Forget about calories and forbidden foods. Excess weight is a phenomenon too individual to be managed with the help of diets, standard … and ineffective. We will understand better its causes, emotional and physiological.
Eat less, choose “healthy” foods — every fat person knows these tips … as well as the fact that in reality they do not always work. “There is no single way for everyone to gain harmony, just as there is no common reason for being overweight,” says endocrinologist Larisa Loginova. Many people are accustomed to blaming the number of calories for everything: if we reduce it, we, in theory, should become slimmer. But low-calorie diets have the opposite effect: in the vast majority of cases, they end up returning to their previous or even greater weight. Why? Because food is not just calories, and being overweight is not a fatal inevitability for a person with a good appetite. Rather, it is a sign that our body or mental state is out of balance. It makes no sense to blame ourselves every time we put something on our plate. It is important to determine the true causes of excess weight — physiological or emotional — so that it becomes easier for us to live in the literal and figurative sense.
Understand your emotions
Since weight problems arise in response to malfunctions in the body’s systems responsible for hormonal balance, it is easy to assume that the fat layer is somehow trying to protect this balance — including our emotional balance, which we call peace of mind or emotional stability. We “jam” stress with sweets (instant ambulance), we can “jam” constant disturbing thoughts with food. Sometimes extra pounds appear as an emotional reaction to some difficult event in life — divorce, loss of loved ones, dismissal from work …
“But there are also more sophisticated ways to protect your emotional world,” says psychotherapist Margarita Zhamkochyan, “for example, becoming less sexually attractive to an unloved partner or gaining weight after a loved one has left, and thereby “justify” the reason for the breakup.” This behavior allows you not to look deeper, to protect your «I» from the need to change something. Changing body weight is much easier. Moreover, food and physiologically relieves mental anguish.
Why is it so hard to lose weight then? “Because now it will be possible to remove this powerful protection only when a person gets to the true causes of experiences, resolves his internal conflict, finds a new internal balance, then “fat protection” will simply cease to be necessary for him, continues Margarita Zhamkochyan. — Otherwise, the need to protect the body from the bitter truth will constantly return it to its previous weight. And even add another «echelon of protection.» And the real reason will go even deeper into the realm of the unconscious.
Understanding the emotional nature of extra pounds means understanding the language of the unconscious, which our body speaks to us. It “gets in touch” with us in the form of metaphors of native speech. The words «fullness», «get better», «weight» are metaphors for positive goals: the fullness of life, health, significance. The words «bad», «lose weight», «lose weight» mean the loss of something. The dream of «losing weight» causes the strongest resistance of all defense systems. Therefore, it is so important to set a positive goal — to want to become slim, light, to order a specific image, a specific weight. By the way, it often turns out that the true goal is completely different, and the problem with weight is a typical substitution of the goal.
- «No one knows how much I weigh»
Hear body signals
Our body often sends us signals that we miss in vain, relying on the only criterion — the arrow of the scales. “It is much more important to pay attention to your well-being,” says Larisa Loginova. “So, an increased feeling of hunger or its sudden attacks, a constant desire for sweets or hot flashes are all signs of a malfunction in the normal functioning of the body.” The cause of overweight may be an imbalance of hormonal levels, which are responsible for several organs — the thyroid and pancreas, adrenal glands, sex glands, as well as the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, which are located in the brain. “Moreover, adipose tissue itself is not just cells in which the body stores fat in case of prolonged hunger,” explains Larisa Loginova. “It is also a hormonally active tissue: it produces hormones on its own.”
In the complex system that our body represents, the work of all these organs is interconnected. With the help of modern diagnostic methods (analysis of the level of hormones and blood sugar, magnetic resonance imaging of the brain …), the doctor can determine the cause of the imbalance. Which, of course, cannot be eliminated by another fashionable diet.
Keep track of your hormones
“One of the functions of hormones is to regulate metabolism: protein, fat, carbohydrate, mineral,” explains Larisa Loginova. – And besides, they are able to influence the level of our appetite. If the content of at least one of the hormones is higher or lower than normal, the balance is disturbed. For example, hypothyroidism (a condition in which the body does not have enough thyroid hormones) slows down all metabolic processes. “The so-called subclinical, that is, hidden, hypothyroidism has no symptoms, but causes excess weight,” says the endocrinologist. — Often, analyzes of those who come with a complaint of unexplained weight gain show a lack of these hormones. And I have about a third of such patients.” The appearance of extra pounds is caused by problems with leptin (a hormone produced by adipose tissue cells), and reduced sensitivity to thyroid hormones, and problems with insulin, which converts excess sugar in the blood into fat … In such situations, even with the most rational diet from excess weight loss is impossible. Self-medication or “borrowing” a diet from friends who allegedly have the same reasons for being overweight is not an option. To understand whether it is time to turn to an endocrinologist, your body mass index (BMI) * will tell you. According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, a BMI of 25 or more means overweight — and such an indicator is already a reason to seriously think about therapy.
And also about forgetting the word «diet» forever. Larisa Loginova emphasizes that swinging eating behavior like a swing (hard food restriction — breakdown) literally loosens the work of the pituitary and hypothalamus, where the centers of hunger and satiety are located, this system is deregulated. “Not temporary diets, but meaningful self-care, attention to your health and nutrition, can provide us with a truly reliable result.”
* Body mass index is calculated by the formula: weight divided by the square of height in meters.