Reviewed by Dr. Gonçal Lloveras specialist in weight lossPublished on 9 November 2026
Healthy eating plan: what to do when dieting is not enough to lose weight
A healthy eating plan is a meal pattern adapted to your needs and your goal, whether that is looking after your health, having more energy or reaching a healthy weight. It is built on vegetables, fruit, legumes, protein and good-quality fats, and on small changes you can keep up. For weight loss, it works when you can sustain it over time. If you have already tried diet and exercise and the weight came back, at the Overweight and Obesity Unit at Instituto de Benito we combine nutrition, exercise and medical follow-up that may include medication from the GLP-1 analogue family.
By Dr. Gonçal Lloveras, head of the Overweight and Obesity Unit, and Cheryl Bodén, nutritionist at Instituto de Benito.
What is a healthy eating plan?
It is an organized way of eating that takes into account which foods you choose, how much of them and how you spread them across the day. It is not a list of forbidden foods. A good plan looks like your real life: your schedule, the food you enjoy, whether you eat out or cook for other people.
A simple guide for each main meal is the divided plate: half vegetables, a quarter protein (fish, eggs, lean meat or legumes) and another quarter carbohydrates, ideally whole grain. With water as your usual drink and olive oil for cooking, you have already done much of the work.
How do you create a healthy eating plan step by step?
What works best in our consultations is to start small and keep track of what you do. These steps work for almost anyone:
- Set small, specific goals. For example, add a serving of vegetables to lunch or have a lighter dinner on weekdays, instead of aiming for quick weight loss.
- Plan your shopping and the week's menus. If you get home without knowing what to have for dinner, you end up eating whatever is at hand.
- Adjust portions before cutting out foods. Removing whole food groups rarely lasts more than a few weeks.
- Write down what you eat for a few days. It helps you spot patterns that otherwise go unnoticed, such as snacking between meals or eating dinner late.
- Expect slip-ups. A meal off the plan does not ruin anything if you go back to your routine the next day.
The same goes for exercise. Walking every day or taking the stairs already counts, and it is easier to keep up than an intense workout you give up after three weeks.
Why do I regain weight after dieting?
It is the situation we see most often. Many patients come to the unit after dieting once or several times, sometimes combined with exercise. Some did not manage to lose weight. Others did, but over time they went back to their starting weight or even went above it.
It is not a matter of willpower. When the body loses weight, appetite and the feeling of fullness change, and sticking to the plan becomes harder and harder. That is why, in overweight and obesity, dieting alone is often not enough.
Read the transcript
The ideal patient is someone who has already tried to lose weight once or several times through dieting, sometimes combined with exercise, and has not really succeeded or has regained the weight they had.
This type of patient is ideal because we give diet and exercise the importance they deserve, but our big difference is that, above all, we follow up patients on GLP-1 type medication, which is helping enormously to achieve weight loss and, above all, to maintain that weight loss in the long term.
When should you seek medical help to lose weight?
When you have already tried to lose weight on your own and it has not worked, or you have regained what you lost. You do not need to wait until you have obesity to see a doctor. Being overweight is the beginning of obesity, and the sooner we act, the better the chances of success.
What do we do at the Overweight and Obesity Unit?
Our unit is designed for patients with a few extra pounds or with obesity who have tried dieting without good results, or who have regained the weight they lost. We see patients at our centers in Barcelona and Madrid.
We give nutrition and exercise the importance they deserve. The difference is the medical follow-up. We support each patient throughout the treatment and, when it is indicated, combine it with GLP-1 type medication. What we are after is not just lower weight. For us, as doctors, the most important thing is that the person's metabolism improves and that the weight loss lasts over time.
What are GLP-1 analogues?
They are drugs that mimic a hormone the body itself produces after eating, GLP-1. This hormone helps regulate appetite and fullness, that is, it makes you feel full sooner and for longer. You have probably heard of them, because in recent years they have become one of the most useful tools in treating overweight and obesity.
They are prescription medicines. They are not suitable for everyone, and we assess each patient in consultation before prescribing them.
Read the transcript
I'm Dr. Gonçal Lloveras, head of the Overweight and Obesity Unit at Instituto de Benito.
Our unit is designed for patients who have a few extra pounds, or enough excess weight to be considered obesity, and who, after trying to lose weight through dieting, have not managed it or, even if they did, have over time regained their initial weight or even more.
With the help of drug treatments you have probably already heard about, such as GLP-1 analogues, we achieve truly significant and lasting results.
So it is a unit designed for any patient who wants to fight overweight and obesity. Because, let us remember, being overweight is the beginning of obesity. The sooner we act, the greater the chances of success.
What does the nutritionist add to the treatment?
She brings the perspective of nutrition, metabolism, hormones and physical activity, with the focus on health and longevity. Cheryl Bodén has joined the unit's team so that medical treatment always goes hand in hand with proper nutrition.
Her approach is that the goal is not measured in pounds alone. How many you lose matters, but so does how you lose them, because the point is to gain years of life with quality. That is why the guidance she gives each patient aims to be clear and realistic, tailored to what that person can sustain.
Read the transcript
Dr. Gonçal Lloveras: The Overweight and Obesity Unit at Instituto de Benito is very focused on medical treatment with GLP-1, with extraordinary results, not only for weight loss but also, and what matters most to us as doctors, for improving people's metabolism and, as a result, achieving weight loss. A nutritionist, Cheryl Bodén, has joined our team. I will leave you with her so she can explain how she works. Thank you very much.
Cheryl Bodén: The idea of joining the Instituto de Benito team is to bring a perspective from nutrition, metabolism, hormones and physical activity, with a view centered on health and longevity.
Whenever we have a health goal, we need to support it with proper nutrition, because we are not only going to focus on losing pounds but also on gaining years of life with quality of life.
My role on the team is to give our patients that overall view of health. We should not focus only on how many pounds we are losing, but also on how we are losing them.
And of course, we want to give our patients guidance that is correct, assertive and realistic.
Does medication replace dieting?
No. Medication makes the path easier, but the eating plan and exercise are still the foundation. What changes is that the patient no longer does it alone: there is medical follow-up that adjusts the treatment as they progress, and a nutritionist who adapts their diet to this new stage.
If you have been trying for a while and the weight keeps coming back, you can book an appointment at the Overweight and Obesity Unit to have your case assessed.