Help! I'm Struggling to Lose Weight

You’re out to dinner with a friend or family member who’s as skinny as a rail. You glance over at their pile of greasy, salty french fries with envy as you continue to graze through your large salad with lean protein, no croutons, and plain vinaigrette dressing. You wonder what gives? 

You always seem to be dieting, but you never seem to lose much weight, and that one time you did, you gain it all back and then some.

Does this scenario sound familiar? You’re not alone. A vast majority of diets fail regarding long-term weight loss, say the providers at Physicians Weight Loss Center Highlands Ranch in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. In this blog, our weight loss specialists explain how healthy, long-term weight loss happens and how our weight loss programs can help you lose weight and keep it off.

There’s no equality in weight loss

How often have you heard that losing weight comes down to a mathematical equation? While the foundation of weight loss may be about how many calories you consume compared to how many you burn through physical activity and exercise, it doesn’t take into consideration each person’s uniqueness.

If all diets and exercise programs worked equally well for everyone, then losing weight would be easy, and those calorie-restricted diets would be golden. Quite to the contrary, calorie-restricted diets trick your body into thinking that you’re starving.

When you reach your weight loss goal and start increasing your calorie intake, as a natural survival mechanism, your body reacts by storing fat, and so goes the roller-coaster process of losing and regaining weight.

With trendy diets and exercise programs, the inconvenient truth is that one-size-fits-all weight loss programs rarely work for one key reason – they assume that each person metabolizes energy (food) exactly the same way. And nothing can be further from the truth.

Long-term success dials in on barriers and lifestyle factors

The best way to think about long-term weight loss success is that your weight loss strategy needs to take into consideration your lifestyle factors such as how active you are and all the mitigating barriers that may make you less resistant to losing weight like your body chemistry and even your mental health.

Hormonal imbalances and fluctuations

Hormonal imbalances play a key role in making you more likely to gain weight and, unfortunately, more resistant to losing weight. Thyroid disorders or conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can wreak havoc on your ability to lose weight. Times where hormonal fluctuations are common, like during menopause and puberty, can make weight loss particularly challenging.

Stress hormones and anxiety medications

Similarly, during periods of high stress and anxiety, your body reacts by increasing the stress hormone cortisol. This scenario often boosts insulin levels and heightens cravings for sugary or fattening foods. Plus, weight pain is a common side effect of most antidepressant medications.

Diabetes and insulin

The hormone insulin and having diabetes have a dramatic effect on your ability to lose weight and can even cause weight gain. While you probably know that insulin helps get sugar from your bloodstream to your cells, did you know it’s responsible for regulating the storage of fat and blocking the release of fat from storage?

Why medical weight loss works

A medical weight loss program is a personalized plan that takes into consideration all the factors that can make your weight loss journey challenging. It’s not a trendy diet plan that your favorite celebrity is hawking, and it’s not your friend’s or your aunt’s plan – it’s a treatment plan designed specifically for you.

Here at Physicians Weight Loss Center Highlands Ranch, our medical weight loss programs offer a multidisciplinary strategy that begins and ends with you. The process starts with a 1:1 personal weight loss consultation, which includes:

• Gathering data like your weight and body mass index (BMI)
• Learning about your diet, eating habits, and activity level
• Reviewing your medical and family medical history

Your weight loss team leverages this information to create your custom weight loss program. If needed, our team may also prescribe special medications to help you burn fat more quickly.

You don’t have to go it alone

With our weight loss programs, you have access to highly trained medical weight loss experts who not only monitor your successes, but are also there for you if you stumble. We provide tips and advice to get you back on track and cheer you on every step of your journey.

To learn more about medical weight loss, book a consultation online or over the phone with Physicians Weight Loss Center Highlands Ranch today