Research shows that losing weight is getting harder

Have you been struggling to establish a healthy weight?

Do you think that think losing fat is just a matter of willpower?

Do you buy the line that putting on weight is one of the hazards of getting older, especially if you are past middle age?

Well a new study released in September 2015 has shown It really does get harder every year, but not because you're getting older!

The study found that people living in the 1980’s, could eat more calories and pay less attention to how much exercise they were doing to maintain the same weight as people living now.

There a few ideas about why this could be happening, and it’s not hard to come up with reasons. From what I’ve been reading it seems there are few areas where significant changes over the last 40 years could have contributed to this puzzle. These include:

Incidental activity levels
The food we are eating
Antibiotic usage altering our gut flora
Toxin storage is where fat cells excel.

Lets consider these one by one.

Think back to life in the 80’s and the way things used to be done. Compare them to the way things are done now. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Winding a car window up and down
Turning a TV on or off – or changing the channel.
Mowing the lawn
Washing dishes
Keeping a child busy
Connecting with friends
Finding a book to read

This gives you an idea of how we are becoming less and less active in our daily life. People may still be going to exercise classes, joining Gyms, and playing sport just as much as they were 30 years ago, but life between our organised activity has become less and less physically demanding. It’s possible that the small, but incremental losses of physical activity in our everyday life are having major impacts on our health. But that's just the start of the problem.

It’s no secret that both the amount and the quality of the food easily available to us are having a disturbing influence on being able to maintain a healthy body in a healthy weight range. Here are a few links if you want to understand a bit more about what is happening and why it matters:

Catalyst Archive 2013 ‘Toxic Sugar’
National Geographic 2013 ‘Sugar Love’
Supersize Me

Antibiotic usage is an interesting one. Gut flora related to weight issues was one of the areas that I explored when I conducted by Clinical Research study on weight loss. It’s one of the fascinating areas of the body of knowledge accumulating on the human microbiome

Not only have most of us taken enough courses of antibiotics to change our gut flora potentially irreversibly, but antibiotics are so successful as growth promoters that we are exposed to a steady unacknowledged supply of antibiotics through the food chain.

And lastly, Fat Cells protect us.

The body is amazing at adapting to the environment, and as our environment is becoming increasingly toxic the body is doing it’s best to keep everything working. If that means putting toxins into fat cell storage until the liver and kidneys are free to process them then that’s what happens. This can be the reason why losing weight without looking after your detoxification systems first could make you feel very unwell.

You might have noticed that this is a kinesiology blog page and may be wondering whether kinesiology can help in all this mess.

From experience and my clinical research work, I would say yes, definitely! I also need say that, like everything involved with health, it’s not a quick fix. It takes work.

The approach I use is one that ensures clients are happy to commit to doing that work. It involves addressing the big picture of general and emotional health while we chip away at all the underlying issues. We support the physical body by working on detoxification, liver health, gut function, metabolic glitches and improving energy levels. At the same time we address the emotional side looking at motivation, body image, potential food addictions, post-traumatic stress and more.

One of the really great things about it is that it doesn't involve spending a lot of money on supplements and products or going through the complicated protocols you may find other alternative health practitioners recommending.

If you’ve had enough of the weight struggle and are ready to access the support that Kinesiology can provide to improve physical, emotional and mental health, you can get started now!

Call me to book sessions: 0405 970 058.