Lose weight in the long term: a question of will?

Lose weight in the long term: a question of will?

Lose weight with long-term success does not really depend on the will or lifestyle.

Obesity has become a major epidemic and has grown considerably in recent decades. Studies show that in the West, we tend to see that 33% of the population (or will be) obese and 66% of the population is overweight.

Although the cause of obesity is multifactorial, some studies are sure that most people who are overweight have metabolic and endocrine dysfunctions, causing or contributing to your inability to lose weight.

It is not simply a problem that people consume more calories than they burn or lack of exercise or will. Rather, it is a complex cycle of endocrine and metabolic disorders. Contemporary medicine has failed to address these shortcomings in overweight people, and doctors and patients still believe that all cases (overweight) are a matter of will and lifestyle. So it is no wonder that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions.

Research now shows that deregulation of two main hormones could cause or contribute significantly to weight gain or inability to lose weight for most overweight people.

The first is the hormone leptin and the second is the reverse T3. What is interesting is that doctors can now test for these physiological weight loss barriers, and prescribe appropriate treatments that can have dramatic consequences.

1) LEPTIN

Hormone leptin has revealed an important regulator of body weight and metabolism. The body secretes leptin weight gain, in order to signal to the brain (particularly the hypothalamus) storing suitable energy (fat).

See also our articles "Metabolism: 8 things to know about its strengthening" and "increase metabolism, metabolize more to lose weight" for more information on metabolism.

The hypothalamus then should stimulate the metabolic processes that lead to weight loss, including reducing hunger, increasing satiety during meals, increased metabolism during rest and increased lipolysis (fat breakdown). A new study has found that this signaling by leptin is ineffective in most people who have difficulty losing weight or no weight loss.

The problem is not in the production of leptin, but studies show that most overweight people who have difficulty losing weight has a resistance to leptin, leptin, which is unable to produce their normal effects of stimulating the loss of weight.

This leptin resistance is felt as hunger, when multiple mechanisms are activated to increase the storage of fat, instead of burning fat reserves. Leptin resistance also stimulates the formation of reverse T3, which blocks the effects of thyroid hormones on the metabolism (see below).

Medical Analysis: Measuring the level of leptin may be prescribed by your doctor. If this level is greater than 10, this shows that there is a degree of leptin resistance, contributing to an inability to lose weight. The highest level is the largest is leptin resistance increases.

Treatment: Currently there are two drugs that treat leptin resistance, these drugs can cause significant weight loss: Symlin and BYETTA.

These drugs are currently approved for the treatment of diabetes, but can be prescribed, without it being directed on the package, for the treatment of leptin resistance.

These drugs are very promising in the nondiabetic population with the ability to produce dramatic weight loss over a large percentage of overweight patients.

The amount of weight lost varies depending on the design of the study, but a significant percentage of patients experiencing weight loss, despite little or no change in their diet.

Leptin resistance is not permanent and can reduce weight loss. But the problem is that it is difficult to lose weight when you made the leptin resistance.

Diets high in carbohydrates (especially those that include corn syrup, high fructose) were associated with a large increase in leptin resistance. It is likely that corn syrup high fructose is associated with obesity, especially in children. You avoid the use of corn syrup and high fructose carbohydrate rich foods are recommended for people with high levels of leptin.

2) HORMONE T3 BACK

It is well known that thyroid hormones regulate metabolism and the low production of thyroid hormones (hypothyroidism) causes a low metabolism. Since only a very short time, we know that the production of thyroid hormones may be fine while having problems activating hormones inside cells. This can be a major cause of low metabolism.

The thyroid gland secretes an inactive thyroid hormone called thyroxine, also known as the T4 hormone. This secretion is regulated by thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) produced by the brain (specifically by the pituitary gland).

Normally, the T4 hormone becomes inactive within the cell to the active call thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3 hormone also known as name). Most doctors will check the levels of T4 and TSH to see if thyroid levels are normal.

Studies show that this is not the production of the thyroid that is the problem. Problems are within the cell that sees the unconverted inactive hormones T4 to T3 hormones but in a mirror image of hormones called reverse T3 T3.

Reverse T3 hormone makes reverse T3 hormone effect by blocking the effects of T3 hormone and decreasing instead of increasing metabolism.

This is an investment that was useful in times of famine or hibernating animals in order to decrease metabolism. Studies show that stress and diet (especially diets that cause yo-yo effect) can put that reverse T3 hormone in action, as well as diseases such as diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia (a condition condition characterized by chronic muscle pain spread to several parts of the body).

The production of reverse T3 hormone is one of the main methods that the body uses to "prove" to regain weight lost after a diet. As soon as the body detects a reduction in calories, the T3 hormone production starts to decrease reverse metabolism.

Regimes with recurrent or chronic stress, the body is often in this "starvation mode" with high levels of reverse T3 hormones and lower levels of T3, which is one of the main reasons for the recovery of weight loss diets and the mechanism behind the weight gain induced by stress (the stress is not due to increased cortisol).

Medical Analysis: endocrinologists and other doctors have long maintained that adequate thyroid levels can be determined by testing the levels of TSH and T4 hormone. Studies show that such standard tests will not see 80% of thyroid dysfunction. So, endocrinologists and other doctors will tell their patients that their thyroid is functioning well on the basis of this truncated test.

Doctors should perform tests in a relationship of "hormones T3 / reverse T3 hormones." Generally, a healthy person will own a higher ratio 2. Thus, a person with a ratio below 2 should be considered as a candidate for thyroid supplements.

Many endocrinologists and physicians are not aware of the importance or the possibility of implementing this ratio test.

Treatment: The standard treatment of hypothyroidism involves T4 hormone supplementation: Synthroid and Levoxyl.

These supplements are not effective to remedy a situation of this type because the problem is not the amount of hormones T4, but excessive conversion of T4 to reverse T3 hormones hormones, blocking the effects of hormones T3 assets.

The patient should avoid anomalies filling with physiological doses of hormones T3, T4 without hormones. It is not appropriate to give thyroid hormone to lose weight, but to correct a diagnosed abnormality by appropriate blood analysis.

In short, the new evidence that a significant number of overweight patients have a metabolic problem rather than a problem of will or lifestyle.

Identification and correction of these metabolic alterations, including resistance to leptin and thyroid cell dysfunction, can cause dramatic weight loss long term.