Do you often feel that you are a professional dieter? You’ve tried them all, lost weight (or didn’t), then stopped eating or drinking what was part of “the program” and within a few weeks to a few months put back on all the weight – and then some.
Multiple sources indicate that at any given time over 50% of Americans are on a diet. It is estimated that dieting is over a $50 BILLION per year industry.
Obviously the current one size fits all protocols (both with fad diets and at “medically supervised” weight loss centers) are not the answer. That which causes you to gain weight is also what’s stopping you from losing it. If you “eat right”, exercises every day and can’t lose weight or keep it off there are reasons for that. Those reasons are different for each individual.
There are 7 major reasons why people can’t lose weight and/or keep it off. Usually it’s a combination of 3 or more of the following
- Thyroid dysfunction (misdiagnosed or poorly managed)
- Liver/Gastrointestinal imbalances/dysfunctions
- Adrenal Gland abnormalities
- Poor blood sugar control
- Brain imbalances
- Hormone imbalances
- Inflammation
Human beings all generally look the same externally, but internally (metabolically and neurologically) individuals are as different as night and day. One size diet plans do not fit all. That’s why all methods work for some people – but no method works for all, unless that method takes that person’s unique metabolic blueprint into account. If all of the Big 7 are not properly evaluated and managed in overweight individuals on weight loss programs, failure of the weight loss effort is assured because long term weight loss is a result of proper individually balanced metabolisms. Not drugs, vitamins, protein shakes, or herbs. Here is why.
- Thyroid hormones regulate many aspects of our metabolism (thyroid evaluation and treatment is substantially more complex than measuring your TSH). Thyroid clearly affects how many calories we burn and how much you weigh. A properly functioning thyroid is essential to losing weight (It is estimated that as many as 70-90% of the thyroid problems are undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or mismanaged)
- Abnormal liver dysfunction. When the liver loses its ability to detoxify and filter out toxins in the body the body has to create other ways to stop the excess toxins from affecting your system. So it creates more fat cells – These fat cells are created to have a place for excess toxins to be stored so they don’t harm your body. As long as the liver is not detoxifying these chemicals those fat cells are not going away.
- Dysfunctioning adrenal glands. These glands produce a chemical called cortisol. This chemical has a huge impact on your waistline due to effects on blood sugar control and excess triglyceride production (the “fat” deposits around your belly are triglyceride deposits). Common symptoms of adrenal fatigue or imbalances are difficulty sleeping, inflammation, fatigue, dizziness, and weight gain. (Abnormal adrenals and liver also negatively affect thyroid function) These delicate interactions of the body’s systems make it difficult for many people to lose weight on any one size fits all “diet”.
- Blood sugar is important to weight gain/loss on many levels. The most obvious example is diabetes and the fact that most diabetics are overweight. But hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) as well as “pre-diabetes” (metabolic syndrome, syndrome x) all effect central weight control mechanisms in the brain. If blood sugar isn’t managed (without drugs) the weight lost will never stay off.
- The brain is huge to weight loss. This is the most misunderstood mechanism of all as to why people can’t lose weight. The hypothalamus sense when one is full as well as when one is hungry. This function is controlled by leptin, a hormone that tells the brain that we are full. Leptin only operates when the thyroid, liver, adrenals, and blood sugar are normal. So taking leptin is not a solution to weight loss, but fixing the hypothalamus with some auto-sensory exercises and balancing the metabolism is. Relating to the brain and the cause of the hypothalamic imbalances: concussions, inactivity, inflammation, emotional stress. That old concussion or whiplash or that divorce may be affecting your present day inability to lose weight.
- There’s more – inflammation, autoimmune problems (Hashimoto’s, Rheumatoid arthritis, MS, etc) all can destabilize the above mechanisms as well as hormonal imbalances in both men and women.
Long term weight loss for those who have genially tried and are unable to lose and keep it off is due to one or a combination of the above seven metabolic/neurologic imbalances. It’s not about drugs, and for the above effected people it’s not even about exercise. It’s about a thorough evaluation of the above metabolic/neurologic mechanisms and a specifically tailored protocol for that individual and following that protocol for life. There is no easy way out.
