In 1944, at the height of WWII, 36 young men in Minnesota volunteered for an experiment that would later become infamous in the world of nutrition science.
They weren’t soldiers—they were conscientious objectors—and they agreed to be semi-starved under medical supervision, in a nearly year-long study that became known as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment (Not exactly the catchiest recruitment slogan. And let’s be honest—there were definitely no Italians in that volunteer group. What can I say? We love to eat.)
Their calories were slashed in half. They walked for miles each day. They were studied obsessively.
The result?
- They didn’t just get thinner. They got obsessed with food.
- They dreamt about meals.
- They hoarded recipes.
- Their mood tanked.
- Metabolisms slowed to a crawl. And when the study ended, most of them regained the weight and then some because their bodies were doing everything they could to survive.
Why does this matter?
Because nearly 80 years later, I see echoes of that exact pattern in my clients.
No, they’re not starving in Minnesota. They’re not rationed or walking twenty miles a day.
But they are running businesses, raising families, navigating midlife bodies, and trying to “be good” about food—cutting calories, skipping meals, pushing through exhaustion—and then wondering why they feel flat, foggy, and obsessed with snacks at 9pm.
Just like those men in the study, their bodies are doing exactly what they were designed to do: protect them.
Slow down metabolism.
Dial up hunger hormones.
Crank up cravings.
Because biologically, your body doesn’t know you’re “trying to be healthy.” It thinks you’re under threat.
And somewhere along the way, they wake up and find that their clothes feel tighter, their energy has dipped… and they’re blaming themselves.
But here’s the truth: you are not broken.
You’re living in a world that makes it incredibly easy to gain weight and very, very difficult to maintain it.
Let’s look at the numbers
In 1995, 57% of Australian adults were classified as overweight or obese. Today, it’s around 67%. That’s not an individual problem. That’s a cultural design flaw.
Ultra-processed food is everywhere. We’re moving less. We’re sleeping less. We’re more stressed than ever. And our biology is responding exactly the way it was designed to.
Take the so-called “Fatso gene” (yes, that’s its actual nickname). Carriers of this FTO variant are hardwired to crave energy-dense foods. Not junk per see, but the kinds of foods that would keep our ancestors alive through winter. Problem is, we’re no longer foraging in caves. We’re working through lunch, eating at our desks, then mindlessly grazing through stress at 9:30pm with Netflix and a handful of snacks we didn’t even taste.
And then there’s sleep
When you sleep poorly, your hunger hormones get scrambled. Ghrelin goes up (that’s the one that makes you hungry), leptin goes down (that’s the one that tells you to stop eating). Suddenly, the toast you never usually finish looks like the best idea you’ve had all week.
Let’s not forget stress
Cortisol drives cravings, especially for sugar and fat. That’s biology—not lack of willpower. And for many of my executive clients, this starts a cycle:
pressure → stress → poor sleep → cravings → guilt → more stress.
And for women in perimenopause, there’s an added layer: declining oestrogen and progesterone change how fat is stored, how insulin is managed, and how your metabolism behaves.
So… what do we do?
We zoom out. We get clear. And we stop blaming ourselves.
Weight gain is multi-factorial: genes, sleep, stress, food environment, movement, hormones, and more. But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless.
One of the most powerful things I teach my clients is how to work with these shifts instead of fighting them—through food timing, training styles, and recovery.
Here’s what I teach my clients:
- Eat for glucose stability, not calorie restriction. Protein and fibre first, always. High fat and low carb works extremely well if metabolic disfunction is present.
- Prioritise muscle—it’s your metabolic engine and your best long-term investment.
- Sleep isn’t a luxury. It’s a non-negotiable performance tool.
- Know your personal risk factors—genetic, family history or lifestyle—and work with them, not against them.
- And above all: drop the guilt. Replace it with curiosity.
Your body isn’t working against you. It’s trying to protect you.
And when you give it what it needs—clarity, rhythm, nourishment, rest—it responds.
If your jeans feel tight, it might not be the dryer. But it’s definitely not a failure.
It’s information. And you can use it.