Weight Loss Treatment & Weight Management
Successful weight loss cannot be achieved by 'dieting'. Diets fail because the emphasis is on reducing calories and exercising more. Yes, this will work as a short-term weight loss treatment but as you know the weight returns and usually with an extra pound or two and then you start the cycle all over again. I saw this repeatedly with my bariatric patients and it is why they eventually ended up with diabetes, depression, hypertension, disrupted sleep and needing surgery in order to reduce their weight.
Tips for Treatment for Successful Weight Loss & Obesity
Skip the Fad Diet
Dieting doesn’t work because your body is hard-wired for survival. So if you reduce your normal 2000 calorie intake to 1000 calories a day, you will lose weight the first week or two but then you plateau. This is because your body sees this reduction in calories as a danger sign. From an evolutionary perspective, your body believes that food is scarce so it will put in place the mechanisms for survival. Your cortisol will increase to halt any fat-burning and will tell your thyroid to slow down. Your metabolism will slow down to where it will only need 1000 calories to maintain the status quo. When most people hit a plateau, the most common response is to either exercise more or eat less. You can see how this further increases the stress of your body with an ensuing hormonal imbalance.
ID the underlying cause of excess fat or obesity in your body.
Losing fat for the long term can only be achieved by first identifying the underlying cause. The underlying reason most people can't lose weight is because of underlying inflammation which is commonly due to stress, hormonal, and metabolic imbalance.
Stop stressing about your weight.
Stress is anything that disrupts your body’s balance. It is the total allostatic load. This includes the obvious mental/emotional stressors but also the invisible, everyday stressors such as processed and inflammatory foods, high sugar intake, environmental chemicals, too much synthetic light and not enough natural sunlight, poor sleep, sedentary lifestyle, and unknown chronic inflammation are a few. These stressors cause our body to think there’s a famine coming and increases the survival hormones. The stress response served us in our evolutionary past but today causes inflammation.
Recognize that inflammation might be the root of the problem.
Almost all scientists believe that it is inflammation that is the root cause of all our Neolithic diseases including obesity. So the key to truly reducing weight and balancing your hormones is to reduce your allostatic load and restore your health.
How We Address Weight Loss Treatment at The Johnson Center:
-
A detailed history to identify the stresses
-
InBody Analysis to obtain an in-depth look at your skeletal muscle mass, body fat, and visceral fat which is the inflammatory abdominal fat.
-
Bloodwork to test for hormonal and nutritional imbalances
-
Nutrigenomics to see genetically your nutrients work best for you.
-
Protocol to reduce gut inflammation and restore a healthy microbiome
-
Bio-identical hormones (optional), herbs and/or supplements as needed to address hormonal imbalance and cellular health.
-
Stress reduction technique
-
Learn how to utilize natural light and movement
-
Appropriate Exercise for your age, lifestyle, and hormonal factors
-
Re-establishing your Circadian Cycle
