Weight loss is no easy task and often requires real lifestyle changes. Our weight issue often becomes a problem in young adulthood but progressively gets worse as we age for several reasons. However, taking responsibility for your weight is the most important challenge. There could be many contributing factors for your individual weight problem including health, heredity, stress, age, and physical limitations. The questions you must answer are: Are you willing to accept responsibility for these factors? Are you ready to make powerful choices to ensure a healthy future?
Is there a medical cause for your weight problem?
Sometimes there are underlying medical factors that make it more difficult for you to lose weight. If you don’t address the health problem, you could waste years wondering why it’s just not working for you. Start with a comprehensive medical work-up.
Glandular, hormonal, and blood sugar imbalances
Most people go through life without giving their thyroid a second thought. However, if you can’t lose weight no matter how active you are or how well you eat, your thyroid hormone may be low. Hypothyroidism is a medical condition that results from an underactive thyroid gland. Unwanted weight gain can also result from stressed adrenal glands, which overproduce cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, and adrenaline, or low pancreatic enzymes which interfere with proper digestion.
To evaluate your potential imbalances, consider the following blood tests:
- Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and Free T3
- Free Testosterone
- Progesterone and Total Estrogen
- DHEA Sulfate (adrenal function)
- Fasting lipid panel
- Fasting glucose
- Highly sensitive C-reactive protein (marker of inflammation)
Cravings and emotions
Worries, stress, and depression can lead to weight gain. Toxic emotions can trigger food cravings that are difficult to control. Here are some powerful strategies for controlling your food cravings:
- B complex and B12 injections.
- The herb gymnema sylvestre to help block sweet receptors on the tongue.
- Acupuncture to stop cravings.
- Stress Reduction Therapy to boost self-image and rekindle personal power.
Storage fat
When excess calories are consumed, a substance called brown fat produces heat to utilize calories instead of storing them as white fat. The problem is, brown fat becomes less active with age, leading to weight gain. To reactivate your brown fat, try these safe and effective “brown fat boosters:”
- Natural herbs like capsicum, green tea, and gotu kola
- CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) with guarana
These natural remedies can also help you increase your energy and lower your appetite so the cravings are eased enough that you can regain control.
Poor lifestyle habits
Simple lifestyle changes, like eating slowly and chewing your food thoroughly, can have a powerful influence on your ability to lose weight. Another strategy is to limit sedentary activities like watching TV. Watching too much TV can influence your food choices, promote materialism, encourage aggression, and expose children to unhealthy habits. The best “diet” for weight loss is eating nutrient-rich whole foods. This is hard for many people to understand, but diets based on restriction don’t usually work over the long term. Instead, the key for weight loss is shifting your lifestyle to a permanently healthy one.
Making real lifestyle changes
It takes learning and practicing the principles of self-empowerment, self-awareness, balancing your body, moving your body, liquid cleansing, and whole foods nutrition and preparation to make real lifestyle changes to lose weight for good. Cravings must be controlled by replacing them with the desire for healthy whole foods. This is accomplished much more successfully if you begin with a water fast or a fresh lemonade cleanse. Add these new strategies to your health tool kit to ensure that you not only lose weight, but keep it off for good.
