Magnesium and Vit D deficiency, hyperthyroidism, hypercorticism, stress, skipping meals when you want and of course, your metabolism activity can be major factors in why you’re not losing weight, or of your weight stabilization.
Metabolism
Metabolism is a whole of actions of building and destruction which occurs in our body by burning calories, In order to meet the needs of our body.
So some people, have genetically an accelerated metabolism which will allow them to burn calories quickly, on the other side, other people have slow metabolism and take a lot of time to lose weight, in this case they are looking for a reinforcement that can help them to lose weight quickly that’s why they go to restrictive diets that can harm their health and cause them nutritional deficiencies.
But don’t care, every problem has a solution! Indeed, there are factors that make our metabolism work slowly.
How do I know if my metabolism is fast or slow?
Having a fast metabolism means that you burn fat quickly.
Despite your efforts to lose weight, or to slim down, you do not always manage to lose weight or you manage to lose a pound for a long time. This means that your metabolism is slow.
If you have tried to change your eating habits only and you notice that you managed to lose weight only by changing your eating habits, or you lose kilos easily with the help of a diet it means that you have an accelerated metabolism.
What makes my metabolism work slowly?
- Repeated restrictive diets,
- If you don’t eat much & you do excessive detox.
- If you don’t eat much & you do intense sports activities.
How do you go from a slow to an accelerated metabolism?
Here are some tips to accelerate your metabolism
1. First of all, don’t focus too much on the quantity you eat but on quality.
Your body is not a calculator! What I mean is that don’t calculate too much and don’t do too restrictive diets in order to burn the maximum of calories, but, eat balanced food without any excess or abuse.
Why? Because the problem is not only the quantity but is much more about the quality! So instead of trying to speed up your metabolism, you need to restart it first! So the question is why it is blocked? Maybe because it doesn’t know how to work anymore since there is nothing to work for, or it was out of order!
It’s like if you have a car with four flat tires. The point is that you’re not going to go anywhere while your tires are flat.
2. Drink a lot of cold water
Several studies have shown that drinking a lot of water (at least 2 liters per day) speeds up our metabolism, and it is better if the water is cold.
Indeed, our stomach or our inner body has a slightly high temperature which is 37°, and when we drink cold water, the body will use energy to drink this water, unlike when we drink warm water, the water will not last too long in the stomach and will go directly into the intestine.
3. Limit the consumption of industrial products
- Natural food (Bio): which is produced by nature,
- The industrial products: which are produced by the industrialists, the problem is here! In those products.
These products are “pro-inflammatory”.
Pro-inflammatory products will block your fat reserves, and put your body in storage mode.
So the second thing to do is to remove from your food these kinds of products that slow down your metabolism.
Here is a list of pro-inflammatory foods
- Refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and pastries
- French fries and other fried foods
- Soft drinks and other sugary drinks
- Red meat (hamburgers, steaks) and processed meat (hot dogs, sausages)
- Dairy products and foods with high animal fat
- Margarine, shortening and lard.
Here are anti “pro-inflammatory foods”
- Unrefined olive oil
- Fresh tomatoes
- Green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, kale, etc.
- Nuts like almonds and walnuts
- Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines
- Fresh fruit such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, oranges, and apples.
4. Intermittent fasting
It will decrease your insulin levels and then, less fat storage, provided that intermittent fasting must be linked to a healthy lifestyle, such as getting enough sleep, drinking lot of water …, etc.
5. Eating thermogenic foods
One of the best ways to speed up your metabolism is to eat thermogenic foods because they will increase your perspiration.
Some of the thermogenic foods
- Drinks : Green tea, coffee.
- Foods: Eggs, Flaxseed, chili peppers, ginger, and add any spices to your meals.
6. Practice sport
You can do any sport, I recommend you to walk for 45 minutes a day. Swimming also is an ideal sport to boost your metabolism.
7. Taking a sauna and cold baths
It will take your body out of your comfort zone and to get out of it, it needs energy.
Hyperchorticism
Well, to make things easier, cortisol is a hormone that is secreted by the kidney, it’s responsible for fat storage, and the higher the cortisol in our body, the more fat storage there will be, so this disorder that takes place in our body is called hypercorticism
So definitely, if you have hypercortisim, you will surely find it difficult to lose weight.
Well, hypercorticism is related to the first parameter I put above (metabolism), but I wanted to quote it separately and talk specifically about cortisol to clarify things for you.
So many people eat sweets, , which is false and unhealthy, since sugar raises adrenalin and cortisol for about 3 to 5 hours, and sweets are not recommended or should be forbidden in a healthy diet.
The solution, if you are overweight is to have your cortisol level measured in the body and consult an endocrine specialist to prescribe medication.
Hypothyroidism
The thyroid is a gland that secretes hormones, including hormones that stimulate metabolism.
The TSH test is a blood test that allows us to measure this gland’s abilities.
So we do a TSH test, if the TSH level is above standards, it means that we have hypothyroidism, which means that our gland (the thyroid) is working slow, which will affect and decrease our metabolism.
Automatically, if we have hypothyroidism, we will not have effective results for our diet and our weight will stabilize.
The solution is to consume a lot of food rich in Iodine (sea food), and to consult a specialist doctor to pursue medication to correct this high TSH level.
Here are foods rich in Iodine
- Seaweed (algae and marine plants)
- Tuna (not canned)
- Crabs
- Pollock
- Squid
- Sardine.
Vitamin D deficiency
Vitamin D is an essential vitamin especially for weight loss. If you have deficiency of vitamin D in your body, you will find it difficult to lose weight, and if intense lack, your weight will be stable.
I think you’ll ask what’s the relationship between cortisol and vitamin D?
As we said above, cortisol is a hormone that is responsible for fat storage,the presence of Vit D in our body causes the decrease of cortisol levels of fat reserves. If cortisol is reduced, fat storage will return to normal, and then we must say thank you for the vit D!
What are sings of vit D deficiency?
- Bone aches
- pallor
- Dry skin
- Cramps
- Muscle weakness
- Hair loss
- Nail breakage
- tooth loss
Solution
So in this case, your doctor will prescribe you a vitamin D test in order to make sure that you have a deficit in this vitamin that stops you from losing weight and then prescribe you vitamin D ampoules according to your deficit and other parameters.
The second thing is eating foods rich in vitamin D, this also will help you.
Here is list of foods rich in vitamin D
- Cod liver oil
- Tuna, salmon
- Cereals
- Dairy products
- Soy milk
Skipping meals
I think many of you have already tried skipping meals in order to burn calories and lose weight. That’s wrong!
Skipping a meal will lead you to double up on the next meal, and when you double up, it will stimulate your body to secrete even more insulin, and hyperinsulinism is one of the factors that lead to obesity because it stimulates the storage of glucose and even fat.
So I advise you to eat at fixed times and not skipping meals provided that the quality and quantities are reasonable and especially avoid snacking!
How to replace skipping meals?
We can replace skipping meals by setting up an intermittent fasting, the latter has proven its place in weight loss, choose the type of intermittent fasting that suits you, since it has several subclasses.
In this case, you should skip dinner and breakfast and drink plenty of water throughout the day if you have chosen the 16/8h rule
Stress
Stress is the gateway to disease.
Stress can be responsible for hormonal imbalance, including hormones that stimulate metabolism.
Also, when we are stressed, we always look for pleasure to forget the stress, many people turn to food to satisfy their needs and to forget their stress. Especially people who are on diets and consider food as a way to forget their stress.
Solution
- Yoga, sports, weight training, and swimming
These activities will help you reduce your stress.
- Walking in a green space for a minimum of 40 minutes.
- Grate some cucumber in a small Swiss cheese, mix it and take it every morning. Cucumber contains all the vitamin B groups, and this last is an anti-stress.
- Doing relaxation
sophrological relaxation (relaxation technique based on breathing) is certainly the most effective technique and the best adapted to stress problems. Not only does it help to activate the energetic potential of each person, but it also allows a real mental dynamic, leading to a better productivity of the creative thought. - Learning how to sleep. Sleep is also one of the keys to vitality, although the adoption of a new way of eating.
Magnesium deficiency
Magnesium is not only good for calming headaches and insomnia, but is also essential for those who want to lose weight.
Indeed, it is related to stress, knowing that stress as we have already said a factor promoting weight gain. Magnesium is therefore essential to reduce stress.
The solution here is to consult your doctor or dietician to prescribe you a magnesium supplement, after having done a test to confirm if you have a magnesium deficiency.
What are the symptoms of a magnesium deficiency?
- Physical fatigue
- Nervousness
- Depression
- Insomnia
- cramps
- Irritability
- Anxiety, anxiety
- Back pain
- Lack of concentration
Is it dangerous to take a lot of magnesium?
Of course it is dangerous, an overdose of magnesium will cause hypermagnesemia, and it will give you side effects among :
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Sleep disturbances
- and especially a drop in blood pressure (hypotension).
When is the best time to take magnesium
It is preferable to take magnesium in one shot at dinner, since magnesium will make you feel sleepy If you work at night, you may want to take it in two doses, one at breakfast and one at dinner. However, before making any decision, discuss it with your doctor or dietician who knows your situation better.
I have given you the factors that may be responsible for your weight stabilization. However, before making any decision of what to do, the first thing that you should apply is to go see a nutrition professional or a doctor who will ask you to do some tests to confirm what your problem is, and then follow a specific diet that suits you.
Bottom Line
Many people try to lose weight with all the diets that exist, without taking a check-up to know if there is an obstacle that prevents them from losing weight, which is why it is important to follow up with a nutrition specialist.
People may feel depressed because they are trying to lose weight, but you just have to tell them where the problem lies and solve it.
