By Jacqui Mayes
January is often the time of year when our thoughts turn to fitness and weight loss. For many people it is easy; eat less and exercise more equals weight loss. But for many people, weight loss is not that simple.
As the Registered Nutritional Therapist at Oak Park Clinic, I see many people in clinic who despite eating less and exercising more, find it difficult and often impossible to lose weight. This is because there are many factors that affect our ability to lose weight.
Stress, sleep, lifestyle choices, food intolerances, genetics and other factors can make weight loss very difficult and for those people it’s important to find out what is causing the issue and support the system to restore balance.
For some people, an undiagnosed medical condition such as an under active thyroid can slow down their metabolism.
For others Stress is the issue, with Cortisol (our main stress hormone) working to increase appetite, raising blood sugar levels, affecting sleep and in some cases increasing fat storage around the middle.
Hormones may be playing a part for others, particularly during the menopause when the body holds on to fat as oestrogen production from the ovaries drops. Recent research is also focusing on the balance of gut bacteria and the role they play in weight loss – too many of certain bacterial strains and not enough levels of others can slow down weight loss for some. Some people simply need inspiration, delicious personalised recipes and someone to be accountable to.
All of the above can be addressed with a personalised plan, so if you are one of those people who try as they might to lose weight, just can’t shift the pounds, get in touch to see what’s hindering your weight loss success.