Stop Being So Hard On Yourself
Losing weight and keeping it off doesn’t require starving yourself. The biggest challenge, however, lies in acknowledging your responsibility for shedding pounds without beating yourself up. The way you feel and think when you look in the mirror can be a determinant of your success. To ensure a healthy future, it’s crucial that you handle your emotional and mental pain and make powerful, long-lasting choices.
A Medical Workup Is Important For Weight Loss
Underlying medical factors often influence weight loss, such as glandular, hormonal, and blood sugar imbalances. Low thyroid hormone levels (hypothyroidism) can cause unwanted weight gain, which can also stem from stressed adrenal glands that overproduce cortisol and adrenaline. Conversely, low pancreatic enzymes can interfere with proper digestion by preventing the body from absorbing important nutrients. The following blood tests are recommended to evaluate potential imbalances:
- Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and Free T3
- Free Testosterone
- Progesterone and Total Estrogen
- DHEA-Sulfate (a marker of adrenal function)
- Fasting lipid panel
- Fasting glucose
- Highly sensitive C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation)
Your physician can also use a tincture of iodine to test for a dramatic iodine deficiency, which is a contributor to low thyroid production. Once your imbalances are discovered, your doctor can typically create a tailored plan to help reverse them. This plan might include natural remedies and herbs to balance estrogen and progesterone and support adrenal glands, as well as additional DHEA and high-density nutrition.
Cravings And Emotions
Stress, worry, and depression can lead to weight gain by flooding your system with stress hormones that attract fat and trigger difficult-to-control food cravings. To help curb these cravings, consider incorporating B-complex or B12 injections, acupuncture, or herbal supplements such as gymnema sylvestre. In addition, Stress Reduction Therapy can help rekindle personal power and boost self-image.
Storage Fat
As you age, your brown fat becomes less active, leading to weight gain. To reactivate brown fat levels, consider using “brown fat boosters” like natural herbs (capsicum, green tea, gotu kola) or CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) with guarana. These natural remedies can help increase your energy and suppress your appetite.
Another option to help eliminate storage fat is using a pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). This treatment, combined with a nutrient-rich diet restricted to 500 calories per day, can result in rapid weight loss in problematic areas, without losing muscle mass or body fluids.
Poor Lifestyle Habits
Making simple lifestyle changes can significantly influence your ability to lose weight. For instance, eating more slowly and chewing food thoroughly can reduce weight by about 14 pounds in a single year. Limiting sedentary activities like watching TV is another beneficial strategy, as it is proven to increase a person’s weight over time.
Instead of watching TV, try going for morning or evening walks, picking up a hobby or sport, or joining clubs that put you in positive social contact with other people. These activities not only promote a more positive frame of mind but also contribute to lasting health and happiness.
The Only Diet That Really Works
The best plan for weight loss is actually not a diet at all – it’s a lifestyle centered around eating nutrient-rich whole foods. Although it’s natural to focus on the foods you “shouldn’t” eat, restrictive diets often fail over the long term and usually lead to rebound weight gain. Instead, concentrating on a permanent shift to a healthy lifestyle is the key to being successful in your weight-loss journey.
Supplements can be helpful in this process, but they are not the only solution. Cravings should be eliminated by replacing them with a desire for healthy whole foods. This is more successfully accomplished through a water fast or a fresh lemon cleanse. Learning and practicing the principles of liquid cleansing, whole-foods shopping, and whole-foods preparation is crucial to making this lifestyle change and losing weight for good.