What is/are the root cause(s) of your weight around the middle?

Here we go! It is a new calendar year and it is time to reflect, re-prioritize and re-group. Before you go running out of the gate full speed, try to take some time to categorize which aspects of your lifestyle may be the root cause of the extra weight around the middle.

The “health” magazines tend to portray people with amazing bodies doing exercise and/or eating a healthy plate of food with a smile. How do we all REALISTICALLY get to our goals toward the body and health we desire? Most of the people I work with feel in control half of the week and out of control the other half. What causes this inability to overcome and feelings of failure?

I broke down some observations of root causes into categories to better understand what is truly holding you back.

PHYSICALLY:

This is the one that is emphasized in the magazines the most and can be causing you heaps of confusion and overwhelm. What diet do you follow? Who is telling you the truth? How to lose weight the fastest?

About the fat: In most people, about 90% of body fat is subcutaneous, the kind that lies in a layer just beneath the skin. If you poke your belly, the fat that feels soft is subcutaneous fat. The remaining 10% — called visceral or intra-abdominal fat beneath the firm abdominal wall. The visceral fat is found in the spaces surrounding the liver, intestines, and other organs. It’s also stored in the omentum, an apron-like flap of tissue that lies under the belly muscles and blankets the intestines. The omentum gets harder and thicker as it fills with fat causing health issues and hard to release belly fat.

“One of the most important developments [since the mid-1990s] is the realization that the fat cell is an endocrine organ, secreting hormones and other molecules that have far-reaching effects on other tissues,” says Dr. Barbara B. Kahn, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

The body puts on extra weight around the abdomen due to:

1. Insulin Resistance: Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine have determined, via new imaging technologies, that insulin resistance in skeletal muscle leads to changes in energy storage, leading to metabolic syndrome (weight around the abdomen). People with insulin resistance will struggle to lose weight via traditional weight loss prescriptions simply because their body is not burning fuel the way it should be. Resistance to insulin builds up over time, with the body gradually producing more and more insulin in an attempt to get it to work better at taking glucose to the body’s cells for energy.
2. Digestive Health:  The healthy gut is supposed to contain about 100 Trillion good bacteria, aka gut flora. These beneficial bacteria are crucial in the digestive process.  A sluggish metabolism,caused by dysbiosis, can often lead to fatigue and uncontrollable weight gain. If you can not breakdown your food, absorb your nutrients and eliminate toxins effectively your metabolism will suffer and you will most likely gain weight.  When you are unable to eliminate waste properly due to poor digestion, your body will suffer from toxic build-up. Many toxins cause your body to retain body fat and excess water. The result is sluggishness, puffiness and difficulty losing weight.

• Adrenal Fatigue & Thyroid Issues: Great blog:)
• Stress Hormones & Leptin Resistance: Great blog:)
• Liver Congestion: Great blog:)
• Nervous System Stress: Great blog:)

• And the list can go on and on, Refer to past and future blogs:)

  MENTALLY:

  Our mind is strong, and sometimes we can push through with mental toughness and sometimes we go kaput. For example if it is a regular Friday night at 8 pm, I can try to make myself do my taxes and it may or may not work. However, if it was April 14th @ 8 pm and my taxes are due, you bet I will push through. Get it.

  • I will start Monday
  • I will just follow the “insert in the blank” Diet
  • Eat Less
  • Be more disciplined

  If you tend to just approach your wellness from your mind and keep hitting road blocks. I bet you are more of an emotional person, and this mental approach will keep leaving you feeling powerless every week.  Do you have an open mind or do you tend to come from a place of fear and control? Try having a bit more fun with your nutrition plan, add in more flavors, try new recipes, and give your mind a break. Listen to your cravings and implement a more conscious option vs. feeling mentally powerless to what you may be craving.

  EMOTIONALLY  

  The average person has 50,000 thoughts a day, and are repeated daily over and over. If you keep having consistent thoughts and beliefs in your head that in order to lose weight you have to more will power, be strict, or more disciplined, you are coming from a limited belief mindset vs. a compassionate one. If you tend to have these thoughts or experiences.

  • It is so hard and impossible
  • Unresolved emotions, especially; guilt, anger and resentment
  • Limited Beliefs about how capable you are
  • Beliefs that others said you can’t do it
  • Were on a diet as a child

  If you have one or more of these beliefs, and keep approaching your health from a mental or physical perspective, it will be more challenging. It is insanity to try to fix a problem from the same conscious consciousness that caused it–Einstein.

  The goal is to align these 3.  So, where do we begin?

  1. Do you have a fearful or controlling mindset? Observe your thoughts and shift your mind set. For example, we all love to travel and be in the “island state of mind”. Which is being in the present moment and supporting ourselves and not having the weight of the world on our shoulders. How can you have this mind set with your health and food? We can not control our families, children, significant others, why do we try to control our relationship with food?
  2. Which one of these is your strength and which one is your weakness? If you are emotional person and keep trying to read books to learn what your it is, that may be causing you more confusion. For example, you want to vent a problem with a friend, and then they start handing you a book to read or a phone number to call, and actually all you needed was someone to listen. It is knowing how you are wired and conditioned. I am a recovering mental and physical person:) and switched to over-emotional. However, I needed to find my balance with all 3 to better my relationship with self and food.
  3. Keep a journal: Set realistic goals to help you implement changes. For physical; try a no-sugar eating program for 3-21 days. For mental; read a book about insulin. For emotional; try a new type of massage or self care practice that helps you connect with your emotions.

  Those of you who have switched from being hard on yourself and now more compassionate, please share what tools and modalities worked for you.

  Release the belly fat and negative chatter in 2016

  Heather Fleming, C.C.N

   

   

   

   

   

   

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/weight-loss-tips-body-and-mind_565de4a2e4b072e9d1c3722e?ir=Healthy%2BLiving%253Fncid%253Dnewsltushpmg00000003