Weight loss struggles are a common problem for many people.  A lot of people have problems losing weight and maintinginr their weight loss once it occurs.  They struggle to lose weight for various reasons, but they all want to know why.  

Many people come in with this question and seek support and answers to figure this out. What could the problem be, hormonal imbalance, thyroid problems, the wrong diet, etc, etc?  What I wanted to in this post is show you an algorithm that  with to give you a better idea of what could be going on.  Not what is causing your weight loss struggles but what could.  

Most of the time weight loss problems are not  just one thing.  Most of the time there are multiple things creating this struggle.  This is in part what makes it difficult.  You might try to fix or improve part of the problem but if does not work or continue to work, you give up.  Still wanting a solution you move on and try to find something else.  The problem is it may be both things (or more than two even).  Until you are doing all the things in synch you may be in a chronic state of loosing and gaining weight.    

Instead what you really need to do is think about how everything in your body works together.  This algorithm puts it all in one place.  There may be other things that aren't considered here too.  This gives you a good overview of the things you should be considering when you're having weight loss struggles.  Below we will go through and  explain how all those puzzle pieces fit together.

Reasons For Weight Loss Struggles

So for weight loss, what do we need to think about and consider? I put these in order of ease of implement or execution.  For instance, diet changes and exercise are easier and more practical then going to get a blood test.  So the first thing, most people typically do is they reduce calories and increase exercise.  If this works, then you should continue with this until you reach your weight loss goal or you hit a plateau.  If it doesn't work or you hit a plateau early, then you need to look at what other things could be going on.

The next thing you might want to look at changing are your macronutrients. Macronutrients meaning things like carbs, protein, and fat.  You can read and learn more about this by following the link below. 

Macronutrients Explained From Ketogenic Perspective

So if the macronutrient adjustments work, you can continue with this.  Note that you may need to go back to the caloric restriction or depravation as well as continue with the macronutrient adjustment. In this scenario you would reduce your calories further and continue with the macronutrient ratios. 

Non-Diet and Exercise Reasons for Weight Loss Struggles

Now, the next thing to consider if the diet and exercise things do not work, are to look at hormonal imbalance.  There are various hormones to consider from thyroid, cortisol, insulin, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.  These each may have a slightly different presentation and symptoms pattern. Typically these would be done through blood testing and when the levels are off or imbalanced it could be a contributing factor to your weight loss struggles. 

Again, if this works, great, you might want to continue with this treatment. However you may also need to go back and look at your macronutrients and  caloric restriction.  If this doesn't work, the next thing I would consider is inflammation and digestive problems.  

Now, there can be a lot of different sources for inflammation, but you need to start by ruling out what some of these sources could be. Try to resolve them and then again you still need to go back, and if you didn't look at hormones, look at hormones.  Also make sure you look at changing your macronutrients  and changing your calories at some point along the way.  If you are still not reaching your desired goal with those adjustments dig a little deeper into inflammation and also look at digestion.   With inflammation being elevated, I typically think about disruption in digestion anyway.  So if you have pulled out no problem with digestion I would move on to other possible source of inflammation. 

The main one being toxins. Toxic overload could come from many sources like mold in your house, some sort of allergen to food or environmental allergens.  Sometimes, there's genetic things related to histamine and detox as well. Also consider leaky gut, other autoimmune sources, and omega 3/6 ratios.  

The fundamental approach overcome weight loss struggles is to create an optimal environment in your tissues and cells to operate. This will create a more efficient cell which will allow the cells and tissues to create more energy and burn more calories.  By reducing calories, optimizing macronutrients, balancing hormones, removing sources of inflammation and optimizing digestion your body can work more efficiently finally loose weight.

If you have questions or comments about any of the content here, please leave it in the comment section below. If you want help optimizing your tissues and cellular function, click not he link below for a consult.