If you have been eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, yet struggle to lose weight, there are 5 possible reasons.
1) Insulin Resistance
If your fasting blood glucose level is 110-125 mg/dL, this is an indication of pre-diabetic stage and sign of insulin resistance. That means the body cannot respond to insulin to remove blood glucose and sends it to the cells.
The body produces even more insulin in the attempt to control blood glucose level. As long as high level of insulin remains in the blood, the body stores fat and cannot go into fat burning zone.
Eat a diet of low Glycemic Index (GI) with complex carbohydrate to replace all the starchy food such as white rice, white bread, potato and pasta. This will help to control the blood glucose and prevent insulin spikes. Take supplement of chromium, which can increase insulin sensitivity and promote fat burning.
2) Adrenal Stress
Adrenalin is produced when the body is subjected to stress. This is the body’s natural “ fight or flight response”. Mental, emotional, physical, environmental, toxins from smoking or bad diets are all the possible stressors that places a strong demand on the body system.
The body produce the 2 stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol in response and at constant high level, they can cause thyroid dysfunction, hypertension, diabetes, drop in immunity and weight gain.
Take plenty of antioxidants from wide variety and colorful fruits and vegetables as well as supplements to obtain sufficient antioxidants to counter free radicals and fight stress.
3) Thyroid Abnormalities
Thyroid abnormalities could be low-level of TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) or low-level of T4 and T3 thyroid hormones, which are important in regulating metabolic rate. Low level of thyroid hormone means the body does not readily burns fat.
Symptoms of thyroid abnormalities include:
- Weight gain
- Sluggish brain
- Dry skin
- Sore muscle
- Depression
- Headaches
- Cold hands and feet
Check with the doctor and get a careful diagnosis to cover not just TSH but T4 and T3 level as well.
4) Hormonal Imbalance
Balance of estrogen and progesterone level in the body is important in maintaining healthy weight. Most women over 40 years gain weight very quickly due to estrogen level being much higher than progesterone level, when the progesterone level dropped aggressively.
Eat sufficient amount of food that contains natural progesterone; eggs, milk, yam, Persian Walnut
5) Sleep
If you get less than 5 hours of sleep a night, you have 75% risk of being obese. Cutting sleep by 4 hours after 2 days increase the level of ghrelin, which is the hormone that increases the appetite by 28%. At the same time, leptin, the hormone that tells the body the stomach is full drop by 18%.
Make sleep a priority. Just as you schedule time for work commitment, you should schedule enough time for sleep. Take a mid–day nap to recharge.
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