What you need more than a diet

Bronwyn Fletcher
Aug 18
3 min read

Updated: 2 minutes ago

When I set out to better understand why women struggle with weight, I didn’t find answers in diets or quick fixes.

Weight loss isn't simple

Instead, the Weighting for Happiness project grew out of years spent listening to individual stories, more than a thousand honest conversations, each different in how it described weight loss.

Why a standard diet won't work for every woman

What stood out early on was that no single diet, plan, or program could account for the persistence of these women’s weight struggles. The more I listened, the more it became clear that everyone had their own patchwork of experiences, attempts, and results. They were smart, motivated, and familiar with every promise that diets could offer. But the outcomes were never straightforward: some women could lose weight easily but couldn’t keep it off.

Others watched their weight stay high, sometimes climbing despite all attempts.

To map out what was really happening, I began by developing the Weight and Dieting History Program. This first stage set aside generic advice and instead focused on each woman’s personal story, what she had tried, what seemed to work for a time, and the circumstances around every effort. It was about building up a clear picture from experience, not expectation.

How I discovered what's missing in diets

As I listened further, I noticed something running beneath these stories: the way each woman had learned to eat in her earliest years. It wasn’t just about adult choices; it was about the family rules and messages that shaped eating as a child. So, I went deeper and created the Family Food Culture Program. This second stage helps women surface the rules and customs passed down at their dinner tables, the meaning attached to food, and the messages about hunger or fullness. For some, food was about love, reward, or comfort, for others, survival or reliability.

Even with these two layers uncovered, something important was still missing. It wasn’t enough to know the origins; I needed a way to see how these histories shaped everyday eating. Most women described their patterns with broad strokes: regular eating, dieting, a mention of comfort or binge eating.

That didn’t unlock what really went on. So, the third stage, the Food Choices and Eating Patterns Program, was developed. Here, I identified eight distinct types of eating, naming them clearly and without judgement, so women could see not just broad trends but actual daily choices.

How this can solve your weight problem

The Weighting for Happiness project isn’t a diet or another advice plan. It doesn’t offer weight loss. It’s a deep investigation, built from real women’s stories and systems thinking, with no need to understand the theory to benefit.

Through its three in-depth programs, it helps uncover the root causes behind weight challenges, making sense of eating patterns that have always seemed illogical on the surface. This approach doesn’t ask you to change what you eat right away; instead, it offers the essential groundwork, so if you start a new diet, you’re starting with true understanding.