Why Do Most Weight Loss Programs Fail?

Holistic, healthy, sustainable weight loss is the key to getting the results you want (and keeping them!). But many programs fail because they create more stress on your metabolism instead of working to heal it.

Most conventional programs focus on counting calories, eating less, feeling deprived, and working out harder – which is the worst thing you can do when you’re trying to lose weight and keep it off. When you are stressed, stress hormones (like cortisol) increase and signal your body to hold on to fat for survival and this leads to weight gain and difficulty losing weight, especially around the belly.

This is a protective mechanism created by your thyroid, adrenals, and brain to keep you safe. It gets turned on when you’re stressed, experience trauma, are not getting enough food or sleep, are exposed to too many toxins in your environment, or have digestive distress (a major stress and inflammatory trigger). These are the areas that need to be addressed to effective weight loss so you can feel energized and at home in your body again.

Why Do Popular Approaches Like Paleo and Keto Fail For Weight Loss?

For some people a paleo or keto approach works very well (at least at first). But after working with hundreds of patients and using these diets, I found that for many people there was a minimal weight loss of 5-10 pounds in the first 60 days and then even though they seemed to be doing everything right longterm, the additional 20-30 pounds they wanted to lose for their health and to feel energized and confident never came off.

This is what was frustrating Katherine, a patient who was doing all the right things. Katherine was doing the deep healing work and was experiencing improved energy, resolution of digestive problems, increased mental clarity, and better sleep. She lost 5 lbs initially with an anti-inflammatory, paleo, no sugar, no gluten, no dairy diet, but after that her weight just wouldn’t budge.

Sound familiar?

How To Reset Your Metabolism & Your Hormones

Looking for a better way, Katherine and I began to test a way to work with the thyroid, adrenals, brain, and detox systems to heal metabolism and signal the hormonal system to release fat.

In the first week Katherine lost 9 stubborn pounds. After 22 days she had lost a total of 17 pounds and is still going, releasing more weight every day and headed back to her healthy metabolic set point. This was such a relief to Katherine – after months of a whole foods diet that seemed to work for everyone but her she was getting remarkable results and enjoying the process!

And Katherine wasn’t alone. What was becoming known as the Metabolic Reset was working for other people like Miranda who thought she had “tried everything” and finally went from a size 12 to a size 6 in just 6 weeks and went on to lose a total of 36 pounds using the Metabolic Reset Program. It’s become typical in our office for participants to lose 20-30 pounds in 6 weeks and keep it off with their new metabolic lifestyle.

The principles of the Metabolic Reset are simple. You have to work with your body instead of fight against it. And that means supporting the gut and microbiome (gut bacteria), detox process, hormones, and brain which are the systems that rule your metabolism.

Improve Your Gut Health For Weight Loss

Your microbiome (gut bacteria and microbes) is one of the biggest influences on your health. The wrong gut bugs can cause cravings for carbohydrates, fats, and sugar. They also release toxins like lipopolysacchardies (LPS) that trigger inflammation, insulin resistance, and cause weight gain.

The right gut bugs have an anti-inflammatory effect, balance blood sugar and insulin, help you absorb nutrients, make you crave vegetables, and promote weight loss and a healthy body composition.

Detox & Avoid Environmental Toxins For Weight Loss

Toxic burden and chronic exposure to environmental toxins is a major cause of weight gain and difficulty losing weight. We live in a world with more 80,000 chemicals (plastics, pesticides, phthalates, bisphenol A, flame retardants, and heavy metals), many of which are classified as obesogens because they are known to cause weight gain.

Your body is smart. When there’s toxic burden and poor detoxification, your body stores toxins in your fat tissue to keep them away from your vital organs and keep you safe. Thank your body for keeping you safe. There is a lot of healing in this intention!

When focusing on fat burning by ANY method, detoxification is non-negotiable. When you mobilize fat, you mobilize toxins. It’s important to have good detoxification support, stay hydrated, and sweat often by sauna or exercise (some toxins cannot be released except by sweating).

How To Lose Weight & Keep It Off

• Avoid chronic calorie restriction.
• Avoid diets. Use a proven process that resets your metabolism and transitions you to a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
• Reduce stress and make self care a non-negotiable.
• Sleep 8-9 hours every night.
• Reduce harsh exercise and replace with walking, yoga, and gentle movement.
• Take care of your digestion and microbiome. Eat fermented foods and eat a variety of vegetables to feed helpful gut bugs.
• Fast for at least 12 hours from dinner to breakfast to allow your gut and microbiome the time to rest and heal.
• Eat food that came from a farm, not a factory including half a plate of vegetables with each meal.
• Avoid inflammatory fats like canola oil and vegetable oil.
• Avoid environmental toxins – plastics, pesticides, phthalates, bisphenol A, flame retardants, and heavy metals.
• Eat detox helper foods like broccoli, broccoli sprouts, artichoke, and cilantro.
• Drink more water. At least half your weight in ounces (example: 150 pound person should drink at least 75 ounces of water per day.
• Seek out a community and support team that will cheer you on and hold you accountable to your goals and best self.