Metabolic flexibility is both biological resilience and self-trust.”

Click here to learn more about L-Nutra