Heya Guys, so a lot of people including some exercise professionals seem to think that losing weight (fat) is as simple as putting less food in + exercising more and the weight will drop off you. For most young people it is, however for a growing number of people there is so much more involved, and just dieting and exercising simply cannot work.!!! booosh i have said it. |
So what are the 7 reasons & do you suffer with one or more?
- Stress, for years I have been aware of this but didnt really pay it enough attention. This is one way of explaining stress and why if you are super stressed at work or life, weight loss can be impossible. Being stressed and in the parasympathetic nervous system was a protective state for a caveman in order to help him escape from saber tooth tigers and to survive winters without much food, you see the blood that would be used in digestion is shunted elsewhere and the stress hormone cortisol is released which would make the cavemans' metabolism slow right down and store body fat rather than using it. This would be done to survive times with limited food. If your body & brain are in such a stressed state though exercise such as interval training is the last thing you should be doing, as it will only be adding to the stress and storing more fat. So stress is a real thing, but dont worry too much as there are lots you can do including mindfulness, breathing, vitamins etc.
- Sleep, another much ignored issue in relation to weight loss, health & fitness and such an important factor. We spend more than half of each day, damaging the body, muscles, tissue, joints and organs. Our time in quality sleep is for repairing our body, adaptation of muscles, rebalancing vitamins, steroids, hormones and organs. Basically poor sleep or no sleep will often stop or slow down weight loss and serioulsy damage your long term health. The same goes for working night shifts, because we mess with our circadian body clock, studies suggest a life of split shifts can considerably shorten our lives and definately damage our health and weight loss aspirations. A case in point, a recent client who struggles with stress which inturn reduced her sleep had a slow weight loss journey until the festive period holiday where she lost 2KG. All of the work stress had gone and her sleep cycle improved drastically making her brain feel safe in turn allowing the bodies hormones to function as they should. So sleep some more, generally by dealing with stress, build a bed time habit including taking products such as ZMA or magnesium.
- Vitamin & mineral issues Put simply not enough or too much of these and your body just doesnt function. Every action and interaction within the body uses these and studies suggest most people just dont have enough, especially older people who absorb and produce less. Totally forget about the recommended daily allowances (RDAs) as these generally are far too low, for example to experience an immune improvement taking vit C from oranges you would need to consume 22 or 1000mg. Having really low micronutrients often leads to lack of energy, drive, sex drive and poor mood, which doesnt really help when it comes to weight loss. We use calcium & magnesium to contract and relax our muscles so you can see that id these are low your training and recovery would be effected. I will blog about all the vitamins in another Blog but for example having low B12, Vitamin D, Vitamin C would leave you feeling tired, in a poor depressed state with a crap immune system and unable to lose weight.
- liver health the liver has over 500 known functions involved with detoxification, hormonal system, controlling blood sugar, storing nutrients, protein and fat metabolism. If you have consistently eaten lots of carbs, sugary drinks and alcohol you could have a fatty liver which could effect fat loss seriously. And you might think it wont be you? I am a 41 year old personal trainer involved in serious exercise for all of my adult life & recently found out that i have a fatty liver. Cleans your liver & kidneys -product
- Gut Health without the correct digestive enzmes, wrong amount of acid or issues the gut wont break down food efficiently, absorb nutrients and therefore can slow down fat loss massively and definately reduce vital muscle growth for increased metabolism. Gut regeneration product
- Other organs & thyroid the thyroid gland which is also known as the master of metabolism is the bodies regulator of energy, metabolism, regulating cholesterol and controling mood. Underactive and over active thyroids both effect weight loss and are both detrimental to your health, that being said there are lots of self help techniques to help with these. Most thyroid issues are misdiagnosed which leads to an inividual taking thyroxine for no reason at all, more often than not there is an auto immune issue which has a knock on effect to the thyroid such as hashimotos (want advice on this get in touch)
- Hormones right this one is massive and effects us all, however unbalanced hormones will be effecting all individuals about 35-40 years of age and will be making weight loss or muscle gain very very difficult. Hormones that drive us forward or counter our stress hormone such as testosterone, progesterone and dhea and vit D drop and all of our hormones which dont help us lead an energetic sex filled life increase. The average age of a caveman was around 25 to 40 and this is why after after we get to around 35yrs of age our hormones become absolutely no use to us, its in our evolution, maybe in another 2000 years we will have higher testosterone at the age of 60. I was 40 years of age exercised every day, ate a pretty good diet, tried to sleep well but i was constantly exhausted with little to no sex drive. If that last sentence refers to you too then get in touch.... because like me you can feel 10 or 20 years younger just changing up your hormones, balancing micronutrients and sorting out your gut and liver. This cost me £1000 including all of the supplentation and i honestly feel 10 years younger.
Glenn Hill| Personal Trainer Co Durham | 07983570574
There are links on the products to phil richards products & a link below to the blood tests. If you purchase blood tests or products say Glenn Hill sent you.... lets see how many people i can help this year.
Good luck
Link below for blood tests