If you've ever struggled with weight gain or obesity, you
know that shedding that excess weight oftentimes involves more than a
simplistic "eat less, exercise more" approach. There's more to body
composition than diet and exercise. That being said, if we nail those two
elements most of the time, we'll definitely be on a better path to achieve a
healthier weight.
Rarely is there one sole reason why we gain weight in the
first place. Likewise, we need to take a broader look at how to effectively
shed excess weight and body fat. Often, there are countless lifestyle and
environmental factors at play that will determine how our genes express
themselves. This is the science of Epigenetics.
In the years we've been working with patients on healthy,
sustainable weight loss programs, several common and predictable factors come
into play when someone either isn't losing their excess weight, or they've
reached a plateau.
1. Too much toxicity.
This can be from food, stress, drugs/medication, the
environment, movement patterns - a number of sources. Chronic toxicity makes us
fat. The toxins are harbored in fat cells as a protective mechanism. Until you
address toxicity, you will not achieve your optimal body composition or level
of health.
Chronic toxicity and chronic inflammation cause congestion
in our cells. We can't get toxins out of the cells effectively, and we can't
get proper nutrients in. Also, the function of the hormone receptors on the
cell membranes gets skewed. We can end up with insulin resistance and leptin
resistance, both of which interfere with our body's ability to metabolize
effectively.
Dumping in drugs and supplements thinking this will
"fix" things is not the right way to go. Correct the cause. Address
the reasons for the toxicity and inflammation in the first place, and be sure
to work with the right professionals to help you address this.
2. You think you're eating "healthy", but you're
actually not.
The marketing from the food industry can get to us! Time and
time again I hear people choosing products because they said
"healthy" or "natural" or "low calorie" or
"low fat" or "low carb" on the package. If your diet is
primarily from boxes, bags, cans, jars, and other packaging, it's not as
healthy as you may think. Eat real food.
3. Too much stress.
Stress is a form of toxicity. Stress is normal. We are
supposed to be able to adapt to stress - it's why we have the "fight or
flight" response. It's perfect for short-term, acute stress.
Unfortunately, our culture seems to suffer from chronic stress! Some sources
are blatantly obvious, like financial stress, career stress, relationship stress,
and so on.
Others may hide beneath the surface a bit, like sleep
deprivation, medication, stress from our toxic diets, excessive "screen
time", sedentary living, too much time in an "urban" setting,
traffic, excessive sitting, injury and poor posture, and on and on.
The brain doesn't care what the source of stress is. It
dumps out stress hormones (like cortisol and insulin) all the same. These
promote fat storage and muscle breakdown, and increase the risk factors for
every chronic illness known. Get control of your stress - eliminate the sources
of chronic stress that you're able to. Find healthy outlets for the rest of it,
like exercise, meditation, breathing exercises, and most definitely get outside
and get with nature!
4. Drugs.
Whether you're taking prescribed drugs or you're
self-medicating with over-the-counter concoctions, you need to keep the
cumulative effect of these drugs in mind. Drugs alter physiology - they can
certainly add to the toxic load, but they may also have the direct effect of
adding to our body weight, too. Some are obvious, like steroids that make you
want to devour everything in sight, while others can be more insidious. Chronic
drug use takes a toll. Buyer beware.
5. It's a "carb" thing.
I don't like to say "low carb" or "no
carb" is best, because vegetables are "carbs", too. But, I think
most folks get what I mean with "carbs". I'm talking the starchy
carbs and foods/drinks that convert to sugar very quickly. Avoid excess breads,
pasta, crackers, baked goods, cereal, and anything with flour as an ingredient!
Avoid processed foods since these can be loaded with hidden sugar. Take it easy
on your consumption of fruit - more is not better. The same is true of legumes.
Once you've found your groove with less carb intake, cravings tend to subside
and insulin gets back in check.
6. Over-eating.
Even if you're eating significantly fewer sugary, starchy
carbs, you still may need to consider how many calories you're taking in if
you've reached a plateau or have a few more stubborn pounds to go. Remember how
much more 'easily' the pounds came off when you first started... and were
really overweight? The same strategies don't always work as you're approaching
your optimal body composition. They often can, especially if you're really
keeping it clean. But for others, you've got to up your game! Eating without
regard to caloric content may not work for those last few pounds. Just because
you're loading up on grass-fed beef and free-range eggs doesn't mean you should
do so recklessly! Now, don't go switching to low-calorie and diet garbage,
either. Keep it real. Just reign it in.
7. Not eating enough.
We see this all the time. A chronic deficiency of calories,
that falls short of the body's expenditure of calories, will wreak havoc on
your body's metabolism. Certainly, decreasing calories will help you shed
pounds... be we can't just keep decreasing calories with no end in sight. The
innate intelligence of the body will read this decreased caloric input as a
reason to decrease its energy production, decrease its metabolism, and hang
onto any excess fat in case the next meal isn't happening soon, or is short on
calories again. You tend to store fat rather than burn it. It's why chronic
dieting can backfire.
Instead of chronically under-fueling your body by
excessively limiting calories, you can try cycling your caloric intake, where
you eat more one day and less the next. I'm not suggesting you
"super-size" it at the drive-through on those "eat more"
days! Keep it clean. Sometimes, throwing in some higher calorie days is enough
to jump start your metabolism.
8. Consuming too much dairy.
While the quality and source of dairy can be an issue, since
conventional dairy is flat-out toxic and disgusting, for others, it's simply
the inherent properties of dairy that can be more of an issue. Dairy tends to
be inflammatory in nature, as well as a trigger for increasing blood sugar more
readily than other foods. If you're stuck with your fat loss efforts, at the
very least, upgrade to cultured dairy or raw and unpasteurized dairy, or just
cut it out all together.
9 a. Eating "bad" fats.
If you're consuming trans fat, hydrogenated or partially
hydrogenated fats, polyunsaturated vegetable oils and the like, it's going to
be tough to shed YOUR excess fat. You need fat, no doubt about it. You do NOT
need toxic fat - that, your body doesn't know what to do with. Hence, the
excess fat storage and growing fat cells as your body harbors the toxicity.
Clean it up with real fats like grass-fed butter, pure coconut oil, and extra
virgin olive oil, to name a few.
9 b. Eating out in restaurants too often.
You just can't control the quality of your food or the
methods in which it was prepared, even if you're trying to "be good"
by ordering just meat and veggies. The fats and cooking oils are a big problem
here, as well as over-consumption with portion sizes that are too big.
10. Cheating and not being honest about it.
If you've too often adopted the mentality of "a little
bit here... a little bit there" or "all good things in
moderation", you might be in trouble. If you're still taking in too many
tasty toxins, you're just sabotaging your efforts. Every choice does add up.
Every calorie does, too. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! I'm all about
enjoying life and keeping it real. We just don't get to complain about those
last few pounds on the flip side then!
11. Too much reactive or mindless eating.
More often, make eating an intentional process. For so many,
we eat when we're stressed, or tired, or depressed, or angry, or lonely, or
bored, or watching T.V., or anxious, or when somebody places food anywhere near
us! For starters, be more aware of your eating habits. Then, be responsible
with your body. Sit down to eat a meal. Enjoy the company of others. Chew your
food properly. Breathe.
12. Consuming too many "pleasure foods."
You heard that nuts, dark chocolate, and raw local honey are
"nutritionally acceptable", so you eat them without abandon! Look
out. These foods are high in calorie content, even though they do have
nutritional merit. If you're not losing weight, cool it with your intake of
these foods.
13. Over-looking the "non-core" foods.
We tend to think about the big players in a meal, like the
meat, veggies, grains and so on, but tend to forget about the cumulative
effects of beverages, snack foods, condiments, and all the extras.
In the case of beverages, consider the toxic and blood sugar
effects of alcohol, pop, coffee, energy drinks, sports drinks, juice and juice
drinks. These are not beneficial to your weight loss efforts. Water is. (Being
dehydrated is another reason your weight loss may stall, by the way.)
Dips, dressings, sauces, condiments, and spreads tend to be
loaded with sugar derivatives, toxic fats, and artificial ingredients. The same
is true of most of what we call "snack foods" - chips, crackers,
pretzels, etc.
To say these all add up would be an incredible
understatement! Consider not only the additional calories, but more
importantly, the increased toxic load.
14. Take out the trash!
Clean out your pantry, fridge, freezer, cupboards - anywhere
you keep your food stash. Get rid of the junk that won't help you on this
journey. This should happen at the beginning of any intentional weight loss (or
health gain) effort. Out of sight - out of mind - out of your belly! Don't
bring garbage into your house. It will sabotage your efforts.
15. Your self-talk is lying to you.
Why are you trying to lose weight? What pain are you trying
to avoid? What pleasure are you seeking? Know your reasons inside and out. Your
daily self-talk needs to reflect these new and improved beliefs.
The more you say accurate and empowering things to yourself,
the easier it will become to consistently take the "right" actions
and make the "right" choices because these better' choices will be
aligned with your beliefs about why you're doing this. If your self talk tells
you that one little doughnut won't hurt, it's lying to you! You've forgotten
your reasons and your beliefs. Be accurate with yourself.
16. Your eating schedule is all over the place.
A number of studies indicate that having a fairly
predictable eating schedule can positively impact our metabolism and fat loss
efforts overall. Waiting too long between fueling sessions and eating far too
late in the evening (especially if you're eating starchy carbs and sugar) can
be seriously detrimental to your weight loss efforts.
17. Gut permeability and food sensitivity.
You might have an issue with damage to your intestinal
lining due to various lifestyle factors. This allows penetration of this
critical barrier and a subsequent inflammatory immune reaction as food
molecules that should never pass through are now allowed to do so. We can be
inaccurately labeled as having a "food sensitivity", when really,
it's a gut issue resulting in a chronic immune response. In addition to seriously
affecting your long-term health, this can cause annoying little things like
abdominal bloat. Until you repair the gut, sensitivity-type symptoms will
continue to plague you.
18. Not enough movement and activity.
Motion is life. We need to move! We know that lean muscle is
our fat burning furnace, and that we develop muscle through resistance
training. However, don't overlook the incredible benefits of lower intensity,
steady motion (around 55-75% of your maximum heart rate), too. While
high-intensity interval exercise has serious fat burning merit, this
steady-state has its own benefit as well. This should form the foundation of
your movement for life.
19. Over-exercising.
The 3 keys to effective exercise are variety, (occasional)
intensity, and consistency. However, there is such a thing as too much
exercise. What makes exercise so effective in the first place is that it's a
"stressor". It challenges our bodies and demands an upgrade as a
result. However, too much and exercise becomes a "chronic stressor".
Remember what chronic stress causes? Chronic release of stress hormones, and
chronic excess fat, chronic hormonal imbalance, and chronic loss of health.
Balance is key.
Chronic cardio: You can go too far with your steady-state,
low-intensity activity. When you stay above 75% of your maximum heart rate for
extended periods of time, you're burning glycogen. Your body in turn craves
more sugar to replenish what you're burning through. You can predict where that
may lead you! Eventually, you will gain weight, lose muscle, release more
cortisol, and sabotage all your efforts. I see this in the long-term
marathoners and ultra-marathoners I've worked with. Again, think 'balance'.
*If you start losing muscle, you will not lose excess fat as
effectively.
20. Muscle mass.
When you're incorporating resistance training in your
exercise routine, you should not only be dropping weight from shedding fat, but
you should also be adding lean muscle mass and improving your bone density.
This is a very good thing. Don't get too hung up on what your bathroom scale
says because it might not explain this effect to you all that clearly! If
you're a numbers person and simply must have objective data, get a body fat
percentage test done, or just simply measure your waist every week or so.
21. No sprinting
Many people assume they're good-to-go as long as they're
getting lots of cardio and some resistance training. If you're still trying to
lose weight and fat, please don't overlook sprinting. Nothing will help you get
leaner faster than sprinting.
If you've never done them, or you're very overweight or out
of shape, ease into them. Once you've gained your footing, add a short
sprinting routine to your schedule once a week to jump start your weight loss
efforts. Google it to get ideas of how to do an efficient routine that includes
bursts of intensity followed by short recovery periods. Don't worry if your
sprints aren't breaking any speed records - just work at your maximum effort.
22. You're not getting enough sleep.
Chronic sleep deprivation is a source of chronic toxicity.
There are a few problems with this scenario. We know that toxicity causes the
excessive production of stress hormones, like cortisol, that cause us to store
fat. Another is that, when we're not sleeping well, we miss out on a freebie
fat burning hormone - growth hormone - that is supposed to be released as we're
in a state of deep sleep. Finally, if you have to drag your weary buttocks out
of bed in the morning without the proper sleep and restoration, you're probably
wearing your grumpy pajama pants and aren't in the best condition to make
fabulous and healthy lifestyle choices right from the get-go.
23. Patience & Consistency
Slow and steady wins this race. When you do right enough,
long enough, the end results become more predictable. This is a lifestyle, not
a short-cut or fad diet. It's the things you do consistently that will shape
your results. Some folks are going to drop weight almost instantly when they drop
the carbs, sugar, grains, bad fats, toxic dairy, gluten and so forth. Others
will take a few weeks for their bodies to kick it into gear. Either way, you've
just got to feel confident that you're doing the right things for your body,
regardless of how quickly it's showing you the results you'd like. This is
about gaining health... not just losing weight. They have to go hand-in-hand in
order for your success to be sustainable.
24. You're obsessing.
When weight loss, or nutrition, or supplements, or calorie
counts, or exercise becomes your sole focus, we're in trouble. Becoming extreme
isn't the goal here. This is about living a healthy, happy life, remember? Of
course diet and exercise are critically important. However, there's more to
life than psycho-analyzing every morsel of food in sight or trying every
"miracle" supplement out there. The stress of becoming extreme and
obsessive will sabotage your efforts. Eat real food, move your body regularly (sometimes
with intensity), enjoy people, and enjoy the process.
25. You're already there.
Did you ever think that you're already at your body's
healthy weight and composition? Maybe that's why you're not dropping any more
pounds. So what if you don't look like the cover model on a fitness magazine -
you might have reached optimal health and function for YOU.
Our ideal goal here should be to achieve a state of optimal
cell function, or homeostasis, where everything's working well together in a
state of balance. When that's happening, our metabolism is doing its job
properly, we feel good, we look good, we're functioning "good", and
we're healthy for the long run.
I've got news for you. Often, we tend to reach that state of
optimal cell function with a body fat percentage a bit higher than what you're
seeing in magazines and in fitness competitors. I'm absolutely not knocking
them, but it's important to point out that the majority have done some extreme
training and dieting in order to achieve that look for a certain event or time
period. It's awesome to see, it's just not necessarily a sustainable way of
life, nor does it necessarily promote optimal cell function for the long run.
If your body is leaner, more energetic, more capable, more
balanced, and you've reduced your risk factors for all chronic illness, then it
would behoove you to enjoy it and enjoy your new, healthy life!