As trainers, we have all quickly realized that our clients can’t exercise enough to compensate for their poor eating habits. Although this struggle with weight has persisted over a long period of time, our clients still have the expectation of a fast solution. It is important to remember and remind your clients that it is in the basics where metabolic healing begins. However, even equipped with these basics, some clients will still face weight loss challenges. Understanding such existing barriers can help you, the professional, lead and encourage a discouraged client on the path to real and sustained weight loss.
1. Factors of Stress
Chronic stress has been found to increase aging by as much as 10 years and also has a major impact on the endocrine system. Stress normally raises cortisol, commonly referred as “the stress hormone,” and the catecholamines. While catecholamines decrease more quickly than cortisol, they both will return to normal resting levels once the physical elements of alarm are relieved. However, under chronic stress, cortisol will remain heightened until the body burns out and cannot sustain the elevated amounts of the hormone. At this point, the catecholamines will take over until they, too, are unable to keep up. To protect against the continued rise of stress hormones, the body shunts away from producing other key hormones, like DHEA, which can impact the ability to create sex hormones, including testosterone. The effects of chronic stress have been seen to be more and more debilitating over time, including hypoglycemia, inability to build muscle, insulin resistance, poor immune function, excess fat around the middle and depression/anxiety.
2. Sleep Deprivation
It is during sleep when the body most actively rebuilds. This is the time when the growth hormone is at its highest for repair and when we rebuild our neurotransmitters, including the production of serotonin and dopamine. Often, most of your clients believe that they are getting enough sleep, but when you quiz them on their sleep hygiene, you will discover that this belief is inaccurate. Even mild sleep deprivation of an hour a night can decrease insulin sensitivity. It also affects two other hormones, leptin and ghrelin, which help maintain regulate appetite. Lack of sleep can lead to a heightened level of cortisol, which can lead to the problems associated with stress. Numerous studies have linked even mild sleep deprivation to obesity.
3. Neurotransmitter Imbalances
Unfortunately, if your clients aren’t sleeping well, under chronic stress or face nutrient deficiencies, they may suffer from neurotransmitter imbalances. Within the body, there are key neurotransmitters that help control appetite and cravings as well as motivation, drive and mood. Chronic stress, in fact, has been found to deplete two key neurotransmitters — dopamine and serotonin. The presence of dopamine acts as the body’s drive, helping with motivation as well as regulating appetite. Serotonin levels are lowered when the amount of cortisol is heightened, and often, clients with low serotonin will suffer from carbohydrate and sugar cravings, as these elements can temporarily raise serotonin. Low levels of serotonin will also impact sleep, as it prevents the production of melatonin, which is needed for deep sleep. Another key neurotransmitter is GABA, which is a major inhibitor. Low levels of GABA can manifest as anxiety or through sleep disturbances.
4. Gut Issues and Food Sensitivities
If your client has chronic gut issues — gas, bloating, constipation, etc. — they may not be able to absorb their nutrients very well. Even mild nutrient deficiencies can have a major impact on weight loss. A mild vitamin C deficiency can affect carnitine’s ability to increase beta-oxidation (i.e., fat burning). Low calcium levels have been found to lower lipolysis (fat burning) as well.Food sensitivities are different from classic food allergies due to an Immuno-globulin (IgG) response, which is a delayed reaction. In an IgG food response, food is ingested (typically, one that is commonly eaten daily like dairy, wheat, eggs or soy), and over time, the body becomes sensitive to these foods, which are then perceived as foreign invaders, and therefore, this reaction launches an immune response that catapults the production of immune complexes to battle the perceived threat. This type of food sensitivity has been implicated in a variety of conditions, including chronic inflammation, skin problems, mood disorders, autoimmune disease and joint problems. Due to the fact that such a response is not immediate, most people do not correlate health complaints with the food that they have eaten. If proctoring a food sensitivity test, identify the offending foods and remove them from your client’s diet for three to four months. However, it may be possible to rotate these foods every four days without launching the immune response.
5. Thyroid Fatigue
Low thyroid function can affect the body’s ability to build muscle, balance sex hormones and lose weight. Often, clients are seen with what can be called “thyroid fatigue” or subclinical hypothyroidism. The thyroid stimulating hormone may be within the new ideal range, recommended by many endocrinologists to be one to 2.5, and T4 levels may be normal, but the amount of free T3, the active thyroid hormone, may be low. Symptoms of this condition include poor weight loss, yellowing of the skin, constipation, poor hair and nail growth, slightly low body temperature, depression and fatigue. All this happens due to a variety of issues. High stress can reduce the body’s ability to convert T4 to T3. Also, the diet is much lower in iodine, which is a key nutrient needed to make the thyroid hormone. Some experts believe that this fact is one of the main reasons for the increase in hypothyroidism.
6. The Toxic Burden
Every year, 80 billion pounds of toxins are released into the environment. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency through their Toxic Release Inventory tracking system in 2002, over 7.1 billion pounds of different industrial chemicals were released into the air and water — 266 of which are linked to birth defects. Toxins (pesticides, heavy metals, etc.) are stored in the fat cells, allowing the body to hold onto fat in order to protect itself. A high toxic burden can lower thyroid function in an attempt to cool and slow down the body to lessen the damage from the effect of the toxins in the system. Reactions occur more rapidly with heat, so by cooling down the body, you can slow down some of the damaging effects of these toxins. Research has found that metabolism could be slowed down by as much as 30% due to toxic burden. Toxic chemicals can also affect sex hormone balance as can other types of adrenal stress.
7. Insulin Resistance
One of the major rebuilding hormones is insulin. Without it, you will die, as it is needed to drive nutrients into cells. Insulin becomes a problem when it is overproduced (hyperinsulinemia) due to insulin resistance or when it remains elevated rather than returning to its baseline. Insulin resistance occurs when the insulin receptors become “resistant” and the pancreas has to overproduce insulin, which can happen due to a variety of factors, including overeating, a high glycemic load/high refined carbohydrate diet, chronic stress and damaged fats due to their effect on the cell membrane structure. If insulin remains high, it locks the doors to the fat cells so that the body can’t burn off fat weight. This results in hypoglycemia, chronic inflammation, an increased risk for heart disease, dementia, diabetes as well as abdominal adiposity.
8. Hormone Imbalances
The levels of hormones can affect weight loss in a variety of ways. Low DHEA and testosterone will reduce fat burning and make it difficult to build muscle. Testosterone in men and estrogen in women also act as natural SSRIs (Selected Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), and so lowered levels can mean lower levels of serotonin as well. In addition, progresterone levels that are too high can create insulin resistance. Also, chronic stress can lower sex hormones, which exacerbate PMS and can bring on early menopause and andropause (male menopause). Besides these hormonal reactions, synthetic or incorrectly dosed bio-identical hormones can cause weight gain.
JJ Virginhas her PhD in Holistic Nutrition. For more information, visit
www.jjvirgin.com
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