Many Chemicals Have An Affinity For Fat

You can still make choices about what you eat and how active you are. These choices will affect your weight and your metabolism. Whilst your metabolism may be slower than someone else’s, don’t be tempted to blame your excess weight on that. This is only one piece of the jigsaw, and blaming a slower metabolism stops you from empowering yourself to do anything to change this. If you answer Yes to three or more questions, then your metabolism may be making it harder for you to lose weight. Do you put on weight, even when you are not eating much? Do you suffer from depression or low mood? Are you sensitive to the cold? Do you have dry skin and hair or hair loss? Do your muscles ache? Do you suffer from constipation? Do you do less than thirty minutes of exercise, five days a week? If you have a slower metabolism, you gain weight more easily. Several factors affect your metabolism, but most are linked to the amount of muscle you have. The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism is likely to be. How do you keep up the momentum when you are not getting results? One of the reasons that weight is hard to shift is the chemicals we are exposed to in our daily lives, chemicals that are harming our health and making us fatter. Many chemicals have an affinity for fat, and we store them in our fat cells. When you lose weight, released from your fat cells, these chemicals circulate round your body.1 In the case of obesogens, they make you gain weight.

Chimes Of Freedom

So, as you lose weight, you release chemicals into your body that make you gain weight. No wonder losing weight feels impossible! The good news is, it is fairly simple to significantly reduce your exposure. She struggled with mood swings and irritability at points in her cycle, and it also affected her eating. The rest of the month, she ate pretty healthily. She had tried changing her diet, which was helping. When we talked about how many obesogens disrupt our hormones, it was a lightbulb moment for her. Daisy liked to cook and used a lot of tinned tomatoes. She sometimes put the leftover food in the plastic container while it was still warm, increasing the amount of chemicals that were leaching into her food. A big fan of personal care, Daisy had a huge range of skin, hair and bath products. Daisy was a bit taken aback to discover just how much exposure she had to these chemicals. But now that she was aware, she could do something about it. And making these changes had to be easier than trying to lose weight when her body wasn’t onside! These chemicals disrupt the creation and storage of fat.4

Its A Mean Old World

You only need low levels to increase the likelihood of putting on weight. Obesogens disrupt your body’s weight regulation in several different ways. They may affect the number or size of fat cells or promote insulin resistance. They can interfere with hormones, including those involved in appetite and feeling full. They may even change your food preferences. Obesogens can affect your thyroid, slowing your metabolism, and cause changes to your gut bacterial balance that are associated with weight gain. This association is particularly strong in men. Research is finding a growing list of possible obesogens. Do you eat tinned food? Do you consume cans of drink? Do you consume drinks packaged in plastic bottles? Do you use oils stored in plastic bottles? Do you eat food that has been wrapped in plastic or from plastic containers? Do you store food in plastic? Do you microwave or put hot food in polycarbonate plastic containers? Do you eat nonorganic food? You only need low levels of obesogens to increase the likelihood of putting on weight. You know which imbalances in your body are blocking your weight loss. We can look at how to bring your body into balance. This reduces cravings and the desire to overeat.

When The Lights Go Out

It changes the internal messages, so you are no longer telling your body to store fat or to store it around your belly. If something doesn’t work, think about why not. Where does it fall apart? How can you adapt it to make it work? You need to tailor any changes you make to your requirements and preferences and the imbalances in your body. The more you understand your body, the easier it becomes to make changes. When things go wrong, don’t beat yourself up. A habit can be hard to break. It is easier to replace it with a new habit. Your eating habits and the imbalances in your body have taken some time to build up. They are not going to go overnight. But you can bring your body back into balance and it does get easier. Years ago I watched a documentary on people trying to lose weight. With the participants divided into two groups, each group received an identical cake. This group ate their cake, then carried on with the diet plan for the rest of the day. The other group wasn’t told the cake was healthy and low calorie. After eating it, the participants decided they’d blown their diet, so they might as well go out and get fish and chips for dinner! The only difference between the two groups was their perception of what they had eaten. How many times have you blown your diet, then given up and carried on eating junk food or overeating? It is so important to get out of this mentality! I have found that it works a lot better to focus on changing what you eat, so you are giving your body more of what brings health, more of what brings your body into balance and less of what disrupts this balance. Accept that it is not going to be perfect all the time. Enjoy your food and enjoy a healthier way of eating that works for you.