On the surface of weight loss, the generalised idea is that if your energy in is less than your energy out, you lose weight – simply meaning, move more and eat less. For a small percentage of people this is true – in the case of those who may have gained the odd extra kilo here and there by not exercising a great deal, and perhaps a few too many high calorie meals each week. But to lump everyone in the same box and make the assumption that because a person is overweight it means they eat too much and are lazy, is a narrow-minded and very false accusation. In my 9 years as a Personal Trainer I can assure you that hardly any of the overweight people I have worked with are ‘lazy’, they also make a far greater effort on the whole with food preparation than a lot of the slim people I have seen, and I will vouch my life on the fact that not a single one of those people love being overweight. They did not make a conscious decision to overeat and under-exercise to gain unhealthy amounts of body fat. There are such a vast number of factors that can contribute to someone gaining weight, or struggling to lose weight, and it hardly ever is directly down to eating less and moving more. I will explain the link between several hormones and weight gain in this article, but this is only the beginning of a large number of reasons for obesity.
If you are a person who judges someone for being overweight, here is a message to you: Please, I ask you that next time you judge someone for being ‘fat’ in anyway, you reconsider your harsh judgement. Until you have walked in their shoes and gone through their life journey you have absolutely no right to make even the slightest judgement on what they should or shouldn’t be doing, what they should or shouldn’t be eating. What you deem as a simple passing comment, can be utterly soul-crushing for someone who battles with weight challenges every minute of their life. They know they are overweight. Believe it or not, but they actually do know it. They DO NOT need you to tell them. How can hormones make weight loss tough? The first thing to note is that your weight is regulated and there is a lot of evidence in support of weight being physiologically defended. In simple terms, this means your body fights fiercely to maintain the weight it is at, whether you are too heavy or not. This is often referred to as the ‘settling point theory’. There are a lot of mechanisms and processes in your brain and body that all work together to try and maintain your weight. The biggest processes that work against you losing weight are hormonal, and there is a lot at play when it comes to your hormones and body weight. However the two biggest hormonal influencers are: Ghrelin: a hormone made in the stomach that tells your brains to eat when you are hungry. Following weight loss your body will actually produce more ghrelin, meaning more signals are sent to your brain saying you are hungry and need to eat more. This makes it hard for a period of time after weight loss as your body is fighting to gain the weight back that you have lost. This is part of the reason ‘quick-fix’ diets often won’t succeed long term. Leptin: this hormone is produced in your fat cells and plays a large role in regulating food intake and energy expenditure. The level of Leptin your body produces is directly proportional to your fat cells meaning your body produces more when it notices weight gain which sends signals to the brain to stop eating so much and start moving more, and you produce less after weight loss meaning your brain thinks you need to eat more and move less. Again, like with ghrelin, your body wants to fight to get the weight back you have lost. Another reason ‘quick-fix’ diets often won’t succeed long term. How does insulin affect weight loss? Insulin’s main role is to move glucose from your blood into your cells, and plays a major role in the ability of fat leaving your fat cells (adipocytes). After you consume a meal (especially one high in carbohydrates) your insulin levels are at their highest, and before a meal they are at their lowest. When insulin levels are low (prior to a meal), your body needs your secondary source of fuel, fat (carbohydrates are our primary source, and fat is our secondary source). Fat can only be released from your adipocytes when your insulin levels are low. When your insulin levels are high after you have eaten, especially a large amount of carbohydrates, you are unable to release fat from your adipocytes. Sugar does not turn to fat, unless an incredibly large amount is consumed in one meal and it becomes physiologically impossible for your body to handle such an amount, it will go through a process called Denovo-lipogenesis. This is extremely inefficient for your body as it takes 25% of the energy ingested to actually convert and store carbohydrates as fats, therefore it will only occur in extreme binge eating cases. Other than in this case, sugar turning to fat is a myth and carbohydrates won’t make you fat. However, if too many are consumed, especially simple sugars which are high in calories, they won’t make you thin either, as your insulin levels never get low enough to allow fat to exit your fat cells. To lose weight you need to allow the fat in your adipocytes to be used for energy. Keeping your simple sugar intake lower, making most of your carbohydrate intake come from complex carbohydrates, allowing 2.5-3 hours between each meal and snack, and doing lots of activity which demands a high energy requirement, your insulin levels will get low enough to allow fat to exit your fat cells and be used for energy – the result fat burning! Two considerations that can make it hard to lose weight Insulin resistance: When your body continually has high levels of insulin present from over eating regularly, especially sugars and processed carbohydrates, your body will become resistant to this hormone. It can’t handle the high quantities of insulin constantly being released into your body so it down-regulates – it de-sensitises itself to insulin. When this happens, you will actually produce more insulin, therefore meaning your insulin levels never get low enough to allow fat to exit from our adipocytes, meaning essentially you can’t burn your stored body fat. At this stage, it becomes incredibly tough to reduce body fat, and to do so, special diet requirements will need to be put in place. Leptin resistance: In a similar way to insulin resistance, often obese people can be resistant to Leptin too. Although Leptin is the hormone that controls how much we eat, obese people can be desensitised to it, meaning there satiety (feeling of fullness) levels aren’t adequately functioning. In these cases, you would literally never feel full. A continual hunger triggered by signals sent to the brain saying that you need to eat more will make losing weight a very tough journey. Conclusion These points have only just touched on the many factors needing to be considered for weight loss, but I do hope you have a better understanding of why there is so much more to it than what you eat and how you move. Hormonal influences are one of the biggest points to consider for weight gain/loss and are also one of the hardest to change. They take time and long term commitment to make any progress on how your hormones function. Quick-fix diets should never be an option, but even more so if you suspect your hormones are at play with your weight gain. If they are, then any diet that results in fast and dramatic changes to your body will only further enhance the problems your hormones are creating, meaning long term you will have an even harder weight journey. Take care, love your body's, eat well and move lots! More from me again soon. Kerri van de Loo Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach x
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Kerri van de Loo - Mindfulness coach, Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach & SELF-LOVE COACH:Join our Online Wellness Club here: https://www.bodyessence.co.nz/wellness-club.html Categories
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