The number of overweight people is growing steadily around the world. Many sufferers are desperate because they cannot lose weight despite their goodwill, motivation, and perseverance. They have already experimented unsuccessfully with countless diets and often abandoned them with a few extra pounds on their ribs and wholly discouraged.
Thyroid Problems Prevent You From Losing Weight
The thyroid is responsible for producing the thyroid hormones triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). These vital hormones regulate metabolic activity.
The body runs on the back burner with an underactive thyroid and therefore has a correspondingly low energy requirement. This means that the person concerned often does not lose weight or even continues to gain weight despite low-calorie intake.
These overweight people repeatedly insist: I really eat next to nothing and do not lose weight.
Symptoms Of An Underactive Thyroid
You may have an underactive thyroid if you have the following symptoms:
- Fatigue and lack of drive
- Low blood pressure and slower heartbeat, but high blood pressure is also possible
- Constipation
- Bad sleep
- Dry skin, hair, nails
- Painful menstruation
- Increased cholesterol
- Unexplained weight gain
If this applies to you, you can have your thyroid values checked by an endocrinologist.
Ensure that all three thyroid levels are checked, i.e. TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone), free T4 and free T3. Often only the TSH value is examined.
TSH is the hormone secreted by the pituitary gland in the brain when the thyroid hormone levels in the blood drop. TSH is supposed to stimulate the thyroid gland to produce more hormones. High TSH levels, therefore, indicate an underactive.
If your TSH value is in the “normal” range (0.3 to 4.2), your thyroid is considered healthy, and the doctor will not take any further action. However, the result can be deceptive because the norm values are possibly far too high. And so, a TSH value of over 1.0 can indicate an underactive thyroid.
Hormonal Imbalances Inhibit Fat Loss
In addition to thyroid problems, other hormonal disorders can also play an essential role in developing obesity and make the desired weight reduction extremely difficult for those affected. Only a balanced hormone level ensures – in addition to its many other health-relevant effects – the optimal distribution of fat reserves.
A maldistribution of fats often manifests itself in an excessive accumulation of fat cells on the buttocks or stomach. This can be due to an excess or deficiency of the sex hormones estrogen, progesterone or testosterone.
- The testosterone enables, among other things, the release of body fats (especially in the abdominal area) so that they can be broken down. If the testosterone level is too low, the fat loss is automatically and significantly reduced.
- Progesterone stimulates the metabolism, supports fat burning and keeps insulin levels at a healthy level. Therefore, a progesterone deficiency is usually associated with an overproduction of insulin, which can lead to hyperinsulinemia (pathologically increased insulin level). Ultimately, this development also contributes to obesity, as does the metabolic change caused by the deficiency and the reduced fat burning.
- Estrogen dominance causes the body to build up more fat cells and causes increased water retention. In addition, estrogen dominance affects the production of thyroid hormones. All of these factors make it very difficult to lose weight.
Obesity is, therefore, not necessarily due to an excessive appetite but often also to a hormone imbalance.
A balanced hormone level is therefore of great importance if weight loss is to work finally.
A doctor can determine a hormone deficit. But there is also the option of a hormone saliva test on the Internet.
Food Allergies And Intolerances Make It Challenging To Lose Weight
Many people suffer from food intolerances or allergies that they initially don’t know about.
Over an extended period, these can trigger inflammatory processes in the body, during which large amounts of a protein called TNF-alpha are released. This endogenous substance can trigger inflammatory processes.
In the case of ongoing inflammatory processes, which occur due to the body’s overreaction to certain foods, this protein is released in excess.
This, in turn, can lead to a general disturbance in the utilization of glucose and trigger type 2 diabetes or its precursors. As a result, losing weight can now become an almost insurmountable hurdle.
In milder cases, a hidden food allergy can also lead to irritation of the gastric mucosa and thus trigger recurring cravings, which are also very in the way of weight loss.
Of course, if you already know your allergen or the food to which your immune system reacts inappropriately, you must first strictly avoid it.
The strong reaction to a normally perfectly harmless food shows that your immune system is currently irritated for whatever reason.
It is therefore essential to generally relieve this vital defence system as much as possible.
Since poisons (dental toxins, pesticide residues in food, medication, etc.) and other pollutants are often responsible for an overload, you should thoroughly cleanse and detoxify your body and explicitly your intestines because this is where the predominant part of the immune system is located. A colon cleanse is suitable for this, in which the dissolved toxins are immediately bound and quickly excreted. At the same time, high-quality probiotics should be supplied that can build up intestinal flora in a stable manner.
This measure contributes significantly to the relief of the immune system. It can thus not “only” contribute to the disappearance of allergic reactions but also make it much easier to lose weight.
Incorrect Intestinal Flora Prevents Weight Loss
It has long been known that overweight people have a different composition of intestinal flora than people of average weight.
The intestinal flora of the overweight prevents them from turning into average weight.
However, if you are overweight and take particular probiotic bacterial strains, which are part of the average weight intestinal flora, suddenly losing weight becomes much more accessible.
A corresponding study also showed that women who dieted and took a probiotic lost twice as much weight as those who only dieted.
Lack Of Fiber
Often the cause of obesity is simply a lack of fiber. Dietary fibre activates the intestinal peristalsis and thus counteracts constipation because a sluggish intestine increases weight quickly.
A sufficient amount of fibre in the diet also ensures slower carbohydrate utilization so that no significant amounts of glucose enter the blood at once.
Otherwise, the excess glucose would be converted into fat and stored in the fat deposits, which would certainly not be conducive to weight loss.
Finally, fibre also blocks certain fat-digesting enzymes (lipases) to absorb less fat from food.
Fibre is mainly found in vegetables, fruits, berries, seeds (linseed, sesame), nuts and kernels (sunflower and pumpkin seeds), and legumes and whole-grain cereals.
Since the vegetable fibres swell in connection with liquid, they have a lasting saturation effect. An additional intake of finely ground psyllium husks or flaxseed is highly recommended to increase the intake of fibre. They are mixed in water and drunk.
The essential konjac powder – an extraordinary fibre – can also optimize your fiber supply very quickly. Konjac powder is taken in capsule or powder form and works even in minor amounts.
Medicines Can Cause Weight Gain
Taking certain medications can be a problem for people who would like to lose weight. A study by Harvard University confirmed that many over-the-counter drugs and prescription drugs definitely favour weight gain and thus make it very difficult to lose weight.
These include drugs to lower blood sugar and cholesterol, beta-blockers for high blood pressure, drugs containing cortisone, the pill, migraine drugs, antidepressants and neuroleptics.
These drugs can reduce energy metabolism and thus inhibit fat burning, unbalanced hormone levels, stimulate appetite or lead to water retention.
All of these factors make losing weight extremely difficult. Therefore, it is advisable for every patient who sees their weight gain in connection with their medication to consult their doctor.
In many cases, they can offer alternatives and at the same time certainly motivate you to eat healthily and exercise adequately. In this combination, losing weight should be an easy undertaking.
Artificial Sweeteners Cause Cravings
People trying to reduce their weight are increasingly turning to so-called light products, in which sweeteners have replaced the sugar content.
However, synthetically manufactured sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin and sucralose often do the opposite of what they advertise.
And so, there are always studies that can prove a direct connection between the consumption of foods containing sweeteners and weight gain. However, one is not sure what the explanation for this could be. For a long time, it was believed that the body generally reacts to a “sweet” taste by releasing insulin. After that, the blood sugar level drops sharply (since no sugar was consumed), and the body then craves supplies with a ravenous appetite.
The number of calories ultimately consumed increases. As a result, the increased insulin level promotes the storage of fats in the fat cells. It also inhibits their burning, and as a result of all these figure-hostile actions in the body, you gain weight. Today, however, we know that sweeteners hardly lead to an increase in insulin levels. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that perhaps not all, but quite a few, overweight people – although they consistently avoid sugar and use sweeteners instead – do not manage to lose weight. A study from 2008 even showed that consumption of sweeteners led to higher food intake, more significant weight gain and an increased body fat percentage (at least in rats) compared to sugar consumption. The researchers involved suspect that sweeteners could permanently irritate the metabolism. Experience has shown that the body associate’s sweet foods with a certain amount of calories.
So if something sweet is eaten, the core temperature of the body increases, the digestive organs get going, and the metabolism becomes active. However, if the calories are absent after the sweet taste has arrived, then – according to the scientists – all these actions of the body will also cease at some point.
The core temperature no longer rises, digestion no longer functions properly, nutrients are used more poorly, and the body ultimately demands more and more food until weight control is no longer possible
Glutamate Paralyzes The Feeling Of Satiety
Glutamate is a flavour enhancer that is now used as a condiment in almost all ready meals. This is not surprising because this food additive gives every dish a particularly spicy and intense taste, which significantly increases the appetite.
Many scientists are now in agreement: Glutamate is partly responsible for the rapidly increasing number of overweight people worldwide. The reason for this is apparent because glutamate hinders the feeling of satiety in the brain.
Some readers may not know that glutamate is used in retirement homes to stimulate the residents’ appetite. In the meantime, fewer and fewer restaurant chefs are seasoning without glutamate.
Glutamate is not only supposed to stimulate the appetite but also suppress a hormone that influences fat burning. An increased appetite and, at the same time, inhibited fat burning makes losing weight almost impossible.
Glutamate is hidden behind the following terms: E 620 to E 625, flavouring, aroma, yeast extract or nutritional yeast, granular broth. Go through your grocery stores and see how many products have one of these terms (or even several at the same time) on the label.
Lipedema
If lipedema is present, the usual diets and exercise are usually unsuccessful. In lipedema, the fat collects particularly on the hips, thighs and buttocks, rarely on the entire leg and even more rarely on the upper arms.
Lipedema is a pathological fat distribution disorder in which painful edema can also develop. Losing weight with average measures only works where the lipedema is not, i.e. on the stomach, chest or face.
Check Out The Factors That Are Hindering Weight Loss
Not all overweight people eat way too much or eat the wrong things all the time. As you now know, there are several other possible causes that hardly anyone thinks about.
Unfortunately, there are only a few doctors who are clear about the relationships mentioned above.
Therefore, you should take the initiative yourself. You can check some factors yourself and change them if necessary.
Ask a doctor you trust for any other possible cause. We hope that we have helped you a little searching for the “why” and wish you successful weight loss in the future.
Also Read: THREE SECRETS TO FIND A FLAT STOMACH
