The 4 Big Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight

culled from: www.realdose.com

1. Your body is not producing enough adiponectin.
 Adiponectin is literally the hormone that tells your body to burn fat for fuel. And it’s like your body’s “fat burning torch.”
The research is clear that low levels of Adiponectin are associated with a higher incidence of obesity.


The frustrating thing about Adiponectin is that the more fat you have, the lower your levels – which is why LOSING fat is so darn difficult at the beginning. You need a kick start…


So here are 2 “at home” methods for naturally boosting your Adiponectin levels and stoking your fat burning fire:
•    Increase your magnesium intake, either by taking a high quality supplement, which is quite inexpensive, or by consuming seeds – pumpkin seeds are great – and green, leafy vegetables like spinach and kale.
•    A much more aggressive approach is to do something called “intermittent fasting,” which has been shown to significantly increase adiponectin levels. This works by fasting one day, and then eating big the next… and so on. While it can work for weight loss, the jury is still out as to whether this is healthy or not. Plus, who wants to live this way?

There’s another solution I will get to later that I think you’ll really enjoy.


Now let’s move on to the hormone that’s keeps you famished and running to the fridge, especially at night, which is the worst possible time to be overeating.


2. Too Much Ghrelin
 Ghrelin is called the “Hunger Hormone” and, basically, the more ghrelin you have in your system, the hungrier you are.


So if you find yourself fighting cravings and can’t seem to stay away from the fridge after dinner, it’s probably due to elevated ghrelin levels…


And the hard fact is that ghrelin works directly on the hunger center of your brain by activating the brain’s reward response to highly addictive sweet, fatty foods. This increases your food intake at the worst possible time, usually at night, and ultimately makes you gain more weight.
Even worse, it appears ghrelin makes us fatter whether we eat more or not.


You can see now why losing fat is almost impossible with elevated ghrelin levels.


But here’s something you can start doing TONIGHT to lower your ghrelin levels and feel more satisfied tomorrow…

Get More ZZZ’s


New research makes it clear that even low levels of sleep deprivation increase 
your ghrelin levels and lead to more fat being stored in your body.


Most people need between 6-8 hours of sleep and jacking yourself up in the morning with caffeine or energy drinks is exactly the WRONG thing to do if you want to lose weight, which you’ll see why in just a moment.


But if you thought Ghrelin was bad news for your waistline, YOU need to see what’s been dubbed the “Fat Storage Hormone.”


3. Insulin Resistance
 

If you’re overweight, there’s a good chance that you’re experiencing some level of insulin imbalance, resulting in excess glucose, or sugar, in your system.


While this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re diabetic, it does mean that your body’s insulin, or glucose regulator, becomes less effective at lowering your blood sugars.


The end result is that instead of using the excess sugar to feed your muscles or burning it for energy – most of the carbohydrates you consume get stored as fat.


It’s simple, if you have insulin resistance it makes it virtually impossible to lose fat…


But there’s a surprisingly simple trick to addressing the excess glucose problem, and it just might already be in your kitchen cupboard…


A recent study found that consuming 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before a high carb meal significantly reduces blood glucose levels for those people with insulin resistance, which is that imbalance I spoke about.


While this might not be appetizing for everyone, the study did say that apple cider vinegar might work as well as prescription drugs at regulating blood sugar.


But even if you do drink your vinegar, you’ll still continue to store additional fat, especially abdominal fat, if you don’t keep this final fat burning barrier at bay.


4. Cortisol Overload
Your body produces cortisol in response to stress and ramps you up so you can be ready to fight or flee.


This CAN be a good thing in dangerous situations, like if you were to run across a bear while hiking.
 

But the constant stress we’re all under in today’s hectic, 24/7, crisis-driven world elevates our cortisol levels far beyond what we were originally designed to handle.


The result is a quadruple whammy on your waistline:


Number one: excess cortisol increases your cravings for sweets and carbs, which can lead to overeating and constant hunger.


Number two: Cortisol causes your body to actually BREAK DOWN your muscle tissue for energy. Which is absolutely the worst thing for weight loss since the less muscle you have, the lower your metabolism will be and the more fat you’ll gain.


Number three: Elevated cortisol levels cause a larger percentage of fat to be stored in the abdominal area. What’s worse is that the more abdominal fat you have, the more cortisol you produce in response to stress, which then causes more abdominal fat to be stored.


Finally, recent studies link high cortisol levels to depression in adults and children. And we all know that when you’re depressed, you eat MORE.


It’s like a vicious cycle with no end in sight!

So here is how to lower cortisol in three steps…


First of all, you need to know that caffeine increases cortisol secretion in people undergoing mental stress. For many of us, that’s just about all the time. So, the first thing you need to do is to greatly reduce or even eliminate your caffeine intake.


Next, and don’t roll your eyes at this one, but layer in some exercise into your routine. Even just walking for 30 minutes each day will work wonders.


Lastly, here’s a really good exercise I use with my patients (and my family) that reduces stress fast: As you’re sitting there, simply breathe in through your nose and count to four, hold it for 2 seconds. (Make sure to breathe into your belly — it should expand). 


Then let the air out through your mouth until it’s comfortable – then pause for one second. Repeat this 8 times and you’ll reset your stress response… easy!

The Fat Burning Barrier No One Talks About: Unscrupulous Supplement Manufacturers

 As I promised earlier, I’m going to tell you why all the diet supplements you’ve tried have failed to work. And it’s disturbing…


As a doctor who also happens to have a degree in manufacturing engineering, I’ve learned to ask the right questions when people ask me about supplements.


First: I look for double blind, placebo controlled clinical studies… ON HUMANS… You’d be surprised how many supplement companies base their claims on animal studies. And the truth is… what works on mice, rarely works on humans.


Second: Even if there are double blind human studies on an ingredient, almost every company I’ve come across neglects to put the same exact ingredient used in the research into their formulation!
For example, there’s a green coffee bean (which we’ll talk about later) that has solid human clinical studies backing it up. However, the research was only on a green coffee bean sourced from a specific region and extracted in a special way. 


What too many supplement companies do is find a cheap source for the ingredient (China, for example) and don’t use the proper extraction method. The real active ingredient is then either nonexistent or in such small quantities as to be worthless.


They do this to save money…. Lots of money! As cheaper sources can often be found for less than 1/10 the price of the real thing…


Finally, (also to cut costs) even if they do happen to include the right ingredient – they rarely, if ever, include the same amount of the ingredient used in the study to get the claimed result. They usually hide this in a “proprietary” formula… or just assume that most consumers won’t have access to the research. 


The reason they do this is because ingredients that work are not cheap when delivered at the right dose.
So when shopping for supplements, make sure to ask yourself:
Has the ingredient actually been researched in human double blind studies?
Is it the real ingredient used in the study? And…
Are you getting the ingredient at the real dose?