Losing weight, maintaining weight should not be that hard, right? Eat pretty healthy, exercise, and still have fun because a few cheat meals and social-related habits are not going to put on like 50 pounds. Or will they..? More on that later. Cleanses, structured promising programs, all may be helpful to wrap our brains around something concrete that could give us desired results in a certain period of time, but the issue then becomes maintenance.
Read MoreEven our body knows this. We have many different organ systems that serve multiple functions in order to support life. We also have checks and balances so if there’s too much of one signal, another organ system turns it off, or sometimes enhances it, depending on what our body calls for at the time.
Read MoreWe’ve all been there.. the party, wedding, holiday, company dinner, Super Bowl, etc. and sometimes those events happen a little closer to each other than we’d like. Or, maybe it’s not a huge event and it’s get togethers, commiserating, celebrating, going out to a restaurant you’ve always wanted to go to- could be with any number of people for any reason, or perhaps you just took yourself out and just didn’t want to think twice about what you were eating (or weight, health, or any other little annoying voice in your head).
Read MoreIt’s true- there are so many measurements when it comes to weight, and sometimes difficult to know which one is the most accurate. And per person, no less! Unfortunately numbers can also create a sense of worth around them to varying degrees depending on the person. As much as we need to find what works for us physically, it’s important to be able to measure our progress, though that may look different for everyone.
Read MoreI can’t quite help you with a funny bone or wishbone, but I can certainly help you with a backbone! Around the time of menopause in women, estrogen declines, and progesterone plummets, leaving bones susceptible to actually break down more than they’re built up, placing women at a higher risk of osteopenia and perhaps osteoporosis. Ironically, milk and calcium supplements would be recommended for bone health, as well as a common medications like bisphosphinates (i.e. Fosamax- can actually cause jaw necrosis and interfere with absorption), yet these don’t account for hormone imbalances… or the many other risk factors that can lead to brittle bones.
Read MoreEat healthy, go to the gym, drink more water- but “don’t eat/drink this, moderate that, don’t lift too much, spend 5 hours at the gym, take back to back to back classes, eat before and after working out, try the new bootcamp - right after you’ve done your own workout.” Sound familiar? We get this really vague advice, and may very well be from well meaning people!
Read More“Consistency is key.” “Just keep doing what you're doing.” “Stay the course.” “You’ll get there!” This can be really frustrating, especially when you want to see results yesterday! We know we didn’t just gain weight in one day, and so losing weight in one day is not realistic, but it doesn’t stop us from having those moments of wanting a quick fix.
Read MoreLiterally and metaphorically. We tend to think of the main systems involved in making hormones as the thyroid (makes thyroid hormone, our metabolism), and our reproductive organs, responsible for sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone. So much so that if we do experience hormone imbalance, treatments are targeted to replace or limit these hormones, sometimes directed at said organ systems like thyroid medication and birth control.
Read MoreThis was probably the most G rated quote too! While the quote may elicit a chuckle or some type of amusement, in all seriousness, low libido is very common and may have many different reasons. While many concerns tend to involve solely us, libido issues may involve how we feel with other people, or sometimes we feel guilty that we have these issues if our partner(s) are awesome people so then why should we feel this way??
Read MoreMany times I hear from patients and people alike they’re going to different -ologists in order to get their physical/yearly blood work, or perhaps they’ve had a recent diagnosis of blood pressure that was too low or too high, or perhaps too ‘all over the place’. Perhaps along with feeling tired, can’t get a good night’s sleep, or have bursts of energy only to crash.
Read MoreHave you ever felt tired but wired? Or perhaps you exercise, eat right (or along those lines), live a pretty healthy lifestyle, and still your weight is not budging or you’re not really feeling that much better? Or all of a sudden in the past few days, or weeks, you’re just not feeling yourself, want to sleep all the time (and can’t fall and/or stay asleep), craving carbs/sugar/fats (or find yourself eating them more than usual), and wondering what in the heck has changed??
Read MoreFasting has been around since ancient times, well over 1000 years old, as it was utilized by Plato. Hippocrates (father of medicine) and later on Benjamin Franklin, also used this technique to heal. Fasting is also seen in various religious and spiritual practices with the notion that when the body is not using resources to digest, it diverts those resources to heal whatever may be going on inside our body.
Read More“I’m so stressed out!” “Stress is the cause of all disease!” “I’m seriously so f’ing stressed all the time. I have no idea what I’m doing- I can’t sleep, I can’t lose weight, my mind is racing 24/7.” Usually followed by “I need a drink/chocolate/snack or a vacation - or all of it at once.” Deep breath (seriously, 4 counts in through your nose, hold for 1, out for 8 counts through your mouth).
Read MorePretty much sums it up. Except change is hard. We can eat those veggies, the grilled chicken (or beans, depending on preference), eat super clean, and then little by little the foods that got us to this place where we realized we wanted to lose weight are back in our diet plan. Or maybe they’re not but now we’re just miserable. We feel like we can’t go out with friends, enjoy a single bit of _____ (fill in your desired food here), or we’ll get bloated/can’t sleep/gain weight, etc.
Read MoreDo you look like your family? Do they have the same health concerns? Well to some extent you can blame mom and/or dad for those cravings, body shape, difficulty in losing weight, etc. At conception, we receive either a X or Y chromosome from the father, and a X from the mother to determine if we are male or female, respectively.
Read MoreWe are the only species that can make the decision as to our identity, and in the case above, an elephant has been conditioned since they were little to comply even though with their size and strength, they can easily tear down the tent. However, in humans, because we are the only ones to understand the unconscious and conscious mind, we can also have a lot of ‘stuff’ in our way.
Read MoreTough love, I know, and we may have been there at some point, whether it’s the mid afternoon ‘pick me up’, end of the day decision fatigue where we just don’t give two hoots anymore, stress eating, eating because we’re bored, or someone orders something and we haven’t had that in forever.. And I’m sure there’s more scripts running through our heads (I already thought of a few more because I’ve been there too).
Read MoreIn other words, age and genetics to some extent play a role in our metabolism, but it doesn’t mean it has to be an excuse of why we can’t lose weight! It just means we may need to work a little harder in the meantime to change old habits that got us to this place, and truly understand/listen to how our body works. And truth be told… everyone is different.
Read MoreWeight is so much more than calories in/calories out- it plays a role, but that in conjunction with potentially may other things going on, can seem like an uphill battle. And it kind of is. Chances are you didn’t just wake up one morning however many pounds heavier, but it was over a period of time where you did wake up one morning, and your clothes didn’t fit right, you felt lethargic/not good, thought the scale was broken or that higher number is actually muscle (if you’re working out- oh I’ve been there too!), or wondered why it could went to your abdomen instead of _______-> fill in the blank with desired body part.
Read MoreIf you feel like you’re getting shuttled through a system, or that you’re being told you’re fine when you feel like something is off, or wondering if you’re fine why you’re on medication or being recommended supplements, or - and last one - nothing seems to be getting better (i.e. can’t lose weight, not sleeping right). Maybe you got a thorough work-up, or basic yearly bloodwork, and then all the numbers still come back in range. Or they’re slightly off but not enough to warrant medication, but let’s watch and wait.
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