1. Stress
The link between stress and obesity is being increasingly confirmed in scientific research and for Weaver, it’s one of the prime reasons people can’t lose weight. That marathon runner was putting her body under so much stress that she gained 12 pounds, Weaver remembers. What was going on?
“When we’re under stress we’re constantly churning out the stress hormone adrenalin and that prepares our body to fight or flee from an attack,” says Weaver.
“Blood supply is diverted away from processes such as digestion to the muscles and causes the body to use glucose, not body fat as its fuel.”
When stress is prolonged, the body starts to make another stress hormone called cortisol which breaks muscles down and having less muscle subsequently slows down metabolism.
Other studies have found that people with high cortisol levels tend to put weight on around their middles.
Tip: ‘When you spot a spare few minutes in a day, stop and breathe properly.’ Diaphragmatic breathing is best to lower stress levels, where you breathe in slowly ensuring your belly – not your chest – expands on the in breath. Try doing 20 of these once a day, Weaver suggests.
2. Sex hormones
For women in the week leading up to their period, weight gain can be no illusion. Weaver sees clients put on up to six and a half pounds pre-menstrually, which can be down to retaining fluid caused by rising oestrogen levels. Levels of progesterone drop at this time, which makes matters worse.
“This hormone is an anti-anxiety agent and diuretic that allows us to get rid of excess fluid,” says Weaver.
“A state of low progesterone can lead to sugar cravings in an effort to calm down, and it can also impact on motivation to exercise.”
Tip: If you tend to get fluid retention symptoms such as bloating around the tummy, swollen breasts or weight gain, try cutting out coffee and replacing it with herbal tea for
four weeks to see if symptoms subside.
It’s believed that substances called methylxanthines in caffeine-based products (even after they have been decaffeinated) can contribute to symptoms.
3. High insulin
Insulin is the hormone made in our pancreas that helps the body move sugars from food into the cells of our bodies. It transports glucose first to the liver and then to the muscles where it’s stored as glycogen to use as energy.
“If there’s any left-over (which there usually is) it’ll take it to the body fat cells and store it there.”
Eating refined carbohydrate foods and sugars can lead to excess insulin as they cause sharp spikes in blood sugar and signal the body to make more to process it. But that’s not the whole picture.
“Adrenalin spikes blood sugar too,” says Weaver. “If you haven’t eaten for a while and you are sitting at your desk and receive 16 emails about an unexpected crisis at work or home, your adrenalin production increases because your body now thinks that there’s danger and that spikes your blood sugar.”
Sitting down, you’re not going to use the extra glucose available to you because you haven’t got a physical threat to fight or flee from, she explains.
“So once again, more insulin has to be made to get the excess glucose out of the blood, leading to more fat storage.”
If you have spent months committing to exercise and eating well with no results, have your blood glucose levels and your blood insulin levels tested with your GP, Weaver suggests.
Tip: Get carbohydrates from whole foods, especially vegetables and fruit and make sure your meals contain protein such as lean meat, fish, eggs or pulses with some fat such as avocado, nuts, seeds, olive oils and olives as this combination can slow the release of glucose into the blood, requiring less insulin.
It’s why having a little butter on your bread can help slow down the rate at which glucose from the bread is released into your blood.
4. Nervous system
Our brains are wired for survival in primitive times which can disrupt how our bodies burn fat. The autonomic nervous system is the part of your brain that ‘runs’ your body behind the scenes and it’s not under our conscious control, explains Weaver.
“It regulates heart rate, respiration rate, temperature control, and immune and hormonal systems while we get on with our lives.”
It has two parts: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) our ‘fight or flight’ system and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) our ‘rest and repair’ system.
Both these systems should work in balance – but for most of us they don’t. ‘Most people exist in a state of SNS dominance which means we’re constantly in the fight or flight response, which causes adrenalin overload leading the body to only use glucose as fuel and not body fat’.
The PNS on the other hand helps restore calm, balance and functions such as digestion and skin that suffer during stressful periods and is stimulated by rest and relaxation.
Tip: Try a weekly restorative practice of some kind, Weaver advises, ‘One of the best ways to activate your PNS is by lengthening your exhalation, and Tai Chi, yoga and Pilates all help you do that’.
Failing that, upon waking and before bed try taking 10-20 breaths in for a count of four and out for a count of 6-8, it’s instantly calming.
5. Emotions
“The question I love to ask my clients is ‘Why do you do what you do when you know what you know?’” says Weaver.
“It’s not a lack of education that leads someone to polish off a packet of chocolate biscuits after dinner, it’s a subconscious feeling of ‘I am not enough.’ So what’s going on?”
“At work, my clients are living between polarities of acceptance versus rejection, successes versus failure based on all the little interactions of their day. Then, whether it’s been lousy meetings, something they interpreted badly or a heated exchange – or all of the above – they show up at home at night, their emotions are in chaos and they want a way to feel whole again.
“If food is their thing – as it is for so many people – they’ll end up with the contents of the pantry in their stomachs,” Weaver says.
Tip: If tempted to eat to numb negative emotions, try mindfulness practices to help you feel the feelings and acknowledge that the feelings themselves can’t hurt you and will eventually go away – but binging can by thwarting your weight loss efforts.
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