Ten years ago, you could go any diet and drop 15 lbs in 3 weeks, no questions asked…Today though? Well, it seems downright impossible to lose an inch let alone hit your goal even after 6 months of effort. And you’re super frustrated because, when your weight loss is stalled, you feel like you may as well just give up!
Am I right?
The thing is, it’s not that you’re doing anything wrong – per say…It’s that you’ve never really been taught that there are a few health imbalances behind why your weight loss is stalled.
The good news?
When you know why your weight loss is stalled, well, a whole world of solutions open up for you!
Digestive Issues / Constipation
When I onboard my 40 or Less Method clients, I help them uncover which of the imbalances are causing their weight loss to be stalled.
And when I look at these imbalances, there is a very strict order in which to focus for optimal health and, of course, long-term fat loss.
First up, digestive issues.
All good health begins with good digestion, and the same philosophy applies for women who want long-term fat loss.
When your digestive tract, from mouth to anus, is imbalanced in any way, many different complications can arise.
If food isn’t broken down properly due to low stomach acid (a very common cause behind why your weight loss is stalled), tiny undigested food particles can irritate the gut lining.
If not corrected, this can cause inflammation in the gut, leading to gut dysbiosis (where your microbiome is imbalanced) and tiny holes along the intestinal wall that allow food particles to seep into your blood stream (aka leaky gut syndrome).
When inflamed, mucous forms along the intestinal wall to protect it from further damage, preventing nutrient absorption.
Unidentified food sensitivities can also prevent weight loss – it’s important to figure out what, if any, foods your body isn’t loving, remove those, and work on improving your gut health if you want long-term weight loss.
And, finally, constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating can get in the way too. Mainly because you get scared to eat some specific foods for hormonal balance and overall health due to these uncomfortable and embarrassing symptoms!
When digestion is “off” in any way, you put yourself at risk for malabsorption of nutrients, which leads to nutrient deficiencies.
Without proper fuel (aka nutrients), many of your important bodily functions stop working at their best.
And stubborn weight happens.
Poor Liver Health
Next in line is liver health. When it comes to hormones, health and longevity, liver health is key.
Toxins, chemicals, excess hormones, and any debris that gets into your blood must be detoxified by the liver. Poor nutrient absorption prevents the liver from getting the resources it needs to do its job well.
Exposure to tons and tons of toxins, hormonal imbalances, and poor diet all compound the situation, leading to a condition known as liver toxicity or sluggish liver.
This, in turn, prevents the hormones that cause fat storage that are circulating in your blood from being removed, so you end up with hormonal imbalances.
The liver is the true regulator of your metabolism; toxins not cleared out by the liver circulate to the thyroid and prevent its proper functioning, leading to a sluggish metabolism.
Chronic Stress
It may not seem like you’re very stressed (or maybe you know you’re super stressed), but this is one of the most common factors behind why your weight loss is stalled.
When under chronic stress, your stress hormones are constantly being released all day long, leading to belly fat.
Not only that, chronic stress is tied with chronic fatigue, low motivation, cravings for comfort foods (aka sugar and carbs), anxiety and inflammation.
Inflammation
Acute inflammation is a good thing – you want your body to react and heal a cut or a broken bone.
Chronic low-grade inflammation, however, is one of the most common, hidden causes of stubborn fat loss.
Chronic inflammation can affect your entire body. It’s behind problems like IBS, joint pains, skin issues, migraines, poor sleep, anxiety and depression. Inflammatory markers, like C-Reactive Protein (CRP), are typically elevated in people with these inflammatory health concerns.
When you’re inflamed, the inflammatory markers trigger water retention within your cells, leading you to look and feel puffy.
And, when it comes to weight, chronic inflammation can cause weight gain (or prevent weight loss) and fat cells themselves cause more inflammation. It’s this cycle that’s imperative that we break if you want to get over why your weight loss has stalled.
Poor Blood Sugar Control
One of the most common roadblocks to weight loss success is low willpower, right?
Well, what if I told you that willpower isn’t actually the problem? The problem that has you reaching for sugar or carbs mid-afternoon or that bag of cookies after dinner is that your blood sugar is imbalanced.
Specifically, insulin resistance is why your weight loss is stalled.
When your cells stop responding normally to insulin, not allowing energy (aka glucose) into them, insulin has to move that energy to fat cells for storage.
High levels of insulin lead to more fat storage, and until your blood sugar and insulin are balanced, you’ll struggle to ditch the spare tire.
Conclusion
Now that you know there is so much more to losing weight than “eat less, exercise more” (unless you want to lose weight quickly only to end up right back where you started a few months later), it may seem like there’s too many options and you don’t know where to start.
Do you focus on blood sugar? Do you relieve stress? How do you get rid of inflammation?
The good news is that, within my 4-month hormone balancing program, the 40 or Less Method, I help you rebalance the top reasons for stubborn weight. This means you can improve your overall health and get your body back to a state where it’s happy and safe to go ahead and ditch the extra pounds.
It does take time – your health imbalances didn’t happen in 3 months so you can’t expect to get long-term health improvements and long-term weight loss in 3 months either. That’s just not possible without a LOT of heartache and further damage afterwards.
