When it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, the biggest farce perpetuated upon the public is the notion that weight loss is all about "calories in versus calories out". Doctors, dieticians and trainers are all teaching patients that the key to their weight loss is to churn and burn. What you have never been told, and what you must understand, is that you do not just have a weight problem. You have a health problem. There is something going on with you body's metabolism that is causing you to retain fat and gain weight.
Are you struggling
with your weight even though you are on a low calorie diet? I want to
explain to you the reason why, and also the reason that it is imperative that
you have a full diagnositic work up to understand what is going on with your
body. And before you say "Dr. Boggs, my lab work checked out
fine"...let me assure you that you have NOT had all of the testing done
that is necessary.
Here is a list of metabolic factors
that can influence your weight that have nothing to do with the balance of the
calories that you eat and burn:
Autoimmune conditions,
TH1, TH2 immune imbalance: Imbalances
in the immune system will cause increased TH17 activity, resulting in increased
inflammation. This will inhibit your normal metabolism, causing your
cells to not burn glucose the way that it should.
Parasites: These critters like to gobble up B vitamins, this could potentially
decrease energy production and fuel utilization
Dysbiosis: Altered gut bacteria can caused abnormal calorie utilization from your food
Insulin resistance: If you have subjected your body to constant insulin spikes and drops through the poor standard American diet, your cells will not respond to insulin. When this happens, glucose can't get into the cells to be used for energy, and are instead moved to fat for storage
Reactive hypoglycemia: Blood glucose levels fall quickly so one may reach for a sugary snack to
bring glucose levels up quickly, likely these are calorie dense not nutrient
dense. These people are also normally sluggish and unable to exercise
Anemia: Back to the fuel story, all cells need Oxygen and glucose in order to
make ATP to make sure cellular processes happen, if this is a stomach cell then
maybe we aren't producing hydrochloric acid that we need to start digestion
process
High cortisol: This is going to cause altered feedback throughout the body, will cause
water retention, likely due to increased aldosterone production, also cause
impacts on the hippocampus which will in turn decrease output to the thyroid
gland, also blood sugar is mobilized from fat, muscle, liver glycogen stores
and if not utilized can add to insulin resistance, blood sugar is usually
restored as abdominal fat. Cortisol issues are usually also due to the
sympathetic nervous system overfiring, digestion is a parasympathetic process
Low cortisol: May allow frequent drops in blood sugar, causing one to reach for sugary
snacks to bring blood sugar up, if this happens too much, our bodies may go
into starvation mode holding onto more of everything that you put in.
Excess estrogen: Will cause fat deposition, usually occurs in tandem with blood sugar/
adrenal/ insulin related issues
Excess progesterone: The case is usually for decreased progesterone, so there is an estrogen
:progesterone imbalance, causing the body to lean toward fat storage,
progesterone in women helps to stimulate TPO enzyme to produce thyroid hormone
Low stomach acid
(hypochlorhydria): Can be caused by many
things, but this sets up the whole digestion cascade, helps to digest protein,
need acidic food bolus entering the small intestine to trigger pancreas to
release enzymes, and gall bladder to release bile and Cholecystikinen (CCK, one
of the Satiety hormones), also helps to establish healthy gut flora. If we have
decreased breakdown of food, we are probably not absorbing the nutrients that
we need and we eat more food to get those nutrients
You need to understand that diet and
exercise are vital to any weight loss program. However, the bottom line
is that you need to fix your "foundation" before you work on your
"penthouse".
If you need help with your weight, you can contact my office at (304)255-4325, or you can reach me at drdanboggs.gmail.com
