We all want to look good and feel great right away. And it's no wonder! The media and advertisements that surround us enforce the idea that weight loss should be quick and easy so you can be happy fast! Some of the worst culprits are those with their before-and-after pictures and those that guarantee quick results - "lose 10 lbs in a week!"
So how realistic is it? Sure, if you're clinically obese or have a lot of water retention, it's very easy to lose 10 lbs in the first week of any lifestyle change. But that's just your body reacting to such a huge change to your established eating habits and the new demands of using muscles you probably haven't used in a long time. Healthy and sustained weight loss takes time. There's no other way around it.
Weight is just the mass of your body (in lbs or kg) x the force of gravity. Stop thinking about "weight loss" and start thinking about changing the composition of your body. Muscle is heavier than fat. Fat stores energy, muscle "burns" energy. Your goal should be to figure out how to get the best performance out of your body - make it run more efficiently. But there is so much that affects this!
It's combination of:
- Balancing multiple hormonal systems
- Assisting your body's natural detoxification (liver function)
- Giving your body the proper fuel, and in the required amounts
- Strengthening different aspects of functioning
- muscle use/strength
- endurance/cardiac health
- optimizing oxygen use/breathing
Why do we collect fat on ourselves? It's preservation. We store fat like a backup generator. If your body has been through enough stressful "disasters" it learns that it should keep some resources on hand. Even if your "disaster" is just chronic stress from family or work.
Keeping constant high cortisol levels in the body is enough to tell it to keep the bunker stocked and ready! If you're constantly stressed out, or doing solely long cardio exercise, your cortisol levels are more consistently elevated as opposed to following a normal cortisol curve - which regulates your sleep-wake cycle in addition to so much more. Ever tried to do 30-60 minutes of cardio late at night? Did you notice having a hard time falling asleep?
Excess estrogen can wreak havoc with mood (irritability), cravings, fatigue, and abdominal fat gain. Thyroid hormones affect your metabolism and help regulate mood, heart rate, cholesterol (which makes other hormones!), energy and so much more.
The take-home message is that it's not ever one or the other. All of these hormones are connected and affect each other. For example, a high cortisol level over a sustained period of time can affect your thyroid. It will also eventually deplete your adrenal glands which have been pumping out cortisol for you like crazy for way too long. This is what we call "adrenal exhaustion": morning fatigue, decreased recovery from exercise, low blood sugar and burn out - this also eats up your DHEA levels, important for the production of estrogen and testosterone.
Is it any wonder why people are having such a hard time losing weight?
Working with your naturopathic doctor and healthcare team can help you figure out where the imbalance is, how to correct it and then to develop a proper nutrition and lifestyle plan to make your body run efficiently. This doesn't just mean "eating healthy" but actually ensuring proper caloric intake, optimal protein intake and absorption (ESPECIALLY for vegans and vegetarians), and timing of fuel, in addition to many other lifestyle factors.
hyroid
hormones regulate our metabolism and organ function. They directly
affect heart rate, cholesterol levels, body weight, energy, muscle
contraction and relaxation, skin and hair texture, bowel function,
fertility, menstrual regularity, memory, mood and other bodily
functions. Without enough thyroid hormone, every system in the body
slows down. Those who suffer from hypothyroidism feel tired and tend to
sleep a lot. Their digestion is slow and weight gain typically occurs.
They can also experience extremely dry skin, hair loss, even slower
mental processes. In fact, without enough thyroid hormone, attaining
your perfect weight is almost impossible. - See more at:
http://drnatashaturner.com/4-week-thyroid-boosting-plan-seen-marilyn-denis/#sthash.GkuXxnVa.dpuf
hyroid
hormones regulate our metabolism and organ function. They directly
affect heart rate, cholesterol levels, body weight, energy, muscle
contraction and relaxation, skin and hair texture, bowel function,
fertility, menstrual regularity, memory, mood and other bodily
functions. Without enough thyroid hormone, every system in the body
slows down. Those who suffer from hypothyroidism feel tired and tend to
sleep a lot. Their digestion is slow and weight gain typically occurs.
They can also experience extremely dry skin, hair loss, even slower
mental processes. In fact, without enough thyroid hormone, attaining
your perfect weight is almost impossible. - See more at:
http://drnatashaturner.com/4-week-thyroid-boosting-plan-seen-marilyn-denis/#sthash.GkuXxnVa.dpuf
