There are many people out in the world who struggle to lose weight, and it can be for so many reasons, making it hard to pinpoint what’s going on in their bodies.
Losing weight isn’t always as simple as eating less and moving more, and many people discover that the process is far more frustrating and oftentimes more complicated than expected. Even when you feel like you’re putting in the effort, making conscious efforts to track calories, exercising, and cutting back on unhealthy foods, the weight may continue to stick to you. For some, this becomes even more concerning after reaching a higher weight, where losing a few pounds feels especially urgent for health reasons. Luckily, functional nutritionist and content creator Catt Kennebeck created a video with the help of an endocrinologist about four reasons why people may continue “struggling” with weight loss, no matter what they try.” Read more about them below.
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1. You Have An Underlying Health Problem
Many people tend to beat themselves up when they do all the more conventional things to lose weight, like eating less, only consuming healthy foods, and sticking to a strict exercise regimen, only for their weight to stay the same. They tend to blame themselves and are sometimes tempted to restrict themselves even more. However, there could definitely be some kind of underlying health problem that's preventing them from losing what they want.
"These issues usually result in mitochondrial dysfunction, which leads to your body's inability to properly utilize glucose," explains Catt, who encourages her viewers to "get to the root" of their weight loss struggles by consulting doctors like endocrinologists about any potential underlying health issues they may have.
2. You Have HPA Access Dysfunction
If you've never heard of this, Catt explains that it's "your hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenals communication link."
"When this link becomes disconnected via chronic stress, the systems are not going to be able to function properly, and this has a domino effect on not only the thyroid, but also on your metabolism," adds Catt.
Chronic stress has been known to mess up many people's health and weight loss journeys, as it often takes a bigger toll on people than they may realize, and affects many bodily functions. You can talk to your doctor about better ways to manage any stressors in your life, and reach out to trusted friends and family or professional counselors to help reduce them.
3. You're Not Focusing On Calories In Versus Calories Out
In our diet culture, we're often told that we need to eat fewer calories and burn more via exercise to slim down fast and keep it off. However, that can be a very toxic mindset! In her video, Catt and her endocrinologist stress that "all calories are not created equal" and that it's very crucial to eat enough wholesome foods during the day and get in all the nutrients you need for successful weight loss.
"If you're not absorbing the things that you are putting into your body, which she said is very hard to do nowadays due to all the processing that our food is undergoing, you are not going to be able to fuel your engine, AKA your body, properly," says Catt.
4. You're Over-Training
Because exercise is an important part of weight loss and can help take your results to the next level, overdoing it can actually mess you up instead of benefiting you. Catt emphasizes that doing an extra amount of HIIT workouts, which means High-Intensity Interval Training, can also prevent you from losing the weight you want.
She notes that if you are dealing with an underlying health or hormonal condition, or excess inflammation in your body, then "doing something like a high-intensity workout is adding fuel to a fire that you were trying to put out."
Instead, try balancing moderate-intensity and consistent cardio workouts with strength-training exercises like weight lifting or pilates to build a more suitable workout routine that can help with stable weight loss.
