When Weight Loss Seems Impossible

Today I would like to talk to you about issues related to difficult weight loss.

So many of my patients come to me needing to lose weight.

many of them are desperate to do so, as they have been trying everything else under the sun and nothing worked.

Weight loss issues are sometimes much more complicated that one expects, and they have roots deep in our endocrine systems or in a damaged metabolism.

Today “leptin resistance” is kind of a buzzword when it comes to weight loss, and it is for sure a relevant element.

Leptin being an hormone, leptin resistance is one of those scenarios where endocrine imbalances are involved, which is quite typical for women over 40 in who have been eating a S.A.D. diet and living a stressful lifestyle.

But letptin is only one piece of that complicated hormonal puzzle that involves adrenals and thyroid, and of course our sex hormones.

When those glands are malfunctioning or dysregulated, weight loss might become an impossible feat.

On the contrary, the weight might continue to pile on and no diet will ever help, as in nutrition we say: “Hormones are stronger than diet!”

When a patient with malfunctioning endocrine glands, like the thyroid, comes to me for weight loss, there is a complex scenario that needs to be addressed.

Many systems of the body need to be healed and rebalanced before lasting results can be obtained.

Often patients often come to me with badly damaged metabolisms, on top of the endocrine issues, as they have been desperately yoyo dieting and using reckless methods like HCG diets to try and get some results….but they always gain the weight back.

That is when progress is slow and difficult…meaning the scale barely moves.

Sometimes my patients get discouraged by that, and want to see results faster.

Here are a series of consideration we have to make about fast weight loss in the scenario of underlying endocrine and metabolic issues:

1. After losing initial water weight the scale will often stall, as the body slowly switches to fat burning mode
2. Restricting calories indiscriminately when adrenal or thyroid issues are present is only going to make things worse.
3. Restricting calories when metabolism is damaged is also tricky, metabolic functions need to be restored first, and I do that through a Therapeutic Ketogenic Diet.
4. Hormones play a big part in weight loss, so hormonal balance needs to be restored first, which is sometimes a process that spans 3 to 6 months.
5. It is normal for a woman to fluctuate up and down in weight on a daily basis. Up to 4 pounds a day.
6. Measuring inches and body composition are sometimes a much better indicator of progress.
7. Being aware of symptoms is also a very good indicator of progress, as symptoms disappear, and energy returns, a person might still be stalled on the scale.
8. Seeing weight stalls and fluctuations on the scale might be a big added stressor for a person, thus impeding progress further!

• Addressing your underlying health issues first though nutrition and restorative endocrinology (what I do !!)
• Eating a well prepared Therapeutic Ketogenic Diet for adaptation.
• Not relying on the scale alone for progress, and if weighing doing so only once every one or two weeks.