Why Am I Not Losing Weight?
I changed my diet And I exercise, but I’m still not losing weight!
maybe you even gained weight 👀
This is far too common among my patients, especially women. Here are 3 major things I look at when determining why someone is struggling to lose weight.
Hormone levels
Typically, I find hormones are either too high or too low in patients that struggle to lose weight, especially stubborn belly fat. I routinely do a full work for each hormone category below:
Thyroid (TSH, free T3, Free T4, Anti-TPO, Anti-TG, etc)
Sex Hormones (Testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, DHEA-S, etc)
Blood sugar (HgA1c, glucose, insulin, leptin)
Cortisol
Melatonin
2. Digestive Function
The “good” bacteria in the digestive system helps regulate our metabolism, digest our food to optimize nutrients and aids with absorption of those nutrients which all three need to happen to keep weight in a healthy range. When working with a patient that is struggling to lose weight I like to test to see where these important bacteria levels are at. Some species that I look for are below:
Akkermansia muciniphila: it can feed on the mucus that lines your gut, promoting its production which strengthens your intestinal barrier (a weaker gut lining is detected in people with obesity). These microbes also produce acetate, a short-chain fatty acid that helps regulate body fat stores and appetite.
Christensenella minuta: is also an emerging gut microbe associated with weight control. Like Akkermansia, it is abundant in the microbiomes of lean people, and scientists think it could be promising for preventing obesity, which is now considered a global health epidemic.
Bifidobacteria: are able to produce a number of magical rainbow compounds including vitamins, short-chain fatty acids, and organic acids while combating invaders that can make you sick and gain weight.
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii: are beneficial gut microbes that prevent intestinal inflammation by producing butyrate and other important substances.
So many more imbalances of good and bad microbes can cause issues losing weight.
3. Nutritional Balancing
Most individuals have some degree of nutritional deficiencies, by testing and treating with the right amount of minerals and vitamins this helps the body eliminate waste, build and balance hormones needed and naturally result in weight stabilization.
Everyone is an individual, testing and treatment may vary but with my help I can guide you down the right path to getting you back to the weight you felt the best.