3 Reasons Why You May Be Struggling to Lose Weight

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first – you should eat less and to around 80% satiety.

Based on the activity of an average American, your calorie intake is likely to be between 1400-1600 calories/d.

Overeating in a single sitting will also prevent weight loss.

If you are already doing those simple things and still aren’t losing weight, read on!

1. Food Sensitivities.  Food is not what it used to be. Many foods that have become staples of the American diet in the last 50 years can cause inflammation. Inflammation leads to water retention, and water is heavy.  Get rid of the inflammation and you will get rid of the water which in turn will lead to weight loss.

Clients on our 21-day Reset Diet will often lose 8-15lbs in 21 days. Half of that weight is usually water, as losing 15lbs of fat takes more than 21 days if you eat a normal volume of food each day.

For those ready to go full throttle, check out our 21 Day Reset Diet.

Other clients who want to test the water will avoid gluten, dairy and eggs completely for the 21 days, as those are the most common food allergies.

If you want to see the numbers first, set up an appointment with Stark and we’ll do food sensitivity tests (1).

2. Bad Bugs.  According to the American Society for Microbiology (2), a living human body is home to 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells.  Some of these bacteria are more beneficial to our health than others are, so it is important to make sure we have the proper ratios of healthy bacteria.

Certain bacteria can cause us to gain weight.  Some that live in our digestive system breaks down carbohydrates better than others can. Better breakdown of carbohydrates in the gut leads to increased absorption of carbohydrates.  Better absorption of carbohydrates leads to increased weight gain.

Not convinced?  The food production system, aka cattle farmers, have been adding antibiotics to their feed for years as they have found it increases food and water intake; it also “increases the digestive effectiveness of the animal.” In other words, the animal gains weight faster.

This increased weight gain is due to a disruption of the bacteria in their digestive system. Have you been on several rounds of antibiotics?  Maybe you regularly eat meat of an animal fed on antibiotics.  Either way, it is possible that your gut bacteria has experienced disruption. Taking a good probiotic is a good start.

Some of the bacteria killed off cannot be replaced with a pill as they cannot survive when exposed to oxygen.  These classes of bacteria are known as “anaerobic bacteria”.  You need to feed relevant foods to what’s left of the anaerobic bacteria in your. Examples are fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and pickles.

Want to get a full rundown of who’s living in your gut and whether they are playing well with others?  Then put a stool sample in a container and send it to our lab. Call us to find out how to do this.

3. Toxins:  This is a huge can of worms and the word count is bumping up against the average blog reader’s attention span, so let’s keep it short.  Toxins are everywhere.  Want to expand your attention span?  Head over to the Environmental Working Group web site and watch the “10 Americans” video.

Spoiler alert: Babies come into the world with as many as 300 industrial chemicals already in their bodies. How many do you think you have?  Guess where these chemicals get stored?  You guessed it, in your fat tissue.  Once the toxins are in fat, your body does all it can to keep toxins in the fat.  If those toxins get released, they may do damage to vital organs such as your brain, heart, kidneys and liver.  How do you expect to lose fat if your body is doing all it can to retain fat?

There are some tests to determine your toxicity levels, but it is impossible to test for all industrial chemicals we’ve used in the environment over the years. Some simple places to start isto not touch receipts; better yet, do not drink out of coffee containers with plastic lids.  These are the two biggest sources of BPA, a component of plastic where exposure is known to disrupt the endocrine system.

Sources

1. Lewis et al. Eliminating immunologically-reactive foods fom the diet and its effect on body composition and quality of life in overweight persons. J ObesWeig los Ther 2012:2(1)
2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080603085914.htm