Is Your Metabolism Jacked Up and Preventing You From Losing Weight?
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Is your metabolism is jacked up and preventing you from losing weight?
It’s not always a calorie in calorie out thing. It may not even be the move more eat less theory that we’ve been hearing all this time. There may be more to it and it may be a slow metabolism you’re dealing with. I’m about to give you a few eye-openers on things that may be jacking up your metabolism and preventing you from losing weight.
1. Yo-Yo Dieting
Yo-yo dieting completely messes up your metabolism. It actually slows it down and changes up your hormonal and metabolic adaptation and make losing weight more difficult. Believe it or not, your body actually knows what it is supposed to weigh and when you yo-yo diet you raise the body’s set point telling your body to slow down your metabolism so you then gain weight and fat mass as your new normal. This causes you to weigh more than you did before and with each “failed” yo-yo diet, you notice you’ve gained more than when you started. It then makes it harder and harder to lose the weight each time.
Yo-yo dieting can cause many health issues over time. It can increase your body fat percentage and lower your muscle mass and strength and can cause fatty liver, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. Finding the right way to eat according to your goals is a huge win as far as losing weight goes. Everyone is different and there is no one size fits all.
2. Too Much Stress in Your Life
I get it, I know we’re all stressed BUT it’s really about how we deal with it that can start packing on the weight and make weight loss difficult. When you stress too much, it sets your “stress hormones” called cortisol off and when it’s overused, it causes your hunger hormones to act up causing you to think you’re hungry and that you need to eat. Ever heard of stress eating? This is caused by the hormones related to being overstressed. The hunger hormones, leptin, and ghrelin think you’re HUNGRY since the stress hormones are out of whack.
3. Lack of Sleep
Studies have shown that when people don’t get enough sleep they: Have increased levels of a hunger hormone called ghrelin and decreased levels of the satiety/fullness hormone called leptin, which could lead to overeating and weight gain. That means you’ll feel hungrier and are more likely to indulge in poorer eating behaviors. Can you say late night binge eating? Not only are you not resetting your battery for the next day by getting enough sleep, you’re also setting off a hormonal imbalance that can prevent you from losing weight in the long run. Are you feeling me her when I’m talking about hormones?
Setting a nighttime bedtime routine may be quite beneficial to getting enough sleep each night. So shut off the TV, put your phone down and get some ZZZZ’s tonight.
4. Not Eating the Right Foods
It’s no secret that some of the foods out there may cause you to gain weight just with the ingredients in them. Too much sugar, artificial ingredients and food dyes, low fat, they all can slow down your metabolism and prevent you from losing weight. These FAKE ingredients aren’t recognized by our bodies and when we eat them, our body actually tried to protect itself like a puffer fish causing inflammation. Low-grade systematic inflammation leads creeping weight gain, especially around the belly. Yep, this could be the reason for our muffin tops.
I highly recommend staying away from or limiting the amounts of processed and artificial foods that you eat. Eating healthier foods is no hidden secret to weight loss, it’s all about quality versus quantity with food choices.
5. Too Much Exposure to Environmental Toxins
I know this may sound crazy and these toxins may be everywhere from being in the clothes we wear to the fertilizer we put on our grass. Household cleaners, makeup, perfumes, candles and even. These toxins can cause a hormonal imbalance and lead to difficulties in losing weight. Limiting your exposure to these chemicals may be a huge key to weight loss resistance.
Over the past 60 years or so, we have seen a tremendous increase in the use of chemicals in all types of industry, including farming. Pesticides and herbicides unheard of years ago are now widely used on our food. The debris of these now-common toxins can accumulate in your blood, liver, lungs, and cells, causing imbalance. This can lead to inflammation, chronic disease, low energy and more. If you are struggling to lose weight despite eating well and exercising your butt off, toxins may be interfering with your body’s metabolism.
6. Check Your Gut
This is probably the most important right here. I cannot stress gut health enough. I’m not talking about your gut as in the outside that may be hanging over your pants. I’m talking about the inside gut, like your intestines and stomach. Your gut health and bacteria is a crucial factor in weight gain and illness and holds the key to permanent weight loss and overall good health. If your gut health is poor, the rest of your health is poor. You’re not properly absorbing the foods you eat and it is causing that undigested, unabsorbed food to leak out into your bloodstream and possibly cause leaky gut which can lead to a whole mess of other issues.
It might be wise to do a little gut reset and take out the trash to be sure your overall gut health is in check. This is a huge hidden secret to weight loss that not many people are aware of.
My clients have seen many benefits of doing a seasonal reset:
- Weight loss (5 to 15 lbs. is normal with my clients)
- A loss in body fat percentage (not just water weight).
- Gain jump-out-of-bed energy!
- Fitting into clothes you haven’t worn forever.
- Clear, glowing, beautiful skin.
- Reduced inflammation.
- Improved digestion.
When it comes down to losing weight, it’s not all about exercise. It’s about so much more than that and there are many people out there that do not realize the importance of these few tips I just put out there. If you have found value in this I encourage you to share it with someone you know who could benefit from this information. What did you get out of it all? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
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