Understanding weight loss, health and wellness is important if you are to be successful. As they say - knowledge is power, so I hope to explain a few things that may help you with your health goals, and hopefully share with you some new insights which may inspire you to try some healthier, and more successful ideas.
If you are jumping into an intense exercise routine or slogging it out at the gym hoping to lose weight and gain health, you may be interested (or challenged) by this article which explores why intense exercise may not be the right approach for weight loss and achieving your health goals, and why it may actually be causing you more harm than good. I'll also give you a couple of tips on what actually works.
So to understand how to lose weight, it is worth understanding how we gained it in the first place. Now, I don't know one person that became overweight or obese from not exercising. People can actually go their whole lives not exercising and still maintain healthy body weight. I do however know people that have gained weight and suffer obesity from the following:
• Excess calorie intake.
• Inadequate nutrient intake and absorption.
• Stress - emotional, mental and physical.
• Inflammation.
Weight gain doesn't just happen. We carry excess weight primarily because of those four issues. Unfortunately, those four issues can lead to many more imbalances and illnesses in the body which will then lead to further weight gain and illness. It's a loop, and people get stuck in it all the time.
Now you can argue that it’s in your DNA, that it's just your genes. It's always our parents fault right? Truth is, it's not, and it is time we stop blaming our parents. We are way too incredible and so much MORE than we've ever realised. If you want proof it's not hereditary just look into Epigenetics (the emerging scientific research into our genes), our DNA, and our ability to turn our genes on and off. We are actually quite amazing! The sooner you start to believe it, the sooner you'll see results.
So let's get back to why intense exercise regimes aren't recommended for weight loss. There are two main reasons:
1 - Exercise makes you hungry. Your body has an innate wisdom and will demand you eat when you are nutritionally starving. It will not give up and that's why you think about food 24/7. The problem is that most of the food available to us lacks essential nutrients*, which is why you ALWAYS think about food. So when you do eat, you end up consuming low nutrition, high calorie food. The body needs nutrients to function and make energy. People who are overweight or obese are already nutrient deficient and therefore don't have enough nutrients to support exercise and recovery. If you were nutritionally saturated, there’s a good chance you wouldn't be overweight in the first place. Result is you exercise, you become starving because you were already struggling to support yourself, and then you eat food that is empty of the good stuff and full of the bad stuff – calories! (To add to that, you tell yourself you can eat more because you just did a bomber work out…am I right?)
*Western diet consists largely of processed foods that are high in calories and low in essential Vitamins, Minerals, Omegas and Amino acids. Because of un-natural farming practices, it is near impossible to gain the required amounts of nutrients for our body to thrive from our food alone. Western diets are also high in sugars. High sugar consumption strips essential nutrients from the body. Click here for more information on the health implications of Western diets published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The second reason:
Stress causes inflammation and intense exercise causes more stress. Inflammation can have a number of adverse effects on the body that cause weight gain. One is that it causes the body to release a hormone called cortisol to try reduce the inflammation. Whilst cortisol is important and is involved in many body processes, excess cortisol is not good for you. In a body that is already stressed there’s a high probability there is already excess cortisol. Normal levels and production of cortisol have no adverse effects on the body, however when that process is disrupted through constant stress we end up with an excess of cortisol. A side effect of excess cortisol pumping through your blood is that it stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism in your body. Basically, your body starts to generate fat.
Exercise is not the bad guy, not in a healthy, well-balanced body anyway. But it's certainly not good in an already stressed, imbalanced body and especially if you are trying to lose weight.
So what is good?
• Nutrients: minerals, vitamins, aminos and omegas. All of them! Every damn day!
• Lower your calorie intake (which is easy when you are nutritionally saturated).
• Movement - ahh! Gentle, tender, body-loving movement! Yoga, Pilates, swimming, walking…
• Heal. This is the biggie. You need to heal - your emotional world, your mental world and your physical body.
• Support. Invest in yourself and seek the support and guidance of a Wellness Practitioner. You're worth it!
Healing requires love, compassion, and belief in yourself. Your body is incredible! We hammer our bodies every day with stress, toxicity and criticism and yet it still gets us out of bed every day until one day it doesn't, not because it doesn't want to but because it can't. Our cells can rejuvenate, our body constantly works to heal, constantly strives for optimum health and constantly forgives our neglect and abuse. All we have to do is support it! When we don’t, eventually the workload gets too much and the result is we become overweight, sick and/or depressed – often it’s all three.
There are coaches and counsellors, Wellness Advocates and crazy health obsessed nerds out there who want to help, who love to help and who freely give out this advice and information. I know, I'm one of them, and I know a tonne of them!
We also specialise in the latest holistic therapies (both alternative and complimentary) that support not only weight loss, but health, wellness and happiness. I say this with confidence and excitement as I've seen it happen time and time again!
Einstein once defined insanity perfectly as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
We have been doing the same thing over and over. Going on a diet, going to the gym, losing weight, gaining weight, then doing it all over again. Yet over time we are getting bigger, sicker and unhappier than ever before.
Break the cycle, do something different, try something new. It’s fun, exciting and inspiring! Contact me for more information, or to book an appointment for more personal treatment.
Jo – Pure Soul Wellness
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Disclaimer - This article is all about health and wellness. Here you will find information on some of the various natural therapeutic approaches. Articles and posts about different topics related to health & wellness are shared. Any information, image or video shared are not intended to replace medical advice nor are they claiming to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any disease.