So you want to lose weight. You’ve tried everything from changing your diet to following a strict workout regimen. While you’ve seen some improvements, you’re still not where you want to be. You know that something needs to be done, as being overweight can lead to a host of serious illnesses and diseases. It also lowers your confidence, complicates your health, clouds your thinking, lowers your productivity, and prevents you from enjoying life to the fullest.
Everyone’s circumstances are different and there are a lot of factors that could be keeping you from losing weight and keeping it off. If you’ve found yourself discouraged in your weight loss journey, perhaps looking to these effective solutions can make a difference.
Visit a Functional Medicine Doctor
Conventional medical experts are trained to provide a diagnosis and treatment based on a list of your symptoms and bloodwork. They often provide you with medication or suggest surgery as a means of rectifying your situation. While this can work for some individuals, it’s not effective for everyone. Even if it does help, the medications often come with serious side effects that can lead to more problems.
A doctor that studies functional medicine, on the other hand, takes a different approach to help patients to get the treatment that is best suited for the individual. Using a series of tests and research, they review hormonal, metabolic, environmental, and other factors to get to the underlying cause of your obesity or weight issue. Based on information from this testing, a functional medicine doctor is able to provide you with a detailed report on what’s holding you back from losing weight and how to fix it ranging from the right supplements to take or the best foods to undiagnosed medical issues and lifestyle changes.
You can learn what methods you’ve been trying are working and which are ineffective so that you can create a comprehensive nutrition and fitness plan that enhances your weight loss success.
Get Support From Others
Trying to make a considerable change in your life without the support of others can be challenging. There’s no one around to watch what you’re eating or how frequently you’re working out meaning slipping back into old habits is easier to do. Having someone on your side to provide you with emotional support, believe in you, and to hold you accountable to goals you’ve set forth on your weight loss journey can push you further.
There are a lot of avenues you can take to gain support. You can ask your spouse, a relative, or a friend. You can also join an online weight loss community or work with a personal trainer or weight loss coach who will be there every step of the way. Just be sure that you chose to surround yourself with people who have your best interest at heart and are willing to give you tough love when you need it most.
Combat Stress
Not too many people realize the negative impact that stress can have on your weight. While some who are overly stressed may not have much of an appetite, many people’s appetite increases – and for the wrong types of food. Another way stress can negatively impact your ability to lose weight is through hormonal changes. When the body has higher levels of cortisol, it can have a negative effect on your insulin levels, fat storage, and metabolism.
To say that it’s possible to live a stress-free life would be a lie. However, there are ways to reduce stress in your life. There are always effective ways to reduce levels of stress when you’re emotionally overwhelmed. Knowing how to reduce and ease stress can greatly increase your chances of losing weight. Sit down and think about all the things that bring stress to your life and determine how you’ll reduce the stress or remove it from your life completely. Obviously, you shouldn’t get rid of your kids, but maybe asking for help from your spouse or relatives to reduce your burden would lower your stress.
Losing weight isn’t as cut and dry as eating salads and going to the gym. There are a lot of underlying factors that could be contributing to your inability to achieve your weight loss goals. If you’d like to increase your chances of success, use the above-mentioned suggestions to get back on track.
