I was talking with my friend the other day. We were sharing our frustration about not being able to lose the extra pounds we put on over the winter. This led me to research ten of the most common reasons for lack of weight loss.
Noncompliance is the number one reason people can’t lose weight. Hold on don’t stop reading. This may not be what you think. I myself have been guilty of this eating the same foods over and over and then get bored and ditch the food plan that was helping me lose the weight.
An acquaintance I have looked terrible her skin looked dry and her hair was limp and no shine. I asked her if she was feeling okay. She said yes, but said she felt tired but was losing weight. I asked her how she was doing this and she told me what she was eating, which was a handful of the same foods. She was starving herself literally you cannot survive in starvation mode. Your skin and hair will reflect this. Pretty soon she had ditched her diet.
Another client had the mindset of healthy food taste terrible. I challenged him to try a new vegetable a week. His wife started to add in more vegetables and he enjoyed them. He said his mom used to boil all the vegetables. A quick note on this – raw vegetables have more vitamins and enzymes the more they are cooked the more vegetables are lost. Ditch the mindset of I hate healthier foods.
Surround yourself with people who will support you and not make you feel left out. I like to encourage my clients to invite a friend and/or their spouse to join them on the journey for the added support system. Sometimes we have the immediate gratification I want it now society we live for today. You may go all in one day and then give up the next because the scale didn’t go down. Then the one indulgence leads to another and another and pretty soon you through in the towel. True lasting weight loss will have ups and downs on the scale when checking on a daily basis. For many of my clients, Ithey have found for them to weigh only once a week is better.
Immediate gratification happens as a child were rewarded with food for good behavior or threatened with lack of food for less desirable behavior. We associate fun times with high fat high sugar foods like say a birthday party with cake and ice cream. Sometimes we may have poor self-esteem and you may use food as a drug to reward yourself when you feel that others are not showing you attention. May I challenge you to live in the moment not just for the moment.
I had a client who had to lose weight for her husbands insurance to get a better rate. She told me she had to meet with “their” navigator or coach. I encouraged her to look inside herself and find the reason for herself why she wanted to lose the weight. as she thought about it she wanted to keep up with her children and enjoy playing with them. When we look to lose weight for a special occasion or a mandate for work the weight loss will be difficult and it is easy to go back to old habits.
I have a family of history of diabetes. All four of my grandparents and both of my parents developed diabetes. I used to get horribly shaky when I did not eat sugar. I had what is called hypoglycemia. As I went to nursing school and then started to read more on this. I knew my body was heading in the same direction. I needed to take care of this right away. I discovered genetically our family has severe carbohydrate intolerance.
Carbohydrate intolerance can also cause weight loss resistance 70% of people individuals overweight are carbohydrate intolerant and around 30% of those are severely if intolerant. A few signs of severe carbohydrate straight intolerance could be:
- Weight storage from head to toe
- PCOS
- Family history of diabetes
- Intense cravings for starchy and sugary foods
Your family history and genetic does not have to be your destiny learn how to beat your genes.
We live in a face paced go go go society. I was a young nurse who thought is was great to skip sleep to gain extra time to do the things I wanted to do. Some expert will say that stress is the primary cause of illness and disease in the body. Excess stress can affect weight management due to the overproduction of starvation hormones from the adrenal glands primarily cortisol. When cortisol is produced in a stress situation it tells your body to increases insulin which tells her body to store fat. Stress can come from two sources: External stress comes from the outside of the body from influences or circumstances. I used to think I don’t have much stress until I took a stress scale quiz – I had stress. More importantly internal stress such as your thoughts, opinions, and reactions. Are you your own worst enemy with negative self talk?
External stress is often difficult to control or regulate; however, how we choose to respond to that stress can make all the world of difference. I learned long ago from Chuck Swindoll, 10% is what happens 90% how we choose to respond. Signs of excess stress include:
- anxiety
- Insomnia
- bad dreams
- can’t make a decision
- difficulty functioning under pressure
- chronic fatigue
- butterflies in your stomach
- Depressed
- crave sweets
- eat when nervous
- Fearful
- highly emotional
- magnifies insignificant events
- poor memory
- Feelings of insecurity
My cousin once stopped me on a morning walk. He said it must be nice to take a morning stroll. My reply was when the stressed get more stressed it is time for a walk. I loved to walk and pray. These are two of my favorite stress busters. Solutions for stress management exercise 3-4 times a week 30 to 40 minutes even going for a good walk helps, relaxation, meditation, prayer, massage and spa treatments. Find a close friend you can confide in. Food can make a difference on your stress also.
As my client was reaching her late forties she was frustrated with the lack of weight loss. She said what I did after the babies doesn’t work anymore. I said welcome to menopause. During menopause there are many chemical changes going on in the body when a woman goes through this change. Many women especially if they have a lot of severe menopause systems are all estrogen dominant. When ovaries cease producing sex hormones the adrenal glands are designed to take over and produce small amounts of sex hormones enough to balance the body chemistry but not produce ovulation.
Especially here in the US with our high stress lifestyles and soft drinks and coffee to add a caffeine to stimulate our adrenal gland’s the adrenal glands can get exhausted and then they are unable to produce adequate sex hormones when woman’s ovaries stop making those hormones then the fun begins. Some symptoms of menopause hormone imbalance could be:
- dry mouth
- hot flashes or chills
- elevated blood pressure
- low blood pressure
- hypoglycemia- meaning low blood sugar
- Nervousness
- night sweats
- Anxiety
- mood swings
- depression
There are safe natural supports for going through this change. You do not have to suffer through this.
I was talking with my cousin. She was relating to me some of the symptoms she was having. I encouraged her to talk with her doctor to have her thyroid checked. This leads to the fifth reason is glandular imbalance. In particular, the thyroid as hypothyroidism or under-active thyroid has become an epidemic in the United States and many other westernized societies today.
The leading causes may be genetic, severe food allergies, excess radiation exposure, an autoimmune condition, cigarette smoking, chemical exposures in the environment such as pesticides and herbicides, and excess consumption of salty foods. The thyroid is responsible for regulating metabolism.
If you are experiencing these symptoms that you may have an under-active thyroid.
- Anemia
- brittle nails
- cold all the time
- Constipation
- Depression
- dry or coarse hair
- dry skin
- Fatigue
- hair loss
- Headaches
- raspy voice
- impotence in men
- infertility in woman
- Irritability
- low body temperature
- memory loss
- menstrual complications
- muscle pain or cramping
- Overweight
- difficulty losing weight
- palpitations of a heart
- puffy facial features
- excessive sleeping
- slow pulse
- overall weakness
Many people go undiagnosed with hypothyroidism. I would see your health care practitioner and ask for these tests to be done. TSH, T4, T3, reverse T3, thyroid antibodies, thyroid peroxidase antibodies. Solutions for an underactive thyroid take medication as prescribed. In addition, eliminate the possibility of systemic Candida which can suppress the thyroid, exercise to raise the metabolic rate and used targeted essential oils for better thyroid function.
Your sugar cravings may not be just you as a systemic candida overgrowth will make you crave sugar. The saliva test is helpful but can sometimes produce false positives or negatives. A few signs that you may have a Candida overgrowth:
- vaginal yeast infections
- mental fogginess
- athletes foot
- jock itch
My husband asked how does a person get systemic candida. Little did he know the antibiotics he received as a teenager for his acne can lead to candida overgrowth. Here are some of the reasons for systemic candida:
- prolonged use of antibiotics
- use of birth control
- use of steroids
- sexual transmission
- loss of gut or intestinal lining integrity or leaky gut
- depressed immune system
Candida can slow the metabolic rate by as much is 10%. Support for those with some systemic candida are use of essential oils, aloe and oxygen therapy to eliminate candida throughout the body. Please be aware that most so-called candida diets do not work. Once the yeast has become systemic herbal preparations as well as most probiotics do not work.
I received a call from a close friend of mine. She said I don’t understand why I put on ten pounds in the last month. As we were talking she related to me she was on a new medication for ADHD. The seventh reason for weight loss resistance is drug side effects. I wound not recommend you just go off any medication without consulting with your doctor; therefore this is for your information. Drugs that can cause weight gain or prevent weight loss are:
- Antibiotics
- Antidepressants
- anti-diabetic agents
- anti-epileptic drugs
- Antihistamines
- anti-cancer drugs
- anti-Parkinson drugs
- anti-anxiety drugs
- Antiviral
- asthma drugs
- Anti-acid
- infertility drugs
- lipid lowering agents such as statins
- hormone replacement drugs
- Contraceptives
- Steroids
I would suggest that you discuss this with your medical doctor in many cases there are alternative medications that can be just as effective without as much weight gain as a side effect. Also by consuming a healthier diet, getting regular exercise and using supplements with the correct nutrients on a daily basis can help improve the situation.
Have you ever thought to thank your fat cells for protecting you? Our body is designed to protect our internal organs. If we have a high toxic load in our body that the liver cannot handle, our body will protect itself by storing these toxins in fat. Your fat cells are protecting you by holding onto these toxins. Signs that you may have excess toxicity:
- Fatigue
- skin problems
- weight gain
- fluid retention
- poor elimination
- excess body odor
- Headaches
- menstrual difficulties
- hormone imbalances
Toxins are processed in the liver and eliminated through the waste channels through stool and urine. If you aren’t pooping on a daily basis you are holding onto toxins.
Solutions to help with eliminating toxins:
consume adequate water 2 to 3 quarts per day
sweat on a daily basis – exercise or infrared sauna
Drink lemon water on a daily basis – especially in the morning
Over a decade ago I ignored my subtle signs of an injury until I was flat on my back. Thankfully my physical therapist and chiropractor gave me my life back. One day my chiropractor said your body is just so full of inflammation. She was right. I had gained 50 pounds and was miserable. The ninth reason you may not be able to lose weight is chronic inflammation. You may have silent inflammation in which your body responds by storing weight. You may ask what can cause this inflammation? A few causes of the chronic inflammation are:
Eating the standard American diet
lack of sleep
excess stress
Please do not ignore any of these subtle or not so subtle signs of silent inflammation:
- type two diabetes
- seasonal allergies
- food allergies or sensitivities
- frequent colds and
- infections
- respiratory problems
- Acne
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Arthritis
- autoimmune disease
- irritable bowel syndrome
- exposure to toxic chemicals
- ADHD
- Autism
- overweight more than 30 pound
Do you have or know anyone with any of these chronic conditions that are caused by the silent inflammation include:
Diabetes
Heart disease- high blood pressure
Obesity
Arteriosclerosis
Alzheimer’s – is now being called type III Diabetes
Cancers
If you believe you may have silent inflammation. A couple of good blood tests to check for the silent information are: C reactive proteins(CRP) and insulin levels. You will need to request these as these are not normally checked with your yearly blood work.
I mentioned the standard American diet earlier. My client said to me how can I know if I am eating inflammatory foods. Here are a few of the the big inflammatory contributors:
- processed cheeses and meats
- drink more than two alcoholic beverages daily
- exercise less than 30 minutes three times a week
- consume high amounts of refined carbohydrates or processed foods
- take prescription medications
- have an excess amount of stress in your life.
Are you convinced it is time for change? A few solutions for the chronic inflammation may include: exercise helps reduce inflammation when done in moderation; take key anti-inflammatory supplements and antioxidants to prevent the formation of free radicals from this inflammatory process. I love to use essential oils to help calm inflammation.
My mentor and research doctor told me the majority of obese people have the 10th reason for weight loss resistance is nutrient deficiency. If our body is not does not receive the nutrients it needs it will produce cortisol which can prevent weight loss. In addition nutrient deficiencies can cause cravings. Solutions for preventing nutrient deficiency include: making healthier food choices and taking a full spectrum supplement on a daily basis to cover any gaps we may not get from our food sources. To aide with the digestion and absorption of the nutrients at the cellular level it is best with a liquid delivery system of a nutritional whole food supplement. Our soils are depleted and the present day agricultural practices allow for everyone to have nutrient deficiency.
Are you ready to join the mission to end yo yo dieting? Diets are short term. Are you ready to ditch the diet and learn which foods nourish your body on an individual basis for lifelong weight management? Are you ready to be guided through determining if you have any of these reasons for weight loss resistance? Have you decided to eat healthy and you don’t know what to eat? Do you hate to cook or don’t have time? Is grocery shopping like going to the war zone? Let me save you time with tasty recipes, a shopping list to save you time in the store. I will teach you great ideas for batch cooking to save you time in the kitchen. The best part is you will learn to listen to your body to determine which foods energize you and which foods make you feel exhausted.
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