Weight Loss- Why it’s not happening

Wanting to lose weight is always a popular subject. Here’s a list of seven possible reasons you are struggling to shift the excess weight.

1. Get clear on your motivation.
I believe it’s important to begin with looking at why you want to lose weight unless it is for a serious health issue. Grab yourself a notebook and answer these questions honestly.
~ Do you actually need to lose weight? Or are you trying to conform to social pressures?
~ Do you want to lose weight for yourself or for someone else?
~ Do you believe if you reach a certain weight you will feel better or differently about yourself? Or that something will change in your life?
Please know that there is a high possibility nothing will change except the number on your clothes label, are you prepared for that? 
Another reason it is important for you to understand your motivation is it could actually be a block too.

‘Many studies show that the stigma associated with body weight, rather than the body weight itself, is responsible for some adverse health consequences blamed on obesity, including increased mortality risk. A 2018 opinion piece co-authored by psychologists, sociologists, and behavioural scientists in the journal BMC Medicine argued that bias against fat people is actually a larger driver of the so-called obesity epidemic than adiposity itself.’ Scientific American.

‘Not only is toxic diet culture a harmful influence on self-esteem, body image, eating, movement, and our relationship with our bodies and food—it also has a long and ugly racist history that lives on today as an oppressive system in our lives. Diet culture is directly connected to fatphobia, as diet culture values thinness over everything else. And fatphobia has its roots in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.’ Marisa Crane, Within Health

2. Be honest with yourself.
The next reason is a bit boring and obvious, but important to consider. Grab that notebook again.
~ Are you being truly honest with yourself about what you are actually eating and drinking?
~ What are you eating? Are you eating enough? Yes really!
~ What and how much are you drinking during the day? (Sometimes dehydration can slow the weight loss process).
~ Are you getting enough fibre? Are you getting energy slumps after certain foods or certain times of the day?
~ Are you comfort eating? Is it actually an emotional issue?
~ Are you craving sugar or sweet things? Are you stressed?
It’s a great idea to just jot down everything you eat and drink, when and why, how you feel after eating, in the week and at a weekend, you might spot a pattern.

3. Food sensitivities/ Leaky Gut
When I began learning kinesiology, our lecturer gave us an example of the impact of a food sensitivity. Before she learnt kinesiology, she had eaten tomatoes every day of her life, she loved them! During her studies she found out she had a sensitivity to tomatoes. After stopping eating tomatoes for a month, she lost a stone in weight- yes really.
I have a similar issue with gluten and avoid it at all costs as it gives me a leaky gut. Here’s a quick reminder of what is a leaky gut? A leaky gut occurs when the tight junctions of the gut lining loosen, causing various unwanted food, pathogens, toxins, etc. to leak through the gut lining into the bloodstream causing an inflammatory response in the body.
All of the above can have an impact preventing you losing or maintaining your weight.

4. Hormones
Hormones are powerful things! You can make absolutely no changes in what you are eating or what exercise you are doing and you can still gain weight- especially during stressful times and/or peri/ menopause. Everything is so interconnected, depending on what your body is having to deal with, it will decide what is the priority and it is not always weight loss or maintenance. For example; if you are extremely stressed, the body’s priority will be to support your adrenals, that can mean a lot of other areas taking a back seat.
Hormones are pretty complex and impossible to fit in a paragraph but my tip would be to always prioritise ways to keep stress to a minimum, it’s one of the worst things for your health.

5. Liver
To lose weight, you need a happy healthy liver. It can burn fat or create fat out of glucose or protein. When happy and healthy, your liver is able to pump excess fat out of the body via the gallbladder and bowel. Your liver can also break down excess hormones and activate other hormones involved in metabolism. When our liver does not regulate fat metabolism properly, that is when we can gain weight, especially around the middle, giving us a ‘pot belly’. A possible sign of a fatty liver can be when we have a roll of fat around the top of our belly rather than the lower positioned pot belly. It can be almost impossible to shift this until the liver function is improved. A happy liver will start burning fat efficiently again and then the weight comes off without much effort. 

6. Protection
There can sometimes be a non-conscious need to hold onto the weight for protection. You might not know or understand why, but remember that your sub-conscious holds on to all information and your body can hold on to unexpressed emotions. For whatever reason, one or both of these may believe the weight is needed to keep you safe. What is also interesting, you can be non- consciously holding onto protection weight due to past life trauma. Until all aspects of yourself feels safe enough to let go of the protection weight, it can be difficult to lose even if everything else is in balance.

7. Parasites
I mentioned parasites in my last post on bloating, and again, everyone gets them and if immune system is healthy and you eat a balanced diet, that tends to kill off any potential issues. However some people have experienced weight gain or weight loss when they are not kept in check.

Summary
For the most part, when the body is balanced and working efficiently, it seems to automatically remove any excess weight, that is right for YOU, without much effort. However, stored emotions/ memories/ trauma and environmental factors can get in the way of this if not addressed, that is what makes kinesiology so amazing, it can pretty much cover it all.
Remember, whatever your weight, know that you are already beautiful exactly as you are 🤍

Important note: these are just a few examples of what has come up during my kinesiology sessions with clients who want to lose weight. I am not a medical professional and have not included all possible reasons. Always consult your doctor/ medical professional with any concerns or worrying symptoms.