Weight is the Symptom BUT What’s the Problem?
As someone who has spent their life battling weight issues and, at times, has had a terrible relationship with food, I totally understand how emotive this topic is. Often when we are piling on the kilos, we’ll put it down to not having any self-discipline. We can get really down on ourselves, our appearance and then it effects our self-worth. Then we project that onto others. We can get really judgey about what a larger person has in their trolley or on their plate. The reality is we don’t know what else is going on for a person. And sometimes we don’t even know what else is going on for us that is driving out weight up and up despite our best efforts. It’s not always about eating less and exercising more. Let’s unpack some reasons other than self-discipline that might be affecting our weight.
· Top of my list is stress. Long term stress can cause havoc for our bodies and that results in weight gain. Stress increases cortisol which encourages insulin resistance that leads to belly fat. The tendency to exercise less when you are larger drives this even more and you can see how quickly that snowballs.
When the body is stressed it isn’t digesting food properly, it’s not resting and it’s tired. What do we crave when we are stressed and tired? All the quick energy foods that are high in sugar and refined carbs. And those are a disaster for our energy levels and weight! Couple that with insulin resistance and you have a full body nightmare as the body will deposit all that extra glucose into fat deposits. Yay!
· Sleep is also a big issue. Chronically sleep deprived people will crave sugary, high carb foods for starters. Often lack of sleep is driven by dysregulated cortisol issues so that’s another reason to address stress levels to lose weight. You may need to address stress to sort out your sleep.
As a bonus snowball feature lack of sleep will increase cortisol. You need to break the cycle.
· Poor nutritional choices can lead to bowel issues. If we aren’t eating enough fibre then we can get backed up, constipated. That means that other toxins that are meant to be evacuated from the body are flowing back in creating quite the back log. No excuses for that pun haha! Most of that is metabolised through the liver and with an overloaded liver it will struggle to metabolise fats and hormones and other toxins effectively leading to weight gain.
· Like it or not, alcohol is a problem. Alcohol is not ustilised by the body. It is simply metabolised as quickly by the liver as it can because it’s by product is neurotoxic. The body tries to get rid of it as fast as possible. A couple of things happen here. The first is our inhibitions are loosened with alcohol. We can’t say no to the hot chips or the kebab or that ‘pick a poison’. The next is that in it’s rush to get rid of the alcohol our body will just lay it down as fat. It’s too busy trying to stop us frying our brain to care about what it does with all the carbs and sugars. It just lays it all down to be used later. Only we don’t use it later. We have a beer later!
· The liver and oestrogen might be part of the issue. For women, and this is relevant for some men, oestrogen helps creates insulin sensitivity. When that starts to decline in our menopausal years we lose this support. BUT the flip side is also true in that higher oestrogen levels can cause extra weight gain in the hips, thighs and waist. It needs to be just right and that’s partly down to the liver as it metabolises oestrogen.
· Not eating enough, or regularly enough, is another little known reason but one I commonly see in women. We somehow think that starving ourselves will lead to weight loss or is just a feminine thing…both weird because it often leads to weight gain as the body goes into starvation mode and holds onto everything.
· Eating foods that don’t work for us. We know that eating takeaway daily is going to be an issue or that diets high in refined carbs are problematic but the number of people I see who come in saying ‘I have a great diet’ is phenomenal. On the surface they really do but in the same breath they say ‘Why do I feel exhausted, have high cholesterol and can’t lose weight?’. It comes down to the foods you are eating.
I remember thinking exactly the same way. I was a nutritionist, I was eating all the superfoods, gluten free, protein high, exercising but also exhausted, constantly injured and very overweight. There’s more to that story but, in short, I worked out that I didn’t need the fancy superfoods or to run 5km every morning. I needed an individualised food based plan that was perfect for my needs! Once I go that, it made the world of difference!
· There are other health conditions like hypothyroidism and PCOS that may also influence weight. If you suspect an issue then go get it checked out! Sometimes it’s a process of elimination but eliminate the variables and you can identify the problem! These conditions often respond beautifully to an individualised food plan as well. Getting the food right reduces inflammation, insulin/blood sugar levels, reduces central fat that contributes to insulin resistance AND increases energy!
My firm suggestion is to take the focus off the weight. You are more than a number on the scales. Take stock of the other symptoms you have and focus on them. If you are stressed look at some ways you can reduce that. Last months blog has some great ideas. If you need to rule out medical conditions then do that too. Consider what you eat, what you drink, take a really good look at your lifestyle and be willing to make some changes.
I’ve only covered a small portion of what may be contributing to weight gain or difficultly losing it but the weight is really a symptom of something else. The work is to uncover what that is and address it.
If you need help with this, I have a sure fire program to help you! Metabolic Magic is a food based program that is perfect for addressing so many health conditions and losing weight in the process. The best way to find out more is to email me at sarah@simplyhealing.net.au
I look forward to hearing from you soon!
xxS