Weight Management

Healthy Weight Management - The Six Pain Points

Myths & Misconceptions

Weight gain and weight loss is is rarely about kilojoule intake alone. Being told to "eat less" or "work out more" .. or "eat more" is not helpful - especially when you are living on salads, working out six hours a week and still gaining. Or for some, no matter how much they eat, they can't gain a pound. The mind is the most important aspect of weight gain or loss followed by hormonal and other factors.

Hormones

Hormones play a big part in weight gain and resistant weight loss. From thyroid dysfunction to adrenal deficiency (over production of cortisol) to peri or post menopause when estrogen metabolism changes. There are many nutrients and herbal medicine options that can aid in balancing hormones once pathology testing is undertaken to determine which hormones may be involved.

Anxiety, Depression, Fear

Some people eat more when they're sad or anxious, others can't eat at all. As the rollercoaster continues, other emotions such as stress, guilt and shame add to the emotional impact - all of which send messages to the metabolism making it difficult for it to establish a healthy routine based on continuity and predictability.

Motivation

Weight loss or gain is rarely successful if there is a motivation issue. Finding a bigger reason than "disatisfaction" is key. A committed willingness to make certain changes for a bigger purpose will provide added motivation and focusing on "feelings" and getting support can help.

Also, low blood iron levels can severely affect motivation and energy as well as mood in general so it is important to assess iron function and supplement if necessary.

Food

While food is important, it is not necessarily "cause" - nor is it the sole "cure" - Which is why so many diets don't work or, they work for a while but weight comes back on once the diet is stopped - often more than prior to the diet. The slower and less dramatic the change to base metabolic rate, the more likely it will adapt to a new level of healthy function. Trading foods and beverages rather than completely removing things is often more effective as we, as humans, don't do well psycholgically to being "deprived". Deprivation shoves the metabolism into "storage mod" as it is wired to combat against "famine". Managing portion sizes and "eating mindfully" are also helpful strategies.

Click here for my article on "Mindful Eating"

Exercise

Over exercise is traumatic for the body - it translates excess of anything as an enemy and mounts an appropriate response to fight it. This is generally (like with nutrient/energy deprivation) done by storing fat for "the journey" as it has done from the "cave man" days when we often had to travel long distances to forage for food or track animals to kill and take back to the "clan".